# 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:** 30
**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:** [October 2, 2024, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/581 "2024-10-02T14:56:44Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > What are the odds?! The same as Lou Gehrig dying of “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”, of all things. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/582 "2024-10-02T14:58:22Z")
He did? 🤯: ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/583 "2024-10-02T15:56:01Z")
Flax is also a lovely blue garden annual, as well being the source of flax fiber and linseed oil. Flax fiber must be ‘retted’ i.e. rotted, before it can be further processed. The traditional method involves spreading the flax in the field from which it was cut, and the heavy dew of the nights causing it to rot on its own. In Ireland, submerging in shallow pools and bogs was used, but this pollutes the waterways to such an extent that it was eventually banned, and since the climate there is not conducive to dew retting, they import their raw linen from France now. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/584 "2024-10-02T15:57:40Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > At least for now, until the Ice Age-legacy aquifers are empty. And snow no longer falls in the Sierras. ---
**Author:** ![sb1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@sb1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sb1953)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/585 "2024-10-02T16:57:03Z")
…“And I am going tom sit here and enjoy my first amendment rights!” ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/586 "2024-10-02T17:05:09Z")
Flax also gives us linoleum as that is made from linseed oil. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/587 "2024-10-02T18:56:10Z")
We have one in my hometown [![](https://www.infoquilmes.com.ar/fotos/2023/12/mn12to9468s7rl3p05qk.jpg) ](https://www.infoquilmes.com.ar/fotos/2023/12/mn12to9468s7rl3p05qk.jpg) May be not as good as the others, perhaps… ---
**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:** [October 2, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/588 "2024-10-02T19:20:41Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > > > What are the odds?! > > The same as Lou Gehrig dying of “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”, of all things. Maybe not. [https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/08/17/129256356/lou-gehrig-may-not-have-had-disease-bearing-name](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/08/17/129256356/lou-gehrig-may-not-have-had-disease-bearing-name) ---
**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:** [October 3, 2024, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/589 "2024-10-03T00:10:20Z")
Well I did not know that either! Another interesting detail from the Linoleum wiki article: > Walton was unhappy with Michael Nairn & Co’s use of the name Linoleum and brought a lawsuit against them for [trademark infringement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_infringement). However, the term had not been trademarked, and he lost the suit, the court opining that even if the name _had_ been registered as a trademark, it was by now so widely used that it had [become generic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark),[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleum#cite_note-6) only 14 years after its invention. **It is considered to be the first product name to become a generic term**.[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleum#cite_note-lino23-5) ---
**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:** [October 3, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/590 "2024-10-03T00:41:20Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Easter always falls on a Sunday. A little fact I learned from you! (I’m a heretic. Have I mentioned this before?) ---
**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:** [October 3, 2024, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/591 "2024-10-03T02:01:30Z")
It’s almost more the other way around. Sunday has the status that it does because of Easter. ---
**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:** [October 3, 2024, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/592 "2024-10-03T05:13:01Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > And snow no longer falls in the Sierras. Or, at least, enough snow. People in Western Washington are somewhat concerned when they look at Mt Rainier and see that its shoulders are black. This time of year, it should be covered in snow all the way around, but the north and south flanks are both bare rock. This in the area that is know by many as the “Pacific Northwet”. It is not inconceivable that the Sierra snowpack may well soon be an inadequate water source. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/593 "2024-10-03T06:15:07Z")
You know how some people have trouble recognizing faces? That condition is prosopagnosia. On the other end of the scale are the _super-recognizers_. > In 2014, a super-recognizer named [Dale Nufer](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2604230/Police-super-recogniser-sheds-new-light-hero-WWI-propaganda.html) identified a soldier carrying a dying comrade through the trenches in rare footage from World War I, after about 20 different families came forward to claim the man as their relative. > **[I’m a Super-Recognizer. Here’s What It’s Like.](https://www.thefp.com/p/im-super-recognizer)** > > I’m part of a tiny group of human beings that never forgets a face. We can solve everything from crimes to historical mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/594 "2024-10-03T10:38:55Z")
that was a cool read. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/595 "2024-10-03T15:11:33Z")
That remined me of the Robert Silverberg short story, _[The Man Who Never Forgot](https://www.lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/silverberg5/index.html)_. ---
**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:** [October 3, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/596 "2024-10-03T15:46:16Z")
Would the protagonist of that story, Tom Niles, have an Uruguayan ancestor named Funes perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/597 "2024-10-03T15:51:32Z")
Up until 1991, the Paris Metro system had first- and second-class cars. The first class cars were in the middle of train and so would stop in the more convenient middle part of the platform. The riffraff had to walk all the way to one end or another of the station to board. ---
**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:** [October 3, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/598 "2024-10-03T15:54:27Z")
Beat me to it! (Frodo is referring to the Jorge Luis Borges short story sometimes translated as _Funes the Memorious_.) ---
**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:** [October 3, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/599 "2024-10-03T15:56:02Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Up until 1991, the Paris Metro system had first- and second-class cars. I first read that as 1919 and thought, well yeah, but 1991? That’s surprising. The first and last time I was in Paris and frequented the Metro was in 1987, so the first class was still a thing, though I don’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/600 "2024-10-03T17:00:48Z")
The source I found said that by the late 80s only a tiny fraction of the tickets sold were first-class, so I guess it had mostly been phased out by the time you first rode it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=31)