# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785>\
**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:** 22

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**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:** [September 17, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/421 "2024-09-17T02:00:20Z")

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He was actually a Highlander, of course.

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**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/422 "2024-09-17T04:05:42Z")

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> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> That is extremely rude. You should presume the best, that they tried to warn you about a potential accident. If you don’t see an accident about to occur then you should take your time and look longer because they’re not always easy to see. If they honk again then obviously you’re missing something and you need to spend even more time looking for the imminent danger. It’s not hard to be polite.

Some of the best-written sarcasm I’ve read in a long time. Very, very well done.

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**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:** [September 17, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/423 "2024-09-17T04:22:22Z")

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> [@purplehorseshoe](#):
>
> Some of the best-written sarcasm I’ve read in a long time. Very, very well done

Agreed!

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**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/424 "2024-09-17T12:21:05Z")

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> [@Cervaise](#):
>
> If they honk, I’m turning the car off and heading back to the store.

Yup. Was at a red light turning right. Was a strange three was intersection with lots of pedestrians around. I go through this intersection a lot. Bicycles, skate boards you name it are zipping around.

Proceeding with a ‘right on red’ was not a safe choice. Got honked at for not turning. I very much wanted to get out, slowly walk to their car, and ask them what the problem was. But that’s too road ragey.

Now back to our interesting random facts.

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**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:** [September 17, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/425 "2024-09-17T19:10:15Z")

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There is a Wiki page on replicas of the Statue Of Liberty. I found this out because we drove past one, sited on a roundabout on the road into Colmar, in Alsace, France.

There are a startlingly large number of replicas, but the one in Colmar is special because it was the birthplace of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the man who designed the original statue. The Colmar version commemorates the hundredth anniversary of his death.

Cite etc: [Replicas of the Statue of Liberty - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicas_of_the_Statue_of_Liberty)

j

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/426 "2024-09-17T19:13:41Z")

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The replica that used to be in Manhattan, now at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, played a pivotal function in the cult classic [Q: The Winged Serpent](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084556/).

Visitors to Providence Rhode Island may be startled to see our [State House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_State_House) is a replica of the US Capitol Building. Or perhaps think they’ve been travelling the wrong direction on I95 for hundreds of miles.

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**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:** [September 17, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/427 "2024-09-17T19:13:47Z")

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I saw one in Tokyo:  
[![](https://i.imgur.com/MZbK9lM.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/MZbK9lM.jpeg)

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**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:** [September 17, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/428 "2024-09-17T19:17:09Z")

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Three down……

j

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/429 "2024-09-17T19:27:05Z")

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An inflatable version still shows up now and then when Lake Mendota freezes over - a legacy of the Pail & Shovel Party at UWMadison.

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**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:** [September 17, 2024, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/430 "2024-09-17T19:48:09Z")

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Isn’t the one in France the original quarter-scale model that was used as a template for the full-sized one?

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**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:** [September 17, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/431 "2024-09-17T20:06:59Z")

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The wiki page says that the Colmar version was “dedicated” on the 100th anniversary of Bartholdi’s death, so I presume that one isn’t. (Though there are apparently models used in the planning of the original in a museum in Colmar.)

As for whether the scale model you describe exists elsewhere in France - that I don’t know.

j

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**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:** [September 17, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/432 "2024-09-17T21:33:18Z")

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ISTR reading that Bartholdi consulted with Gustave Eiffel on the construction of the inner framework for the statue.

In Portland OR, there is a great big roundabout at Glisan and Chavéz that is almost like a little park. One day many many years ago I went into the grassy circle and looked at the bronze/green statue, which turned out to be Joan d’Arc on horseback. No one really sees it, because they are busy negotiating the circle in their cars. Except, apparently someone did notice it, as now it is a hideous shiny brass-gold finish. Seems as though some folks disapprove of character.

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/433 "2024-09-17T21:33:23Z")

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> [@silenus](#):
>
> An inflatable version still shows up now and then when Lake Mendota freezes over - a legacy of the Pail & Shovel Party at UWMadison.

Saw that in person back in the late '70s, but I think back then it wasn’t inflatable, it was something else.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/434 "2024-09-17T22:07:11Z")

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Chicken wire, plywood and paper mache according to _If At All Possible, Involve A Cow_ by Neil Steinberg.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/435 "2024-09-17T23:18:12Z")

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Brent Honeywell Jr. is a pitcher for the LA Dodgers. He attended Franklin County High School in Carnesville GA. The last MLB from that school was Ty Cobb.

It’s been a loong dry spell for the school.

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**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/436 "2024-09-18T00:09:36Z")

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> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> Visitors to Providence Rhode Island may be startled to see our [State House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_State_House) is a replica of the US Capitol Building.

And used for that exact purpose in the movie Amistad.

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**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:** [September 18, 2024, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/437 "2024-09-18T00:23:31Z")

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TIL that due to being “grandfathered” in from when the territory was still New Amsterdam, a form of feudal tenure existed in New York state into the 19th century, with landowners who were virtually feudal lords known as a [Patroon - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patroon)

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**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:** [September 18, 2024, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/438 "2024-09-18T05:29:08Z")

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> [@eschereal](#):
>
> Bartholdi consulted with Gustave Eiffel on the construction of the inner framework for the statue

Yes. And Bartholdi went to Arona, at the south end of Lake Maggiore in Italy, and studied their “Colossus of San Carlo Borromeo,” for inspiration on how to design that framework. In particular, he was very interested in its internal accessibility; visitors can climb up inside the statue and look out from its head.

The giant construction, called _Sancarlone_ by locals, was completed before 1700 and was the largest freely standing statue of its kind in the world until the Statue of Liberty. Even now, it’s still #2. The figure alone is over 23 meters.

I have seen it in person and can confirm that it’s extremely impressive.

> **[Sancarlone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancarlone)**
>
> The San Carlone or Sancarlone or the Colossus of San Carlo Borromeo is a massive copper statue by Giovanni Battista Crespi, erected between 1614 and 1698, near Arona, Italy. It represents Charles Borromeo, a Catholic saint and former archbishop of Milan. According to sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi "The statue of St. Charles Borromeo is the first known example of a statue of repousse copper, worked with the hammer inside and outside, and freely supported on iron beams". Today, the complex...

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**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/439 "2024-09-18T06:47:23Z")

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> [@eschereal](#):
>
> Except, apparently someone did notice it, as now it is a hideous shiny brass-gold finish.

So is her statue in Paris -maybe someone thought they should follow suit?

> **[L'histoire secrète de la statue de Jeanne d'Arc | Un jour de plus à Paris](https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-insolite/statue-jeanne-darc-place-pyramides)**
>
> La célèbre statue de Jeanne d'Arc de la place des Pyramides n'est pas la même que celle qui a été posée à l'origine...

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**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/440 "2024-09-18T13:54:36Z")

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Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, the infamous murderers who were the subjects of Truman Capote’s book _In Cold Blood_, were executed by hanging at the Kansas State Penitentiary on April 14, 1965. I had long assumed (and I think I’ve also read) that they were last two people executed by the State of Kansas. But today I learned that this is not the case. Two months later, on June 22, 1965, George York and James Latham were hanged at the same facility. York and Latham went AWOL from the Army in May of 1961 and proceeded to go on a two-week, multi-state killing spree that left 7 victims dead and another injured. One of the victims was killed in the small town of Wallace, Kansas, and that was the crime for which the two were tried, convicted, and executed.

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