# 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:** 79
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1561 "2025-02-08T12:45:17Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Concerning the repeated meaning, the brown bear is called in scientific nomenclature _Ursus arctos_, which means bear bear in Latin and Greek, respectively. Then there’s the bearberry plant, _Arctostaphylos uva-ursi_. It means bear’s grape bear’s grape in first Greek and then Latin. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1562 "2025-02-08T23:42:49Z")
On the weekend of May 21-22, 1892 - the UK converted hundreds of miles of railway track from broad gauge (7 ft 1/4 in; 2140 mm) to standard gauge (4 ft 8 1/2 in; 1435 mm). It was seven years in planning, and it took almost 5,000 workers to perform the job. Some parts had the standard gauge track already laid (dual gauge - with one rail on the station platform side so that it was closer to the passengers) - but mostly workers had to lift the broad-gauge track, push it over a couple of feet, and reattach it to the crossties. The “Night Mail” which had run from Paddington to Plymouth on broad gauge Friday night, ran on standard gauge (and different equipment) on Monday morning. It would have been a challenge to isolate the broad-gauge trains - away from the track that was to be converted. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1563 "2025-02-09T02:08:43Z")
I just learned, listening to A Way With Words on NPR, that “Holy Toledo” is referencing a city in Spain, not the one in Ohio. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1564 "2025-02-09T02:26:02Z")
And isn’t it a term popularized in the Midwest to make it clear that they are talking about the one in Spain instead of the less-than-holy one in Ohio? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1565 "2025-02-09T03:15:50Z")
Although I have made a few pilgrimages to Tony Paco’s for the cabbage rolls ---
**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:** [February 9, 2025, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1566 "2025-02-09T04:07:09Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Although I have made a few pilgrimages to Tony Paco’s for the cabbage rolls   Dammit, there’s nowhere around here to get cabbage rolls, a terribly sad situation I often lament in the What’s For Dinner thread whenever @wolfpup posts he picked some up for dinner. I’m too lazy to construct my own, and the deconstructed casseroles don’t taste right at all because you need the contrast between the meaty rolls and the (barely) sweeter sauce. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1567 "2025-02-09T14:48:42Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I had heard many times that electromagnetism was a lot stronger than gravity, It is considered stronger at close range but it can’t begin to pull in objects from the asteroid belt. ;~) ---
**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:** [February 9, 2025, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1568 "2025-02-09T14:53:25Z")
50% of all Canadians live south of the state of Washington and if you travel south from Detroit you will enter Canada. > **[RCIC - Immigration - Lawyer - Notary - Visa on Instagram:...](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFnX04FpQVh/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==)** > > 25K likes, 601 comments - goldenpathwayimmigration on February 3, 2025: "#goldenpathwayimmigration #canada #pr #approval #canadapr #workpermit #must #lmia #brampton #us #usa #canada🇨🇦 #canadalife #trump #michigan #india #del #delhi #punjab... ---
**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:** [February 9, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1569 "2025-02-09T14:55:14Z")
I don’t think it is stronger or weaker because of the distance, but because gravity always adds up with every bit of mass, while electromagnetism can be positive or negative. But asteroids are electrically neutral and not magnetic, as far as I know. So it is not the case that electromagnetism is stronger or weaker than gravity, it just does not apply, while gravity affects everything, however weakly. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1570 "2025-02-09T17:09:12Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > 50% of all Canadians live south of the state of Washington Ontario, Oregon is 20’ north of Toronto, Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1571 "2025-02-09T17:20:04Z")
A first class ticket on the final voyage of RMS Lusitania started at $137.50 ($4,296.88 in 2025) Among the drown were 94 children. What better way to remember the tragedy? In the 1980s, [commemorative golf clubs were made from one of its salvaged propellers.](https://www.bonhams.com/auction/22774/lot/178/rms-lusitania-a-limited-edition-set-of-lusitania-legacy-golf-clubs/) “When the clubs were played with, they marked up very badly due to the softness of the bronze alloy. Consequently it is understood that the sets were recalled, then melted down and no further sets were manufactured.” _The golf links lie so near the mill_ _That almost every day_ _The laboring children can look out_ _And see the men at play._ ---
