# 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:** 155
**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:** [August 25, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3081 "2025-08-25T18:20:03Z")
What’s interesting to me is the larger issue that scientists have become so sensitive of the ways that science can be wrong, shortsighted, misused, or weaponized that no new technology can be talked about without someone forecasting apocalypse. AI is the current glaring example, but I’ve also seen it in weather modification technology, geoengineering, modifying bacteria to eat plastic, and more. Obviously it’s good to think of the ramifications ahead of time, lack of which has been harmful in the past. But apocalypse has never come close to happening. True, it only needs to happen once… ---
**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:** [August 25, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3082 "2025-08-25T20:57:21Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Obviously it’s good to think of the ramifications ahead of time, lack of which has been harmful in the past. But apocalypse has never come close to happening. Thank god we have the FDA who never approved thalidomide because IIRC, the birth defects were based on chirality. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3083 "2025-08-25T23:29:34Z")
How is this in any way related to a systemic apocalypse caused by the creation of “mirror” life? ---
**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:** [August 26, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3084 "2025-08-26T00:41:11Z")
There was an episode of _The Outer Limits_, probably _The Borderland_, that aired when I was about 6 or 7 years old. The TV Guide description said something about scientists finding a dimension where everything is a mirror image of its proper form. I had no idea what “mirror image” meant; I envisioned a landscape littered with upright mirrors with a person standing in front of each mirror. In the episode, someone has one of their hands reversed, but there was no discussion of the biological problems that such a process would entail, at both a macroscopic and a microscopic level. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2025, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3085 "2025-08-26T00:52:55Z")
I recently learned about [Audrey Munson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Munson), America’s first supermodel – as in artist’s model. In the 1910s, there are dozens of sculptures featuring her, with many still existing (there’s one not far from me). She also is likely the first woman to do a nude scene in a non-pornographic film. Her career ended when a man murdered his wife in order to marry her; she insisted she had no romantic interest in him, but left town so the police couldn’t question her. That ended her modeling career. She was put into an asylum with depression and schizophrenia in 1931 and spent the rest of her life in various facilities, dying in 1996 at the age of 104. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2025, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3086 "2025-08-26T04:01:43Z")
Pssst! > [@Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2982): > > I just learned about [Audrey Munson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Munson), a artist’s model of the early 20th century and sometimes called “America’s First Supermodel.” She was the model for more then a dozen statues in New York City and many more in other cities worldwide, many still around today. She moved on to film, where she became possibly the first actress to appear nude in a non-pornographic film. [Inspiration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspiration_(1915_film)), from 1915, where she portrayed an artist’s model. Because she didn’t move when undressed, the movie was considered a… ---
**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:** [August 26, 2025, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3087 "2025-08-26T18:03:46Z")
I just learned what a limnic eruption is. It’s also known as a “lake overturn”, in which dissolved CO2 suddenly erupts from deep lake waters, forming a gas cloud that is lethal for all living things. A particularly lethal event was the Lake Nyos eruption in 1986, in which the gas cloud erupted at about 60mph, spewing up to 300 tons of CO2 which then descended (being heavier than air) onto villages in northwest Cameroon, killing 1700 people and 3500 livestock, along with innumerable smaller birds, bugs and animals in a 25km radius. They’re pretty rare, thankfully, and a vent system has been installed in Lake Nyos to bleed off CO2 before it becomes a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3088 "2025-08-26T18:18:12Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > forming a gas cloud that is lethal for all living things Floral and fungal living things are not affected. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3089 "2025-08-26T18:42:23Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I just learned what a limnic eruption is. It’s also known as a “lake overturn”, in which dissolved CO2 suddenly erupts from deep lake waters, forming a gas cloud that is lethal for all living things. A particularly lethal event was the Lake Nyos eruption in 1986, in which the gas cloud erupted at about 60mph, spewing up to 300 tons of CO2 which then descended (being heavier than air) onto villages in northwest Cameroon, killing 1700 people and 3500 livestock, along with innumerable smaller birds, bugs and animals in a 25km radius. They’re pretty rare, thankfully, and a vent system has been installed in Lake Nyos to bleed off CO2 before it becomes a problem. I remember that was the major plot point in an episode of the show _Scorpion._ ---
**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:** [August 26, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3090 "2025-08-26T19:37:57Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Floral and fungal living things are not affected. Thanks. I just reread the article and noticed that. There is some concern about Lake Kivu, which is much larger than Nyos and has the same sort of characteristics, i.e., being in an active volcanic area and being very deep. An eruption there would have the potential of killing millions, as the lake is near populous areas of Congo and Rwanda. ---
**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:** [August 28, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3091 "2025-08-28T16:59:07Z")
Spiders keep fireflies they catch in their webs alive to attract more insects, particularly more fireflies. And it works! [Spiders seen keeping fireflies as glowing prisoners that draw more prey to their webs | Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/animals/spiders/spiders-seen-keeping-fireflies-as-glowing-prisoners-that-draw-more-prey-to-their-webs)? I think it is cool the spiders (sheet web spiders _**[Psechrus clavis](https://wsc.nmbe.ch/species/27880/Psechrus_clavis)**_ to be precise) do it, I find it cool the researchers found out, and it is cool they did a control experiment with LEDs to find out whether it is an effective strategy or not. And it seems it is. It works best when they catch a female firefly, then they attract many more male fireflies, but it also works with other species of insect. ---
