# 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:** 262
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5221 "2026-08-09T23:37:52Z")
[Thank you for that.](https://philosophynow.org/issues/145/The_Riddle_of_the_Sphincter) ---
**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:** [August 10, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5222 "2026-08-10T00:36:14Z")
The linked article says “I am not persuaded that electrochemical activity in the brain explains how flesh gives rise to conscious subjects experiencing that flesh as their very being.” I wish I could be that certain. It frightens me and yet seems hideously plausible that if we only knew exactly where to tickle peoples’ brains, we could make them think, feel or believe anything. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2026, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5223 "2026-08-10T01:17:16Z")
Whereas I think it absurd to think that electrochemical activity isn’t responsible for that. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2026, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5224 "2026-08-10T11:16:29Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > The shortest successfully measured unit of time is the zeptosecond. A zeptosecond is an incredibly tiny unit of time equal to one trillionth of a billionth of a second, written as 0000000000000000000001 seconds or 10-21 seconds. Unfortunately for posterity, the Zeptosecond left the act early, so most people only remember the Harposecond, the Chicosecond, and the Grouchosecond. And forget about the Gummosecond. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2026, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5225 "2026-08-10T13:48:37Z")
Spock used the word zeptosecond in the most recent episode of ST Strange New Worlds. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5226 "2026-08-10T14:23:43Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > The shortest successfully measured unit of time is the zeptosecond. This is an interesting fact. When I told it over dinner, it elicited follow up questions: 1. Technically the shortest measured unit was 247 zeptoseconds not 1 zeptosecond? Or alternatively 2.47 hecto-zeptoseconds? 2. Or was actually measured with zeptosecond resolution? 3. Or is it a phenomenon known to take 247 zeptoseconds that was successfully observed? ---
**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:** [August 10, 2026, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5227 "2026-08-10T14:30:48Z")
The old [Dumont TV network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuMont_Television_Network#/media/File:DuMont.svg) had a logo that some say looked similar to the similar-sounding [DuPont company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuPont#/media/File:DuPont_logo.svg). ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5228 "2026-08-10T14:38:06Z")
Loons are more closely related to penguins than they are to ducks! They both have dense bones instead of hollow ones, tuxedo coloring, and are specialized for swimming and catching fish underwater. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5229 "2026-08-10T16:02:55Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > 1. Technically the shortest measured unit was 247 zeptoseconds not 1 zeptosecond? Or alternatively 2.47 hecto-zeptoseconds? [More info here.](https://photon-science.desy.de/news __events/news__ highlights/archive/archive_of_2020/zeptoseconds_new_world_record_in_short_time_measurement_at_petra_iii/index_eng.html) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5230 "2026-08-10T16:29:59Z")
Today I discovered Google Maps can show you the locations of wildfires, along with smoke density. Just click on Layers → More → Wildfires. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5231 "2026-08-10T17:37:54Z")
Somehow, the Google Car made it all the way out to Fort Jefferson (70 miles west of Key West, FL). Must be one of those James Bond submarine cars. https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=24.6277222,-82.8723886&z=17&output=embed&dg=ntvb&q=Fort+Jefferson,+Dry+Tortugas+National+Park,+Fort+Jefferson+-+Key+W,+Key+West,+FL+33040 ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5232 "2026-08-10T18:27:33Z")
I suspect it wasn’t a car… Probably a hand held camera. I couldn’t find any shadows which might’ve given the game away. The “street view” to the Loggerhead lighthouse was done with a boat … ---
**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:** [August 10, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5233 "2026-08-10T23:39:14Z")
Baseball legend Ted Williams, who famously was the last player to hit .400 for a season (in 1941)… was **Mexican** His father was Samuel Stuart Williams, a welsh/Irish white man from New York. But his mom was Micaela May Venzor, a Mexican woman from El Paso, Texas. > [@](#): > > Both of Ted Williams’ maternal grandparents had come to the United States from Valle de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico. Pablo Venzor and Natalia Hernandez Venzor entered the US at El Paso around 1890. May Venzor was born in El Paso in 1891. The family ultimately made its way to Santa Barbara. > > May met her future husband, Sam Williams, in the Salvation Army. They made their home in San Diego. > **[Researching Ted Williams’ Latino Roots – Society for American Baseball Research](https://sabr.org/journal/article/researching-ted-williams-latino-roots/)** Ted Williams played Major League Baseball beginning in 1939. Jackie Robinson didn’t break the color barrier until 1947. It’s interesting to consider that Williams was “passing” throughout his career (to be clear, there was no rule against white looking Mexicans playing in the majors, but Williams never acknowledged that part of his heritage) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5234 "2026-08-11T00:08:19Z")
Did he ever deny it, or did it just not come up? ---
**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:** [August 11, 2026, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5235 "2026-08-11T01:46:19Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Did he ever deny it, or did it just not come up He only addressed it once, in a biography first published in 1966. > [@](#): > > Her maiden name was Venzer, she was part Mexican and part French, and that’s fate for you; if I had had my mother’s name, there is no doubt I would have run into problems in those days, the prejudices people had in Southern California. He hid his heritage. > [@](#): > > As Al Cassidy, the executor of Ted Williams’ estate, told writer Ben Bradlee about Ted’s early days, “Ted didn’t want anyone to know he was part Mexican. It concerned him. He was afraid they wouldn’t let him play. He’d say, ‘It was an entirely different time back then.’”5 > **[Researching Ted Williams’ Latino Roots – Society for American Baseball Research](https://sabr.org/journal/article/researching-ted-williams-latino-roots/#_ednref1)** > > This article was written by Bill Nowlin ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5236 "2026-08-11T02:54:59Z")
Thanks. That’s very sad. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5237 "2026-08-11T03:13:44Z")
# Charles Darwin finally proven right about bug-eating plant after 150 years ## ‘I hope he’d be really excited and wanted to give us a big high five,’ says botanist [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/darwin-flesh-eating-plant-9.7298795](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/darwin-flesh-eating-plant-9.7298795) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5238 "2026-08-11T04:04:48Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Baseball legend Ted Williams, who famously was the last player to hit .400 for a season (in 1941)… > > was **Mexican** Not at all. He was born in the USA, right? Now, if you wanna say “Hispanic”, “Latino” or “Mexican American”, fine. Even back on those rather bigoted days, the MLB was Okay with Hispanics- as long as you could “pass”. 🙄 Several Cuban players, IIRC. ---
**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:** [August 11, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5239 "2026-08-11T13:19:52Z")
During his lifetime, all of Buddy Holly’s records were released with labels reading “Buddy Holly” _or_ “The Crickets”; a band called “Buddy Holly _and_ the Crickets” didn’t technically exist until 1962, when a compilation album was released. Releasing half of his output as “The Crickets” let Holly release records on two different labels, and let DJs off the hook for overplaying a single artist. The Crickets backed him on even the records with a solo credit. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5240 "2026-08-11T13:25:36Z")
It is a quirk of English that we use the same word for heritage ethicity as for nationality. Lots of people identify as Mexican without being from Mexico. It creates ambiguity sometimes, but people just don’t all use the hyphenated versions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=261) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=263)