# 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:** 40
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/781 "2020-09-21T23:46:29Z")
The capitals of the two Congos (Kinshasa and Brazzaville) are separated by the mile-wide Congo river. No fixed crossings - you can take a boat (read about the Customs and bribe procedures: [Brazzaville to Kinshasa River Crossing - 7 Easy Steps](https://www.veryhungrynomads.com/brazzaville-to-kinshasa-river-crossing/) ) - or you can fly. You’re in the air for less than 10 minutes - but there are only three flights a week. Otherwise - it’s a several-hour flight involving connections in Kenya or Ethiopia. The Congo River (2,720 miles long) has exactly one bridge capable of carrying vehicles - over 200 miles from the two capitals. There are several (domestic) ferry crossings for vehicles. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/782 "2020-09-22T01:25:37Z")
Now I know my family used the term in the early ‘80s referring to my rural cousins’ hairstyles, so I’m not sure about this. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/783 "2020-09-22T11:25:02Z")
If you have time, the podcast is worth a listen, they interview an OED researcher and there’s a pretty cool surprise in the story I don’t want to ruin. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/784 "2020-09-22T13:45:20Z")
Trust me when I say that very few of us are going to listen to the podcast, so feel free to spoil whatever surprise there is. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/785 "2020-09-22T14:58:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Trust me when I say that very few of us are going to listen to the podcast, so feel free to spoil whatever surprise there is There’s also a transcript at the link. ---
**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 22, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/786 "2020-09-22T19:59:22Z")
> [@merrick](#): > > 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… Well, thank you for that, @Merrick. I only lived here all my life, and I didn’t know that. I was so suspicious of this (sorry) that I checked it out using Glasgow and Dundee\* as examples (and [this web site](https://www.tidetimes.org.uk/dundee-tide-times)) and yes, pretty much bang on 180 degrees. Why 180 degrees when the bodies of water are so close? Is it because the _centers of mass_ (as it were) of the two seas/oceans are distant? j (\*) - to prevent Ireland from complicating things ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/787 "2020-09-22T20:12:12Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > you can take a boat (read about the Customs and bribe procedures: [https://www.veryhungrynomads.com/brazzaville-to-kinshasa-river-crossing/](https://www.veryhungrynomads.com/brazzaville-to-kinshasa-river-crossing/) ) - _Of course_ there’s a woman selling fake yellow fever booklets. And I’m willing to bet the staff at the DRC side know this and take a cut of the money to turn a blind eye to it. I somehow managed to make it into the DRC without cheating but I think I must’ve been the exception. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/788 "2020-09-22T21:53:49Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > If you have time, the podcast is worth a listen, they interview an OED researcher and there’s a pretty cool surprise in the story I don’t want to ruin. I’ll join in with **Dewey\_Finn** in asking to just spoil the surprise for us. I just now opened the transcript and did a text search for “surprise” and the first hit was this paragraph: > [@](#): > > **S7:** My name is Oscar Sigurdson. I’m a software developer and I live in Stockholm. Oscar is really interested in language and linguistics. So I subscribe to all these like weird linguistics and lexicography blogs and things like that. And one of the blogs I was I am subscribed to is the Oxford English Dictionary Public Appeals blog, where the Oxford English Dictionary like puts out appeals to the public for like, oh, we are researching this word and we hit the wall. And and so in 2013, they put out this blog post about Edward Mullet’s in this public appeal, the Oxford English Dictionary. The OED said they couldn’t find a documented reference to the mullet as a hairstyle prior to 1994, which I was very surprised to read because nineteen ninety four, like that’s so late, like Mullet’s or the like the most 80s thing you can imagine. Like there’s nothing more emblematic of ages than a mullet. Very telling, like, but nobody used that word in the entire decade. Like nobody like it can’t be like it’s so weird and it is so weird in the popular imagination. To me, all those "like"s makes even skimming this one paragraph insufferable. I wouldn’t be able to stomach reading the whole transcript for a surprise I’m only mildly interested in discovering. Listening to someone say that paragraph out loud would be akin to cruel and unusual punishment. Listening to the entire podcast is in the “wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy” camp. I understand that many people really enjoy podcasts but this one random sampling paragraph (practically my first ever exposure to the actual content of any podcast) makes me wonder how and why. I’ll stick with the professional broadcasters. EDIT: For the vast majority who won’t read that entire quoted paragraph to the end, it really ramps up the agony at the end: > [@](#): > > nineteen ninety four, **like** that’s so late, **like** Mullet’s or the **like** the most 80s thing you can imagine. **like** there’s nothing more emblematic of ages than a mullet. Very telling, **like** , but nobody used that word in the entire decade. **Like** nobody **like** it can’t be **like** it’s so weird and it is so weird in the popular imagination. Those last two sentences are exquisitely awful. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/789 "2020-09-23T06:30:39Z")
Michael Crichton, who got an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and wrote hard-SF thrillers like _The Andromeda Strain_ and _Jurassic Park_, was a serious believer in all kinds of woo and occult stuff and frequently hung out with psychics. As another Doper recently noted, [he was also quite tall](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/60). ---
**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:** [September 23, 2020, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/790 "2020-09-23T09:22:37Z")
The gömböc is a real object that has just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium: > **[Gömböc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6mb%C3%B6c)** > > The gömböc (Hungarian: \[ˈɡømbøt͡s\] GUHM-buhts) is the first known physical example of a class of convex three-dimensional homogeneous bodies, called mono-monostatic, which, when resting on a flat surface have just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium. The existence of this class was conjectured by the Russian mathematician Vladimir Arnold in 1995 and proven in 2006 by the Hungarian scientists Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi by constructing at first a mathematical example and subse... Video: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/rvVF5QWSYF4/maxresdefault.jpg "Gömböc—The Shape That Shouldn't Exist") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvVF5QWSYF4) ---
