# 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:** 384
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7671 "2023-10-05T03:49:52Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > The problem with rectangular pies is that the corners will burn before the sides. Ah. Ignorance fought. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2023, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7672 "2023-10-05T04:59:25Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > The problem with rectangular pies is that the corners will burn before the sides. Round pizzas eliminate that problem. But then, some thin crust pizzas are sold square-shaped yet don’t have burnt corners. How is that problem avoided? ---
**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:** [October 5, 2023, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7673 "2023-10-05T05:29:18Z")
Yeah, you’re right. It’s much harder to achieve - the square ones I see have the sauce and fillings all the way to the edges, instead of leaving the crusts bare the way round pizzas tend to be. That helps. I’m guessing that the square crusts are likely going to be rolled out mechanically in a sheeter, as they’re difficult to form evenly by hand as opposed to a round crust. But I’m just spitballing based on many years as a pastry chef. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2023, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7674 "2023-10-05T08:32:30Z")
I was going to say that when you’re stretching dough by hand, a circle is a lot easier than a rectangle. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2023, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7675 "2023-10-05T11:54:48Z")
Plenty of places around here (Boston area) sell pizza baked in rectangular pans, producing rectangular pieces. They don;t do anything special about the corners, but they’re not burned as far as I can see. Cristo’s in Salisbury Beach MA and Hampton Beach NH only sell rectangular pizza. I don’t think I’ve ever seen “Sicilian Style” pizza in anything _but_ rectangular pans. And I’ve sen that all over the country. Never saw burnt corners on those, although it might be because the dough is so thick. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2023, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7676 "2023-10-05T12:13:58Z")
Neapolitan pizzas started as a thin crust pizza, hand tossed which makes a circle naturally, and put in a round stone or brick structure bread oven, directly on the hot cooking surface, not in pans, then cooked quickly at high temperature. Squares would burn at the corners cooked in that style, not fit in the round oven any more efficiently than square pizzas, and far more efficiently moved around in the oven to ensure even cooking. The roundness of pizza evolved naturally. Square pizza is a hybrid. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7677 "2023-10-05T16:06:57Z")
They’ve discovered a stage on which a fellow named William Shakespeare once (possibly) performed. The evidence that he did so, the article says, isn’t complete but it’s strong. > **[Stage that once hosted William Shakespeare found, claims Norfolk theatre](https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67007980)** > > Floorboards that are thought to have been acted on by William Shakespeare are uncovered in King's Lynn. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2023, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7678 "2023-10-05T19:54:26Z")
The musical piece called **Funiculi Funicula** – I only know the name because it was one of my exercises on the trumpet – is a possibly familiar tune > [@](#): > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oxBfcwQQ4Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oxBfcwQQ4Q) I knew vaguely that it was associated with a funicular railway (Like the cog railway on Mt. Washington – hence the title), but didn’t recall the details. It was written in 1880 to commemorate the opening of the funicular railway going up My. Vesuvius. There are at least two interesting random facts: 1.) Composer Richard Strauss heard it in Italy and thought it was a folk tune, so he incorporated it into histone poem _Aus Italien_. It wasn’t – it was only six years old at the time, and the composers thought they ought to get royalties. So they took him to court and won, and they got their royalties. A decade later Rimsky Korsakov did the same thing, using it in his _Neapolitanskaya Pesenka_ under the impression that it was a folk song. I assume they sued him, too, but the article doesn’t say. That’s what they get for composing something that sounded so traditional. 2.) I’ve been to Vesuvius, and didn’t remember a funicular railway. we took a bus, and didn’t even get close to the top. It turns out that the railway was destroyed by the eruption of 1944 and abandoned. It’s a good thing Mount Washington doesn’t erupt. > **[Funiculì, Funiculà](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicul%C3%AC,_Funicul%C3%A0)** > > "Funiculì, Funiculà" (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}IPA: \[funikuˈli (f)funikuˈla\]) is a Neapolitan song composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza to lyrics by Peppino Turco. It was written to commemorate the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius. It was presented by Turco and Denza at the Piedigrotta festival the same ye... ---
**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:** [October 5, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7679 "2023-10-05T20:08:52Z")
Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died on the same day, June 25, 2009. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7680 "2023-10-05T21:50:32Z")
