# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785 "2024-07-25T15:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 115
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2281 "2025-05-08T18:30:54Z")
The officers of the Harvard Lampoon are president, ibis, and narthax. The Ivy League has the patent on preciosity. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2282 "2025-05-08T20:28:08Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The Ivy League has the patent on preciosity. The word “preciosity” itself is quite self-referential, now that you mention it. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2283 "2025-05-08T20:42:48Z")
The word “arena” has its origins in an ancient word for “sand,” because. . . well, they had sand in the areas for the gladiators fought. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2284 "2025-05-08T20:47:09Z")
Arena is still the Spanish word for sand, the only one we have for it. The good thing about sand in places like the Colosseum, it seems, is that it absorbed the blood of the people who worked there so the floor did not get slippery for the next act. Not like basketball, for instance, where they keep on moping up the floor when there is even a bit of sweat on it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2285 "2025-05-08T20:49:53Z")
So is erudite, not to mention sesquipedalian. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2025, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2286 "2025-05-08T21:22:24Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > where they keep on moping up the floor Sounds depressing. Isn’t there some way to cheer them up? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2287 "2025-05-09T13:20:18Z")
The song [Hello Ma Ragtime Girl](https://ragpiano.com/lyrics/lyhello.htm) was written in 1899 about the newish invention called the “telephone.” The Frog sings only the chorus. The other lyrics seem as though the operator is the “Ragtime Gal,” to me, anyway. According to the wiki, “Hello” at the time was pretty much used only for telephones and not a general salutation. (Also seems to be written in, eh. . . ‘dialect.’) ---
**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:** [May 9, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2288 "2025-05-09T14:10:59Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > The song [Hello Ma Ragtime Girl](https://ragpiano.com/lyrics/lyhello.htm) was written in 1899 about the newish invention called the “telephone.” The Frog sings only the chorus. The other lyrics seem as though the operator is the “Ragtime Gal,” to me, anyway. According to the wiki, “Hello” at the time was pretty much used only for telephones and not a general salutation. > > (Also seems to be written in, eh. . . ‘dialect.’) Your post confused me, because I thought this was written by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese specifically for the cartoon _One Froggy Evening_ It turns out that what they wrote was “The Michigan Rag”, which is a different song used in the cartoon: > [@](#): > > Everybody do the Michigan Rag > Everybody likes the Michigan Rag > Every Mame and Jane and Ruth > From Weehawken to Duluth > Slide, ride, glide the Michigan > Stomp, romp, pomp the Michigan > Jump, clump, pump the Michigan Rag > That lovin’ rag! ! > **[One Froggy Evening - The Michigan Rag](https://froggyeve.tripod.com/michiganrag.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2289 "2025-05-09T15:35:57Z")
Apologies if if I’ve missed this, but today I learned that the late Pope died exactly 9 years to the day after the musical artist Prince, who once recorded a song named _[Pope](https://youtu.be/ObAGzMw-sWU?si=XezOt-pO2MuUkmg7)_. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2290 "2025-05-09T15:53:48Z")
…and when pope Leo was a cardinal, he was a Prince of the Church, so it comes full circle. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2291 "2025-05-09T16:15:02Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > The musical director is Pitchpipe. This is pretty common for college a capella groups (at least it was in the nineties). Usually shortened to “pitch”. I was pitch for my a capella group my senior year, after being assistant pitch for two years. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2292 "2025-05-09T23:25:29Z")
Whereas in an orchestra they are called Tár. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2293 "2025-05-10T00:13:16Z")
That took me longer than I care to admit… ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2294 "2025-05-10T00:17:33Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > The opening credits of most American movies run top-to-bottom. I think you mean bottom-to-top, scrolling upwards? [Kiss Me Deadly](https://archive.org/details/kissmedeadly1955_202001) scrolls down. The reason this caught my eye is remembering _THX 1138_ scrolls down, but I figured George Lucas just wanted to indicate how different (dystopian?) the movie will be. (Okay, I had to watch both movies to make sure we were all heading in the correct directions.) I did look at a couple other movies. (like two, so not a complete survey.) Beginning credits tend to be flash card types; closing credits were scrolling. _THX 1138_ reversed that trend and had most of the credits in the beginning, and actor lists and thanks flashing at the end. David Ogden Steers was in it! Also Johnny Weissmuller Jr (son of Tarzan) as one of the two Chrome Robots. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2295 "2025-05-10T01:29:42Z")
I’ve been interested in mineralogy and crystals since childhood, but until recently I never really thought through how it’s possible that some minerals like garnet are in the isometric (cubic) crystal system, but come in dodecahedral crystals, among other possible habits. I didn’t get how a cubiform crystal such as fluorite could be cleaved into an octahedron. None of the popular mineralogy books I had read explained or illustrated these phenomena adequately. Then one day I was in a car (not driving myself) as we were driving past an orchard in which all the trees were positioned exactly equidistant from each other in all directions. Watching the orchard as we passed, I noticed that there were several angles from which I could see all the way through the orchard. Between two rows, obviously, i could see all the way theough. Similarly, looking through at a 45° angle works. But I also noticed several other ways I could see all the way through. It then hit me that the same principle must work with a crystal lattice in three dimensions. The possible faces of a crystal or cleavage fragment represent the ways that you could pass an imaginary plane through the lattice without it touching any of the atoms or molecules. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2025, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2296 "2025-05-10T12:39:02Z")
I call that the “Arlington effect”, because I first noticed it in Arlington National Cemetery. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2297 "2025-05-10T14:53:57Z")
> [@Kzbre5m](#): > > I think you mean bottom-to-top, scrolling upwards? Actually, my post (#2279) was wrong on most counts and should be ignored. I fear I have disgraced this thread by posting non-facts. I am shamed and deeply, sincerely sorry. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment with the Agony Booth. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2298 "2025-05-10T15:37:48Z")
The GLP-1 weight loss/diabetes family of medicines was developed from a chemical in [gila monster venom](https://theconversation.com/wegovy-was-inspired-by-gila-monster-venom-here-are-some-other-drugs-with-surprising-origins-208630). ACE inhibitors were developed from Brazilian pit viper venom. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2299 "2025-05-10T15:58:05Z")
And the key ingredient in PCR DNA-multiplication techniques was an enzyme from the organisms that live in the Yellowstone hotsprings, since it wouldn’t be degraded by the repeated cycles of near-boiling temperature. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2300 "2025-05-10T16:42:58Z")
Apparently, there’s an elephant buried under the Vatican. A pet of one of the previous Pope Leos in the 16th century. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=114) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=116)