# 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:** 81
**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, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1601 "2025-02-14T22:51:47Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > There is a rare breed of pig called the Husum Red Pied that was bred in Jutland( now Germany near the Germany/Denmark border). Nitpick: most of what historically was called Jütland still belongs to modern Denmark, only the southern part (Schleswig-Holstein) is in modern Germany. > **[Jutland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jutland)** > > Jutland (/ˈdʒʌtlənd/; Danish: Jylland \[ˈjyˌlænˀ\], Jyske Halvø or Cimbriske Halvø; German: Jütland, Kimbrische Halbinsel or Jütische Halbinsel) is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It stretches from the Grenen spit in the north to the confluence of the Elbe and the Sude in the southeast. The historic southern border river of Jutland as a cultural-geographical region, which historically also included South... ---
**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 14, 2025, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1602 "2025-02-14T22:55:40Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Which mentions that she speaks Yiddish, which I wasn’t expecting. (It doesn’t say clearly that she speaks Italian, though other sources do.) My Jewish grandmother spoke Italian for the same reason (grew up in a Jewish-Italian neighborhood) ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1603 "2025-02-15T00:23:43Z")
True, but the town where the pigs were bred is in Germany. Very close to Denmark ---
**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 15, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1604 "2025-02-15T00:37:25Z")
The Promised Land, with Mads Mikkelsen, shows as an aside how “potato Germans” were invited to the marshes of Denmark to grow potatoes in the 18th C. That turned out to be a problem in the next century during German reunification when Prussia believed that as just cause for annexation. Worse in the next century when both the British king and Russian tsar’s mothers were Danish princess sisters (so impoverished that they’d had to take in sewing as teenagers) with anti-German grudges. ---
**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 15, 2025, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1605 "2025-02-15T08:24:08Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > True, but the town where the pigs were bred is in Germany. Very close to Denmark Ah, got it. There’s still a significant Danish minority in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. ---
**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 15, 2025, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1606 "2025-02-15T13:33:18Z")
Yesterday, in an Atlantic-10 conference basketball game, Loyola Chicago defeated Saint Lous, 78-69. Yesterday, of course, was Valentine’s Day. The head coach of Loyola Chicago is Drew Valentine. And one of the officials in the game was Teddy Valentine. Great job of scheduling by the conference! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1607 "2025-02-16T23:09:39Z")
Every copy of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” on CD has a built-in laser light show which can only be activated in your microwave oven. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1608 "2025-02-17T20:34:04Z")
I love me a Blue Plaque, and I have posted facts from them many times before. We were in the West Country for a couple of days, and in Paignton we found this gem. > **[File:-2019-04-18 Blue Plaque, Stella Gale harbour master, Paignton, Devon.JPG](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:-2019-04-18_Blue_Plaque,_Stella_Gale_harbour_master,_Paignton,_Devon.JPG)** If you can’t be bothered to click, the headline info is (my bolding) _Paignton Harbour, workplace of Stella Gale (C22.02.1908 – D 13.04.1986)_ _HARBOUR MASTER 1929-1941_ _ **Stella was the first female harbour master to be appointed in the United Kingdom** ….She was appointed as harbour master at the age of 21 by Paignton Harbour Company…._ It’s good to see remarkable pioneering women being (finally) celebrated j ---
**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:** [February 17, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1609 "2025-02-17T20:35:20Z")
Aside from the obvious, what is a Blue Plaque? ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1610 "2025-02-17T20:37:02Z")
Well, the physical object is in the picture. It’s a form of notice board providing information about (usually) people of note with a connection to the locality. See my next post for more. j ---
**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:** [February 17, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1611 "2025-02-17T20:40:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Aside from the obvious, what is a Blue Plaque? They’re all over the UK and Ireland – generally historical markers placed on houses telling you who lived there or what happened there. When we visited Dublin, we saw, among others, the blue plaque on George Bernard Shaw’s home, which said (at his own request, I gather) that he was “the author of many plays”. He wanted to avoid controversy and bragging, and he figured that saying that he was thew author of many plays was not controversial. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1612 "2025-02-17T20:42:53Z")
Something I have long known, and several things I stumbled across. Unlikely as it sounds, the FA Cup final has (and has had for about a century) a traditional hymn – Abide With Me, by Henry Lyte. I’m not in the least religious but I’ll concede that it has a fine tune (by William Henry Monk) and a cracking opening line (“Abide with me, fast falls the eventide”). Indeed, here is a FA Cup final crowd singing it: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hqHqC8PLJfU/maxresdefault.jpg "ABIDE WITH ME–FA CUP FINAL HYMN–MANCHESTER UNITED FC V CRYSTAL PALACE FC–12TH MAY 1990 –WEMBLEY") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqHqC8PLJfU) Now: a couple of nights ago I was with friends in Brixham in Devon, standing at the bus station as the hour struck. We had been doing a piece of drinking, so that I had to ask my hosts if I was hallucinating, or was the striking of the hour by the church bells really to the tune of Abide With Me? It transpires that William Lyte had been a popular cleric in Brixham, living in the area for the last twenty-odd years of his life. Yes, the bells of his church, All Saints, do play Abide With Me on the hour. The next day our hosts took us for dinner to the Berry Head Hotel, a magnificent old pile overlooking the sea. You know I like a Blue Plaque, and I promise you this is purely coincidence: > **[Henry Francis Lyte blue plaque](https://openplaques.org/plaques/54091)** > > Berry Head House > The home of Rev Henry Francis Lyte > Vicar of All Saints > Brixham > who wrote > "Abide With Me" > here on Sept 4th 1847 If the font’s too small to see and you can’t be bothered to click: Berry Head Hotel, at the time his private residence, is where Lyte wrote Abide With Me. j ---
**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:** [February 17, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1613 "2025-02-17T20:49:19Z")
Ah, the equivalent in the US, I think, would be the National Registry of Historic Places, which often puts up plaques at the home where so-and-so grew up, or whatever. I gather that it’s more or less a rubber-stamp process of approving anyone who requests such a plaque. They’re fairly consistent in appearance, but not so distinctive as the Blue Plaques. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1614 "2025-02-17T20:49:48Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > It’s a form of notice board providing information about (usually) people of note But not always [https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/plaque-commemorating-haywards-heath-war-pigeon-to-be-unveiled-2235248](https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/plaque-commemorating-haywards-heath-war-pigeon-to-be-unveiled-2235248) j ---
**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:** [February 17, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1615 "2025-02-17T20:52:22Z")
I just learned that H. G. Wells’ text for **The Time Machine** is much more complex than I originally reealized. 1.) There is a short section that was printed in the magazine serialization of the story that did not make it into the full printed text. It deals with a side trip the Time TRaveler made after he left the time of the Morlocks and Eloi and before he went forward to the world with a red sun and the giant crab creatures. It was published as _The Last Men_ somewhere in 1940 and in Forrest J. Achkerman’s American edition of _Perry Rhodan_ #101 in 1976, and as _The Dark Man_ somewhere else. It also appears in the Dover Press and the Easton Press editions, but not in most copies of the book. 2.) There are two different versions of the book in print (aside from the deleted text referred to above): > [@](#): > > [Henry Holt and Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Holt_and_Company) published the first book edition (possibly prepared from a different manuscript)[[11]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine#cite_note-11) on 7 May 1895; Heinemann published an English edition on 29 May.[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine#cite_note-jrhamm04-8) These two editions are different textually and are commonly referred to as the “Holt text” and “Heinemann text”, respectively. Nearly all modern reprints reproduce the Heinemann text.[[12]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine#cite_note-12) 3.) One thing I do know, but is not on the Wikipedia site, is that Wells at one point worked with people to try to make the story of The Time Machine a multimedia experience, but it was not realized in his lifetime. Today apparently there are several “Time Machine Multimedia Experiences” out there > **[The Time Machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine)** > > The Time Machine is an 1895 dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction novella by H. G. Wells about a Victorian scientist known as the Time Traveller who travels to the year 802,701. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively forward or backward through time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle or device. > Utilizing a frame s... ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1616 "2025-02-17T21:00:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > …Wells at one point worked with people to try to make the story of The Time Machine **a multimedia experience** … My Bold Was this a thing at the time, or was he breaking new ground? j ---
**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:** [February 17, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1617 "2025-02-17T21:03:48Z")
I was wondering about when the concept of time travel became a widely known enough trope (beyond science fiction nerds) that one could talk to an average person about the concept without having to explain it to them from scratch. IOW, about when was the first cultural reference to time travel outside of the stories themselves? ---
**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:** [February 17, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1618 "2025-02-17T21:08:41Z")
Abide With Me is a standard in many hymnals. Often sung at funerals for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1619 "2025-02-17T21:10:59Z")
Ah - y’know, I mean to ask in the post if the hymn was known in the US, but forgot to ask. Thanks for clearing that one up for me! j ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1620 "2025-02-17T21:54:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Every copy of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” on CD has a built-in laser light show which can only be activated in your microwave oven. Why only my microwave oven? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=80) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=82)