**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 23, 2020, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/791 "2020-09-23T10:48:39Z")
I first learned of the gömböc from a webcomic about a roleplaying game; one of the players had a custom-made d20 in the shape of one, that was guaranteed to always roll a 1. ---
**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 23, 2020, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/792 "2020-09-23T11:13:28Z")
The [Kingdom of Talamanca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Talamanca) was thing for about forty years. It is now in Costa Rica. ---
**Author:** ![merrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2020, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/793 "2020-09-24T00:12:36Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Why 180 degrees when the bodies of water are so close? Is it because the _centers of mass_ (as it were) of the two seas/oceans are distant? I’m afraid I have no idea. Tides are _weird_ and the rules seem to be mostly exceptions. While digging around online for information, I found out that - Most of the Gulf Coast of the US and Mexico only gets one (very weak) tide a day, as does the Sea of Okhotsk, parts of Indonesia and part of Western Australia - Tokyo has two tides a day but they have completely different amplitudes, so the second low water is closer to the high water than it is to the first low water - In Madagascar and New Zealand, the tides rotate around the islands The British Isles don’t work like this - the tides rotate about various points in the Atlantic, North Sea and Norway, but I can’t tell you why they synch up the way they do, or why the North Sea (which is small, shallow and mostly enclosed) has such a strong tidal system while the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Sea of Japan have almost none. ---
**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 25, 2020, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/794 "2020-09-25T23:33:49Z")
Terry Kath, what a guitarist. According to Wikipedia, > [@](#): > > [Jimi Hendrix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix) was a fan of Kath, and declared him to be a better guitarist.[[23]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Kath#cite_note-cnn-23). and > [@](#): > > According to Loughnane, Kath could sing a lead vocal and play lead and rhythm guitar simultaneously.[[23]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Kath#cite_note-cnn-23) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/vvzSwsapwow/hqdefault.jpg "CHICAGO - Dialogue 1 & 2 LIVE 1974 (extended version)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvzSwsapwow) ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/795 "2020-09-26T01:10:54Z")
This isn’t something I stumbled across recently, but something in the back of my head that I was reminded of posting in another topic about knife steels. The general definition that steel is is an alloy of iron requiring the presence of carbon, really hasn’t been true in a while. For example, there are steels such as Nitrobe 77 that have all the impressive qualities of top steels, and also have nearly unparalleled corrosion resistance, that have nearly all the normal carbon replaced by nitrogen, and the created carbides by nitrides. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/796 "2020-09-26T02:41:50Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Terry Kath, what a guitarist. Sadly, not good enough to overcome lousy material. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/797 "2020-09-26T15:59:32Z")
> [@merrick](#): > > Tides are _weird_ and the rules seem to be mostly exceptions. When I retire I think I’ll enroll in a program to get a PhD in tide behavior. Living on Puget Sound, it really puzzles me. The ability of forecasters to tell me years in advance that 7/2/2043 high tide will be at 4:36 a.m. and exactly 9.35 feet, boggles the mind. The high tide the next morning will be 8.76 feet. The real low tides in the winter seem to be at night, while they are in the afternoon in the summer. Why? ---
**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:** [September 26, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/798 "2020-09-26T21:46:28Z")
> [@merrick](#): > > Most of the Gulf Coast of the US and Mexico only gets one (very weak) tide a day, as does the Sea of Okhotsk, parts of Indonesia and part of Western Australia I recently watched a couple of episode of Fantasy Island (hey, they were free). I gave up when an episode featured as a plot point a cave that was flooded by the tide… which only happens once a day. I gave up\* on it, because it couldn’t even get that one fact right? But apparently it can be like that. I wonder if we could identify where Fantasy Island could be.\*\* Has to get only one tide, but high enough to flood a cave that is walkable during most of the time. \*really, it was because it was generally bad. I think most of what Mr. Rourke did was dose people with hallucinogens and guide their hallucinations. \*\* just kidding, I know its just offshore from Springfield ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/799 "2020-09-27T13:20:43Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > [Jimi Hendrix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix) was a fan of Kath, and declared him to be a better guitarist.[[23]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Kath#cite_note-cnn-23). I’ve heard the exact same quote about Phil Keaggy [(not hard to believe…)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3iSiij98VY&list=RDEMai6RkjmQgSVwc2VdstyFXw&start_radio=1). And at least one other guy, I seem to recall. Apparently, Mr. Jimi just walked down the street pointing at people: “Better guitarist than I am… better guitarist… better guitarist… better guitarist than I am. Somebody making note of these?” ---
**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 28, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/800 "2020-09-28T02:25:24Z")
The first time a million people assembled for one purpose on the continent of Australia was on 9 May 1927 for a royal visit. At the time, the population of Australia was six million. Also, the Jewish Motorcycle Alliance is a thing. They have a website and seem to have distinctive club colors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=39) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=41)