# 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:** 363
**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:** [August 16, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7251 "2023-08-16T15:31:45Z")
From 2012: [Kraut's English phonetic blog: Hippopotamomonstrosesquipedaliophobia](http://matters-phonetic.blogspot.com/2012/05/hippopotamomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.html) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7252 "2023-08-16T19:09:22Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Superdude](#): > > This all seems unnecessarily hostile. There are several posts upthread on various topics that don’t have conclusive facts, and involve suppositions. If you’re going to bitch at me, then I expect to see follow-up posts where you take them to task, as well. You posted something that wasn’t even close to a fact, and was more along the lines of a completely unsubstantiated rumor. I would label it as rumor or urban legend, but it’s definitely not a fact. As for others posting similar things, I don’t have anywhere near enough time to wade through 7,000+ posts, but I don’t see anything reasonably recent that was posted that is non-factual. Please do not post “water cooler talk” in this thread. Whatever you post should be something that can be factually cited. ---
**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:** [August 16, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7253 "2023-08-16T19:13:54Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > As for others posting similar things, I don’t have anywhere near enough time to wade through 7,000+ posts, but I don’t see anything reasonably recent that was posted that is non-factual. One frequent poster to this thread was threadbanned for doing this too many times. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7254 "2023-08-16T19:22:55Z")
During WW2, the Russians were short of armored fighting vehicles. So they took a tractor, slapped an artillery piece onto it, welded a smidgen of armor on, & called it the [ZIS-30 LINK .](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZiS-30) ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7255 "2023-08-16T19:52:19Z")
Some spiders have been found to display REM sleep, suggesting that they might dream. > **[Spiders Seem to Have REM-like Sleep and May Even Dream](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/spiders-seem-to-have-rem-like-sleep-and-may-even-dream1/)** > > Jumping spiders have REM-like twitches when they sleep, suggesting dreams may be much more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously realized So the question is: what would a spider’s dream be like? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7256 "2023-08-16T20:07:44Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > So the question is: what would a spider’s dream be like? This? [![](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/24/32/58/2432583b63c53340bf8da47666d399f3.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/24/32/58/2432583b63c53340bf8da47666d399f3.jpg) ---
**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:** [August 16, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7257 "2023-08-16T21:01:32Z")
Very well played. 😂 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7258 "2023-08-17T01:36:33Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > During WW2, the Russians were short of armored fighting vehicles. > So they took a tractor, slapped an artillery piece onto it, welded a smidgen of armor on, & called it the [ZIS-30 LINK .](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZiS-30) Luckily it never came up against this, the only other WWII tractor-based armoured vehicle I’m aware of: > **[Bob Semple tank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Semple_tank)** > > The Bob Semple tank (sometimes referred to as Big Bob) was a light tank designed by New Zealand Minister of Works Bob Semple during World War II. Originating out of the need to build military hardware from available materials, the tank was built from corrugated iron on a tractor base. Designed and built during a period of uncertainty in which New Zealand feared having to defend itself from Japanese invasion without external assistance, these tanks were a civilian effort to design and create a mea... ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7259 "2023-08-17T02:50:41Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > So the question is: what would a spider’s dream be like? Well, dreams reflect known reality (even if warped or distorted) so I’d imagine spider dreams to involve spinning webs, catching prey, and evading birds & other predators. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7260 "2023-08-17T03:02:45Z")
The vocabulary of words relating to animal-powered wheeled transport, e.g. “wheel”, “axle”, “yoke”, “thill” (the pole between the front of the wagon and the yoke, all exist as cognates across nearly every known living or dead Indo-European language. IIRC one of the few exceptions is the Anatolian group, which may be descended from a different but related proto-language rather than PIE itself. All known living and dead Indo-European languages have cognate words for “bee”, “honey”, and/or “mead”; this tells us that the speakers of Proto-Indo-European lived west of the Urals, because there were no honeybees east of them. In German, the capital of Belgium is spelled “Brüssel”. In French, it’s “Bruxelles”. The pronunciation of both is practically identical. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7261 "2023-08-17T04:33:19Z")
The first known written language was Sumerian, using cuneiform. It had been completely lost until tablets using it were unearthed in 1845 in Ninevah. Languages nearby like Akkadian, Elamite and Aramaic took onboard the Sumerian writing system despite being quite unrelated to Sumerian. For example signs that stood for Sumerian words were just given new pronunciations and read as the corresponding words from Akkadian. Sumerian signs that that were read phonetically went on being read as if they were in Sumerian, but put together to approximate Akkadian words; and where Akkadian used sounds that did not exist in Sumerian, they just made do with whatever was closest. In effect Akkadian speakers wrote their Akkadian as it might be produced by someone with a heavy Sumerian accent. This re-purposing of an existing script for an unrelated language has parallels later on, for instance the re-use (with modifications) of the Phoenician alphabet for Greek, Etruscan, Latin, English/German etc, and then much later Turkish and Cherokee. The above all drawn from **Nicholas Ostler** ’s _Empires of the Word_, which I’m now re-reading for about the 5th time! ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7262 "2023-08-17T09:32:43Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > _ **Why** _ does it have a value of 0.0072973525693? What at weird, random-looking number. No one knows. … but it does have a relative uncertainty of 1.5×10−10, so it may actually be a more acceptable value ! ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7263 "2023-08-17T11:39:14Z")
There is a medical procedure called [Tooth in Eye Surgery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis). Which involves taking a person’s tooth (and surrounding bone), crafting it into an artificial cornea, and implanting it in the eye. It’s apparently a very successful treatment for people with severe cornea damage. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7264 "2023-08-17T12:49:57Z")
You know, there are online Tank Warfare simulators that have both. ---
**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:** [August 17, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7265 "2023-08-17T17:22:02Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > You know, there are online Tank Warfare simulators that have both So what happens when they’re pitted against the crappiest of the Japanese tanks? I’ll ask who loses rather than who wins. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7266 "2023-08-17T20:36:19Z")
Even the crappiest tank is a decent mobile pillbox. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7267 "2023-08-17T23:52:57Z")
Good to know! If I get on any more lifetime medications I’ll need one of those. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7268 "2023-08-18T15:29:27Z")
I’ve just read an article about **[zombie-ant fungus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis)**. As you might guess from the name, it’s a fungus that grows on ants. What’s interesting (and pretty creepy) is that it changes ants’ behavior, making them provide the fungus with favorable conditions before it kills them. From the linked Wikipedia entry: > Infected hosts leave their canopy nests and foraging trails for the forest floor, an area with a temperature and humidity suitable for fungal growth; they then use their mandibles to attach themselves to a major vein on the underside of a leaf, where the host remains after its eventual death. The process, leading up to mortality, takes 4–10 days, and includes a reproductive stage where fruiting bodies grow from the ant’s head, rupturing to release the fungus’s spores. It was briefly mentioned [here on the SDMB](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientific-term-for-a-fungus-parasite-virus-etc-changing-behavior-and-or-physiology-of-the-host/942584/6) a little over two years ago. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7269 "2023-08-18T16:20:56Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > It was briefly mentioned [here on the SDMB](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientific-term-for-a-fungus-parasite-virus-etc-changing-behavior-and-or-physiology-of-the-host/942584/6) a little over two years ago. I’m pretty sure this has come up more than once on this Board ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7270 "2023-08-18T17:29:00Z")
And I’m sure the last of us will discuss it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=362) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=364)