# 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:** 395
**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 29, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7891 "2023-10-29T17:29:29Z")
TIL that the uneasy relationship between universities and the cities in which they exist is so common that there’s a name for it: > **[Town and gown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_and_gown)** > > Town and gown are two distinct communities of a university town; 'town' being the non-academic population and 'gown' metonymically being the university community, especially in ancient seats of learning such as Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and St Andrews, although the term is also used to describe modern university towns as well as towns with a significant public school. The metaphor is historical in its connotation but continues to be used in the literature on urban higher education and in com... It’s also so old that it goes back at least 800 years, to the founding of the earliest European universities. ---
**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 29, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7892 "2023-10-29T17:31:55Z")
Search on YouTube for “superglue baking soda”. There are hundreds of videos from people who discovered this trick. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7893 "2023-10-29T18:10:44Z")
“Townies” was used as a pejorative by some classmates when I was in college, more than 50 years ago. The school was notoriously separate from the community. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7894 "2023-10-29T18:22:32Z")
I’m sorry to report that I heard this again while touring colleges with my high school senior this year. Unfortunately it was a town very much in the news recently, Lewiston ME. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7895 "2023-10-29T18:28:19Z")
This is very cool. I’m always having to DIYS. Now, off to set up my lab. ---
**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 29, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7896 "2023-10-29T18:31:04Z")
It’s especially the case when the university can claim to be older than the incorporation of the town it’s associated with. This isn’t just a British archaism: some [Land-grant university - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land-grant_university) s were established when they were still in territorial status predating the states they’re now in. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7897 "2023-10-29T18:46:54Z")
Do those things countersteer? I wonder if there has ever been an accident where an experienced motorcycle rider reflexively countersteered in an emergency. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2023, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7898 "2023-10-29T18:52:37Z")
You can make [Christmas trees out of old magazines](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVXfWvsGFb4), sure. But if you make them out of more than one Reader’s Digest, like Grandma did, you get a squat, full tree and you don’t need to cut off any bits. So it’s a complete recycle. ---
**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 29, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7899 "2023-10-29T19:56:02Z")
I don’t know. Countersteering on a motorcycle is often an unconscious motion to start turning. I don’t know how it feels on this type of trike, I don’t know if the motion is natural since you don’t lean to turn. The handlebar turns the front wheels independently like a car and I would assume it also doesn’t turn the wheels the same amount as you turn the handlebar so unconsciously countersteering would only result in a little turn in the wrong direction that you’d notice right away. But I’m just guessing, never rode one, oddly this type of trike looks more like training wheels on a motorcycle than the old fashioned trikes with 2 rear wheels (and usually no differential). ---
**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 29, 2023, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7900 "2023-10-29T21:10:52Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > “Townies” was used as a pejorative by some classmates when I was in college, more than 50 years ago. The school was notoriously separate from the community. The town-and-gown divide was a significant plot point in the movie “Breaking Away”, although the townies were instead referred to as “cutters” (short for stonecutters) because the biggest local employer was a quarry. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7901 "2023-10-29T22:07:30Z")
This is the one I watched [Super glue and various powdered substances](https://youtu.be/7XYPnHODt1E?feature=shared) ---
**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:** [October 29, 2023, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7902 "2023-10-29T22:42:02Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > “Townies” was used as a pejorative My cousin adopted the use of “townies” when he moved to another region, but it is not in contrast with university people, rather, the townies are urbanites who adhere to traffic laws and the non-townies are suburanites and rural folk who drive like they feel like driving and observe the rules when necessary. By his telling, anyway. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7903 "2023-10-29T22:48:35Z")
Yeah. I used to live in Port Townsend, WA, a touristy little seaport surrounded by farm towns. We were “townies” and everybody outside the goat line\* were hayseeds or worse. \*Inside the goat line it is illegal to have sex with a goat. Outside, well… ---
**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:** [October 29, 2023, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7904 "2023-10-29T23:35:18Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Inside the goat line it is illegal to have sex with a goat Well, damn, I guess I would not be getting any. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7905 "2023-10-29T23:52:36Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Inside the goat line it is illegal to have sex with a goat. But you’re expected to do heavy petting. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2023, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7906 "2023-10-30T01:26:18Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Inside the goat line it is illegal to have sex with a goat. Outside, well… How about in the maize fields, and you’re a Capricorn? ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7907 "2023-10-30T01:52:56Z")
Hey, hey. Capricorns don’t believe in that astrology stuff. ---
**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 30, 2023, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7908 "2023-10-30T06:40:30Z")
Yes, but I’m told that it doesn’t work whether you disbelieve in it or not. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7909 "2023-10-30T16:17:40Z")
October 2018: [the government of Bangladesh created a group, the purpose of which was ostensibly to detect & track fake news on social media sites.](https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/10/19/bangladesh-crackdown-social-media) December 2018: [approximately 30 accounts on Facebook and Twitter, some with ties to the government of Bangladesh, were blocked for spreading fake news regarding the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/bangladesh-election-latest-voters-violence-opposition-awami-league-bnp-sheikh-hasina-khaleda-zia-a8695111.html) October 2023: [the Wikipedia article about the BNP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Nationalist_Party) gets repeatedly vandalized by sock puppets, one of whom claims to be the leader of an opposing party, stating that the BNP’s political stance is the opposite of what it really is. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7910 "2023-10-30T16:34:03Z")
Originally, the blood types were A, B, AB, and zero. That’s a numeral “0”, not a capital letter “O”. It means the absence of A or B; it means “nothing”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=394) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=396)