# 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:** 402
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8031 "2023-11-06T20:06:33Z")
> ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8032 "2023-11-07T01:02:40Z")
Finally! A sport I could do well in! ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8033 "2023-11-07T01:10:22Z")
All of China is in one time zone. It’s the same time in Shanghai as it is in Kashgar - 4200 km/2600 miles directly west. You go back two hours when you cross the western border into the adjoining K-Stans; 3 hours into Pakistan; 3.5 hours in Afghanistan. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8034 "2023-11-07T01:54:22Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Jeffrey Combs, famed (to me, anyway) star of the Re-Animator films, as well as several VA credits and TV roles, has a very distinctive cold, snarky, and slimy voice, that fits his characters very well. I always assumed that it was just a slightly altered version of his real voice-but it isn’t. He actually sounds different IRL. You’ve never heard James Earl Jone’s natural voice. The voice everyone knows is an assumed voice, his way of beating a stutter. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8035 "2023-11-07T01:57:26Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > All of China is in one time zone. Whereas Russia covers 11 time zones. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8036 "2023-11-07T03:29:31Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > All of China is in one time zone. It’s the same time in Shanghai as it is in Kashgar - 4200 km/2600 miles directly west. You go back two hours when you cross the western border into the adjoining K-Stans; 3 hours into Pakistan; 3.5 hours in Afghanistan. It must be a decision by the government. The sun doesn’t care about governments. Imagine one time zone in the US. Assume a 8AM to 5 workday. People on the East Coast would go to work in daylight and go to bed at 9 when its night. West coast goes to work in the dark at 8AM and won’t see daylight until 11AM. 9 pm bedtime would still be daylight. I guess you can get used to anything. I’m glad we have time zones. Rural people get up by the sun and ignore clocks. Livestock don’t wakeup to eat until sunrise. You really can’t plow the fields efficiently in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8037 "2023-11-07T10:56:50Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I guess you can get used to anything. Yes you can. This is why I think the whole world should use the same clock. When it’s 12pm in Greenwich, it should be 12pm everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8038 "2023-11-07T11:39:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You’ve never heard James Earl Jone’s natural voice. The voice everyone knows is an assumed voice, his way of beating a stutter. And Samuel L. Jackson says “motherfucker” to beat _his_ stutter. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8039 "2023-11-07T12:06:58Z")
[Alex the parrot is the only non-human animal that has ever asked an existential question.](https://mymodernmet.com/alex-the-african-gray-parrot/) ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8040 "2023-11-07T13:54:09Z")
I stumbled across this purely by accident, but it blew me away. This takes a bit to explain. Fontaine Foxx created the comic strip **Toonerville Folks** , which is probably not so well-known today to your average person, but is considered iconic (although usually as “Toonerville Trolley”). But he never let it be continued, as many strip asre, and itt’s rarely been collected and reprinted. Anyway, like L. Frank Baum, who started a silent movie series based on his Oz books, Foxx started a silent movie series based on his strip. Instead iof starring one of his adult characters, the focus was on the town bully, a little boy named Mickey McGuire (“himself”). They were apparently a lot like Hal Roach’s “Our Gang/Little Rascals” comedies. But, again, they were never syndicated to TV, so they’re little known today. Very popular in their time. They starred a (when he started) seven year old son of vaudeville parents named Joseph Yule, Jr. as McGuire. He eventually had his own name changed to Mickey Maguire (slight spelling difference) for some sort of copyright legal case. Except for a short span, Mickey Maguire _was_ Mickey McGuire for nine years and 78 films, crossing into the sound era. Mickey was justifiably proud of his accomplishments, and nanme. He claimed to have influenced Walt Disney’s changing the name of his cartoon mouse from “Mortimer” to “Mickey” (although that’s not the story the Disney people tell.) The role ended in 1936, and Mickey, who had also acted in other films, was going to start working with other studios. But they objected to his using the name “Maguire”, claiming that they owned it. He still wanted to be “Mickey”, but he changed his last name… …to Rooney. And this was a year before the first Andy Hardy movie. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8041 "2023-11-07T14:03:29Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Whereas Russia covers 11 time zones. [Appropriate Link](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QDmWYVdN8ug&pp=ygUWbmVnYXRpdmxhbmQgdGltZSB6b25lcw%3D%3D) ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8042 "2023-11-07T14:26:39Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > > [@aceplace57](#): > > > > I guess you can get used to anything. > > Yes you can. This is why I think the whole world should use the same clock. When it’s 12pm in Greenwich, it should be 12pm everywhere Or rather, time should be kept in 24 hour Zulu mode, but local activities follow a convenient day/night schedule. So in the Central time zone most businesses would have hours of 14:00 to 23:00 Zulu. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8043 "2023-11-07T14:32:45Z")
Have you read the Metric conversion threads? ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8044 "2023-11-07T15:13:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Roughly 100 competitive daydreamers gathered in Tokyo yesterday for their first annual “Space-out Competition” > [@Zyada](#): > > Finally! A sport I could do well in! You wish. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8045 "2023-11-07T21:23:13Z")
Burt Ward (Robin from the Batman TV show) and Linna Quigley (a lot of b-movies) were in a movie together called _Virgin High_. Haven’t seen it, don’t plan to do so. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8046 "2023-11-09T01:03:37Z")
According to Google Maps, driving distance from El Paso, Texas to San Diego, California is 726 miles. Driving distance from El Paso to Houston, also in Texas, is 746 miles. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8047 "2023-11-09T13:52:51Z")
According to researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology, all mammals spend 21 seconds urinating. Size doesn’t matter. Elephants and rats spend the same time emptying their bladders. Apparently mother nature has hit on this number as the best compromise for minimizing vulnerability. Maybe predators take 22 seconds to target and attack? Cite: [21-Second Rule Governs Mammal Micturition - Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/21-second-rule-mammal-urination/) ---
**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:** [November 9, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8048 "2023-11-09T14:55:34Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > According to Google Maps, driving distance from El Paso, Texas to San Diego, California is 726 miles. Driving distance from El Paso to Houston, also in Texas, is 746 miles. Also according to Google Maps, the driving distance from Brownsville, Texas to [Buffalo Springs in the Texas panhandle](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Buffalo+Springs,+TX+79022/@36.350903,-103.0852881,10z/data=!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x86fe6a753dded2e9:0x45a7d4f5bcee15a!2sBuffalo+Springs,+TX!3b1!8m2!3d33.5320312!4d-101.708218!16zL20vMDEwNXhk!3m5!1s0x870583ab57bafd9d:0xfbad6acea86527d!8m2!3d36.4866699!4d-102.7588899!16s%2Fm%2F04by633?entry=ttu) is 100 miles less than the driving distance from Buffalo Springs to Portal, North Dakota. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8049 "2023-11-09T15:08:41Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Roughly 100 competitive daydreamers gathered in Tokyo yesterday for their first annual “Space-out Competition” > > > [@Zyada](#): > > > > Finally! A sport I could do well in! > > You wish. Very nice. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8050 "2023-11-09T15:13:23Z")
At the opposite end of the country, a driving route from Portland, Maine, to Battleboro, Vermont, to Providence, Rhode Island, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore, Maryland is 669 miles. This route passes through 11 states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=401) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=403)