# 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:** 194
**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:** [December 22, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3861 "2025-12-22T22:06:33Z")
You wouldn’t think that, if you were going to divide Japan into two pieces, that it’d be by “Eastern” and “Western”. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3862 "2025-12-22T22:23:10Z")
Doing further searches, the dividing line between east and west in Japan is the central mountain range of Honshu. The division is historical and political. The division is now in food, dialects, and customs. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3863 "2025-12-22T22:27:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You wouldn’t think that, if you were going to divide Japan into two pieces, that it’d be by “Eastern” and “Western”. seems to make sense, tho … what I did not find info on (the 3 min. I googled) is what voltage they are using? … German transformers seem to be indicative of 2x0 volts, the part with US-transformers seems to point towards 110 volts … or were they always 110v? [![](https://www.tepco.co.jp/en/corpinfo/ir/kojin/images/transformation_img02.gif) ](https://www.tepco.co.jp/en/corpinfo/ir/kojin/images/transformation_img02.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3864 "2025-12-22T22:31:27Z")
which triggered another CVOM … - … Country - Voltage - Oddity - Memory: Brasil, they have 127v and 220v (and quite often both curcuits and appliances) in one household here a bit of google-AI: _Brasil does not have a single national standard for electricity voltage. Instead, it operates on a dual-voltage system where the standard is either_ **_127V or 220V_** _, depending on the region or city._ - _ **Standard Voltages:** 127V and 220V are both in common use._ - _ **Frequency:** The standard frequency nationwide is **60 Hz**._ - _ **Regional Variations:** _ [![](https://www.worldstandards.eu/wp-content/uploads//electricity-type-N-socket-red-white-198x300.jpg) ](https://www.worldstandards.eu/wp-content/uploads//electricity-type-N-socket-red-white-198x300.jpg) ---
**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:** [December 22, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3865 "2025-12-22T22:32:06Z")
Oh, after first reading about the 50/60 Hz divide in Japan, I thought that it was only between different islands. But according to the graph @Al128 posted above, the division occurred also on the main island, which must be an ongoing hassle. ETA: I mean, Japan must have twice the amount of transformers normally needed, from the tiniest phone charger to the big ass ones for the main grid. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3866 "2025-12-22T22:41:36Z")
I’m really surprised that Japan’s electrical grid wasn’t so destroyed by August 1945 that the occupying Americans didn’t impose the US standard for rebuilding. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3867 "2025-12-22T23:09:55Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > ETA: I mean, Japan must have twice the amount of transformers normally needed, from the tiniest phone charger to the big ass ones for the main grid. On review, I’m quite aware that low power devices like phones or other household devices can be designed tolerant enough to handle both frequencies, but that doesn’t apply to the really big and expensive transformers for the general power supply. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2025, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3868 "2025-12-23T00:27:28Z")
…Huh, why was I picturing Japan as being more north-south aligned than that? ---
**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:** [December 23, 2025, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3869 "2025-12-23T01:28:47Z")
Picturing the map of Japan, you approximately can draw a line at 45° through it, so there’s no clear north-south nor east-west divide. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2025, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3870 "2025-12-23T12:15:12Z")
Blame Mercator with the USA in the middle of the map – Europe does it too. The closer to the corners, the more the diagonals are righted up (or down, in the Southern Hemisphere, say New Zealand in a map with Europe in the middle). A Mercator map with China in the middle would show Japan closer to what it actually looks like. Obligatory link to **[xkcd map projections](https://xkcd.com/977/)**, though he did not draw Japan very accurately in any of them. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2025, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3871 "2025-12-23T13:49:09Z")
Actually, for all its faults, that’s the one kind of distortion the Mercator map doesn’t have. It’s in avoiding that one particular distortion that it picks up all of its other distortions. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3872 "2025-12-23T23:56:05Z")
the southern hemisphere is nearly 81% made up of oceans and only 32% of the planet’s landmass is on the southern hemisphere. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3873 "2025-12-24T00:12:57Z")
We get shortchanged on everything. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3874 "2025-12-24T00:31:48Z")
Another revelation I just gleaned from the History of Rock in 500 Songs podcast. When Little Richard signed to a major label first he had to go to Hollywood to record his first songs for them, which ended up including Long Tall Sally and Tutti Frutti. But he had commitments to play several shows in small venues back in the east and south at the same time, and unlike many musos he didn’t want to get a reputation as a no-show. What do to, what to do! So he and his management hired a Little Richard impersonator to do the shows for him - similar stature, pompadour hairstyle etc. That person hit the stage in those shows with the introduction “And now, the hardest-working man in show business - Little Richard!”. Yes, it was James Brown. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3875 "2025-12-24T15:34:29Z")
Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and grandfather of the current dictator, had a large tumor on the back of his neck, which developed in the 1970s. As you might imagine, this was rarely photographed, and was never discussed within his country. [![](https://i.ibb.co/STx0XN7/IMG-2140.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/STx0XN7/IMG-2140.jpg) It was described as a calcium deposit, but deemed too close to his spinal column and brain for surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3876 "2025-12-25T00:15:34Z")
We got a window prompting you to upgrade to a Pro account instead of an image. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3877 "2025-12-25T05:33:17Z")
Here’s one: > **[Rare Photo of Kim Il-Sung's Baseball Sized Tumor on His Neck, 1984 - Rare...](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/kim-il-sung-tumor-1984/)** > > As he aged, starting in the late 1970s, Kim developed a calcium deposit growth on the right side of the back of his neck. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3878 "2025-12-25T14:25:10Z")
It’s called Kim IL Boil ---
**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:** [December 27, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3879 "2025-12-27T20:10:59Z")
Another one from that podcast. Johnny Cash was christened as J. D. Cash because his parents couldn’t agree on given names. It wasn’t until he went into the Airforce he took the name John as they insisted he must have an actual name. Johnny came later. His job in the Airforce in Germany was to decrypt intercepts of Russian military chatter, as a consequence of which he was the first American to hear of the death of Stalin! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3880 "2025-12-27T21:00:03Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > the first American to hear of the death of Stalin Eh, not quite. He may have been in the transcription loop but it’s an overstatement to say he was “the first to hear the news.” > **[Reddit - The heart of the internet](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/11jvs3b/was_johnny_cash_the_first_us_citizen_to_hear_that/)** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=193) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=195)