# 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:** 85
**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 22, 2025, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1681 "2025-02-22T13:10:50Z")
TIL of the Friendly Floatees spill in 1992. The Floatees are plastic bath toys which were manufactured in China. A shipment of the toys was on the container ship _Ever Laurel_, which encountered a storm at sea, which resulted in the loss of 12 containers. One of these containers held 28,800 of the floating toys; this container split open and the toys were released. The toys have floated around the globe, having been recovered in Australia, Africa, both coasts of the USA, and Europe. The last toy to have been found was discovered in 2007 in Europe. > **[Friendly Floatees spill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Floatees_spill)** > > Friendly Floatees are plastic bath toys (including rubber ducks) marketed by The First Years and made famous by the work of Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer who models ocean currents on the basis of flotsam movements. Ebbesmeyer studied the movements of a consignment of 28,800 Friendly Floatees—yellow ducks, red beavers, blue turtles, and green frogs—that were washed into the Pacific Ocean in 1992. Some of the toys landed along Pacific Ocean shores, such as Hawaii. Others traveled over 27,00... ---
**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:** [February 22, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1682 "2025-02-22T14:10:53Z")
In Scotland, a gazebo, conservatory or other place to sit outside may be called a [sitooterie](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-motorola-rvo3&sca_esv=d5be2ea9143ccd98&q=sitooterie&si=APYL9btdBQdUL5bhtCFrP2114FKaZfATOyn8zlTsOqno7J1_1zb6IB3IkteajtuUIvAmnc3g1WPXcA178NIqX2Yf2beHDv82n3tylyVKRSi5mALS64gqr7E%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi17omjuteLAxXrWEEAHe12Gm4Q2v4IegQIEhAb&biw=412&bih=772&dpr=1.75#ebo=0) ---
**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 22, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1683 "2025-02-22T15:12:46Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > The Potato famine-era “death ships” and the ships that brought the Chinese coolies to North America had a higher fatality rate than African slave ships. [Coffin ship - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_ship) ---
**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 23, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1684 "2025-02-23T13:22:34Z")
This US company was the “largest” (in terms of budget and assets) in the country - as well as largest in the world for some years in the early 20th century (after the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911). 200,000 employees at its peak, and an annual budget (at least for 1916 - if not other years) approaching that of the whole US government. What’s surprising is that this company was not a monopoly (e.g Standard Oil, US Steel, and possibly Ford) - it had plenty of competitors. Who am I? Pennsylvania Railroad ---
**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 23, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1685 "2025-02-23T15:07:44Z")
And to think, I could have bought it for $200! ---
**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:** [February 23, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1686 "2025-02-23T15:37:34Z")
golf clap ---
**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 23, 2025, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1687 "2025-02-23T20:00:45Z")
TIL, a young Alan Alda served as an Army officer…in Korea… in the 1950s. ---
**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 23, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1688 "2025-02-23T20:10:54Z")
Urban myth according to Wikipedia: [Alan Alda - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Alda) ---
**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 23, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1689 "2025-02-23T20:12:20Z")
The Internet lied??? ---
**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 23, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1690 "2025-02-23T21:51:05Z")
Both James Garner and Michael Caine did fight in Korea, though. And both had a keen dislike for garlic, which came in handy detecting enemy infiltration. ---
**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 23, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1691 "2025-02-23T22:08:21Z")
I think Michael Caine probably still has a keen dislike for garlic. I met a woman who claimed that she developed garlic intolerance due to gall bladder surgery (_post hoc ergo propter hoc_), which was unfortunate because it ruled out a great deal of standard American cuisine (e.g., pizza). ---
**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 23, 2025, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1692 "2025-02-23T22:58:18Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Urban myth according to Wikipedia: [Alan Alda - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Alda) Jamie Farr however did serve in Korea (after the war). He wore his real dog tags in the tv show. > **[Jamie Farr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Farr#Career)** > > Jamie Farr (born Jameel Joseph Farah; July 1, 1934) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Corporal Klinger, a soldier who tried getting discharged from the army by cross-dressing, on the CBS sitcom M\*A\*S\*H. After M\*A\*S\*H, Farr reprised the role of Klinger for AfterMASH and appeared both in small roles on popular shows such as The Love Boat and as a host or panelist on game shows including Battle of the Network Stars. He was inducted into the Holly Farr was born Jameel ... ---
**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 24, 2025, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1693 "2025-02-24T01:15:48Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > TIL, a young Alan Alda served as an Army officer…in Korea… in the 1950s. As I pointed out four years ago on this Board, there’s a **Benjamin Franklin Pierce** memorialized in the Memorial Hall at Sanders Theater at Harvard University. I saw it while waiing in line to get into the theater for a performance. As far as I can tell, Hiester Richard Hornberger (AKA “Richard Hooker”), the author of the original novel **MASH** had nothing to do with Harvard, but he could’ve seen the name, too, while waiting for a show. Or it could be a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Cwturner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Cwturner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cwturner)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1694 "2025-02-24T01:35:43Z")
[Moby Duck](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Duck) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1695 "2025-02-24T01:55:10Z")
Or just the portmanteau-ish combination of Benjamin Franklin and Franklin Pierce seemed like a good joke name. George Washington Irving John Jay Leno Andrew Jackson Mississippi James Madison Bumgarner John Marshall McLuhan Thomas Jefferson Airplane Killers, every one of them. I’d even go for Benjamin Franklin Pierce Brosnan. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1696 "2025-02-24T11:15:10Z")
This is Flavor Flav, famously a founding member of the seminal rap group Public Enemy, somewhat less famously a denizen of some trashy reality television. [![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/OLAYK.8GLLrL9bMrVrFTpw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD04MDA-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/people_218/ed363ca2bc5834af6814f3aabe14859e) ](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/OLAYK.8GLLrL9bMrVrFTpw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD04MDA-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/people_218/ed363ca2bc5834af6814f3aabe14859e) And now here is Flavor Flav demonstrating that in addition to his other celebrity qualifications, he has remarkably credible chops as a pianist. > **[Flavor Flav ⏰ on Instagram: "FLAVOR FLAV::: Newest artist in residence at the...](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C94vLWJtU_T/)** > > 101K likes, 3,518 comments - flavorflavofficial on July 25, 2024: "FLAVOR FLAV::: Newest artist in residence at the Ambassadors Residence in Paris,,, playing a piano from 1929,!!!". A little biographical googling suggests that he’s a talented self-taught multi-instrumentalist. I love Public Enemy, but this, this I did not know. ---
**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 24, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1697 "2025-02-24T23:18:46Z")
Wayne Gretzky always finished at (or near) near the bottom in his team’s pre-season fitness tests. Max bench was 140; he had a hard time doing six sit-ups. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1698 "2025-02-26T00:12:12Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > The UK can call itself lucky that he’s not a real Royal, because he’s a massive, entitled asshole. He’s also the husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco, btw. I forgot to add “der Pinkelprinz” to his given names. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1699 "2025-02-26T00:20:40Z")
The German verb _drehen_ means “to turn” (in the sense of “rotation” or “turning around” rather than as of a vehicle changing direction), and is a cognate of “to throw”. The semantic commonality is “throwing” a pot on a potter’s wheel, which rotates by definition. ---
**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 26, 2025, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1700 "2025-02-26T03:33:16Z")
Shot putting also comes to mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=84) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=86)