# 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:** 432
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8631 "2024-01-12T04:44:36Z")
Not for nothing, but I still consider lobster to be slop. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8632 "2024-01-12T04:48:46Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Well, you do if you can keep it from catching fire. Sheesh! A river catches fire once, and they never let you forget it! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8633 "2024-01-12T05:14:58Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > This word was coined in 1977 in a newspaper contest: > > **aibohphobia** > > The fear of palindromes. And I thought that was going to be the fear of [small robot dogs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIBO)… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8634 "2024-01-12T05:28:27Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > > [@zimaane](#): > > > > I think what is shown in the photo is a berm supporting the belt, plus dust being blown off the top, rather than the belt itself. So, it’s a bit of an exaggeration to say the belt can be seen from space. > > Hell, the only way to see the belt itself with [Google’s satellite view](https://www.google.com/maps/place/El+Marsa/@26.730735,-13.0814336,70851m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0xc3764c5754c164f:0x32a8e23a9ef08903!8m2!3d27.0599878!4d-13.4222797!16s%2Fm%2F05zwt92?entry=ttu) is to zoom in really tight. The Tim Traveller paid it a visit! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/67FzgaSWDDw/maxresdefault.jpg "The 98km Conveyor Belt System & The International Border Dispute") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67FzgaSWDDw) ---
**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:** [January 12, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8635 "2024-01-12T17:44:53Z")
In 1970, the North American radio station with the most listeners outside of the NY and Chicago areas was CKLW, based in Windsor ON - across the river from Detroit. [CKLW-AM – The History of Canadian Broadcasting (broadcasting-history.ca)](https://broadcasting-history.ca/radio/radio-stations/ontario/ontario-south-western/cklw-am/) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8636 "2024-01-12T18:10:49Z")
I’m not surprised by that. I grew up (on a farm in Ohio) in the mid-1960s listening to mostly Motown music, despite the fact that I didn’t know any Blacks personally. The Four Tops are still my favorite band. I listened to Motown music on CKLW. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8637 "2024-01-12T18:34:59Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Granny Smith apple peels taste horrible. Agreed, if you are talking about the apples grown in the U.S.A. We used to get Granny Smith apples from New Zealand and those peels tasted remarkably different and delicious. I’ve been curious about the difference for years, but the U.S. no longer imports apples from New Zealand and I can’t afford to take a trip to discover more about why the difference. I suspect we are treating them differently or cross-bred them so they would tolerate cold storage for a while (the New Zealand ones didn’t last more than a couple of months). Whatever it did, it turned Granny Smith into a cooking-only apple because of that peel. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8638 "2024-01-12T18:37:17Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I’m not surprised by that. I grew up (on a farm in Ohio) in the mid-1960s listening to mostly Motown music, despite the fact that I didn’t know any Blacks personally. The Four Tops are still my favorite band. I listened to Motown music on CKLW. Also, it was about a hundred miles straight-line from our farm to the CKLW studio. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8639 "2024-01-12T18:40:58Z")
I grew up in a house with a granny smith tree in the back yard. I like to tell about seeing my brother extract the juice to make cider using a burlap sack full of apples and a #32 Louisville Slugger. I think he had issues. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8640 "2024-01-12T19:02:53Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Sheesh! A river catches fire once, and they never let you forget it! reminds me of that joke … (but you fugg ONE sheep, and …) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8641 "2024-01-13T13:04:27Z")
I knew the life expectancy in the USA was falling. TIL just how far behind we are. 47th in the world, and falling. This is very close to the statistic that predicted the fall of the USSR. > **[Life Expectancy by Country and in the World (2024) - Worldometer](https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/)** > > List of countries and dependencies in the world ranked by life expectancy at birth, both sexes, males and females. World Population Life Expectancy with historical chart ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8642 "2024-01-13T16:13:19Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > TIL just how far behind we are. The chart in the website you quote says nothing directly about the life expectancy falling in the U.S. It says that life expectancy is close to the bottom for what we think of as “developed” countries. It’s above that for what we think of as “developing” countries, in some cases well above that. Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped and than increased a little over the past four years because of Covid, just like it has in many countries. Before then, life expectancy has been increasing generally in the U.S. since about 1875, just as it has been doing in nearly all countries. So why isn’t the life expectancy in the U.S. as high as in nearly every other “developed” country? It’s because we don’t have universal health coverage and we do have more financial inequality than in nearly every other “developed” country. Regardless of how rich your country is on the whole, you can’t have as high a life expectancy as nearly every other “developed” country if you don’t have universal health coverage and not nearly as much financial inequality as the U.S. does. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8643 "2024-01-13T19:39:05Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > This article doesn’t address that specifically but [does cast doubt on some lobster lore.](https://seagrant.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Lobster_Lore_Print.pdf) My BiL is from Maine, and as a poorish kid (over 60 years ago), he had lobster in his school lunchbox. It marked him as poor. Not like the rich kids who had PB&J! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8644 "2024-01-13T23:39:13Z")
When my family made homemade icecream for birthday parties my father never bought ice. He got a burlap bag and a two by four and whacked the heck out of ice blocks frozen in cardboard milk cartons. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2024, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8645 "2024-01-13T23:48:09Z")
8 billion people are currently alive on Earth. An estimated 117 billion individuals have lived since Day One. (of course - 109 billion of them are dead). [How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth? | PRB](https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/) ---
**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:** [January 14, 2024, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8646 "2024-01-14T00:20:47Z")
Though that depends, of course, on when you define “people” to start. @Baker , my relatives with ice-cream makers used a similar technique. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8647 "2024-01-14T00:37:48Z")
I myself make homemade icecream occasionally but it’s a table top model. I don’t buy the ice, I plan in advance. I half fill ice cube trays and keep doing it until I have enough. So I can’t do it on a whim, but have to start about three days in advance. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8648 "2024-01-14T01:00:04Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > 8 billion people are currently alive on Earth. An estimated 117 billion individuals have lived since Day One. (of course - 109 billion of them are dead). > > How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth? [The Master Speaks](https://www.straightdope.com/21341592/how-many-people-have-lived-on-earth-since-the-dawn-of-time) ---
**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:** [January 14, 2024, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8649 "2024-01-14T01:24:29Z")
4% of the sand of Omaha beach is made up of shrapnel particles from the invasion of Normandy. > **[War sand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_sand)** > > War sand is sand contaminated by remains of projectiles used in war. This kind of sand has been found in Normandy, since the invasion of Normandy, among other places. In 1988, the sand on Omaha Beach was discovered to contain man-made metal and glass particles deriving from shrapnel; 4% of the sand in the sample was composed of shrapnel particles ranging in size between 0.06 millimetres (0.0024 in) and 1 mm (0.039 in). Researchers also discovered trace amounts of iron and glass beads in the In 20... ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8650 "2024-01-14T04:29:08Z")
A more pleasant counterpart is [Glass Beach in California](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_Beach_(Fort_Bragg,_California)). The pictures on that page show a much higher preponderance of glass than when I visited in summer 2022. A Wikimedia picture from 2015: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Glass_Beach_Fort_Bragg.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Glass_Beach_Fort_Bragg.jpg) From the descriptions we read before going, that’s what I was expecting: a beach full of glass. So I was somewhat let down to see this 18 months ago. [![Google Photos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ABLVV867AeUhmEZXNomNH8BEuZMlO64ef-Rd30QeHe4XNTzGpU2wmStbOMZQWyPyaYR2riuAk1GhxlX4GFP9AscQDCWVXpOXX3b2HlEgzHj-wzUgTdur_l1y=w600-h315-p-k "New item by James Hyder") ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/QSGFs4QewGshtoud6) Mostly pebbles with some glass. Apparently a lot of tourists take samples with them, even though signs ask you not to. We didn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=431) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=433)