# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/61 "2020-04-14T17:17:46Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > My son asked me what the difference was, if any, between his favorite “napoleon” pastry and what was termed a “mille-feuilles” at the pastry shop the last time I got it for him. > > I told him mille-feuilles was just the French name, like the Italian mille-foglio which we’d also had in Italy a few years back, and I supposed calling a “Napoleon” was something British dating back to the 19th Century. > > Then I looked it up on Wikipedia. Well, that wasn’t quite true. But that isn’t the fun fact that’s stuck in my head. > > It’s that in the UK and other “Commonwealth” nations, they’re commonly called “custard slices” (which makes sense, due to the custard-like filling)… > > …And specifically in Australia, they’re also slangily referred to as “snot blocks”. I may be the only Doper who, in high school, used to buy day-old napoleons from a bakery located in the 42d St. IRT subway station in Manhattan - or at least, the only Doper who did that and survived. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/62 "2020-04-14T18:20:23Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > apocolocyntosis: The act of turning into a pumpkin. > > “At midnight, Cinderella’s carriage will go through apocolocyntosis.” The word was (probably) coined by Seneca the younger for his satire on the death of Claudius. It’s a pun on “apotheosis”, the deification of dead Roman Emperors. Seneca was suggesting that the dim-witted\* Claudius would instead become a gourd. You can read the book in translation – Penguin (among others) has published it. I liked the word so much that I used it in the first chapter of my book _[Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon_. So I’ve actually used the word in print. \*unless, as in Robert Graves’ novels, you think that Claudius was a much cleverer individual than history gives him credit for, one who knew how to lay low and avoid assassination. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/63 "2020-04-14T19:14:54Z")
The geothermal springs of the UK. Two (slightly interesting) facts for the price of one - plus a challenge. I grew up believing that there was, famously, one hot spring in the UK, the one that was used to supply the Roman baths at Bath. Not so - [this Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geothermal_springs_in_the_United_Kingdom) lists 19 of them, 18 in England (and several of these admittedly also in Bath) and one in Wales. But the listing intrigues me, as it gives the temperature of the hot spring as well. Like: Lower Dimindale, Derbyshire 11.5 °C (52.7 °F) What? You’ll be there a long time poaching an egg in _that_. Is there a record for the coldest hot spring? Are we looking at it right here? Come on, **robardin** and **ftg** , show me what you’ve got! (;)) j ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/64 "2020-04-14T19:34:57Z")
former US president Jimmy Carter and Motown founder Berry Gordy are second cousins. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/65 "2020-04-14T19:38:34Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > I had to look up this word today. Headline: CNN had a field day with its chyrons during Trump’s ‘meltdown’ at his coronavirus briefing. Chyrons? > > chy·ron > /ˈkīrän/ > Learn to pronounce > nounTRADEMARK > an electronically generated caption superimposed on a television or movie screen. If you put the centaur **Chiron** on TV, would he have a chyron? How about the Styx boatman **Charon**? ---
**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:** [April 14, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/66 "2020-04-14T19:42:41Z")
In some third-world countries, where record-keeping is spotty, the way you know that a child is old enough to start school is if they can reach over the top of their head and touch the opposite ear. Below around age 5, kids’ arms are too short, relative to their head size, to do that. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/67 "2020-04-14T20:02:31Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Saw this just today: > > On this day in 2017, the White Sox’s starting outfield all shared the same last name – Garcia. Avisail in left, Euery in center and Willy in right. Not even three Alous, in San Francisco, started the same game in the outfield. Well yeah, but the Alous were brothers. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/68 "2020-04-14T20:30:41Z")
[The original snake oil actually was an effective medicine](https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377/a-history-of-snake-oil-salesmen). Specifically, it was the fat from a specific species of Chinese water snake, which is very high in omega-3 acids and useful for treating inflammation. The Chinese railroad workers brought it with them to America and would rub it on their joints after a hard day’s work. When word got out about this Chinese miracle pain reliever a lot of hucksters started selling fake snake oils that didn’t work, which is how the phrase came to mean a over hyped treatment that doesn’t actually do anything. