# weird trivia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603 "2010-01-04T10:07:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/201 "2010-01-13T13:42:19Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Some of my favorite trivia: > > Bill Paxton and Lance Henrikson are the only two actors who have been killed by a Terminator, a Predator, and an Alien. Both were killed by a Terminator in the first film, don’t blink or you’ll miss Paxton as the gangster/punk who gets his clothes stolen by Arnold at the very beginning of the film. Lance took some effort to die to a Predator, he had to wait until Alien Vs Predator. Lance Henrikson isn’t killed by the alien in Aliens. He was torn in half, but as an “artifical human”, it didn’t kill him. Ripley put his upper half (and possibly lower half, it isn’t shown) into one of the hypersleep chambers along with Hicks and Newt in their own chambers. I don’t know if the Alien assisted in his death in AvP, I didn’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/202 "2010-01-13T14:46:31Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > A quick google shows bunches of Petulas in the 1920 and 1930 U.S. census born as early as 1860. Maybe he coined it, but their were certainly previous Petulas. > > Name: Petula E Steinle > Spouse: George A > Birth: abt 1868 > Residence: 1930 - city, Dane, Wisconsin > > Name: Petula V Stroud > Spouse: Ernest E > Birth: abt 1896 > Residence: 1930 - city, Columbia, New York > > Name: Petula E Warner > Spouse: John F > Birth: abt 1885 > Residence: 1930 - city, Milwaukee, Wisconsin > > Name: Petula M Bodies > Birth: abt 1860 - location > Residence: 1920 - city, Alachua, Florida ## Fair enough. I guess The Book Of Lists didn’t have Google or the rest of the internet back in the 1970s and the wiki needs modifying to show it isn’t totally original - ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/203 "2010-01-13T14:55:42Z")
Flocks of geese flying in V formation always have one side longer than the other. Because there are more geese on that side. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/204 "2010-01-13T15:05:49Z")
[Cows grazing in fields orient themselves toward magnetic north-south.](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93956323) ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/205 "2010-01-13T15:39:10Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Shakespeare and Cervantes both died on April 23, 1616. > > However, Shakespeare died 10 days after Cervantes! That’s because Spain had adopted the Gregorian calendar and had dropped 10 days, but England was still using the Julian calendar. This could be the best trivia ever. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/206 "2010-01-13T15:56:55Z")
Scot Morris has published a couple of books full of this kind of stuff, and they make for wonderful reading. (‘The Book of Strange Facts and Useless Information’ and ‘The Emperor Who Ate The Bible’). A few examples from him… The name ‘Pakistan’ is a sort of acronym. The British named the area by taking the initials of Punjab, Afghanistan and Kashmir and adding ‘-stan’ to mean ‘land of’. A pigeon’s feathers weigh more than its bones. Actress Sarah Bernhardt played Juliet (as in Romeo &) at the age of 70. We have 23 pairs of chromosomes in each cell nucleus. A shrimp has over a hundred pairs. World War 1 lasted 44 years. At least, it did for Andorra. Andorra was not present at the signing of the Versailles Peace Conference, and technically didn’t make peace with Germany until 1958. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/207 "2010-01-13T16:14:03Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > …The desert in Raiders of the Lost Ark is the same desert used as Tatooine in Star Wars… Yes, filmed in Tunisia. In fact, the canyon where Indy briefly holds the Ark hostage with a rocket launcher and is dared by Belloq to destroy it, is the same canyon where R2-D2 is ambushed and captured by the Jawas. David Rizzio, close advisor and possible lover of Mary, Queen of Scots, was stabbed to death in her presence by a group of noblemen. The British officers leading the troops who captured the White House in 1814 sat down and ate the still-warm meal prepared for the President and Mrs. Madison before ordering the house burned. Voyager 1 will not get near any other star system for approximately 40,000 years, at which time someone might have a look at its gold record: [Voyager Golden Record - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record). Rastafarians believe that the late Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was the second coming of Christ. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/208 "2010-01-13T16:19:25Z")
The Japanese attacked the Western forces before they bombed Pearl Harbor, but it shows up in history books as a day later. The assault on [British colony] Singapore occurred several hours before the bombing at Pearl, but since Singapore is on the “other” side of the International Date Line, the date is December 8. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/209 "2010-01-13T16:36:41Z")
The three saints in the Vietnamese religion Cao Dai are Nguyen Binh Kiem, Sun Yat-Sen, and Victor Hugo. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/210 "2010-01-13T16:38:45Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, filmed in Tunisia. In the city of [Tataouine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tataouine). Lucas borrowed the name and Anglicized the spelling for the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/211 "2010-01-13T16:43:25Z")
The volume control on the online BBC iPlayer goes [up to 11](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_to_eleven). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/212 "2010-01-13T16:47:55Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The three saints in the Vietnamese religion Cao Dai are Nguyen Binh Kiem, Sun Yat-Sen, and Victor Hugo. That is weird. Why the last two? From Wiki: "Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, is currently the oldest living great-great grandchild of Queen Victoria, as well as her second-oldest living descendant after Prince Carl Johan of Sweden. As such, he is in the line of succession to the thrones of 16 countries… “Through mitochondrial DNA analysis in July 1993, British scientists, through a sample of Prince Philip’s blood, were able to identify the remains of several members of Empress Alexandra of Russia’s family, several decades after their 1918 massacre by the Bolsheviks. Prince Philip was then one of three living great-grandchildren in the female line of Alexandra’s mother Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the others being his sister Sophie (who died in 2001) and his niece Princess Margarita of Baden.” ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/213 "2010-01-13T16:58:54Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > That is weird. Why the last two? > > From Wiki: > > "Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, is currently the oldest living great-great grandchild of Queen Victoria, as well as her second-oldest living descendant after Prince Carl Johan of Sweden. As such, he is in the line of succession to the thrones of 16 countries… > > ." And QEII is also a great great grandchild of Queen Victoria. - ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/214 "2010-01-13T17:03:48Z")