**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:** [August 28, 2025, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3092 "2025-08-28T17:49:16Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I think it is cool the spiders (sheet web spiders _**[Psechrus clavis](https://wsc.nmbe.ch/species/27880/Psechrus_clavis)**_ to be precise) do it, I find it cool the researchers found out, and it is cool they did a control experiment with LEDs to find out whether it is an effective strategy or not. And it seems it is. It works best when they catch a female firefly, then they attract many more male fireflies, but it also works with other species of insect. Could they do it to catch more LEDs? ---
**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:** [August 28, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3093 "2025-08-28T18:38:01Z")
I guess the researchers did it to catch more grants. ---
**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:** [August 29, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3094 "2025-08-29T16:13:59Z")
I’m reading “One Summer: America 1927” by Bryson. A good read so far. I was surprised to learn that Herbert Hoover was actually considered a hero and was universally admired prior to his presidency. He was a miserable SOB and was never seen to smile or laugh, sort of like someone else we know, but his ability to successfully take on seemingly impossible tasks like feeding thousands of people in need was second to none. ---
**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:** [August 29, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3095 "2025-08-29T16:59:15Z")
He was also independently wealthy and IIRC gave his government salary to charity. Which I believe led to his problem in dealing with the Depression as he thought the wealthy would help the poor = problem solved. ---
**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:** [August 29, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3096 "2025-08-29T22:23:28Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > was surprised to learn that Herbert Hoover was actually considered a hero and was universally admired prior to his presidency. Hoover was credited with saving Belgium from famine during world war 1, when they were under a wartime embargo. > [@](#): > > Herbert Hoover gained worldwide fame as the “Great Humanitarian” for creating an unprecedented organization that fed up to 10-million civilians for five years in the midst of a war zone. > **[Years of Compassion 1914-1923 | The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and...](https://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/years-compassion-1914-1923)** Later he organized another food relief program to help Russians in the 20s, and he ran for President as a great humanitarian and a prominent Secretary of Commerce. > **[Herbert Hoover and Famine Relief to Soviet Russia, 1921–1923](https://www.hoover.org/research/herbert-hoover-and-famine-relief-soviet-russia-1921-1923)** > > In 1921 one of the most devastating famines in history threatened the lives of millions of Russians as well as the continuance of Soviet rule. Responding to a plea for help from the Soviet government. the American Relief Administration (ARA) agreed... > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > He was also independently wealthy Hoover was a graduate of the first class at Stanford University. He majored in geology. That led to him to jobs in Australia and China, and eventually his own companies, operating and managing mines around the world. By the time he was elected President in 1928, Hoover had been a spectacularly successful man, and an optimistic vote for continued prosperity (he also beat Al Smith, the first time a Catholic ran for president. Anti-Catholic prejudice was _widespread_. It was associated with immigrants and minorities in a largely Protestant society) ---
**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:** [August 29, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3097 "2025-08-29T23:30:12Z")
Little known fact about Hoover. On top of his enormous reputation from helping Europe eat after WWI and his stint as Secretary of Commerce during an economic boom, he almost certainly was guaranteed the presidency by his supervision of relief during the [Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mississippi_River_floods#Great_Mississippi_Flood_of_1927). The country cheered. No until much later was it understood that he saved white communities only by diverting the water to flood black communities. And that wasn’t even the low point. The masterpiece, [Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America: Barry, John M.: 9780684840024: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Tide-Mississippi-Changed-America/dp/0684840022), will make you want to throw things. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3098 "2025-08-30T07:46:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Could they do it to catch more LEDs? I misread this as LEOs. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3099 "2025-08-30T12:53:58Z")
Although it’s actually quite sad, I am still amused by the story of Flintoff getting drunk in St Lucia and attempting to paddle out to sea in a pedalo at 4am until he capsized and had to be rescued. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > In the West African country of Ghana, all men born on Friday are named Kofi. In fact, there are only seven first names for men, and seven first names for women, each corresponding to a day of the week. My coworker from Ghana told me this. It’s not so much that there are only seven male and seven female names as it is that they get a “Ghanaian name”, which may or may not be the one they go by. It’s a bit like some Catholics having a “saint’s name” based on the day they were born. > [@Chronos](#): > > Whoa, how much time was there between the M_A_S\*H movie and DS9? He didn’t look that old… The original Father Mulcahy, no less. Also a star of **Benson** in between. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The chief culprits were apparently 10-year olds reading comic books. I blame “Captain Billy’s Whizbang” for the spread of terms like “Swell” and “So’s your old man!”. It was trouble, I tell you. With a capital T. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > That rhymes with P and that stands for “pool”. Exactly. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2025, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3100 "2025-08-31T05:42:28Z")
Doing some mental noodling, I observed this: For any number _n_, if _s_ is the square root of _n_, then ( _s_ - 1 )( _s_ + 1 ) = _n_ - 1 In fact, if you replace the 1 with _d_, you get ( _s_ - _d_ )( _s_ + _d_ ) = _n_ - _d_ 2 I suppose there is something useful that can be / is done with this, but AFAICT it is merely amusing. Like, if _c_ is the cube root of _n_, then _c_ ( _c_ - 1 )( _c_ + 1 ) = _n_ - _c_ or replacing 1 with _d_, you seem to get   = _n_ - _d_ 3c No idea what this is useful for, but it is oddly interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=154) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=156)