# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 325
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6491 "2023-05-12T21:37:03Z")
Massite? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6492 "2023-05-12T21:38:26Z")
Cumchute? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6493 "2023-05-13T10:42:42Z")
Bauxite? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6494 "2023-05-13T13:41:45Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Cummington, Cummingtoni(gh)t_e_? ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6495 "2023-05-13T14:03:40Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > There needs to be a sport where each team, in addition to the players, has two dogs and a tennis ball thrower on the sideline who tries to put the dogs on the field in such a way that they cause difficulties for the opposing team that is trying to avoid tripping over them. My kids and their friends used to play a version of that game every time they tried to play any game with a ball in our back yard! RIP Weaver the border collie. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6496 "2023-05-13T14:08:10Z")
Puritanite ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6497 "2023-05-13T14:22:10Z")
(Hint: It is located in Dumpster County.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6498 "2023-05-13T15:53:28Z")
Heh. It has a Wikipedia page. TIL. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6499 "2023-05-13T16:44:39Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Cummingtoni(gh)t_e_? Yep, cummingtonite. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6500 "2023-05-13T18:13:16Z")
Glad to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2023, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6501 "2023-05-14T03:25:54Z")
Wyatt Earp was married to a Jewish woman from 1882 to his death in 1929, and is buried next to her in a Jewish cemetery in Colma, CA. Samsonite luggage was created by Jesse Schwayder, a Jewish luggage salesman in Denver in 1910. These, and other interesting facts and stories, are presented in a nicely done documentary called [_Jews of the Wild West,_](https://www.jewsofthewildwest.com/) available on Amazon Prime. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2023, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6502 "2023-05-14T12:39:02Z")
There is only one [1983 Corvette](https://thenewswheel.com/one-1983-corvette-displayed-national-corvette-museum/) still in existence. I visited the Corvette Museum and according to the guide, some model year definition oddness and other issues conspired to remove every other '83 model that was built. The only one left is in the museum, and the guide described it as “literally priceless”. ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6503 "2023-05-14T22:58:59Z")
A story I heard from [RedWheel](https://youtu.be/NJusSjmPaxA?t=732) … > With the UK being the UK, you need permission from the council to do anything on your plot of land. One gentleman owned a plot of land on Mandela Way in London and wanted to develop some property on the land. However the council did not want this to go through and so turned him down. … > He wrote to the council asking to put a tank on the land The council thought he meant a septic tank. What he in fact meant was a T-34 Russian tank used during the Prague Spring of 1968. … > The council cannot remove it as technically they gave him full permission to place the tank on the land. [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandela_Way_T-34_Tank) [Google street view](https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4929899,-0.082845,3a,60y,87.13h,79.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svlneGdhqUzTcieuSbpCOww!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6504 "2023-05-16T00:40:06Z")
Today I learned about [Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jer%C3%B3nimo_de_Ayanz_y_Beaumont). It’s both amazing and sad the number of brilliant and remarkable people that never make it into local history books. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Varn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michael_varn/32/14411_2.png) [@Michael\_Varn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Varn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6505 "2023-05-16T15:15:41Z")
I was surprised to learn recently that the Canary islands were not named after the birds, but were named for dogs! ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6506 "2023-05-16T15:25:44Z")
Even better: there were no dogs there when the islands were ‘discovered’. They were probably seals. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6507 "2023-05-16T18:05:58Z")
> [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > I was surprised to learn recently that the Canary islands were not named after the birds, but were named for dogs! > [@its\_the\_daddy](#): > > Even better: there were no dogs there when the islands were ‘discovered’. They were probably seals. According to the [Wikipedia entry](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canarias#Toponimia) in Spanish, the name comes from a text written by Pliny the Elder about a king known as Juba II who had sent an expedition to one of the islands, where two large mastiffs were captured. The dogs were brought back to Juba II’s kingdom (more or less where Morocco is today) and their likeness appears today on the Canary Islands’ coat of arms. Pliny the Elder was born around the same year that Juba II died. I’m not sure when the text was written, and I’ll readily accept that legend often replaces fact, but the story doesn’t sound far-fetched to me. Why do you say there were no dogs on the islands? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6508 "2023-05-16T18:22:07Z")
> [@its\_the\_daddy](#): > > Even better: there were no dogs there when the islands were ‘discovered’. They were probably seals. Seals, the dogs of the sea. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6509 "2023-05-16T18:27:29Z")
The islands were named for the dogs, the birds were named for the islands, and the color was named for the birds. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6510 "2023-05-16T18:29:26Z")
TIL that the first woman to be honored on a US postage stamp was Queen Isabella of Spain. The stamp was issued in 1893 at the end of a year-long celebration of the 400th anniversary of the voyage of Columbus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=324) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=326)