# 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:** 96
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1901 "2025-03-19T07:55:12Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The Portuguese and Spanish were importing Muslim slaves into the New World nearly a hundred years before that. > > _On Christmas Day in the year 1521, and half a world away from home, a group of enslaved West African Muslim warriors led a slave revolt on the island of Hispaniola_ I didn’t know that, thanks ! Still, I find the idea somehow more intriguing the other way around : a lone Native American possibly encountering Muslims in Eastern Europe in the times of Shakespeare. What a life he had… ---
**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:** [March 19, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1902 "2025-03-19T17:26:43Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > If you each year lived on the first day’s $100,000 and invested the other 364 day’s $100,000 each in an account that gives you an interest of 2% per year, the money just from the first year alone would be worth more than $90,000,000,000,000,000,000, which is more than 200 million times Musk’s net worth. I lost everything I’d had banked with the Templars. Then the Habsburgs defaulted on me, the lying ingrates. Tulips looked like a good investment at one point; not so much. I bet everything, _everything_ that Bonaparte was going to win. I’d almost made it up again until 1929. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1903 "2025-03-19T18:12:27Z")
Invest in bitcoin, when you get back on your feet. 😉 ---
**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:** [March 19, 2025, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1904 "2025-03-19T18:17:48Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I lost everything I’d had banked with the Templars. Then the Habsburgs defaulted on me, the lying ingrates. Tulips looked like a good investment at one point; not so much. I bet everything, _everything_ that Bonaparte was going to win. I’d almost made it up again until 1929. I’m still waiting to cash in my Confederate war bonds. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1905 "2025-03-19T18:46:15Z")
Heh, I was inspired by the Tim Burton movie version of _Dark Shadows_: that someone could be centuries-old and have magic powers, yet instead of having become Empress of the planet was stuck running a cannery in Maine. Someone with those advantages would presumably have to have been jinxed by repeated financial ruin. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1906 "2025-03-22T22:53:22Z")
Alonzo B. Cee manufactured elevators in Brooklyn in the 1920s. He was known as “A B Cee.” [-=Link=-](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/03/19/104202491.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0),l ---
**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:** [March 24, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1907 "2025-03-24T00:38:32Z")
Most everyone is aware that Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin as Adolf Hitler looked on. But today I learned that another American finished second behind Owens in the 200 meter race. That individual was Mack Robinson, who was the older brother of Jackie Robinson. Robinson’s time in the 200 meters broke the existing Olympic record, but of course Owens’ time set a new record. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1908 "2025-03-24T13:06:18Z")
Strange, but true: The words “isle” and “island” are not etymologically related! ---
**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:** [March 24, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1909 "2025-03-24T13:16:25Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > The words “isle” and “island” are not etymologically related! There is no way that’s true! _Looks it up. Slinks away quietly_ ---
**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:** [March 24, 2025, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1910 "2025-03-24T13:33:11Z")
Well, slightly related, in that the spelling shift of the Anglo-Saxon origin “island” was influenced by the similar spelling of the Latin-derived “isle”. Etymology can sometimes be a tree, rather than a chain. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1911 "2025-03-24T16:51:01Z")
LIkewise, “miniature” is unrelated to “minimum”, “minor”, and other words with the “mini-” or “min-” prefix. “Miniature” derives from an Italian word that means “a decorative image painted in a book or manuscript”. Since such images were usually small, the word sense shifted to refer to anything small. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2025, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1912 "2025-03-24T17:37:22Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > LIkewise, “miniature” is unrelated to “minimum”, “minor”, and other words with the “mini-” or “min-” prefix. And “minuscule” is unrelated (directly, at least) to anything with “min-” > [@](#): > > # minuscule (n.) > > 1705, “small (not capital) letter,” from French minuscule (17c.), from Latin minuscula, in minuscula littera “slightly smaller letter,” fem. of minusculus “rather less, rather small,” diminutive of minus “less” (from PIE root [\*mei-](https://www.etymonline.com/word/*mei-#etymonline_v_52688) (2) “small”). It refers to the kind of reduced alphabetical character which arose 7c. and was from about 9c. substituted in writing for the large uncial. From it the small or lower-case letters of the modern Latin alphabet were derived. > > As an adjective, from 1727 in printing, “not capital, of reduced form, small” (of letters); the general sense of “extremely small” is attested by 1893. Related: Minuscular. > > also from [1705](https://www.etymonline.com/search?sort=a&q=from:1705) > **[minuscule | Etymology of minuscule by etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/minuscule)** > > "small (not capital) letter," from French minuscule (17c.), from Latin minuscula, in… See origin and meaning of minuscule. That weird spelling, with “u” after “min” is the giveaway. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1913 "2025-03-24T17:47:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > And “minuscule” is unrelated (directly, at least) to anything with “min-” The words “minimum” and “minuscule” are both ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European root “mey”, but took different paths getting to English. In constrast, “miniature” comes from an Iberian aboriginal language via Latin. > **[Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/mey- - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/mey-#Root_4)** ---
**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:** [March 24, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1914 "2025-03-24T22:29:25Z")
Allegedly - the single musical instrument that has been listened to in person by more people than any other. (in multiple sessions over time - not just one performance). The Wanamaker organ in the recently closed Macy’s in downtown Philadelphia. At least two performances almost every day since 1911 - hundreds (if not thousands) in attendance at each performance. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1915 "2025-03-24T22:57:02Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > Allegedly - the single musical instrument that has been listened to in person by more people than any other. (in multiple sessions over time - not just one performance). > > The Wanamaker organ in the recently closed Macy’s in downtown Philadelphia. At least two performances almost every day since 1911 Wouldn’t the Floyd Rose Stratocaster played by Prince at Super Bowl XLI (and at other venues around that time) be in the running (the viewership of that Super Bowl peeked at 140 million viewers at halftime, domestically, and with an announced potential viewership could easily have topped a quarter billion) be in the running? Yes, because the other performances that make multiple sessions are probably only in the 10’s of thousand each, this entry is only technically correct, but isn’t that the best kind of correct? ---
**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:** [March 24, 2025, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1916 "2025-03-24T23:07:30Z")
But my question mentions IN PERSON so that at that Super Bowl performance the crowd count was limited to the number of viewers inside the stadium. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2025, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1917 "2025-03-25T13:15:54Z")
Electric instruments kind of bend the notion of listening “in person”, though. Even the audience in the stadium wasn’t hearing the sounds from the guitar; they were hearing the sounds from the speakers hooked up to the amp hooked up to the guitar. How different is it, really, when you make the wires longer and use speakers in your living room? ---
**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:** [March 25, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1918 "2025-03-25T13:32:19Z")
Because you’re not experiencing it with other people and about a dozen other reasons. Have you ever been to a concert? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1919 "2025-03-25T13:34:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Electric instruments kind of bend the notion of listening “in person”, though. > > How different is it, really, when you make the wires longer and use speakers in your living room? If we keep bending this definition, I’ll have seen Jimi Hendrix “in person” even though he was dead before I became a person. Let’s say that “in person” means that you, as a person, heard the music while in the same venue and at the same time as the person playing the instrument. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1920 "2025-03-25T13:39:03Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > and at the same time as the person playing the instrument. What about the “time of flight” for the sound? There’s a noticeable time delay in large venues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=95) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=97)