# 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:** 238
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4741 "2026-05-25T11:50:48Z")
My interpretation was that he was talking about a great circle. Of course, maintaining a heading of 90 degrees would just take him around at a line of latitude parallel to the equator instead of a great circle. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2026, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4742 "2026-05-25T12:16:51Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Stephen Colbert’s family traditionally pronounced their name as it looks ( in normal English rules). He changed it to a French pronunciation on his own. He also pronounces it that way. He pronounces his own name with the first syllable stressed and the T sounded. The name pronounced with the stress on the second syllable and the T silent isn’t his name; it’s the name of the character that he portrays on his show. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4743 "2026-05-25T14:49:50Z")
> [@billy-jack](#): > > My interpretation was that he was talking about a great circle. I thought they were talking about magnetic compass East which gets less reliable the further you travel especially if you just point yourself in that direction at the start and make no corrections along the way. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4744 "2026-05-25T15:23:59Z")
Between “geographically, straight lines aren’t really straight because the Earth isn’t flat” and “if you go around the world your calendar date won’t agree with the date back at home”, early oceanic exploration sounds almost like a foray into the mysteries of General Relativity. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4745 "2026-05-25T15:35:29Z")
Robert Vicino, the entrepreneur behind Vivos xPoint (the survival bunker complex in South Dakota) was also responsible for putting a giant inflatable King Kong on the Empire State Building in 1983 as a 50th anniversary promotional stunt. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4746 "2026-05-25T16:54:57Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > When they made the movie they really wanted to show off the fact that it was in color, so they very intentionally put in a lot of bright, contrasting colors in the sets. Apparently that’s also why the Wicked Witch was green; there’s nothing about her being green in the books. That could be why they made the Emerald City green as well, but of course it’s also just easier to show a green city on film than it is to show the characters looking at it through green spectacles. They certainly DID want to show off the Technicolor. Watch any movie from the late 1930s through 1950 and you can see they were obsessed with showing off that color. They hired Technicolor specialists to make sure they got the best colors possible. They set up bright colors and contrasting ones. Look at Snow White or Gone with the Wind or the 1940 Thief of Bagdad or Anchors Aweigh (with its fantasy dance sequence with Gene Kelly and Jerry the Mouse). . Lucille Ball found herself much in demand as “Technicolor Tessie” because of her bright red hair and green eyes. I don’t know any version of Wizard of Oz that uses the green spectacles, by the way. It’s easier and more satisfying to make the whole town green. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4747 "2026-05-25T18:54:13Z")
TIL that Beck (the Californian musician) is the grandson of a Fluxus artist – that loose, avant-garde group (many media, most notably performance art) that included Yoko Ono. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2026, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4748 "2026-05-25T19:05:04Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > TIL that Beck (the Californian musician) is the grandson of a Fluxus artist I’ve known that for a long time, and I think he kinda works in that tradition with his absurdist lyrics. Another fact about Beck: he’s a longtime scientologist. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2026, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4749 "2026-05-25T21:56:20Z")
True. > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > he’s a longtime scientologist. Ouch - that sucks. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2026, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4750 "2026-05-25T22:05:14Z")
He was raised in a Scientologist household and has recently denied he actually is one. I think most of us can relate to that situation. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2026, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4751 "2026-05-26T10:02:57Z")
Indeed. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2026, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4752 "2026-05-27T01:30:10Z")
Another gem I just learned from the History of Rock in 500 Songs podcast: In 1975 the British “comedian” Charlie (_My Boomerang Won’t Come Back_) Drake released a song **You Never Know.** It was written by Peter Gabriel and the musicians on the track included him, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, Phil Collins, Sandy Denny, and Keith Tippett. Despite which it is ear-stabbingly awful. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4753 "2026-05-27T02:21:47Z")
TIL that Bill Gates is funding a mosquito breeding facility in Medellín, Colombia that produces 30 million mosquitoes a week. [GatesNotes](https://www.gatesnotes.com/work/save-lives/reader/mosquito-factory) > The mosquitoes being produced in this factory carry bacteria called Wolbachia that block them from transmitting dengue and other viruses, such as Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever, to humans. By releasing them to reproduce with wild mosquitoes, they spread the bacteria, reducing virus transmission and protecting millions of people from illnesses. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2026, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4754 "2026-05-27T09:34:39Z")
Nominative determinism: TIL that the CEO of Hammer Films, who specialise in horror movies and have just released some scenes from _Dracula_ previously deemed too gruesome to be shown, is… a Mr. Gore. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2026, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4755 "2026-05-27T11:25:56Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > They still ring a bell and fire the gun every day at noon - a big tourist attraction. Similarly, the observatory in the appropriately named suburb of Observatory in Cape Town, sends a message - these days electronic, but formerly semaphore, passed over a series of small military installations - in order for the noon gun to be fired above the harbour. It used to be in order to synchronize shipboard clocks, to ensure longitude/latitude navigation calculations were accurate. Now it is just a tourist attraction, but still useful if you work in the city centre as “lunch break 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:** [May 28, 2026, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4756 "2026-05-28T16:17:28Z")
The cardboard sleeve on takeout coffee cups is called a zarf. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4757 "2026-05-29T13:24:02Z")
In November, the University of Copenhagen announced the discovery of three new species of arboreal toad in Africa which give birth to toadlets, bypassing the egg laying and tadpole stages. > **[Three new toad species skip the tadpole phase and give birth to live toadlets](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1104778)** > > An international team of researchers have identified three new species of enchanting, pustular, tree-dwelling toads from Africa. Their solution for having offspring away from water? Skipping the tadpole phase altogether, and giving birth to live... ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4758 "2026-05-29T14:41:12Z")
From the Wikipedia article on von Blucher (the Napoleonic era field marshal) “The courage of the Prussian leader was undiminished, though, and his victory against the vastly outnumbered French, at Laon (9 and 10 March [1814]) practically decided the fate of the campaign. However, his health had been severely affected by the strains of the previous two months, and he now suffered a breakdown, during which he lost his sight and suffered a delusion that a Frenchman had impregnated him with an elephant.” ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4759 "2026-05-29T16:40:15Z")
von NEEEEIIIIGGHHHH!! ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4760 "2026-05-29T17:10:42Z")
I received an e-mail this morning announcing that May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month! From the e-mail: > Over 89,000 cases of Lyme disease were reported to the CDC in 2023. However, researchers believe this number does not include suspected and treated cases of Lyme disease and that the actual annual case count is closer to 476,000. Either way, Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the United States. > In the United States, Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium _Borrelia burgdorferi_ and, rarely, _Borrelia mayonii_, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected _Ixodes_ ticks. Most cases of Lyme disease can be treated successfully with a few weeks of antibiotics. If left untreated, however, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. I can’t believe that they waited until May 29 to announce this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=237) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=239)