# 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:** 459
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9171 "2024-03-11T17:08:24Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > And a “natural born” one! Mom told a story about going through labor, and then being put under anesthesia _after_ I was born. That doesn’t sound natural to me. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9172 "2024-03-11T17:10:35Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > From the Times today, it appears that Calvin Coolidge had a pet raccoon. It was sent to him from a Southern state for dinner. No thanks. It had the run of the White House and he walked it on a leash. I wonder if it was housebroken… ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9173 "2024-03-11T17:31:47Z")
They’re too easily bribed with fishiiiiiez. [![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mdkWEGYqrM4/Ua-U7Eq76FI/AAAAAAAAG2k/VGvo8FfOMm8/s1600/Fishies.jpg) ](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mdkWEGYqrM4/Ua-U7Eq76FI/AAAAAAAAG2k/VGvo8FfOMm8/s1600/Fishies.jpg) ---
**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:** [March 11, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9174 "2024-03-11T20:49:57Z")
They are working on the storm sewer system in this city, with all kinds of heavy equipment cutting up the pavement. I walked past a pile of what looked like cut up pieces of the curb (there are plans to reshape the curb on this street and others), and there was a guy sitting in a loader right there waiting for his cue. I could not spot the curb that had been ripped up, so I asked him about it. He said that was stuff dug up from under the pavement (like macadam, I guess), and, most interestingly, that it had been ballast in the holds of ships that came over from China. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9175 "2024-03-11T21:25:52Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > There has been a recent development in solving the Feynman sprinkler-in-reverse problem. The sprinkler actually did rotate in the reverse direction, but the way the sprinkler was set up introduced [a new factor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM-VWNb5Trk). There’s nothing new there, and there’s nothing mysterious about the problem. When you include all of the forces (and hence torques) on the system, you get that the sprinkler rotates in reverse. The only way you get it rotating forward is by either omitting or double-counting some of the forces (most typically, by pointing out that there’s a nonzero pressure inside the arms of the sprinkler, while neglecting the fact that there’s also greater pressure outside). The vortices shown in that video are interesting, but they’re a manifestation of what you get from the pressure differences, not a separate contributing effect. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9176 "2024-03-11T21:26:22Z")
meanwhile - further south things are not going according to plan: _The Automotive Chamber of Venezuela (Cavenez) reported that 39 vehicles were assembled in Venezuela from January to September of this year [2023], that is, 25% less compared to the same period in 2022, when 52 units were produced._ (word on the street is, that they were ~~strongarmed~~ cheeringly motivated to assemble 14 more cars to be able to report a 2% growth towards a “fairerer” society) ---
**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:** [March 11, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9177 "2024-03-11T23:03:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The vortices shown in that video are interesting, but they’re a manifestation of what you get from the pressure differences, not a separate contributing effect. They are also an effect of the chosen design. The video showed an animation of Feynman attempting the experiment using a rather what I consider more standard design, with almost no inner chamber in which the multiple vortices form. How such a design would behave has to be somewhat different from how the experimental sprinkler does. What if the tubes are semicircles (sort of similar to the fan) that feed the flow into an inner chamber in the opposite direction from which they draw? That would behave unlike the experimental model as well. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9178 "2024-03-12T16:50:13Z")
According to this article, the panic over Orson Welles’ radio play _War of the Worlds_ was greatly exaggerated, partly by newspapers to discredit radio. > **[Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds Did Not Touch Off a Nationwide Hysteria. Few...](https://slate.com/culture/2013/10/orson-welles-war-of-the-worlds-panic-myth-the-infamous-radio-broadcast-did-not-cause-a-nationwide-hysteria.html)** > > Wednesday marks the 75th anniversary of Orson Welles’ electrifying War of the Worlds broadcast, in which the Mercury Theatre on the Air enacted a... ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2024, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9179 "2024-03-13T00:21:59Z")
If you want to address mail to a soveign city-state, like Singapore, you still need to include a line for the country even though it’s redundant. For example: Joe Blough 60 Belgrave Circle Singapore [postal code] **Republic of Singapore** Some years ago my SD was living there, and when we tried to mail something to her and omitted the last line, it came back to us. Apparently if the country is omitted then then USPS’ automated systems try to process it as domestic mail. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9180 "2024-03-14T13:32:56Z")
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “publicly” is the most commonly misspelled word in the English language. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9181 "2024-03-14T15:15:15Z")
I would have guessed “judgment”, but yeah, I can see “publicly” slipping by a lot of folks too. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9182 "2024-03-14T16:05:51Z")
TIL about the [Ayam Cemani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayam_Cemani) breed of chicken from Indonesia. They’re totally black: beak, feet, feathers, and all. Even the internal organs are black. Allegedly they sometimes lay black eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9183 "2024-03-14T17:12:31Z")
“Judgment” has another correct spelling, “judgement,” depending where you are. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9184 "2024-03-14T23:57:30Z")
Tell that to the judges at my 6th grade spelling bee. I lost because of that word. It _should_ have an “e” after the “g”. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9185 "2024-03-15T03:52:50Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > According to this article, the panic over Orson Welles’ radio play _War of the Worlds_ was greatly exaggerated… Tell that to my friend Dave’s dad. He and his teenage friends immediately hitchhiked downtown to the Army recruiting office to sign up and get out to New Jersey that day… “Before the Martians spread any farther!” ---
**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:** [March 15, 2024, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9186 "2024-03-15T03:58:59Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Then why is it always served first, and not _with_ the first course, if they’re intended to be eaten together? More importantly, if so, why is it nearly always removed when the entrees arrive? That may well be proper etiquette, but I can’t recall ever seeing it followed. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9187 "2024-03-15T09:59:53Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Tell that to my friend Dave’s dad. He and his teenage friends immediately hitchhiked downtown to the Army recruiting office to sign up and get out to New Jersey that day… “Before the Martians spread any farther!” Just because a very few relatives-of-a-friend reacted that way doesn’t mean it was widespread. And that’s even presuming Dave’s dad isn’t the type to embellish a story for entertainment value (I know a few who would, especially when telling stories to their kid). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9188 "2024-03-15T12:14:42Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > if so, why is it nearly always removed when the entrees arrive? At a local Italian restaurant they bring bread with our salads. We don’t touch the bread until our entrees arrive and they never take it. In fact, they know us and bring more while we eat our entrees, which we don’t touch. With our check they bring a take-out box for our excess bread. We let it sit out and get a bit stale, then use it for French toast. I told our waitress (the owner’s daughter) about this and she’s now doing it also. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9189 "2024-03-16T14:38:58Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Some years ago my SD was living there […] Is SD the Straight Dope? Social Democrat? Or something else maybe? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9190 "2024-03-16T16:43:48Z")
Moderating: > [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Is SD the Straight Dope? Social Democrat? Or something else maybe? This is being a jerk. If you don’t understand an acronym, you can ask politely. Trying to hijack the thread with your acronym hobbyhorse is not appropriate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=458) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=460)