# Trivia thread! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628 "2010-02-04T02:44:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/1 "2010-02-04T02:44:53Z")
Post random factoids that you happen to know. Starting off: apparently, Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/2 "2010-02-04T03:06:22Z")
Martin Luther King tried to commit suicide twice by jumping out of a window. ---
**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 4, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/3 "2010-02-04T03:17:29Z")
Hass avocados are named after a mailman from southern California and can be traced back to a single mother tree that died of root rot in 2002. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/4 "2010-02-04T03:24:12Z")
Invisible people are necessarily blind. This is because, to be invisible, you must have the same index of refraction as the medium you are in (e.g., air.) Otherwise there would be reflection, refraction, or absorption at your surface, and someone could see that, so you wouldn’t be invisible. However, if the lens of your eye is the same index of refraction as the air around you, your eye lens cannot focus. Thus, blind. It’s funny because when people want to be invisible, they usually claim it’s because they can watch naked people in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/5 "2010-02-04T07:57:02Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Hass avocados are named after a mailman from southern California and can be traced back to a single mother tree that died of root rot in 2002. Wow. I thought you were kidding. I’ve just spent about an hour researching the details. Facinating, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/6 "2010-02-04T08:51:14Z")
Poker legend Doyle Brunson used to play for the Lakers. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/7 "2010-02-04T12:41:29Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Poker legend Doyle Brunson used to play for the Lakers. The Lakers played poker? ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/8 "2010-02-04T13:16:14Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > Post random factoids that you happen to know. > > Starting off: apparently, Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein. Apparently water is wet too … :rolleyes: > [@Eutychus](#): > > The Lakers played poker? They sure as hell don’t play basketball … _rimshot_ ---
**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 4, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/9 "2010-02-04T16:21:49Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Wow. I thought you were kidding. I’ve just spent about an hour researching the details. Facinating, thank you. Heh. I only know that bit of avocado trivia because I was making up a Super Bowl-related quiz thread for another board. ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/10 "2010-02-04T21:01:09Z")
On top of all the other things that make it unusual, the platypus is [venomous](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus_venom). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/11 "2010-02-04T21:10:58Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Martin Luther King tried to commit suicide twice by jumping out of a window. After one season, Star Trek’s Nichele Nichols was at a party. She was complaining about her role on the show and said she was going to quit. A man behind her got her attention and begged her not to quit, because she was such a positive role model for black Americans. That man happened to be Martin Luther King. She stayed on the show until its cancellation. Nichols later went on to have a very successful career hawking psychic services on late night TV. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/12 "2010-02-04T21:28:41Z")
Pirates and businesspeople have something in common (other than the obvious). Businesspeople naturally congregate around the water cooler to get the office scuttlebutt. On ships, sailors did the same thing. The fresh water supply on board was a barrel, the butt of which had a hole punched in it for tapping, i.e., it was scuttled. The barrel was called a scuttlebutt, and the name transferred to the gossip that sailors exchanged as they gathered around it. ---
**Author:** ![optimisticcynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4da419/32.png) [@optimisticcynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/optimisticcynic)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/13 "2010-02-05T02:15:13Z")
The words barrel and butt bring to mind the glory hole. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/14 "2010-02-05T02:25:06Z")
The song in the background for the “Leek Roll” is actually just Polish scat (i.e. nonsense syllables). ---
**Author:** ![optimisticcynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4da419/32.png) [@optimisticcynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/optimisticcynic)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/15 "2010-02-05T02:37:19Z")
[scatlovers.com](http://scatlovers.com) is a website you really don’t want to go to. ---
**Author:** ![imfloating](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bc79bd/32.png) [@imfloating](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imfloating)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/16 "2010-02-05T03:45:13Z")
There are exactly 216 noodles in every can of Campbells chicken noodle soup. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/17 "2010-02-05T03:54:39Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > The Lakers played poker? > [@dhkendall](#): > > They sure as hell don’t play basketball … _rimshot_ Usually you insert the name of a bad team (i.e. not a good team) into this type of joke. You see, bad teams have the appearance of being deficient in skill and unfamiliar with the strategies of the game in which they are involved. Good teams, on the other hand, have mastered the required skills of their chosen game better than anyone else. You see how that works?😛 ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/18 "2010-02-05T04:40:18Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > The song in the background for the “Leek Roll” is actually just Polish scat (i.e. nonsense syllables). Er, that should be “Leek Spin”, not Leek Roll, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/19 "2010-02-05T05:59:36Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Hass avocados are named after a mailman from southern California and can be traced back to a single mother tree that died of root rot in 2002. The word “avocado” comes from the Nahuatl word “ahuacatl” which means testicle (on account of the shape of the fruit). The French word for “avocado” is “avocat”, which also means lawyer. Make of that what you will. (but the etymology is not the same : the lawyer meaning of “avocat” comes from the Latin “ad vocatus”, “[one] who is called for help” ) ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628/20 "2010-02-05T13:08:31Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > Usually you insert the name of a bad team (i.e. not a good team) into this type of joke. You see, bad teams have the appearance of being deficient in skill and unfamiliar with the strategies of the game in which they are involved. Good teams, on the other hand, have mastered the required skills of their chosen game better than anyone else. You see how that works?😛 Eh, sosumi, I’m not up on sports (much less American ones) and thought the Lakers were currently bad. So it’s not the Clippers that are a championship team? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-thread/527628.md?page=2)