My Dad was a baker and we would have homemade pizzas rolled out onto rectangular cookie sheets, with custom toppings (like one section with shrimp, another with sausage), and I don’t remember the corners being burned. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7681 "2023-10-05T23:52:52Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > The debunking was in the 2012 Runner’s World article that I took the quote from: > > ["Eleven Wretched Women" | Runner's World](https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20802639/eleven-wretched-women/) > > From the same article (bolding mine):: > > > It was luridly falsified versions, not the reality of what happened at the finish line in 1928, that **enabled the IOC to keep the women’s 800 meters off the program until 1960**. > > Sheesh. Sheesh, indeed. And the women’s marathon wasn’t added until 1984. I walked down to the part of the route near where I live and got to see Joan Benoit run by. And I don’t believe her uterus fell out after the race. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7682 "2023-10-06T00:03:16Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > But then, some thin crust pizzas are sold square-shaped yet don’t have burnt corners. How is that problem avoided? It often has to do with the size of the oven. A huge, commercial oven is going to have more even heating than your oven at home does. I have tried and tried, following instructions to back chicken like my co-op does and theirs always turns out better. But they also run their big oven at constant temperatures all day and it has many, evenly spaced heating elements (gas burners). I can’t replicate that at home. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2023, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7683 "2023-10-06T00:16:31Z")
Cutting a rectangular (or rectangular-ish) pizza into wedges and then re-assembling it into a circle (or circle-ish) would only work if the cuts were quite precise (seriously, have you seen the level of quality control on pizza slices?), and would be a lot of work for the minimum-wage cooks, and it still wouldn’t have the melted-cheese strings connecting the slice to the rest of the pizza that modern American consumers expect. Sounds like a lose-lose to me. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2023, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7684 "2023-10-06T01:21:29Z")
Popeye’s Pizza Palace: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp5hmksc0sw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp5hmksc0sw) Just don’t order a tamale pizza. That’s a culinary perversion that no self-respecting pizza chef will make. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2023, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7685 "2023-10-06T10:23:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I knew vaguely that it was associated with a funicular railway (Like the cog railway on Mt. Washington – hence the title), but didn’t recall the details. A funicular is a system in which two rail vehicles on an inclined rail are connected by a cable looped around a pulley at the top of the slope, with each vehicle effectively functioning as a counterweight for the other. When one vehicle ascends the slope, the other descends. Motive power is supplied through the pulley at the top of the slope (or sometimes through a separate cable drive/pulley system at the bottom of the slope). > **[Funicular](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicular)** > > A funicular (/fjuːˈnɪkjʊlər, f(j)ʊ-, f(j)ə-/) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable, which is looped over a pulley at the upper end of the track. The result of such a configuration is that the two carriages move synchronously: as one ascends, the other descends at an equal speed. Th The te... The Mount Washington cog railway is a cog railway. Instead of using the smooth wheels and rails for motive traction, it has a powered cog wheel that engages with a toothed rack positioned between the rails. It’s not a funicular: the train is propelled by its own locomotive and is not connect via cable to any other vehicle. > **[Mount Washington Cog Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_Cog_Railway)** > > .mw-parser-output .RMbox{box-shadow:0 2px 2px 0 rgba(0,0,0,.14),0 1px 5px 0 rgba(0,0,0,.12),0 3px 1px -2px rgba(0,0,0,.2)}.mw-parser-output .RMinline{float:none;width:100%;margin:0;border:none}.mw-parser-output table.routemap{padding:0;border:0;border-collapse:collapse;background:transparent;white-space:nowrap;line-height:1.2;margin:auto}.mw-parser-output table.routemap .RMcollapse{margin:0;border-collapse:collapse;vertical-align:middle}.mw-parser-output table.routemap .RMreplace{margin:0;borde... ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7686 "2023-10-06T17:22:52Z")
Well, I just called “Just Tires” to make sure they are open on Columbus Day, and I was put on hold. While on hold, I heard this interesting random fact: The car heater was invented by … (DRUM ROLL) … a WOMAN! [**Margaret Wilcox, to be exact.**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_A._Wilcox) So much for, “Women don’t know anything about cars.” LOL ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7687 "2023-10-06T18:42:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I first learned about Merrick from Ashley Montagu’s book _The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity_, and thought it’d make for a dynamite play. But Pomerance beat me to it. Lynch’s film is worth watching, too, but takes quite a few liberties with the facts. The true story is more than enough for a good film and I’ve wondered why Lynch felt it was necessary to “embellish” it so much. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7688 "2023-10-06T18:44:38Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died on the same day, June 25, 2009. JFK and Aldous Huxley, November 22, 1963. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7689 "2023-10-06T18:58:15Z")
Also C.S. Lewis, same day. But the face I came in to mention is about the title(s) of a book. The movie was dreadful, but the book that _The Mouse That Roared_ was based on was great, with two or three sequels. I’ve like them always. But the author, Leonard Wibberley, wrote many books, and while looking for a copy of one online, I found out that TMTR was the Anerican title that popularized the story. It’s title in the UK was _The Wrath of Grapes_. Most readers know about title changes in other works, Harry Potter anyone? But this is one that is new to me. Another Wibberley novel had two titles, _The Seven Hills_, and _The Testament of Theophilus_. I have copies of both of those. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7690 "2023-10-06T19:16:05Z")
Back in the 1970s, the Grateful Dead would sometimes play short excerpts from _Funiculi Funicula_ in concert while waiting for equipment problems to be fixed. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq4EP7nsW9Q&t=30s) is a good one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=383) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=385)