# 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:** 332
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6631 "2023-06-02T16:04:07Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Curious what the conversion was based on here. Not casting aspersions – rather, asking in the grand SDMB tradition of fighting ignorance. I used the first Google result for “weight of granite per cubic foot” where I just guessed at the type of rock. I figured if it had been 27ft^3 of pumice it wouldn’t have been such a hassle to move. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6632 "2023-06-02T16:12:10Z")
My browser keeps getting out of memory error from the embedded XKCD panels. Take note that those particular examples are HUGE. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6633 "2023-06-02T16:44:44Z")
The six largest cities by population in California have names of Spanish origin. The largest without Spanish origin is Long Beach . ---
**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:** [June 3, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6634 "2023-06-03T15:26:58Z")
TIL that [sliced bread was illegal in the US for 47 days during WWII](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/america-banned-sliced-bread). This was done as part of a resource conservation campaign to save the electricity and maintenance costs of bread slicers, and extend their useful life because they were made from steel that was in short supply. The extreme unpopularity caused the restriction to be rescinded quickly. Not surprising since sliced bread was the invention by which all future inventions would be measured. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6635 "2023-06-03T15:44:40Z")
In another related fact, the phrase, “It’s taking longer than we thought”, was first uttered by those trying to rescind the slice bread restriction. The phrase was later adopted by the teeming millions at the SDMB in response to the mass’s failure to comprehend the genius that Cecil was imparting. /not an actual fact ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6636 "2023-06-03T16:49:05Z")
As someone who bakes bread and slices the loaves with an old-fashioned knife, I find some of the claims in that article exaggerated—especially since pre-sliced bread (according to this article) had only been widely available for about 13 years. They reference a 1943 _Time_ article, which is short enough to quote in its entirety: “To high-minded, non-slicing WPBers it was just a routine order: no more sliced bread for the duration, a consequent yearly saving of 100 tons of slicing-machine alloy steel. But to U.S. housewives it was almost as bad as gas rationing—and a whale of a lot more trouble. They vainly searched for grandmother’s serrated bread knife, routed sleepy husbands out of bed, held dawn conferences over bakery handouts which read like a golf lesson: ‘Keep your head down. Keep your eye on the loaf. And don’t bear down.’ Then came grief, cussing, lopsided slices which even the toaster refused, often a mad dash to the corner bakery for rolls. But most housewives sawed, grimly on—this war was getting pretty awful.” How did we win the war with such incredible incompetence at home? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6637 "2023-06-03T16:55:54Z")
I’m guessing you’re baking a fairly crusty and/or hearty bread. I’d think an unsliced loaf of something like Wonder Bread would be a royal PITA to slice without smooshing. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6638 "2023-06-03T17:06:42Z")
Good point. Trying to slice an unsliced loaf of Wonder Bread would be a pain. I always forget that people eat that—the reason I bake is because storebought breads are too sweet and too squishy for my taste. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6639 "2023-06-03T17:21:10Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > The largest stone ever moved by humans is at the base of a statue of Peter the Great in St Petersburg Russia. > **[Podcast Episode 38: The Thunder Stone - Futility Closet](https://www.futilitycloset.com/2014/12/14/podcast-episode-38-the-thunder-stone/)** > > In 1768, Catherine the Great ordered her subjects to move a 3-million-pound granite boulder intact into Saint Petersburg to serve as the pedestal for a statue of Peter the Great. In this episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll learn how some... ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6640 "2023-06-03T18:10:18Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > How did we win the war with such incredible incompetence at home? It seems clear to me that the author was being facetious. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6641 "2023-06-03T18:22:01Z")
0 (zero). Size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal from mid-1946 to mid-1948. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6642 "2023-06-03T18:31:32Z")
As was I. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6643 "2023-06-03T18:43:48Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > 0 (zero). Size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal from mid-1946 to mid-1948. What’s your source? Not disputing you, but I seem to recall that although making another Little Boy uranium weapon would have taken a long time because of the enormous difficulty of separating U-235 from U-237, Hanford was churning out plutonium quite quickly, and that some spare Fat Man type bombs were available, or could have been assembled on relatively short notice, after Nagasaki. Unfortunately, my copy of the [Nuclear Weapons Databook](https://www.amazon.com/Nuclear-Weapons-Databook-Forces-Capabilities/dp/0884101738) is in storage, so I can’t put my hands on it right now. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6644 "2023-06-03T19:03:57Z")
Source is _The Best Years, 1945-1950_, by Joseph C. Goulden. He says that our two bombs were used at Bikini Atoll in 1946 and that we had none until the test bombs used at Eniwetok Atoll in 1948. He uses this in the context of noting that meant for all our talk and bluster about our nuclear superiority in those years we had nothing to back it up. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6645 "2023-06-03T19:09:21Z")
Bikini test Charlie was scheduled for 1947 but was scrubbed for reasons unrelated to the test weapon. So the US did have at least one warhead unless you get into what is technically the arsenal. ---
**Author:** ![knavette57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knavette57/32/3871_2.png) [@knavette57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knavette57)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6646 "2023-06-03T19:11:19Z")
Wonder Bread has been used in school science fair experiments in the evaluation of hand cleanliness. You just tear off crusts, and roll up the center part into a ball with your hands, and whatever grime on your hands will color the bread. My son’s best friend was doing this for school, (not for science fair, just for a project) and made his white bread ball into a very dark gray bread ball. He claimed that he washed his hands before doing the experiment, but his mom did not believe it, telling him, “You must have washed them with a charcoal briquet instead of soap then.” I also have a special bread knife for my crusty homemade loaves. It works like a dream, and I am skilled at thin or thick slices (it is a very sharp knife, so care must be taken). ---
**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:** [June 3, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6647 "2023-06-03T19:16:49Z")
Thanks, that makes sense. I was right that we had a couple, but didn’t remember they had used them in tests, or that they hadn’t continued making more. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6648 "2023-06-03T19:48:29Z")
Searching tells me that Charlie was a nuclear core but hadn’t yet been assembled into a working weapon. Assuming that’s true (source is the History Channel quoting Richard Rhodes’ 1995 book [_Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb_](https://books.google.com/books?id=rSgfbK0hi2UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Rhodes+black+sun+making+of+the+hydrogen+bomb&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_zo7q0rn3AhW7kYkEHe7lBNcQ6AF6BAgDEAI#v=snippet&q=Bikini&f=false)), I guess you could say that we had nothing in the arsenal. I don’t know how long it took to make a core a working device, but probably soon enough in an emergency. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2023, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6649 "2023-06-03T20:19:56Z")
I don’t think bakeries were slicing Wonder Bread on their machines. At least not the soft stuff we call Wonder Bread now. The machines in the bakeries sliced crustier bread. I thought that was the basis for cutting crusts off bread in sandwiches, it always seemed kind of weird to care about Wonder Bread crust. Those machines were common in some grocery stores when I was a kid, and there was still one at a major chain grocery in New York when I lived there. Those were cool looking machines but I met someone with a mangled hand from one of those machines. OSHA didn’t start until the 70s, maybe that cut down on their usage. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2023, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6650 "2023-06-03T23:47:31Z")
The word “partridge” derives from an ancient Greek word meaning “to fart”, because of the noise the birds make when they fly away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=331) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=333)