# 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:** 444
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8871 "2024-02-03T03:00:20Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Jesse Owens was not snubbed by Hitler as is often believed. In the 200 meters, Owens won gold with a time of 20.7 seconds. Coming in second, and winning Silver, with a time of 21.1 seconds, was another Black American, Mack Robinson. If you haven’t heard of Mack Robinson, I bet you’ve heard of his younger brother, Jack Roosevelt Robinson, who went by the nickname Jackie. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2024, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8872 "2024-02-03T03:31:51Z")
It sounds weird at first, but it’s obvious with a couple of details You physically cannot exceed the weight limit on a USPS small flat rate box. That sounds strange until you find out that USPS has the same weight limit for all of their flat rate boxes, which is 70 pounds. The small box is about the size of a trade paperback. If you imagine a trade paperback that weighs 70 pounds, it becomes fairly obvious that you’re not going to find anything dense enough (at least on earth) to tip the scales. For reference, the small box is 8 11⁄16" x 5 7⁄16" x 1 ¾ ---
**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:** [February 3, 2024, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8873 "2024-02-03T03:56:47Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > The small box is about the size of a trade paperback. If you imagine a trade paperback that weighs 70 pounds, it becomes fairly obvious that you’re not going to find anything dense enough (at least on earth) to tip the scales. > > For reference, the small box is 8 11⁄16" x 5 7⁄16" x 1 ¾ We had a relevant thread: that size brick of solid iridium would be a bit over 67 pounds, which is darn close. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8874 "2024-02-03T04:29:11Z")
That much iridium would cost over 5.5 million dollars. A tungsten brick that size would cost only a couple of hundred dollars but it would only weigh about 57 pounds. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2024, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8875 "2024-02-03T04:56:11Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > That much iridium would cost over 5.5 million dollars. Osmium is very slightly denser, and also a little more affordable, at a little under a quarter the cost of iridium, but the brick would still only weigh a couple ounces more. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8876 "2024-02-03T14:02:28Z")
Dammit. I need to ship somebody some neutron star pieces. What do I do now? ---
**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:** [February 3, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8877 "2024-02-03T14:30:41Z")
That’s easy: Just take them out of the box. Unboxing them will also deliver them to your destination (and to everywhere else on Earth, all at once). Same-minute delivery. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2024, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8878 "2024-02-03T16:59:22Z")
Send me the box. If you have a way to safely package active neutronium, I want to study that. I mean, the neutronium itself is interesting, but the box even moreso. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8879 "2024-02-03T17:07:41Z")
Hollywood was named such by the developers for a plant called Toyon that grows in the area. It’s called “California holly” because of the red berries that grow on it, but it’s not part of that family. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8880 "2024-02-03T19:00:00Z")
I think that is an urban legend. Wikipedia has a different explanation of the origin of the name: > [Daeida Wilcox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daeida_Wilcox_Beveridge), who donated land to help in the development of Hollywood, learned of the name _Hollywood_ from an acquaintance who owned an estate by that name in Illinois. Wilcox is quoted as saying, “I chose the name Hollywood simply because it sounds nice and because I’m superstitious and holly brings good luck.” It cites an [article by the Natural History Museum](https://nhm.org/stories/california-holly-how-hollywood-didnt-get-its-name) which says > In Nancy Dale’s 1986 epic tome of Southern California native plants, Flowering Plants, she has this to say about Toyon — aka California Holly, Christmas Berry, or, if you’re a botanist, Heteromeles arbutifolia: “It is thought that masses of this native shrub growing on the hills above Hollywood gave the community its name.” > This idea of floral origins for Hollywood is romantic. It’s also not true. Hollywood got its name for a much more mundane reason: someone wealthy liked the sound of it. and goes on to relate the story that Wilcox named it based on the name of the Illinois estate. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8881 "2024-02-03T19:46:02Z")
Interesting. I read what I posted in Michael Caine’s autobiography. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8882 "2024-02-03T19:46:34Z")
I’m a California native, from a family of educated gardeners, who has never heard of Toyon being called California Holly. Or Christmas Berry for that matter. Although the California Native Plant Society quotes both as alternative names. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2024, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8883 "2024-02-04T07:56:36Z")
The church bell tower at Yarpole in Herefordshire (England) is made of four wooden corner-posts, from trees felled around the year 1195 - and they had been growing for about 200 years then. > **[Yarpole Bell Tower](https://www.yarpole.org/index.php/st-leonard-s-church/yarpole-bell-tower)** > > Yarpole Bell Tower is one of the oldest timber frame buildings in England, dating from the winter of 1185. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2024, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8884 "2024-02-04T09:37:55Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > The church bell tower at Yarpole in Herefordshire (England) is made of four wooden corner-posts, from trees felled around the year 1195 - and they had been growing for about 200 years then. This is about 5 miles from me and a very lovely church with some interesting graves. The timbers have been dated to either 845 or 1053, so either way it would have been standing when the trees for Yarpole were mere saplings. > **[Greensted Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensted_Church)** > > Greensted Church, in the small village of Greensted, near Chipping Ongar in Essex, England, has been claimed to be the oldest wooden church in the world, and probably the oldest wooden building in Europe still standing, albeit only in part, since few sections of its original wooden structure remain. The oak walls are often classified as remnants of a palisade church or, more loosely, as a kind of early stave church, dated either to the mid-9th or mid-11th century. > The Grade I listed building l... ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2024, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8885 "2024-02-04T10:25:00Z")
I’ll smack my wrist: I forgot all about Greensted, and I’ve been there, bought the jam, etc… (Mind you, there’s not much of the original church left, by contrast with Yarpole) ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2024, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8886 "2024-02-04T18:10:35Z")
Damnit! I missed it again this year…. > **[Gorilla Suit Day - January 31, 2025](https://www.holidaycalendar.io/holiday/gorilla-suit-day)** > > Get ready to go wild on Gorilla Suit Day! Don't monkey around - grab your suit and join in on the fun with fellow gorilla enthusiasts. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2024, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8887 "2024-02-05T11:10:06Z")
I told my Mom about this important holiday and she thought I said “Gorilla Soup”. 😁 ---
**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:** [February 5, 2024, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8888 "2024-02-05T12:14:05Z")
An interesting article from the BBC about that lost fashion accessory that I know everyone misses: the codpiece. Imagine someone pulling money out of there in a store? > **[How the codpiece flopped](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240202-what-happened-to-the-codpiece)** > > Some codpieces were empty – while others were used to store potpourri. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8889 "2024-02-05T14:47:32Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Creed from _The Office_ (US) was also lead guitarist for The Grass Roots way back in 1967. He looks so bored in that clip, and he’s NOT taking the “rock and roll star” stuff seriously. He gets a bit silly just to amuse himself. No surprise that he ended up on a comedy show. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/8890 "2024-02-05T15:07:48Z")
I saw Creed perform at a little music club. It was talking about his life from his music days through The Office interspersed with playing music. We all sang Live for Today together at the end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=443) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=445)