# 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:** 66
**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 12, 2025, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1301 "2025-01-12T13:25:02Z")
Philadelphia used to have a city ordinance that no building could be taller than City Hall, as measured to the top of the statue of Benjamin Franklin atop the dome. They’ve repealed that in the past couple of decades, though, and now there are skyscrapers. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2025, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1302 "2025-01-12T13:37:17Z")
Likewise in London, there’s a longstanding policy against skyscrapers crowding out the view of St Paul:'s Cathedral. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1303 "2025-01-12T13:56:06Z")
Is a “policy” equivalent to a law? ---
**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:** [January 12, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1304 "2025-01-12T17:36:24Z")
Inasmuch as you have to obtain approval from the city to build. Just about any law is moot in the face of a pile of money, though. You are not allowed to dump toxic waste into the river, but if you have enough money, you can pay the regulating agency to look at squirrels. ---
**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 12, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1305 "2025-01-12T17:48:56Z")
Cleveland used to have an unofficial policy that no building could be taller than the very-distinctive Terminal Tower, though that wasn’t too big a deal, given that the Terminal Tower is a respectable skyscraper itself. But then Society Bank wanted to build a new headquarters building taller, and so they did. It might just be that Cleveland isn’t well-suited for skyscrapers, for one reason or another, and that’s the only reason the unofficial policy stood for as long as it did. As it is, there are only two (one of them new in the past year) other buildings that even come close to the Terminal Tower’s height (I’m still waiting to see how long it is before all of the skyline pictures you see in various places get updated). ---
**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 12, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1306 "2025-01-12T19:13:18Z")
My town has a code that says no structure can be higher than the hight of the longest ladder on a city fire truck. The local university was able to build a five story building by buying the city a new fire truck. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1307 "2025-01-12T19:26:12Z")
That’s a law intelligently written. It took potential changes into account. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2025, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1308 "2025-01-12T19:47:17Z")
We could have done with that here… > **[Grenfell Tower fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire)** > > On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, England, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. Seventy people died at the scene and two people died later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escaping. It was the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha oil-platform disaster and the worst UK residential fire since the Blitz of World War II. > The fire was started by an electri... ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1309 "2025-01-12T22:34:57Z")
In Montreal, buildings cannot be higher than 763 ft/233 m - the height of Mount Royal - the “mountain” that dominates the centre of the city. Currently - there are only a couple higher than 200m - with many at exactly the 200m mark. ---
**Author:** ![Bbbb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@Bbbb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bbbb)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1310 "2025-01-12T23:11:17Z")
‘Gyro’ as in gyros the food, means spin, like to rotate. And so does ‘doner’ as in doner kebab. I think theres another word also meaning spin for spinning meat foods ---
**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 12, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1311 "2025-01-12T23:13:03Z")
Tournedos? There is also revolting revolving food. And the merry-go-round sushi bars. ETA: Nitpick: D **ö** ner, with an **ö**. ---
**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 12, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1312 "2025-01-12T23:18:57Z")
> [@Bbbb](#): > > I think theres another word also meaning spin for spinning meat foods Shawarma and rotisserie. Al pastor refers to spinning meat but I don’t think that’s what the word derives from. ---
**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 12, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1313 "2025-01-12T23:38:32Z")
I would assume that “al pastor” derives from “shepherd style”. ---
**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 12, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1314 "2025-01-12T23:56:57Z")
Makes you wonder where a shepherd sources their pineapple. ---
**Author:** ![Bbbb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@Bbbb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bbbb)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1315 "2025-01-12T23:57:11Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Shawarma Thats what I was thinking of ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1316 "2025-01-13T00:22:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Philadelphia used to have a city ordinance that no building could be taller than City Hall, as measured to the top of the statue of Benjamin Franklin atop the dome. They’ve repealed that in the past couple of decades, though, and now there are skyscrapers. William Penn, not Ben Franklin. And I don’t think it was a formal ordinance - more of a guideline than a rule, as the pirates say. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2025, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1317 "2025-01-13T00:45:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The town is also sometimes called various other things, by people who aren’t on the payroll of the mining company’s PR department. It (Butte, MT) was called Personville in Dashiell Hammet’s _Red Harvest_, but modified to Poisonville by the residents in the story. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1318 "2025-01-13T13:56:58Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Hint: Perfect squares must end with 0, 1, 4, 5, 6 or 9. That’s about half the proof. The other part is that for n\>4, n! ends in a 0, and 1! + 2! +3! + 4! = 33, so sum of factorials ends in a 3 for any n \> 4. Therefore one only has to check n = 1,2,3, or 4. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1319 "2025-01-13T14:48:50Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Inasmuch as you have to obtain approval from the city to build. In our case, there are planning guidance documents for developers to follow when preparing proposals. This can be a standing document or specially written when a new development site becomes available. So I suppose that’s a “law”, near as damnit, except that it isn’t called that. Where I live we just recently had an ultra local referendum on beefing up various specific conditions the Neighbourhood Plan required in big development proposals. In the case of protecting something so iconic as the view of St Paul’s, it doesn’t take much to imagine the reaction across London if anyone proposed weakening that requirement. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1320 "2025-01-13T15:02:00Z")
As long as a proposed construction project can be sidelined by some authority for violating planning guidance documents then that’s as a good as a law as far as I am concerned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=65) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=67)