# 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:** 379
**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 17, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7571 "2023-09-17T15:09:04Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > [A mysterious golden egg has been found in the deep sea.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mystery-golden-egg-ocean-floor-alaska-scientists-dont-know-what-it-is/) I thought the spawn of a Deep One would be larger…. I’m thinking that it’s part of the [Tri-wizard Tournament](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Golden_egg). ---
**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:** [September 18, 2023, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7572 "2023-09-18T05:11:08Z")
This could have gone into the “creative work … the millionth time” thread. I just found out yesterday that the term **hermaphrodite** comes from the myth that the child of **Hermes** and **Aphrodite** was both sexes - name of **Hermaphroditus**! > The water-nymph Salmacis, seeing him bathing in a pool, fell in love with him and prayed that they might never be separated. The gods interpreted her request literally and joined the pair into one body. In both his name and his being, therefore, Hermaphroditus combines male and female. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7573 "2023-09-18T12:21:25Z")
I knew this from the Genesis song “The Fountain of Salmacis”. Sometimes being a prog rock geek pays off. 😉 ---
**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 18, 2023, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7574 "2023-09-18T12:37:04Z")
[Italian art detectives have found stolen pieces in an Australian museum, including one that was smuggled out under pasta.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stolen-treasures-australian-national-university-one-likely-smuggled-italy-pasta/) My favorite bit of the article makes the suspected crook sound like he’s made for a TV show: “David Holland Swingler, an American art trafficker and food importer known for a culinary modus operandi.” ---
**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 18, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7575 "2023-09-18T13:09:47Z")
YIL the first pencil and eraser combo was patented and sold in1958. ---
**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 18, 2023, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7576 "2023-09-18T14:11:56Z")
speaking of which - not only housese but also national anthems are being cloned: The Chilean National Anthem is surprisingly similar to the Bolivian one: . here some type of analysis and comparison… between the two [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pPr0HAzNd5s/maxresdefault.jpg "¿¿PLAGIO ENTRE LOS HIMNOS DE BOLIVIA Y CHILE??") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPr0HAzNd5s&t=79) ---
**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:** [September 18, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7577 "2023-09-18T15:44:10Z")
As Phil Collins explained before they played it at [Knebworth](https://myvintagerock.com/2013/02/04/genesis-knebworth-1978/), “a hermaphrodite is someone who is male and female at the same time, in the same pair of trousers” ---
**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:** [September 18, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7578 "2023-09-18T18:49:00Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > YIL the first pencil and eraser combo was patented and sold in1958. Typo, I’m afraid. That should be 1858. [Who Made That Built-In Eraser?](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/magazine/who-made-that-built-in-eraser.html) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7579 "2023-09-18T18:51:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Typo, I’m afraid. That should be 1858. [Who Made That Built-In Eraser?](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/magazine/who-made-that-built-in-eraser.html) I believe that the metal band attaching the eraser to the pencil is called a ferrule. Not to be confused with an aglet. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7580 "2023-09-18T19:47:32Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I believe that the metal band attaching the eraser to the pencil is called a ferrule. The ferrule is also the part of a billiards cue to which the hard leather tip is affixed. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7581 "2023-09-18T20:32:29Z")
The tip of an umbrella is also called a ferrule. Ferrules get around. ---
**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 18, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7582 "2023-09-18T21:36:30Z")
Ugh. I tried to erase it but it just left a smudge on my screen. ---
**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 18, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7583 "2023-09-18T21:42:08Z")
There’s also Tiresias, who was changed from male to female by the gods as punishment for something or other, and then changed from female to male as some other random punishment. They’re said to have answered definitively that sex is more pleasurable for women than for men. They ALSO got blinded as punishment for yet something else, but then given Second Sight by one of that god’s rivals to make up for it. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7584 "2023-09-19T04:31:41Z")
And, of course, the material used to make the eraser was rubber, from the sap of the rubber tree, which was named for the fact that it was ~~used in condoms~~ found to have the ability to erase (rub out) pencil marks. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7585 "2023-09-19T04:47:29Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > What about [Jesus vs Medusa](https://imgur.io/x8BurWU)? Curious thing about that one is he is wearing gloves. You almost never see that. I presume he was working on the Rabbinowitz’s roof beams at the time, got called out do to some divine stuff and did not have time to take them off? ---