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/69 "2020-04-14T22:07:58Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > The words to the song “Where, oh where has my little dog gone” were written in 1864 by [Septimus Winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimus_Winner) (set to a folk tune). It was originally written in comic German pronunciation. The Christmas song “Jingle Bells” was part of a wave of minstrel songs based on the supposedly hilarious proposition of black people having fun in the white snow. [“The story I must tell”: “Jingle Bells” in the Minstrel Repertoire](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/theatre-survey/article/story-i-must-tell-jingle-bells-in-the-minstrel-repertoire/D42C78950A58BDB88290954F73B195B2/core-reader) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/70 "2020-04-15T07:34:58Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > I’ll start: Harry S. Truman’s middle name is S. Wikipedia says: > His middle name, “S” honors his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.[7]\*\* > [Harry S. Truman - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Early_life,_family,_and_education) And, because his middle “name” was just the letter “S” that wasn’t an initial for any actual name, it is properly written without a dot. His name is “Harry S Truman”, not “Harry S. Truman” — some authors get this right, and some don’t. > [@PAjoe](#): > > i always thought Jumbo the Elephant was named Jumbo because he was big. Actually it is the other way around. Big things are called jumbo because of him. Jumbo lived from 1860 through 1885, [per Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo), which suggests several possible etymologies for the name. The name was used again in Helen Bannerman’s 1899 story, _Little Black Sambo_, whose parents were Black Jumbo and Black Mumbo. Note that they were not “black” in the common modern usage of the word (Negro), but Southern Indian or Tamil ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Little_Black_Sambo)). There was nothing offensive about the names or the characterizations at the time — all that arose later. One later knock-off version of the story relocated the action to the American South, where the family was depicted as a rather uncouth-looking black family. Some versions of the story got renamed “Little Brave Sambo”. Walt Kelly once drew a sequence of Pogo strips in which a goofy version of the story was told, named “Little Plaid Sambo”. He was actually drawn with a plaid pattern on his face and arms. ETA: In the original Bizarro story, told in a Superboy issue and set in Smallville, in one scene Superboy refers to Bizarro as “Mumbo Jumbo”. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/71 "2020-04-15T11:21:51Z")
_Spiders in Space_: Little spiders like to balloon. No, not twisting long balloons into animal shapes (though that would be \*tre \*cool), but traveling distances by turning their butts skyward, letting out a thin thread of web and allowing the wind to pick them up and dispersing them all about. The rides can be long duration (\>weeks: spiderlings can survive weeks traveling with no food} and they can reach high altitudes (into jet streams; they’ve been found up to ~5km). As an arachnophobe, I’m distressed that I can’t even escape spiders by moving to the top of Mt. Everest (BTW, the high, cold winds at the summit are jet streams). And, the thought of spiders bumping uglies in the mile-high club disgusts me! ---
**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:** [April 15, 2020, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/72 "2020-04-15T13:03:11Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > And, because his middle “name” was just the letter “S” that wasn’t an initial for any actual name, it is properly written without a dot. His name is “Harry S Truman”, not “Harry S. Truman” — some authors get this right, and some don’t. I’ve seen it both ways (S and S.) but that makes sense. A couple other name things: Michael J. Fox’s middle name is “Andrew.” “He did not like the sound of “Michael A. Fox” during a time when “fox” was coming to mean “attractive” and because his middle initial sounded too much like the Canadian “eh?” He also didn’t like the sound of “Andrew” or “Andy,” so he decided to adopt a new middle initial and settled on “J,” as a tribute to actor Michael J. Pollard.[10]” > **[Michael J. Fox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Fox)** > > Michael Andrew Fox OC (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American activist and retired actor. Beginning his career as a child actor in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties (1982–1989) and Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985–1990). Fox went on to star in films such as Teen Wolf (1985), The Secret of My Success (1987), Casualties of War (1989), Doc Hollywood (1991), and The Fright... And this guy—Ed. Weinberger, Ed. being short for Edwin. “Weinberger, along with James L. Brooks, David Davis, Allan Burns, and Stan Daniels, formed the core of MTM Enterprises. In 1977, they left for Paramount Pictures and started the John Charles Walters Company. Weinberger also played Mr. Walters in the logo. The series Taxi was created the following year. He also wrote and co-created The Cosby Show, which ran for eight years. Weinberger went on to create and executive produce several other sitcoms, including Amen, Mr. President, Dear John, Baby Talk, and Sparks.” Weinberger explained in 2000 that he began using the abbreviation “Ed.” when he was eight years old, admitting that “it’s an affectation that’s gotten out of hand.”