# Weird Facts About Your School or Workplace **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071 "2002-12-11T19:25:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/41 "2002-12-12T15:15:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mooney252 \* > \*\*Home town’s name means “beautiful campground” in coastal Squamish. Site of the 1st Indian treaty in the Oregon Territory. \*\* Don’t you mean 43-man squamish? ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/42 "2002-12-12T15:27:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rasa \* > \*\*My high school was sorta in _There’s Something About Mary_. They kept the name, but used some school in FL in the movie though. > > \*\* Not BORE-ington High School, is it? ---
**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:** [December 12, 2002, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/43 "2002-12-12T15:43:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lucki Chaarms \* > \*\*Seeing as mine was rather local, I’ll try this next one. My school recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary, and as part of that, all of the students were assembled to watch a video address from the president congratulating us! See, we’re in Austin, and apparently some people close to the school had supported him very early in his political career, and well, we all know how good our prez is at accomodating his old Texan buddies… > > The result being that we got a rather nice little speech from Dubya on how swell our school and everyone involved with it are. Yay. > > LC \*\* Isn’t Dubya an Aggie? Don’t you go to UT? Not that I doubt you, I was just wondering because I wanted to know if hell was about to freeze over. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/44 "2002-12-12T15:45:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bdgr \* > \*\*One of our buildings is tempest certified, absolutely no radio transmissions can get in or out. In fact, if the building is between you and your cell phone tower, your cell phone won’t work. They tried to convert it to a prison, but they couldn’t because it doesnt have windows and that would be cruel…unless you’re employed here. \*\* This wouldn’t happen to be building 500, would it? ---
**Author:** ![VenusProbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e495f1/32.png) [@VenusProbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VenusProbe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/45 "2002-12-12T15:57:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Buck The Diver \* > \*\*Workplace: Willie Nelson donated are first defibrillator. \*\* Workplace: [We](http://www.physio-control.com/) probably built it. 🆒 Highschool: Most likely the first school to be told by Disney lawers to find another mascot… or else. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/46 "2002-12-12T16:04:07Z")
My old HS had a Klan chapter meeting in it after school. What the hell did they talk about is what I want to know… Right outside my shop/barn/storeroom (I wish I had Norm Abram’s stuff) is a place where the sun never shines, any season, any time of day. Constantly shaded from diff buildings and such. When ever anyone tells me, “Put it where the sun never shines!” well, it goes right there. Getting kinda crowded now. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/47 "2002-12-12T16:17:09Z")
My office sits on top of 15 feet of steel reinforced concrete because the building was built on a sinkhole. I work in a place that has the potential to be sucked down! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/48 "2002-12-12T16:31:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t you mean 43-man squamish? ROCK ON! That’s like a vintage MAD article, right? > [@](#): > > Isn’t Dubya an Aggie? Don’t you go to UT? No, I’m a senior in High School. I don’t know where Dubya’s loyalties lie in the Aggies vs Horns debate, but I don’t think he would dare diss the Longhorns while attempting to keep Texas loyal to him :-). > [@](#): > > Did he refer to you as “allies in the war against terror”? 😃 No, but he did speak at the patented Dubya rate, with that long pause in the middle of every sentence… man that bugs me. He also dropped his standard lines about our God and our country, yada yada yada. Well, he’s the president. Half of his job is smiling for one camera or another and delivering that kind of stuff. LC ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/49 "2002-12-12T18:29:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zyada \* > \*\*This wouldn’t happen to be building 500, would it? \*\* Could be… ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/50 "2002-12-12T18:49:31Z")
My office is in a fairly non-descript 25 story office building. I do most of my work, and spend most of my time, in a building designed by Thomas Jefferson and home to the oldest legislative body in Western Hemisphere. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/51 "2002-12-12T20:58:54Z")
The only weird thing about my workplace is that all the thermostats are in the atrium/stairwell. Which is sealed off on every floor… ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/52 "2002-12-12T21:38:17Z")
The CPA firm that I work for has a Certificate of Registration from the State of New York Department of Education, **No. 1**. We’re quite old. While in our off-site storage, I found files from 1939. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/53 "2002-12-12T21:43:18Z")
The movie, _A Friend to Die For (Death of a Cheerleader)_ was based on the true story that the mother of a girl at my high school murdered a cheerleader because her daughter didn’t make the team. ---
**Author:** ![Gopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gopher)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/54 "2002-12-12T23:28:57Z")
An architect who designed prisons made the plans for my high school. It does seem kind of fenced in from the rest of the town. ---
**Author:** ![censored](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@censored](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/censored)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/55 "2002-12-12T23:36:58Z")
My High School recently had filming crews take over in order to shoot a remake of Freaky Friday, had assorted WB TV shows take over the campus to shoot in recent years, was featured very prominently in “Crazy/Beautiful,” and for some reason I have this vague mention of Fast Times at Ridgemont High in my mind - I don’t think they shot it here, but maybe. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/56 "2002-12-12T23:55:20Z")
There’s a slide in my lobby that connects said lobby to an upstairs conference room. There’s a projection screen tv with satellite, two secondary tv’s, a playstation 2, dreamcast, pool table, ping pong table, 2 couches, several comfy chairs, and two fooseball tables in my breakroom. We’re all grown-ups here. _shakes head_ ---
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/57 "2002-12-13T00:01:21Z")
**malkavia** , I don’t suppose your company is hiring by chance? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/58 "2002-12-13T01:06:25Z")
Georgia Tech is perhaps the college with the most great stories, allow me to regale you with a few of them. George P. Burdell - One of the top 100 most influential men of the Century according to Time - or so the stories go. George is the most decorated graduate of any university in the nation, earning thousands and thousands of hours of courses with hundreds of undergrad and grad degrees under his belt. With all of this you might expect him to be rather intraverted, but he is so intraverted he is never seen on campus. - In fact, he doesn’t exist. A non-existent student who first enrolled when Georgia Tech went to computer run registration, and sent two applications to a certain student. The story of his name continues to be disputed but the most common one is that the student’s cat’s name was George, and Burdell was the maiden name of his best friend’s mother. Now for the story of Sideways. Georgia Tech has had several pets in its history, Sideways was perhaps the most beloved of them all. A dog found on the campus that, after being hit by a car walked with his front right leg and back left leg almost in line. Sideways died under much suspicion, everything from UGA killing him, to heart attack but without the proper post mortem study the common belief is that he got into some rat poisoning. Sideways was buried on campus and a stone marker marks where he lays. There are a lot more available here: [tbook.org](http://www.tbook.org). Enjoy 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/59 "2002-12-13T03:06:12Z")
During orientation, we were told UT’s Jester Center is the largest dorm in the country. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071/60 "2002-12-13T03:37:43Z")
One weird fact each about the eight educational institutions I studied at/worked for/am working for now. 1. Its football stadium is named after a Hall of Fame baseball player. 2. Joseph Heller taught there for a while. (So did the guy who wrote _First Blood_.) 3. The ground floor of its Administration building is called the 9th level. 4. Its library was once voted “the ugliest building in Canada.” (And deserved the honour completely.) 5. It produces and bottles its own port (only available to students and faculty members). 6. It’s celebrating its 777th anniversary this year. Also, its library is built over a medieval crypt, where a few skeletons were found during renovations. 7. Paul Westhead coached there for a year–now it doesn’t even have a basketball team (or an indoor court!) 8. It’s a Catholic university, but it wouldn’t exist today if a Jewish man hadn’t bailed it out in 1882. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-facts-about-your-school-or-workplace/142071.md?page=4)