**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 19, 2023, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7586 "2023-09-19T11:15:44Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Not to be confused with an aglet. Their true purpose is sinister. TIL that Elton John and Bob Dylan wrote original songs for the Country Bears movie. I’m adding another because I just discovered “dwarf dinos” and it’s fascinating: ['Dwarf dinosaur' that lived on prehistoric island unearthed in Transylvania | Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/dwarf-dinosaur-transylvania) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7587 "2023-09-19T16:13:24Z")
> [@Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across/851674/4428): > > Malcolm X also once worked in the kitchen of the Parker House hotel in Boston. As did Emeril Lagasse. And Ho Chi Minh. Not at the same time, though. … and there is a Ho Chi Minh memorial in Newhaven, on the South Coast of England, celebrating his links with the town. So far as I can tell, these links consist of him [working as a pastry chef on the Newhaven-Dieppe cross-channel ferry.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh#In_Britain) > **[File:Ho Chi Minh plaque.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ho_Chi_Minh_plaque.jpg)** It looks like the erection of the memorial (this year) follows about a decade of bickering about it. > **[Newhaven Ho Chi Minh monument divides town](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-34116134)** > > A competition to design a Ho Chi Minh monument causes controversy in Newhaven. j ---
**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:** [September 19, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7588 "2023-09-19T18:37:41Z")
TIL I learned about the longest piano in the world, the Alexander Piano, 18 feet, 9 inches (5.715 meters), built by a young man in New Zealand starting when he was 16 and completed when he was 20. [![](https://www.alexanderpiano.nz/images/466305/20180511_171954.jpg) ](https://www.alexanderpiano.nz/images/466305/20180511_171954.jpg) You can watch some videos of it, played by professionals, at the official site. To get the best idea of its sound, especially the amazing bass, use headphones or a full stereo system. > **[Alexander piano- the longest piano in the world](https://www.alexanderpiano.nz/page/the-alexander-piano)** > > Discover the longest piano ever made by a 20 year old with limited help and experience. Built in Timaru, New Zealand ---
**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:** [September 20, 2023, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7589 "2023-09-20T00:57:17Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > there is a Ho Chi Minh memorial in Newhaven, on the South Coast of England, celebrating his links with the town. He also worked in the kitchens during the Treaty of Versailles negotiations in 1919. Other famous non-state attendees included Lawrence of Arabia and John Maynard Keynes. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7590 "2023-09-22T00:18:26Z")
Today I learned that baseball teams used to consider foul balls their property, and often demanded their return until threat of criminal prosecution. This changed when an 11 year old boy, Robert Cotter, had to spend a night in jail for refusing to return the foul ball he caught on July 18, 1923 in Philadelphia, in a game between the Phillies and the Cubs. > [@](#): > > The _Philadelphia Inquirer_ described it: “The boy stuck up his hand, snatched the ball out of mid-air and pocketed it, while admiring bleacherites applauded his dexterity.”[18](https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-18-1923-phillies-outlast-cubs-but-lose-landmark-decision-to-11-year-old-over-a-foul-ball/#_edn18) As Cotter walked out of the park, the captain of the guards seized him and “dragged the tearful boy” to a nearby policeman. > > The policeman initially refused to arrest the youngster, but eventually was persuaded to do so by Phillies secretary [Bill Shettsline](https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bill-shettsline/). “I think they knew I sneaked in, and that’s why I got arrested,” Cotter later said.[19](https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-18-1923-phillies-outlast-cubs-but-lose-landmark-decision-to-11-year-old-over-a-foul-ball/#_edn19) Cotter was taken to the Philadelphia House of Detention, with Phillies officials declaring that they wanted to “make a test case of the incident in an effort to check ball pilfering.”[20](https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-18-1923-phillies-outlast-cubs-but-lose-landmark-decision-to-11-year-old-over-a-foul-ball/#_edn20) > > The courthouse closed before Cotter’s mother could bail out her son,[21](https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-18-1923-phillies-outlast-cubs-but-lose-landmark-decision-to-11-year-old-over-a-foul-ball/#_edn21) so he spent the night in jail. The judge who addressed the case the next day was not pleased. > [@](#): > > “I never heard of [Connie Mack](https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/connie-mack/) or [Philadelphia Athletics President] Tom Shibe[22](https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-18-1923-phillies-outlast-cubs-but-lose-landmark-decision-to-11-year-old-over-a-foul-ball/#_edn22)throwing small boys into prison because they took a ball that was batted into the bleachers. I don’t know whether you or Shetzline [_sic_] were ever boys, for if you were you would know how they cherish the ball they got, and you would permit them to have the ball instead of throwing them into a cell overnight.”[23](https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-18-1923-phillies-outlast-cubs-but-lose-landmark-decision-to-11-year-old-over-a-foul-ball/#_edn23) > > The advocate recommended that Cotter be discharged, to which Judge Brown heartily agreed. “I wouldn’t brand this boy a thief just to … save a $1.50 ball.” “If Mr. Shetzline [_sic_] wanted his test case, there is the decision.”[24](https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-18-1923-phillies-outlast-cubs-but-lose-landmark-decision-to-11-year-old-over-a-foul-ball/#_edn24)Cotter left triumphant, with the ball and his freedom. > > Cotter’s harrowing odyssey was described on July 19 in several newspapers, punctuated by a quote attributed to Judge Brown. “I was a boy myself once, and I don’t feel that a youngster should be deprived of the thrill of keeping a baseball hot off the bat of a big-league star. Case dismissed.” The resulting publicity was a public relations disaster for the Phillies, and henceforth all baseballs hit into the stands of Major League Baseball games have been souvenirs for the taking. (when they aren’t deadly missiles maiming the unprepared) [https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-18-1923-phillies-outlast-cubs-but-lose-landmark-decision-to-11-year-old-over-a-foul-ball/](https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-18-1923-phillies-outlast-cubs-but-lose-landmark-decision-to-11-year-old-over-a-foul-ball/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=378) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=380)