[1] So he prefers Ed. Weinberger, not Ed Weinberger. > **[Ed. Weinberger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed._Weinberger)** > > Edwin B. "Ed." Weinberger is an American screenwriter and television producer. > Born in Philadelphia, the only son of Jewish butcher Leon and his wife Helen Weinberger, Weinberger began his TV career after he dropped out of Columbia University, writing for such stand-up comedians as Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, and Bill Cosby. His first job in television was writing for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He also wrote for The Bob Hope Special, The Bill Cosby Show, and The Dean Martin Vari... ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/73 "2020-04-15T13:20:33Z")
Truman himself signed his name as “Harry S. Truman”, so I don’t know how you determine the ‘proper.’ He didn’t have a birth certificate, so if he used a period for his own name, that’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/74 "2020-04-15T13:37:48Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Lower Dimindale, Derbyshire 11.5 °C (52.7 °F) > > What? You’ll be there a long time poaching an egg in _that_. Is there a record for the coldest hot spring? Are we looking at it right here? Come on, **robardin** and **ftg** , show me what you’ve got! > > (;)) > > j It’s another data point for the UK. 50 miles is a long ways, 4,400 feet is very high, and 53° is hot. There are three hot springs in the vicinity of Burning Man, Trego, close at hand; Black Rock, about 30 miles north; and Double Hot, six miles from Black Rock. During the event all three are closed to the public for fear the crowds will damage the grounds but the rest of the year you can bathe in the former two. If you get close to the source they can be uncomfortable but downstream most people can find a spot that’s to their liking. Not so with [Double Hot](https://travelnevada.com/discover/27540/double-hot-springs). It’s waters are [170 - 180°](https://www.ultimatehotspringsguide.com/uploads/1/0/5/4/105466343/published/double1.jpg?1537994076) and will easily kill you in seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/75 "2020-04-15T19:10:55Z")
The difference in time between T. Rex and Stegosaurus is greater than the gap between T. Rex and humans (85 vs 65 million years). ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/76 "2020-04-15T19:44:39Z")
I’ve mentioned this many times on the Dope, but one of the most interesting facts I’ve ever come across is this: a gallon of gasoline contains more hydrogen than a gallon of liquid hydrogen. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/77 "2020-04-15T20:26:12Z")
Cy Young has the most wins in the history of Major League Baseball. He also has the most losses. ---
**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:** [April 15, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/78 "2020-04-15T20:55:58Z")
Another thread was discussing how vaccines are developed and it made me think about something I’d read long ago…that they used to use smallpox scabs to try to immunize people. “Three or four scabs were ground into powder or mixed with a grain of musk and bound in cotton. Infected material was then packed into a pipe and puffed up the patient’s nostril. The practice of variolation is believed to have been ritualized by the Chinese. The blowpipe used during the procedure was made of silver. The right nostril was used for boys and the left for girls.[2]:45” > **[Variolation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variolation)** > > Variolation was the method of inoculation first used to immunize individuals against smallpox (Variola) with material taken from a patient or a recently variolated individual, in the hope that a mild, but protective, infection would result. Variolation is no longer used today. It was replaced by the smallpox vaccine, a safer alternative. This in turn led to the development of the many vaccines now available against other diseases. > The procedure was most commonly carried out by inserting/rubbing ... ---
**Author:** ![MarvinKitFox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MarvinKitFox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarvinKitFox)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/79 "2020-04-16T16:03:31Z")
> [@PAjoe](#): > > i always thought Jumbo the Elephant was named Jumbo because he was big. Actually it is the other way around. Big things are called jumbo because of him. Actually it is NOT. “Jumbo” was a phrase (somewhat derogatory) uses to describe a big, clumsy man. Usage from the early 1800-s. Jumbo the Elephant was (maybe?) given this name because of this already-established usage. It did a lot to popularize the word, of course. ---
**Author:** ![MarvinKitFox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MarvinKitFox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarvinKitFox)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/80 "2020-04-16T16:16:02Z")
The “Ancient Ruins of Machu Picchu” are not so very ancient… Construction on the site started about 1450… By that time Oxford (the university) was already 350 years old and in continuous use. Machu Picchu expired about 100 years later. Oxford is still hanging in there. Now that is _real_ old school. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=5)