# Two Surprising and Unrelated Facts **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143 "2005-04-26T13:43:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/1 "2005-04-26T13:43:27Z")
I learned at least two new and interesting things in the last 24 hours. 1. Martin Luther King’s _mother_ was also shot and killed - right in the Ebenezer Baptist Church, by a nut, in 1974. 2. William Jennings Bryan, three-time failed Presidential candidate and Scopes Monkey Trial foil, was Secretary of State in the Wilson administration. Have a nice day! ---
**Author:** ![Atheist\_Princess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@Atheist\_Princess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atheist_Princess)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/2 "2005-04-26T13:57:21Z")
I learnt that butterflies taste and smell with their feet. Where did I learn this interesting fact you ask? A box of tampons of course… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/3 "2005-04-26T14:23:23Z")
wow…a box of tampons. Now, I rarely read those, but I don’t remember them having triva…is it like oatmeal where there is an interesting tidbit on every packet? ---
**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:** [April 26, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/4 "2005-04-26T16:47:04Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > I learned at least two new and interesting things in the last 24 hours. > > 1. Martin Luther King’s _mother_ was also shot and killed - right in the Ebenezer Baptist Church, by a nut, in 1974. King’s brother, the Rev. A.D. King, died a year after MLK (jr), apparently drunkenly drowning in a swimming pool. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/5 "2005-04-26T16:56:22Z")
Here’s another factoid: Lysol was once sold as a contraceptive douche. I kid you not. There were directions on the bottle for dilution. Unfortunately, women thought if a little would kill “germs” a lot would kill more. Some were horribly burned. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/6 "2005-04-26T16:59:17Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > Lysol was once sold as a contraceptive douche. I kid you not. Since the kola nut is of great use in natural contraception, douching with Diet Coke after sex can prevent pregnancy. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/7 "2005-04-26T17:05:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Since the kola nut is of great use in natural contraception, douching with Diet Coke after sex can prevent pregnancy. False, according to [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/conceive.htm#coke). ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/8 "2005-04-26T17:10:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > False, according to [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/conceive.htm#coke). Sumbitch. I didn’t think to check because I read it _last night_ in a book about herbal remedies. If you can’t trust your reference books … _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/9 "2005-04-26T19:44:17Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > Sumbitch. I didn’t think to check because I read it _last night_ in a book about herbal remedies. If you can’t trust your reference books … _sigh_ Well, to a certain extent, any douche would reduce the chances of pregancy _somewhat_ but not enough to be a relaible form of birth control. The acids in cola are not sperm-friendly, but again, it’s not effective enough to be relaible-- after all, all it takes is one sperm to survive. Women down through the ages have used some very interesting forms of contraception. In ancient Egypt, it appears some women used a sort of vaginal plug made of crocodile dung and honey. Women also have used herbs and plants to varying degress of success. Two books on this subject which might be of interest are _Eve’s Herbs_ by John M. Riddle and _Devices and Desires_ by Andera Tone. The latter is a highly entertaining read about contraceptive devices and the fight to keep them off the market. ---
**Author:** ![swanky\_glue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@swanky\_glue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swanky_glue)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/10 "2005-04-26T20:41:52Z")
You know those little ridges on quarters and dimes? Well, the quarter has 119 ridges and the dime has 118. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/11 "2005-04-26T20:47:51Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > Here’s another factoid: And here’s another fact: “factoid” actually means “something only popularly considered to be true.” [OED](http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50081533). ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/12 "2005-04-26T20:49:02Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > And here’s another fact: “factoid” actually means “something only popularly considered to be true.” [OED](http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50081533). Then mine’s a factoid. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/13 "2005-04-26T21:46:29Z")
There are colonial-era paintings in Cusco of The Last Supper where the apostles and Jesus are sitting down to a dinner of guinea pig. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/14 "2005-04-26T23:01:45Z")
A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. However, ducks have a secret society so that whenever a researcher takes a duck to an echo canyon, another duck cleverly hides on the other sides and produces the echo. Well it could be true. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/15 "2005-04-26T23:41:47Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > Women down through the ages have used some very interesting forms of contraception. In ancient Egypt, it appears some women used a sort of vaginal plug made of crocodile dung and honey. Yeah, it worked because no one wanted to have sex with them, they were so smelly. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/16 "2005-04-27T00:14:49Z")
According to my Sociology professor, men in colonial times (and before and after, perhaps) used animal intestines as condoms. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/17 "2005-04-27T00:34:20Z")
According to [this,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283407&highlight=marianas+trench) man has visited the deepest part of the worlds oceans, Challenger Deep in the Mariana’s Trench, just once. In 1960. For 20 minutes. **She runs off into the night, hooting and howling with childish laughter** ---
**Author:** ![Typically\_Sunday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Typically\_Sunday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typically_Sunday)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/18 "2005-04-27T00:39:49Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. > > However, ducks have a secret society so that whenever a researcher takes a duck to an echo canyon, another duck cleverly hides on the other sides and produces the echo. > > Well it could be true. A duck’s quack does echo, it’s just that the quack already sounds like an echo, so you don’t hear it. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but they proved it on an episode of mythbusters and explained it much better. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/19 "2005-04-27T00:44:39Z")
The legendary B-25 Mitchell bomber of World War II owed its success in large part to a jazz musician. [Frank Trumbauer](http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_trumbauer_frankie.htm) was a star saxophonist in Paul Whiteman’s orchestra and a longtime amateur pilot who left music to take a job as an FAA official. As a test pilot for North American Aviation in the early 1940s, he suggested many of the improvements that made the B-25 a truly effective airplane. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143/20 "2005-04-27T01:51:08Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > Here’s another factoid: > > Lysol was once sold as a contraceptive douche. I kid you not. > > There were directions on the bottle for dilution. Unfortunately, women thought if a little would kill “germs” a lot would kill more. Some were horribly burned. 😕 I thought it was Pinesol that was? 😕 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-surprising-and-unrelated-facts/301143.md?page=2)