# 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:** 169
**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:** [October 15, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3361 "2025-10-15T19:25:54Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > You might consider his music _mushy_, but the real reason it was the Waring Blendor [sic] was because Fred provided financing, to the (ahem) tune of a majority share in the company. Waring was interested in blenders because he had stomach ulcers and ate a special diet using lots of pureed vegetables. He liked having a portable device to make the puree, that he could take on the road while he traveled with his band. ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3362 "2025-10-15T20:13:10Z")
After 55 years, Dr. Demento is retiring. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3363 "2025-10-15T20:27:15Z")
I’m still curious how there is not a Dr. Demento station on SirusXM ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3364 "2025-10-15T20:42:49Z")
The reason I stopped listening to Dr. Demento was the limited playlist and repetition of songs. And that was just two hours a week. I doubt there are nearly enough songs in the entire history of novelty records to support a whole Sirius channel. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3365 "2025-10-15T20:43:40Z")
Doesn’t he have the largest private record collection? ---
**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:** [October 15, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3366 "2025-10-15T20:49:31Z")
He did a syndicated show that most people heard but when I was growing up in the 70s and early 80s, he had a longer live show that was way looser and crazier (still with a limited number of songs). He always had people in the studio with him and you could call and talk to him and make requests. Not a lot of people called. I did several times and the number was never busy. He’d take requests and answer questions about the songs that had been played. Once he had bleep something that I couldn’t figure out so I called and asked what it was and he told me. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3367 "2025-10-15T21:03:48Z")
Zeppo Marx was also an inventor. The only handy, hands-on one of the brothers, he started a company, Marman Products, to manufacture the gadgets he put together. They weren’t flashy like the Waring blender, but so-called Marman clamps were used extensively during the war to fix cargo in planes. Well, there was one extremely “flashy” use. They held down the Enola Gay’s atomic bomb in flight. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3368 "2025-10-15T23:30:32Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > There are lots of places called Del Mar, meaning “of the sea”, and one might think that Delmar Blvd. is one of them. As it turns out, it’s actually a portmanteau of “Delaware" and “Maryland”, which were the home states of two large property owners along the road in its early history. Sort of like the “Delmarva Peninsula”, along the Atlantic coast, that consists of parts of the states of Maryland and Virginia, plus all of Delaware. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2025, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3369 "2025-10-16T00:49:05Z")
Herbert (Zeppo) was considerably younger than his brothers, by 8~14 years. He was the last to go, but only about a year after Julius (Groucho), the longest-lived of the troupe. I very distinctly remember the passing of Groucho, because it landed on page 12, so to speak, of a news cycle that was dominated by the demise of some hip-wagging singer dude who fell off his toilet in Memphis three days earlier. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2025, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3370 "2025-10-16T02:19:04Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > He was the last to go, but only about a year after Julius (Groucho), the longest-lived of the troupe. Here’s a pair of facts whose randomness could be used for sending spy messages. Groucho was a married man longer than Elvis lived. Groucho was also an unmarried man longer than Elvis lived. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3371 "2025-10-16T12:16:30Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Zeppo Marx was also an inventor. The only handy, hands-on one of the brothers, he started a company, Marman Products > [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Delmar Blvd. is one of them. As it turns out, it’s actually a portmanteau of “Delaware" and “Maryland”, Marman Products is a portmanteau of Marx and Herman, the partners owning the company. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3372 "2025-10-16T19:14:56Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > That would be from the Nordic Rus tribe, probably from the word for “rowers” (think Vikings). To this day _Ruotsi_ is the Finnish name for _Sweden_. Where the rowers started from instead of where they ended up. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3373 "2025-10-16T19:29:29Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > There are lots of places called Del Mar, meaning “of the sea”, and one might think that Delmar Blvd. is one of them. As it turns out, it’s actually a portmanteau of “Delaware" and “Maryland”, which were the home states of two large property owners along the road in its early history. South of Wilmington DE is the Delmarva penninsula, the appendix of land between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay, so named because the western part of it is in Maryland, the eastern part is Delaware and the southern appendage is in Virginia (a causeway connects Virgina with the penninsula, which includes an underwater tunnel section). I have sometimes wondered about those tunnels (we have been through the one at the mouth of the James River, not too far from there). When a ship passes over the tunnel, does the weight of the water over the tunnel decrease, given that a ship floats by weighing less than the water is displaces? ---
**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:** [October 16, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3374 "2025-10-16T20:09:18Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > When a ship passes over the tunnel, does the weight of the water over the tunnel decrease, given that a ship floats by weighing less than the water is displaces? Nope. If a ship (or a submerged submarine) pass over the seafloor without making contact the water pressure does not change at all. Ignoring some very local changes because of possible turbulence in the water and some **[squat and shallow water effects](https://www.marineteacher.com/squat-shallow-water-effects)**. But those would be negligible and impossible to calculate in practice for a tunnel where the ship should be further away from the seafloor than a yard or two. Or so the engineers hoped when planning the tunnel. ETA: The ships weighs exactly as much as the water it displaces, no more, no less. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3375 "2025-10-16T20:28:15Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > ETA: The ships weighs exactly as much as the water it displaces, no more, no less. Heureka! ---
**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:** [October 16, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3376 "2025-10-16T20:29:38Z")
You got it! 🤣 ---
**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:** [October 16, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3377 "2025-10-16T20:34:21Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Heureka! Yeah, but I saw that I got the transcription wrong. It’s “Eureka!” in English… ---
**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:** [October 16, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3378 "2025-10-16T20:39:41Z")
Let’s be snobs and use the original Greek: **[εὕρηκα](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_(word))**! From the wikiarticle: > The initial /h/ is dropped in [modern Greek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Greek) and in several other European languages, including [Catalan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language), French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and English, but preserved in others, such as [Finnish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_language), Danish, and German. ETA: Read this if you want to know how Archimedes did it, acording to Galileo. It is better than crudely weighing the crown and calculating the density. > **[The Golden Crown (Sources)](https://math.nyu.edu/Archimedes/Crown/bilancetta.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3379 "2025-10-16T21:53:10Z")
I thought what he did was measure the _displacement_ of the crown, showing that it didn’t weigh as much as an equal volume of pure gold. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3380 "2025-10-16T22:05:46Z")
That is what we get taught at school, but it does not work. Not with the primitive measurement instruments that Archimedes would have had. Galileo realized that and thought about the likely way he could have done it. Which is much more subtle, but feasible. It can’t be proven that Archimedes did it precisely that way, but he could have done it like Galileo explained it. He could most probably not have done it the way it is explained in school. You couldn’t do it either with the instruments you have at home, and those are better than what Archimedes had at his disposal. To be fair, most of the teachers explaining it do not know this either. They explain the general principle, and the εὕρηκα bit. That is enough for kids, and we all remember it, so the explanation is good enough for that level: school – but we are fighting ignorance here, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=168) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=170)