# 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:** 127
**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 28, 2025, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2521 "2025-05-28T12:36:08Z")
Most people of a certain age first heard Barry Manilow singing in the mid 1960s. As many people know, early in his career he wrote a number of commercial jingles. What I just found out, though, was that he was actually one of the singers on the Polaroid Swinger camera commercial back in the mid 1960s. Saw that on the Edwin Land doc on PBS. You can clearly hear him in the commercial. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2025, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2522 "2025-05-28T13:23:12Z")
Manilow was also the piano player for Bette Midler during her Bathhouse Betty days in the 70’s. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2025, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2523 "2025-05-28T15:41:20Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Most people of a certain age first heard Barry Manilow singing in the mid 1960s. In the 1960s, he sang in commercials. He did various things for other singers. It wasn’t until the 1970s that he made his own albums and had some hit records. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2524 "2025-05-28T16:03:20Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Not as handy as the extra fuel tank in front of the cockpit. Well clearly there was a reason for no windshield and I’m certainly no historical aviation expert. But I was responding to Chronos’ post, which if you had quoted my entire post made more sense: > [@Chronos](#): > > But Lindberg’s landing spot was probably just a big, completely-empty field. No other airplanes, no terminal buildings, no traffic-control tower, etc. > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I would think a windshield would be handy **in an emergency landing.** ---
**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:** [May 28, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2525 "2025-05-28T18:18:39Z")
> [@Xocomil](#): > > Electromagnetism is the only one of the fundamental forces that we can _feel_. It is, in fact, what allows us to observe stuff. All our measurements and observations involve some form of EM at the endpoint. This is a major reason why special relativity is so significant.        And it is what makes objects solid and opaque. Everything is composed of tiny things that are not all that close to each other, but the electorstatic force basically fills that otherwise unoccupied space ---
**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:** [May 28, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2526 "2025-05-28T20:36:29Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Everything is composed of tiny things that are not all that close to each other, but the electorstatic force basically fills that otherwise unoccupied space I heard it quoted by physicists on science shows that if you just isolated the “tiny things” that comprise the Empire State Building into a single pile, it would be about the size of a grain of rice. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2025, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2527 "2025-05-28T20:53:52Z")
Barry Manilow wrote hundreds of songs - including just about every one he recorded. One noteworthy song that he recorded but didn’t write is “I Write the Songs”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2528 "2025-05-28T21:07:54Z")
I’m listening to a webinar called The Care Series: Sleeping Well with a Busy Mind, which was shared by our company president. TIL that ‘People with liberal political beliefs tend to have more sleep disruption.’ ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2529 "2025-05-29T04:15:13Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Not to worry! They have a solution. They’re just seeking approval from the authorities. The Swiss have a related problem with Iodized Salt. In 1922, Switzerland was the first country in the world to introduce iodine in salt to protect the population from iodine deficiency (they drink mostly snow melt, and the country is geologically deficient in iodine). The problem is that EU rules require the separate labeling of iodine, and EU food rules regarding defined ingredients don’t permit the inclusion of iodine. Which means that products produced using iodized salt are difficult or even impossible to sell. As Swiss people switch away from using home-cooked food, they are getting less iodine, and iodine-deficiency disorders are becoming more common again. The medical side would like to get iodized salt into processed food, but so far, this hasn’t happened, because of the regulatory difficulties. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2530 "2025-05-29T15:02:00Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > I have seen chipmunks happily chow down on caterpillars they have found. Someone told me that they saw a chipmunk eat robin’s eggs. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2531 "2025-05-29T15:10:52Z")
I don’t know about chipmunks, we don’t have them here, but I do know that squirrels not only eat songbird’s eggs, but also the young nestlings. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2532 "2025-05-29T15:15:36Z")
Today I learned that Chipmunks and Squirrels are two different species. ---
**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 29, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2533 "2025-05-29T15:56:49Z")
If you count the red and the grey squirrels as two separate species, as you should, you get three different species. The grey species, BTW, is an invasive species in the UK and slowly exterminating the red one. **[Here are some data.](https://www.rsst.org.uk/red-and-grey-squirrels-the-differences/)** It is not welcome in the rest of Europe either. Wikipedia has an article about the introduction of the grey squirrel in Europe: > **[Eastern grey squirrels in Europe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_grey_squirrels_in_Europe)** > > Europe's grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) originated in North America, where they are known as eastern gray squirrels (to differentiate from western gray squirrels). They eat large seeds, flowers, buds, fruits, fungi, some insects and occasionally bird eggs. > They were first introduced into England, in a concerted way, in 1876, and through rapidly growing population and further introductions they spread to the rest of Great Britain by the early to mid-20th century. The eastern grey squirrel ... Chipmunks, on the other hand, call themselves punks but are anything but. Puerile leaning towards pathetic if you ask me: > **[Chipmunk Punk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipmunk_Punk)** > > Chipmunk Punk is an album by the Chipmunks, as well as being the first album released by Ross Bagdasarian Jr., after he took over the voices of the Chipmunks after the death of his father in 1972. Despite the title of the album, none of the songs listed are considered to be in the style of real punk rock music. It was released in June 1980 (see 1980 in music). The album peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard 200. It was certified gold by the RIAA on October 14, 1980, becoming the Chipmunks' first gol... ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2534 "2025-05-29T16:49:42Z")
Pandas have been seen in the wild catching and eating frogs. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2535 "2025-05-29T16:49:51Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Today I learned that Chipmunks and Squirrels are two different species. There’s more to learn than that. Those are just common names of two easily recognizable divisions of Sciuridae, which includes squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, prairie dogs, flying squirrels and others. There are about sixty species of scuirids in North America alone. About seventeen of those are “chipmunks”. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2536 "2025-05-29T17:23:33Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > If you count the red and the grey squirrels as two separate species, as you should, you get three different species. There’s also the black squirrels that have started to become quite common in Hertfordshire. But they’re a genetic mutation of greys. > **[Black squirrel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_squirrel)** > > Black squirrels are a melanistic subgroup of squirrels with black coloration on their fur. The phenomenon occurs with several species of squirrels, although it is most frequent with the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and the fox squirrel (Sciurus niger). Black morphs of the eastern gray and fox squirrels are the result of a variant pigment gene. Several theories have surfaced as to why the black morph occurs, with some suggesting that the black morph is a selective advantage for s... ---
**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:** [May 29, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2537 "2025-05-29T17:26:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Pandas have been seen in the wild catching and eating frogs. It’s not easy being green. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2538 "2025-05-29T18:28:13Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Pandas have been seen in the wild catching and eating frogs. Not really surprising though, as giant pandas are in the ursidae family, well suited to an omnivorous diet. Red pandas, by contrast, are not in ursidae, or any other family except for the one that contains red pandas and their extinct relative species. I believe they are called pandas because, like giant pandas, their diet staple is bamboo, even though it is not their ideal food. ---
**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 29, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2539 "2025-05-29T18:36:59Z")
Black squirrels? We don’t want the escapes of Mirkwood here. But don’t bother shooting them for food; I understand that they taste horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2540 "2025-05-29T18:39:18Z")
It says so in the Red Book of Westmarch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=126) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=128)