**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:** [February 10, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1572 "2025-02-10T00:42:33Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Ontario, Oregon is 20’ north of Toronto, Ontario. I should clarify that that is minutes, not feet. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2025, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1573 "2025-02-10T01:13:59Z")
Which is about 12k feet. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1574 "2025-02-10T01:23:30Z")
Latitude minutes are consistent in length, unlike longitude minutes. A minute at the equator is approximately equivalent to a nautical mile. Hence, ten minutes latitude would be closer to five times that. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2025, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1575 "2025-02-10T01:25:16Z")
Thanks and so much for Google AI ---
**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:** [February 10, 2025, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1576 "2025-02-10T03:17:50Z")
Watching the [new documentary](https://youtu.be/EDKC77QS8WM?feature=shared) on the group today, I discovered what Led Zeppelin has in common with James Bond. Both Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were in the session band when the song Goldfinger was recorded. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1577 "2025-02-12T22:19:07Z")
In December 1998, on New York City, an accidental fire started in the apartment of the family of the actor Macauly Culkin lived. Four people died in a stairwell trying to escape. [-=Cite=-](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/24/nyregion/4-killed-fleeing-blaze-in-high-rise.html) ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1578 "2025-02-12T23:12:29Z")
So TIL the full story of the incident that inspired Hunt for Red October: > **[Valery Sablin](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Sablin#Mutiny_on_the_Storozhevoy)** > > Captain 3rd Rank Valery Mikhailovich Sablin (Russian: Вале́рий Миха́йлович Са́блин) (1 January 1939 – 3 August 1976) was a Soviet Navy officer and a member of the Communist Party. In November 1975, in response to what he claimed was rampant corruption and stagnation in the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev, he led a mutiny on the Soviet anti-submarine frigate Storozhevoy (Russian: Сторожевой, tr. Storoževoj, meaning "Sentry") in an attempt to start a Leninist political revolution. His mutiny fai... It’s actually a pretty crazy story. I mean it was an anti submarine frigate not a experimental nuclear submarine, but I can see why they changed that in the interests of a good story. But the reason he mutinied is more interesting IRL. Sablin (the political officer not the captain) was indeed dissolutioned with the Soviet union, but he thought that was because it had betrayed its socialist principles. He planned to sail to Leningrad announce a new revolution (by radio and TV, somehow) and launch a new revolution in the style of the 1917 October revolution. He successfully managed to imprison the Captain and the rest of the crew who were not in on the plot and set off for Leningrad. Only one of the crew managed to escape and reach the local army base to raise the alarm, but he wasn’t believed until the next day, as he was super drunk/hungover (he timed the mutiny to coincide with a major Soviet holiday, so _everyone_ was super drunk/hungover) Eventually a huge fleet of aircraft was launched to sink the ship but it failed in variety of comically inept ways, but in the commotion of the air attacks the crew managed to free themselves, shoot Sablin in the leg and regain control (and let the Soviet authorities know this just before a cruise missile was launched at them) Sablin was executed for treason, his co-conspirators got off pretty lightly, and the rest of the crew (even the ones who risked their lives against armed men regaining control of the ship) were expelled from the Navy without pensions. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1579 "2025-02-14T14:37:25Z")
Today I learned/realized that there are only two female speaking roles in the movie _The Shawshank Redemption_. One is a woman who complains about Brooks’ service at the grocery store, and the other is the woman who helps Andy at the bank just after he has escaped from prison. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2025, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1580 "2025-02-14T14:46:41Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Today I learned/realized that there are only two female speaking roles in the movie _The Shawshank Redemption_. There are no female speaking roles at all in “Lawrence of Arabia”, none. The only very short time you see a few women is in a scene when the Arabs led by Anthony Quinn ride an attack and are cheered by a crowd which contains some female extras. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=78) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=80)