# 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:** 15
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/281 "2010-01-21T16:49:48Z")
As I recall, Cleveland wound up with a top plate made of vulcanized rubber after that. Edit: I should have clicked on the link, because it says exactly that. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/282 "2010-01-21T19:59:30Z")
> [@fleem](#): > > Lou Gehrig, baseball’s legendary first baseman, wound up dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease. How weird is that. The name of the company that provides the replacements in the cartoon “The Replacements” is “Fleemco”. Is that you Mr Fleem? ---
**Author:** ![not\_austin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c68b51/32.png) [@not\_austin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_austin)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/283 "2010-01-21T20:19:13Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Elton John’s song, _Candle In the Wind_, has a unique UK chart history: > > 1. It charted three times > 2. In three separate decades > 3. By the same artist > 4. Each time it charted, it was more popular than the previous outing (in 1997, it was the biggest selling single of the year), and > 5. Each version was different than the previous release (studio recording, live, Diana tribute) > > I don’t think that will ever be duplicated. Not unless she comes back as a zombie! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/284 "2010-01-21T20:22:35Z")
“Braaaaaaaaiiiiiinnnnnssssss in the Wind”? ---
**Author:** ![PatF\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7cd45c/32.png) [@PatF\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatF_1)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/285 "2010-01-24T04:20:33Z")
Olivia Newton-John, who had a hit with “Let’s Get Physical” is the granddaughter of Max Born. He won the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics. The last US President to own a slave was Ulysses S. Grant. (There is no truth to the rumor the Olivia Newton-John’s father is named Isaac Newton-John.) ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/286 "2010-01-25T20:49:34Z")
In the Kimba the White Lion Box Set, Disc 3 I believe, Kimba is taking a tour of the Hall of The Future at the World’s Fair. In the Robotics exhibit, look at the last robot on the left. It’s Astro Boy!!!1 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/287 "2010-01-25T21:39:50Z")
The first President to have been born in a hospital was Jimmy Carter. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/288 "2010-01-25T21:45:30Z")
Another Kevin Bacon one! Lots of people – planners, architects, geographers, etc. – are familiar with the coffee-table book _Design of Cities_, by mid-20th-C. Philadephia urban designer Edmund Bacon. I grew up with the book on my parents’ bookcase, and it surely influenced my lifelong interests and career decisions. I just found out that the author is Kevin Bacon’s father! Does this give many urban planners and the like a potentially lower KB number? ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/289 "2010-01-25T21:54:18Z")
Actress [Kim Stanley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley), who played Pancho Barnes in _The Right Stuff_, was the narrator in _To Kill a Mockingbird._ ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/290 "2010-01-26T15:19:47Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > In the Kimba the White Lion Box Set, Disc 3 I believe, Kimba is taking a tour of the Hall of The Future at the World’s Fair. > > In the Robotics exhibit, look at the last robot on the left. > > It’s Astro Boy!!!1 The Phoenix from Osamu Tezuka’s incredible manga Phoenix makes a guest appearance in one of the original Astro Boy episodes. I believe Dr. Eliphun’s descendant makes a guest appearance in that episode as well. ---
**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 26, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/291 "2010-01-26T16:01:59Z")
Both Winston Churchill and Margaret Mitchell were once hit by taxis (Churchill in NYC, Mitchell in Atlanta). Churchill was injured but lived; Mitchell died. ---
**Author:** ![Staver808](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Staver808](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staver808)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/292 "2010-01-26T18:45:15Z")
My favorite bit of trivia is about [Thomas Midgley JR.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley) He was one of the scientists in the US that introduced lead to gasoline to reduce the ping or knocking effect from motors. He is also the one that invented CFCs as a propellant in canisters. So he inadvertently caused cancer in millions of people worldwide as well as contributing to the hole in the ozone. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/293 "2010-01-26T19:00:55Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > The Phoenix from Osamu Tezuka’s incredible manga Phoenix makes a guest appearance in one of the original Astro Boy episodes. I believe Dr. Eliphun’s descendant makes a guest appearance in that episode as well. Tezuka was very fond of this. He called it his [Star System](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka%27s_Star_System). ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/294 "2010-01-26T19:33:52Z")
> [@Staver808](#): > > My favorite bit of trivia is about [Thomas Midgley JR.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley) He was one of the scientists in the US that introduced lead to gasoline to reduce the ping or knocking effect from motors. He is also the one that invented CFCs as a propellant in canisters. So he inadvertently caused cancer in millions of people worldwide as well as contributing to the hole in the ozone. I used to teach clients about automotive emissions and would bring up that “fun fact.” Also how his last invention ultimately lead to his death. ---
**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 26, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/295 "2010-01-26T19:37:42Z")
Both “Jet” magazine and BET (cable channel) were founded by men named Robert Johnson. Jet by Robert E., and BET by Robert L. ---
**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 26, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/296 "2010-01-26T19:38:25Z")
While everyone has heard of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and murder, I recently read daughter Reeve Lindbergh’s memoir “Under a Wing” in which she talks about the death of her own baby son Jonathan from a convulstion replated to infant encephelitist. She was staying with her mother at the time, and after the baby was found dead and the proper people were called, Anne Morrow Lindberg insisted that the two of them just sit by the crib with the baby’s body in it. Reeve wanted to be somewhere–anywhere–else, but since she trusted her mother’s instincts, the two of them were just sitting by the crib. Finally Anne said “I never got to see my baby after he died. I never got to sit with him like this.” In that moment Reeve felt a moemtn of pure pride amidst her sorrow that she could give her mother with her grandson what she never had with her son. ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/297 "2010-01-27T14:47:46Z")
According to Steve Martin, the Mona Lisa was painted with just one brush stroke ---
**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:** [January 27, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/298 "2010-01-27T17:18:55Z")
Sir Christopher Lee sort of freaked _Lord of the Rings_ director Peter Jackson when he told him quite matter of factly, à propos a fighting scene : “I know the sound a man makes when he’s stabbed in the back”. Lee, before becoming a scary old man, served in the British Special Forces during WW2. Which probably made him a scary young man at the time. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/299 "2010-01-27T17:35:12Z")
In 1895, the only two cars in the state of Ohio collided with each other. ---
**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 27, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/300 "2010-01-27T17:41:27Z")
Ohio is the only U.S. state to have a non-rectangular flag: [Flag of Ohio - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_ohio) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603.md?page=16)