# 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:** 178
**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:** [November 9, 2025, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3541 "2025-11-09T05:14:19Z")
As someone who just remodeled their kitchen, a cooktop is the thing with burners when it’s by itself. An oven is the box that heats up for baking or cooking a roast when it’s by itself. A range is when they are together in one unit. Look at an online appliance catalog in the US ---
**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:** [November 9, 2025, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3542 "2025-11-09T06:06:50Z")
What a sad story. Jack Nance also played the role of Pete Martell in _Twin Peaks_. I didn’t know that alcoholism was such a big part of his life. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3543 "2025-11-09T14:41:27Z")
That’s so cool! I shared it with my ninth-grader kid, because he has learned how to do all the steps — like the guy said, you COULD use calculus for this (which my kid hasn’t learned yet), but you don’t have to. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2025, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3544 "2025-11-09T17:49:00Z")
I’d do it by first showing that the tangent line at (1,1) works (which is trivial), and then do a pair of transformations: A horizontal stretch and a vertical compression, or vice-versa, to get to any other point. For 1/x, the transformation rules for vertical and horizontal stretches have the same effect on the graph, so you’d end up at a different point on the same graph, and the stretch and compression would cancel out on the triangle’s area. @Slithy_Tove , how did Lisa Loring connect to Kelly Van Dyke’s story? Were they friends in life? Was Loring with the LAPD when they went for the check? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3545 "2025-11-09T18:08:05Z")
They may have been friends or at least acquaintances via the adult film industry, and Lisa had struggled with substance abuse herself: entering rehab and cutting ties with her husband at the same time Jack and Kelly were going in the opposite direction with co-dependency. Lisa’s IMDB trivia page repeats the Hollywood Babylon-esque\* myth that she discovered the body. This is refuted by Jack’s brother Richard. But the salacious story of the woman who’d once been little Wednesday Addams walking in on a friend’s hanging body is hard to dispel. \*speaking of which: Marie Prevost’s body did not provide nourishment to her dog. The little guy nipped her legs trying to wake her up, but that story was too salacious to die too ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3546 "2025-11-09T20:44:51Z")
By coincidence, another set of movie-related facts. You may have seen the recent movie Wicked Little Letters (I confess I haven’t.) It’s based on a true story - the Littlehampton Libels. From [the wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlehampton_libels) > The Littlehampton libels were a series of letters sent to numerous residents of Littlehampton, in southern England, over a three-year period between 1920 and 1923. The letters, which contained obscenities and false accusations, were written by Edith Swan, a thirty-year-old laundress; she tried to incriminate her neighbour, Rose Gooding, a thirty-year-old married woman. In the movie, a policewoman helps in the investigation of the poison pen letters. The character is based on a real person - WPC Gladys Moss - who was the first female police officer in West Sussex. As West Sussex’s first WPC, she created quite a stir. And what’s more: > WPC Moss also gained attention as the first motorcycle-riding policewoman in the country – a necessity, as she was responsible for cases involving women and children across the county. (WPC = Woman Police Constable) She was based in Worthing police station, just along the coast from Littlehampton. We just happened to walk past the police station today, and there is a Blue Plaque on the wall, celebrating her achievement. This story ([linky](https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/meet-the-first-wpc-in-west-sussex-an-exemplary-police-officer-who-helped-solve-poison-pen-case-seen-in-film-wicked-little-letters-starring-olivia-colman-jessie-buckley-and-timothy-spall-4108493)), published around the time of the movie’s release, recaps the story of Gladys Moss and contains a photo of the blue plaque. (It was also the source of the second quote, above). [![](https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/webimg/b25lY21zOjU1MzZjMjQ3LTNhNmEtNGY3OC1iNGY3LTA4MzI5N2Y4ZDVlZjo2ZmUxZGVlNS1iNzEwLTQ5YzYtYjczZC0yY2Y1NDU0MDY3YjU=.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65) ](https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/webimg/b25lY21zOjU1MzZjMjQ3LTNhNmEtNGY3OC1iNGY3LTA4MzI5N2Y4ZDVlZjo2ZmUxZGVlNS1iNzEwLTQ5YzYtYjczZC0yY2Y1NDU0MDY3YjU=.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65) > WPC Gladys Moss 1884-1964 > Pioneer first Policewoman to serve in West Sussex Constabulary. Stationed in Worthing 1919-1941 j ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3547 "2025-11-09T21:24:58Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > and it will signal in Morse (hopefully someone more literate in Morse can read it). Fortunately, there is (at least one) smart-phone app for that: see ‘Morster’ Chain that up with a translation app, and read German in Morse! ---
**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:** [November 10, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3548 "2025-11-10T00:20:05Z")
The more interesting fact about Lisa Loring is that she was a 15 year-old bride. Like a lot of child actors, she grew up way too fast. ---
**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:** [November 10, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3549 "2025-11-10T00:24:25Z")
This case was so famous in Britain that several of the top Golden Age mystery writers, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and John Dickson Carr, wrote books whose plots were based on poison pen letters. ---
**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:** [November 10, 2025, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3550 "2025-11-10T00:29:37Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The more interesting fact about Lisa Loring is that she was a 15 year-old bride. That’s creepy. And kooky. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3551 "2025-11-10T03:20:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That’s creepy. And kooky. Oh, SNAP-SNAP! ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3552 "2025-11-11T18:50:45Z")
This might be well-known, but I just learned that Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor-elect of NYC, is the son of famous movie director Mira Nair. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3553 "2025-11-11T20:24:04Z")
Holy crap. Well, maybe most people knew this, but I didn’t. Thanks! ---
**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:** [November 11, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3554 "2025-11-11T20:39:38Z")
Which is why so many people during the campaign called him a mere nepo baby, unlike Andrew Cuomo. Oh, wait… ---
**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:** [November 12, 2025, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3555 "2025-11-12T12:49:38Z")
The first Six Flags amusement park outside North America will open soon in (guess where) Saudi Arabia ---
**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:** [November 12, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3556 "2025-11-12T18:06:45Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > “Flashlight”; although it’s been decades now since I’ve seen one with an actual button for signaling in Morse code So THAT’S what that button was for. I mean, as kids we knew that the button turned the light on and off, but none of us thought of morse code. ---
**Author:** ![Awb78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Awb78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Awb78)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3557 "2025-11-12T19:36:53Z")
A little more “fun facts” about offspring who did adult films: The son of Dick Smothers starred in films in the early 2000s using the name…Dick Smothers Jr. Dick Gautier, best known as “Hymie the Robot” from “Get Smart” had a son, Rand, who did films under the name “Austin Moore”, but Rand is more remembered as the man who stole the Tommy Lee & Pamela Anderson sex tapes. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3558 "2025-11-12T19:41:02Z")
> [@Awb78](#): > > Dick Gautier, best known as “Hymie the Robot” from “Get Smart” When I was little I thought his name was “Jaime” because I’d never seen it written. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3559 "2025-11-12T20:16:08Z")
Hymie got that name because that was the name of the inventor’s father. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3560 "2025-11-12T20:43:55Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > When I was little I thought his name was “Jaime” because I’d never seen it written. Hymie is the diminutive of Hyman which is the English version of the Hebrew Chaim. Jaime (Spanish) is a homonym of the English word so it’s completely understandable. But you probably knew this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=177) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=179)