# 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:** 374
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7471 "2023-09-02T01:56:52Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > It’s pretty easy to do algebraically but I did it by induction. I’ve always found the inductive proof of that one much simpler than the algebraic. Just put a layer of unit squares around two edges of your square, plus one more at the corner. Though of course, there are an infinite number of distinct sequences that start with 1,4,9…, because you can come up with a formula that starts with any finite sequence of numbers. As for the gorilla suit, I think each astronaut has an allowed weight allowance for “personal items”, and they can spend that weight budget (mostly) however they wish. > [@Lumpy](#): > > The virtually total replacement of the previously existing civilization there by Islamic Turks is a reworking second only to the replacement of native Americans by Anglos. Why did Constantinople get the works? That’s nobody’s business but the Turks. And maybe the Byzantines. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7472 "2023-09-02T02:59:15Z")
[This article](https://people.com/human-interest/astronaut-scott-kelly-reveals-real-story-behind-viral-video-gorilla-suit-aboard-space-station/) gives a lot more information about the gorilla suit, the video, and Scott Kelly (and Mark Kelly) > **[Astronaut Scott Kelly Reveals Real Story Behind Video of Him in Gorilla Suit...](https://people.com/human-interest/astronaut-scott-kelly-reveals-real-story-behind-viral-video-gorilla-suit-aboard-space-station/)** > > The clip, first posted in February 2016, shows Scott Kelly chasing an astronaut who hilariously tries to get away ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7473 "2023-09-02T03:18:52Z")
It is Foucault’s Pendulum, and I remember that same discussion. I should read that book again ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7474 "2023-09-02T10:50:40Z")
It’s very funny, but I think I’d have a heart attack If a gorilla started chasing me in the space station. ---
**Author:** ![LegendHasit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/legendhasit/32/8246_2.png) [@LegendHasit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendHasit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7475 "2023-09-02T11:37:01Z")
Thanks to this post, TIL where the inspiration came from for the names “Starsky and Hutch.” > [@S&H Stamps. Anyone remember them from their heyday?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-h-stamps-anyone-remember-them-from-their-heyday/969427): > > So anyone here old enough to have collected these stamps back in the 60’s and 70’s? As kids my sister, brothers and I collected them and added them to their books for later use. I see on this Wiki article that it came to the US in 1896. I had no idea. But I saw something a few minutes ago that took me back to the 60’s when the store by my grandmothers home took part in this and we were there a lot. [S&H Green Stamps - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26H_Green_Stamps#:~:text=The%20S%26H%20Greenpoints%20program%20was,could%20no%20longer%20be%20redeemed). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7476 "2023-09-02T12:32:23Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > It’s very funny, but I think I’d have a heart attack If a gorilla started chasing me in the space station. Free advice: don’t watch Ad Astra. > **[Ad Astra (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_Astra_(film))** > > Ad Astra is a 2019 American psychological science fiction film produced, co-written, and directed by James Gray. Starring Brad Pitt (who also produced), Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland, it follows an astronaut who ventures into space in search of his lost father, whose obsessive quest to discover intelligent alien life at all costs threatens the Solar System and all life on Earth. The project was announced in early 2016, with Gray saying he wanted to feature "the ... ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7477 "2023-09-02T18:35:04Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > When you move from Ushuaya, (the world’s southernmost city) some 10km to the south you come to Puerto Williams, the southernmost city of Chile I might be being dense or this might be a whoosh, but I don’t get it. 🤨 ---
**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:** [September 2, 2023, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7478 "2023-09-02T20:22:28Z")
> [@Dahu](#): > > > [@Al128](#): > > > > When you move from Ushuaya, (the world’s southernmost city) some 10km to the south you come to Puerto Williams, the southernmost city of Chile > > I might be being dense or this might be a whoosh, but I don’t get it 🤨 Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7479 "2023-09-02T20:28:06Z")
Apparently Puerto Williams doesn’t count as a “city” for global purposes? [Ushuaia, Argentina - Image of the Week - Earth Watching](https://earth.esa.int/web/earth-watching/image-of-the-week/content/-/article/ushuaia-argentina/index.html#:~:text=Ushuaia%20is%20the%20capital%20of,southernmost%20city%20in%20the%20world). ---
**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:** [September 2, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7480 "2023-09-02T20:35:52Z")
From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushuaia): > Ushuaia claims the title of world’s southernmost city. Ushuaia has a population of 80,000. Also from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Williams): > Puerto Williams claims the title of world’s southernmost city. Puerto Williams has a population of 2,874. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7481 "2023-09-02T21:58:07Z")
it was a little tongue-in-cheek … that Chiles southernmost city lies south of the “worlds southernmost city™” a bit to show how today marketing seems to trump (hey!) science 😉 ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7482 "2023-09-04T21:46:39Z")
TIL IKEA is the company founders initials and the first letters of the town he grew up in and a neighboring town. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7483 "2023-09-05T16:55:37Z")
Today I learned about the [“My Way”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Way_killings?wprov=sfti1) killings, in which, over the last 30 years (give or take), about a dozen people have been killed in the Philippines while singing (or just having finished singing) the Frank Sinatra song _My Way_. No real explanation has been given for the reason this song incites such anger in some people. ---
**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:** [September 5, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7484 "2023-09-05T19:40:42Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > No real explanation has been given for the reason this song incites such anger in some people. Have you ever heard people singing it at a karaoke bar? If you have then no explanation is necessary. ---
**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:** [September 5, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7485 "2023-09-05T19:53:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Have you ever heard people singing it at a karaoke bar? If you have then no explanation is necessary. What would have happened if Sid Vicious had played a concert in Manila? A lynching? ---
**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:** [September 7, 2023, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7486 "2023-09-07T03:08:25Z")
TIL the worst riot in the history of San Francisco started on VJ Day, 1945, Drunk soldiers and sailors were responsible for 11 deaths, over a thousand injuries, vandalized and looted businesses, 30 overturned street cars, and numerous gang rapes. The (not always) Greatest Generation. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2023, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7487 "2023-09-07T03:15:24Z")
Apparently, people with schizophrenia cannot thermoregulate as well as other humans. From a WaPo article [https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/schizophrenia-extreme-heat-health-risk/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/schizophrenia-extreme-heat-health-risk/) ---
**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:** [September 7, 2023, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7488 "2023-09-07T09:01:15Z")
There’s also [serial killer Eddie Leonski, aka the Brownout Strangler.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Leonski) An Army private stationed to Australia during WW2, Eddie was the first and only citizen of another country to have been tried and sentenced to death in Australia under the law of their own country. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7489 "2023-09-07T15:36:45Z")
I recently learned about a traditional Mexican game called _pasárutakua_, or “[fire hockey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fq8rbImc4Y)”, played with sticks and a flaming ball. That means that we have fire hockey, water (ice) hockey, earth (field) hockey and, of course, air hockey. I await the coming of the Hockey Avatar. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7490 "2023-09-07T15:58:17Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > TIL the worst riot in the history of San Francisco started on VJ Day, 1945, Drunk soldiers and sailors were responsible for 11 deaths, over a thousand injuries, vandalized and looted businesses, 30 overturned street cars, and numerous gang rapes. Doubtless they were extremely relieved to hear that they were not going to their likely deaths fighting fanatical Japanese resistance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=373) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=375)