# 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:** 200
**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:** [January 15, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3981 "2026-01-15T15:22:14Z")
Anne Frank’s first cousin, once-removed Patrick Elias has a role in “Inglorious Basterds (2009).” Frank’s father and Elias’s grandmother were siblings. Tarantino’s editor Sally Menke died shortly after the film was release. She had gone hiking with her dog when temperatures were over 100º, and her death was ruled heat-related. When her body was found, her dog was still alive, by her side. (That’s often the case in situations like this.) ---
**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:** [January 15, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3982 "2026-01-15T17:17:12Z")
I still have the Pendergrast and he lists both formulas. The flavorings are a separate part of the formula, and are the critical element of giving Coke a distinctive taste. Six are oils: Lemon, Orange, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Neroli, and Coriander, in order of amount, although the units is missing. The seventh is either the alcohol they are dissolved in and let stand for 24 hours or perhaps vanilla flavoring. Poundstone records cassia oil in place of cinnamon, and adds lime oil, which is listed separately as lime juice in Coke’s formula. Everything is in grams except that coriander and neroli oils are “traces”. A few other discrepencies are also mentioned. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2026, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3983 "2026-01-15T19:34:54Z")
A strange connection I just learned about: The famous Voynich Manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a book dealer who once owned it. His wife was Ethel Boole, daughter of mathematician George Boole, who invented Boolean algebra. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3984 "2026-01-15T22:12:29Z")
Cats can drink and survive drinking seawater. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3985 "2026-01-15T22:15:32Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Tarantino’s editor Sally Menke died shortly after the film was release. She had gone hiking with her dog when temperatures were over 100º, and her death was ruled heat-related. That’s so sad ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3986 "2026-01-16T13:38:46Z")
Folk hero Buford Pusser, whose story was told (more or less) in the 1972 movie [Walking Tall](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070895/), who shook up the good ole boy network when he was elected sheriff, would later be ambushed in an incident in which he was shot in the face. His wife, who was riding with him, did not survive. Last year, a re-investigation concluded that [Pusser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buford_Pusser) had murdered his wife and staged the scene, and that if he were still alive, he would be charged with her murder. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3987 "2026-01-16T14:21:45Z")
On his popular track Crosstown Traffic, Jimi Hendrix used a hone-made kazoo (wax paper and comb) to get that interesting sound. Do do dododo do do. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3988 "2026-01-16T21:08:54Z")
After retiring from playing he was a first base coach for the Yankees, the first Black coach of any kind in the American League. Sadly, he passed away at only 51, from a heart condition. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3989 "2026-01-16T21:22:34Z")
Disclaimer: I read it on Reddit …(but musters my basic gut-check) Given that the ISS in in a roughly 400km orbit above sea-level, gravity there is still about 90% of what it is on earth. The reason they experience zero/micro gravity is basically because they are constantly falling at the same rate gravity is pulling (akin to those rollercoaster-zeroG-plane-rides) ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3990 "2026-01-16T21:29:43Z")
Yes, that’s correct. If you stood on top of a 400 km tall tower, you would still weigh about 88.6% of what you weigh on the earth’s surface. But if you’re in free fall (at any altitude, even a few feet above the ground), that’s when you experience microgravity. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3991 "2026-01-16T21:33:21Z")
AI has surprisingy huge problems reading/projecting analogue time on old fashoned watches. There is a rather cool website ( [https://clocks.brianmoore.com](https://clocks.brianmoore.com) ) that prompt all well known AI sites showing analogue time on a graphic output and they fail mostly … IIRC, the prompt is automatically made every few minutes and the results are pasted on the website. So it seems that with regards to analogue time we are still in 6-finger-territory. . example: [![](https://i.postimg.cc/65W7mv3R/image.png) ](https://i.postimg.cc/65W7mv3R/image.png) ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3992 "2026-01-16T21:59:01Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > AI has surprisingy huge problems reading/projecting analogue time on old fashoned watches. This symptom reveals advanced dementia. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3993 "2026-01-16T22:07:44Z")
Even Trump could do better… ---
**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:** [January 16, 2026, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3994 "2026-01-16T22:11:50Z")
Gardner Fox was a practicing lawyer when after marrying in 1937 he tried supplementing his income by writing comic books. He wrote 4000 stories and created many of the classic characters of the Golden Age. He retired from comics in 1968, pretty much considered an old fart from a distant past not in tune with the times. What did he write then? The soft core spy-spoof series The Lady from L.U.S.T, under the pseudonym Rod Gray, competing with himself as the author of Cherry Delight, The Sexecutioner, agent of N.Y.M.P.H.O. Talk about least likely suspects. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2026, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3995 "2026-01-17T00:08:15Z")
Fox wrote several early Batman scripts. His stories depended highly on supernatural themes ( a vampire, a man who stole people’s faces and put them on talking flowers). I suspect Kane and Finger wanted the stories to stick closer to realism. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2026, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3996 "2026-01-17T01:35:17Z")
I’m not sure. If only a journalist would ask him to ace a drawing of the most beautiful clock _ever_ live on TV for the World™ to admire! I would love to see the result, I have been saying that for years. But they have never done it. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3997 "2026-01-17T15:08:45Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > What did he write then? The soft core spy-spoof series The Lady from L.U.S.T, under the pseudonym Rod Gray, competing with himself as the author of Cherry Delight, The Sexecutioner, agent of N.Y.M.P.H.O. > > Talk about least likely suspects. After he left DC, he started writing Conan knockoffs for Belmont…which also just happened to have a lucrative soft porn line. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2026, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3998 "2026-01-17T16:51:16Z")
Yeah, the very originally titled Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman series was for Belmont. The L.U.S.T. books were for Midwood Tower, Belmont’s soft-core line. But you would have expected someone who had once done short stories about Crom the Barbarian to do Conan knockoffs. It’s the pent-up juvenile libido breaking through that startles you. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3999 "2026-01-17T17:20:55Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Cats can drink and survive drinking seawater. Anything can. But I highly doubt that they can survive drinking nothing but seawater, for an extended time. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4000 "2026-01-17T23:21:04Z")
No, not anything. Cats are unique among land mammals for their efficient kidneys that allow them to tolerate drinking seawater. Cats must eventually have access to fresh water for survival and health, but their desert ancestry gives them superior kidney function, enabling them to concentrate urine and excrete excess salt, unlike humans who would dehydrate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=199) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=201)