Tiberius Caesar was his own ex-stepfather-in-law. It’s true. Augustus had only one child, a daughter, Julia, born during his first marriage. He later married Livia, who already had one son (Drusus) and was pregnant with a second (Tiberius), both of whom had been fathered by her first husband. Confused yet? It gets better. Julia was married to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus’ closest friend and his finest general. Tiberius, in the meantime, marries Vipsania, daughter of Agrippa from a previous marriage. Okay. Nice and simple. Here’s where things take a turn for the bizarre. Agrippa, after fathering a brood of kids, wakes up one morning in Elysium. Augustus, for reasons that I won’t bother getting into now, insists that Tiberius must marry the newly-widowed Julia. Begrudgingly obedient, Tiberius divorces his wife, Vipsania, in order to marry Vipsania’s father’s widow. Thereby becoming his own ex-stepfather-in-law. Pretty neat trick, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/215 "2010-01-14T03:45:21Z")
Very shortly after forming and finding a drummer in Carl Palmer [There were plans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson,_Lake_&_Palmer)for Emerson, Lake & Palmer to join up with Jimi Hendrix before his untimely death. Had this came about the resulting Supergroup might have then been called Hendrix, Emerson, Lake & palmer or HELP. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/216 "2010-01-14T14:34:02Z")
The world’s two most reclusive authors have connections to the two of the world’s most famous female folk singers. When folk singer Judy Collins’s father was in college, he formed a lifelong friendship with Holden Bowler, whio later served in the army in Jerome David Salinger. Bowler went on to be Judy’s godfather, and Salinger took his name for the protagonist of his most famous novel. When Thomas Pynchon was at Columbia, he formed a lifelong friendship with Richard Farina, wo later married Joan Baez’s younger sister Mimi. Pynchon encouraged Farina to write his novel, and Farina wrote the song “V” in tribute to Pychon’s first novel. After Farina died, Pynchon maintained his friendship with Mimi until she died. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/217 "2010-01-14T16:18:50Z")
This is trivia that I was told last night. I admit I don’t know how truthful it is, but it was an interesting story: Children are often told that eating carrots is good for your eyesight. They aren’t. Apparently, that was a myth invented by the British intelligence during WWII. When the British began using radar to detect incoming German planes, British code-busters intercepted messages between the German field marshalls about it. The Germans realized the Brits were typically not at all surprised by their blitz attacks and were fully prepared for their planes. They wondered how the Brits were doing it, and speculated they had some kind of early warning system. It seemed impossible to them that they could see with the naked eye far enough away to spot approaching planes in time to prepare for them. The British army of course wanted to keep the existence of radar a secret as long as they could. They fabricated the story that carrots (which British people ate routinely, but Germans did not) enabled incredible vision. They got BBC announcers to overseas British troops to “remind the boys to eat plenty of carrots, as they are good for your eyes.” This message though was really aimed at the Nazi’s intelligence people, who listened into these BBC broadcasts to determine allied troop morale. The war ended, radar became public knowledge, but by then an entire generation of allied forces had hearda BBC announcers tell them over & over again that carrots are good for your eyes. Apparently nobody remembered to let the common soldiers & British people in on the fact that that fact was bunk. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/218 "2010-01-14T16:47:34Z")
Snopes agrees with you: [Does Eating Carrots Improve Your Vision? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/carrots.asp) ---
**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:** [January 14, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/219 "2010-01-14T17:12:00Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Sir Walter Scott supposedly was the first person who used “Dale” as a name. He also coined the term “The Wars of the Roses.” They were originally called “The Cousins’ War.” Shakespeare wrote a scene where the two sides identified themselves by roses (though red roses didn’t exist in Shakespeare’s time). The white and red rose were used a symbols by the houses of York and Lancaster, but not as the primary ones: Edward IV of York used “The sun in splendor” – a representation of the time just before a battle when his soldiers saw three suns in the sky (a rare natural phenomenon called a “sundog”) and he said it was a good omen. This is what’s meant when Richard III talks of the “sun of York” (and also punning on “son”). In any case, Scott took the incident from Shakespeare (good theater, but bad history) and used it as the name of the war. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/220 "2010-01-14T17:17:17Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > This is trivia that I was told last night. I admit I don’t know how truthful it is, but it was an interesting story: Children are often told that eating carrots is good for your eyesight. They aren’t. Apparently, that was a myth invented by the British intelligence during WWII. > > When the British began using radar to detect incoming German planes, British code-busters intercepted messages between the German field marshalls about it. The Germans realized the Brits were typically not at all surprised by their blitz attacks and were fully prepared for their planes. They wondered how the Brits were doing it, and speculated they had some kind of early warning system. It seemed impossible to them that they could see with the naked eye far enough away to spot approaching planes in time to prepare for them. > > The British army of course wanted to keep the existence of radar a secret as long as they could. They fabricated the story that carrots (which British people ate routinely, but Germans did not) enabled incredible vision. They got BBC announcers to overseas British troops to “remind the boys to eat plenty of carrots, as they are good for your eyes.” This message though was really aimed at the Nazi’s intelligence people, who listened into these BBC broadcasts to determine allied troop morale. > > The war ended, radar became public knowledge, but by then an entire generation of allied forces had hearda BBC announcers tell them over & over again that carrots are good for your eyes. Apparently nobody remembered to let the common soldiers & British people in on the fact that that fact was bunk. Carrots _have_ to be good for your eyes. Have you ever seen a blind rabbit? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603.md?page=12)