# 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:** 39
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/761 "2020-09-17T13:44:46Z")
I have always thought of almond milk as a new-fangled, 21st century thing, but it actually dates back to the Middle Ages: > **[Almond milk | History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_milk#History)** > > Almond milk was used as a substitute for animal milk in the Middle Ages in areas that followed Catholic fasting doctrines. Historian Carolyn Walker Bynum notes that: ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/762 "2020-09-18T04:06:26Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > According to the recent Radiolab episode, “G”, it is illegal to administer an IQ test to a black child in the state of California. I had to check this one out, and that summary seems misleading to me. Here’s a description of the 1977 court ruling that instituted the ban in question (emphasis mine): > U.S. District Judge Robert Peckham agreed, calling the tests “racially and culturally biased” and “discriminatory.” He ordered a **permanent ban on IQ testing of black students across California for purposes of special education placement.** Today, California is the only state that has such a ban. > **[A Landmark Lawsuit Aimed to Fix Special Ed for California's Black Students....](https://www.kqed.org/news/11781032/a-landmark-lawsuit-aimed-to-fix-special-ed-for-californias-black-students-it-didnt)** > > A landmark ruling in 1977 changed special education for black students across California. But many educators, black parents and advocates for black students say plenty remains broken. ---
**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 18, 2020, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/763 "2020-09-18T09:31:04Z")
Tampa, Florida sees more thunderstorms than any other US city. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/764 "2020-09-18T10:35:51Z")
[The Savannah Bananas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngaEwfMFIMM) is the only baseball team to play a game in kilts. The played the Macon Bacon. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/765 "2020-09-18T10:57:45Z")
I wonder about sliding. As many of you are probably aware, there were “Christmas Truces” during World War I where combatants stopped fighting so they could bury their dead and this morphed into exchanging gifts etc. One other famous aspect were the football (soccer) games that they played. Among the players were Scots in kilts. During the games, naturally, they sometimes tripped and fell, revealing that under the kilt they were commando—no underwear. > **[Christmas truce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > > 1915 > 1916 ---
**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 18, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/766 "2020-09-18T20:38:42Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > > [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > > > The Azores are the only part of the European Union that grows tea, > > …but only since the uk left. …which is what I was going to say. I have been past [the plantation](https://www.plymouthtea.co.uk/blogs/news/76151877-the-story-of-devon-s-first-tea-plantation) (I assume we’re talking about the same one) on a boat trip up the river Tavy in Devon. Very pretty. j ---
**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 19, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/767 "2020-09-19T19:12:09Z")
i think there’s a couple down cornwall way… ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/768 "2020-09-20T18:44:40Z")
I saw recently that oil and water CAN mix, if you get rid of the dissolved gasses in the water first. Put the water in a vacuum chamber for a bit, and then the oil and water can mix just fine. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zC99ih56S_8/maxresdefault.jpg "Amazing Way to Actually Mix Oil and Water with No Other Added Ingredient!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC99ih56S_8) ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/769 "2020-09-20T19:56:59Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > i think there’s a couple down cornwall way… There are indeed- [Tregothnan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tregothnan) being the best known, and I believe the first place in England to produce a commercially sold tea. ---
**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 20, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/770 "2020-09-20T21:16:22Z")
Staying in the south west of England, Weymouth has four high tides and four low tides each day (most days). [Here’s a table of tide times](https://www.thebeachguide.co.uk/south-west-england/dorset/central-weymouth-weather.htm) (scroll down). Someone told me it’s “because of the Isle of Wight”, and lots of places round there have odd tides. Beats me. j ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/771 "2020-09-20T22:51:17Z")
Today I learned that having a period or two months after completing menopause is an strong indicator of uterine cancer. You’d think that would be widespread knowledge, but apparently most doctors don’t tell women that and, unless they ask a woman during an exam, it can go undiscovered for a long, long time. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2020, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/772 "2020-09-20T23:39:39Z")
“Golliwog” is a pejorative synonym for African-American, which I didn’t know until very recently. Much earlier, I read that Creedence Clearwater Revival started out calling themselves The Golliwogs, and – in my ignorance – thought “what a clever name, it has a touch of 1960s zaniness to it! Must have looked great on psychedelic concert posters.” I doubt if the band knew about its racist implications, either, since hardly anybody knows the word to begin with. “Golliwog’s Cakewalk” is a ragtime-flavored piece by Claude Debussy, and that might have been a clue if I’d paid more attention. However, I thought the Golliwog of the title was the name of an imagined individual person, rather than any reference to race. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/773 "2020-09-21T11:22:32Z")
The ‘videos’ section on FB… the one that constantly shows notifications… and always about those stupid videos about other people’s traffic stops and squirting Dave’s Insanity Sauce into your husband’s toothpaste as a “prank”? It is beyond annoying. And those videos from a million people who call themselves shows? They (and their pages) just might be unkillable. As an experiment, I invested two full hours blocking page after page after page of those asshole sites yesterday. The ‘Stacy Podunk Show’. The ‘We Police Cops’ show. The ‘I put Nair in Her Panties’ show. Today, they were all replaced with hundreds of new assholes posting the same old shit. Random Fact: They are as unkillable as vampire Christopher Lee in the 1960s. Side Questions: First off, these used to be killable, what’s FB’s incentive to make them indestructible? Second, to quote Jerry Seinfeld, “Who Are These People”? Are these those horrific “social influencers” that keep trying to scam businesses out of goods and services for good reviews for their thousands of followers? If they are, why would you comp them anything given that they are as annoying as shit? Why would your ever reward anyone that was… well… up in your face? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/774 "2020-09-21T12:03:21Z")
Cool! Nobody answered that when I [asked](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-fresh-water-fish-populate-different-basins/852117). ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/775 "2020-09-21T12:19:47Z")
Too late to edit: I _was_ mentioned. Post #16, by Colibri. ---
**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 21, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/776 "2020-09-21T14:12:18Z")
The Democratic Republic of the Congo houses the place that receives more lightning strikes than any other on Earth (per year). ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/777 "2020-09-21T14:29:59Z")
I thought that was somewhere in the southern part of [SOuth America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning)? ---
**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 21, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/778 "2020-09-21T15:02:56Z")
I think we’re talking about 2 different things. [Kabare](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/places-in-the-world-where-lightning-strikes-the-most.html#:~:text=Even%20though%20the%20place%20that%20receives%20the%20most,South%20America%20has%2067%20and%20Oceania%20has%2010.), in Congo (from my link): Out of the top 500 lightning spots in the world, Africa leads with Kabare being the epicenter of lightning activities in the continent. Kabare is on the western shores of Kivu Lake in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was the central part of the Kingdom of Bushi which was located right between Lake Kivu and Mitumba mountains. Kabare experiences over 205.31 flashes per 247 acres every year. But Lake Maracaibo, in Venezuela, experiences “Catatumbo Lightning,” which (from my link) occurs at the place where River Catatumbo drains into the Lake Maracaibo. When the warm air from Maracaibo meets with the cold air from the Andes, it produces the never-ending Catatumbo lightning strikes. The lightning originates from the storm clouds which are over 0.6miles high, and it occurs in about 160 nights annually. Lake Maracaibo receives over 280 lightning strikes per hour, and it lasts for 10hours every day. Lake Maracaibo experiences over 232.52 flashes in every 247 acres per annum. That seems rather specific to that one location, since the lightning is partially caused by the terrain. I was going for randomized lightning strikes. But I could certainly be mistaken, and will concede if corrected. ---
**Author:** ![merrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/779 "2020-09-21T17:47:03Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Staying in the south west of England, Weymouth has four high tides and four low tides each day (most days). [Here’s a table of tide times](https://www.thebeachguide.co.uk/south-west-england/dorset/central-weymouth-weather.htm) (scroll down). Someone told me it’s “because of the Isle of Wight”, and lots of places round there have odd tides. Beats me. It’s actually more to do with the Cotentin peninsula in France. The North Sea and the Atlantic are completely separate tidal systems and the tides on the East and West Coasts of England are almost 180 degrees out of phase - so when it’s high tide at one end of the English Channel it’s low tide at the other. If the Channel was a perfect rectangular box, the middle would get no tide at all; as it is the way it widens out from the Dover Straits only to constrict back down at the Cotentin sets up a bunch of secondary oscillations of which the double high tide at Southampton is most famous. The weirdest thing I found when looking this up is that the west end of the Solent has its high tide about an hour before the east end but the tide range is only half as great (even though the Solent is only about 15 miles long). So while the flood tide starts off flowing west to east up the Solent, before high tide the east end overtakes the west end and the current reverses to flow east to west - while the tide is still rising at both ends. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/780 "2020-09-21T20:42:59Z")
You can turn off the notification dot but you’ll keep getting the videos. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=38) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=40)