# What totally useless facts have you learned recently? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 16, 2008, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571 "2008-04-16T09:59:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/41 "2008-04-18T11:42:01Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] Agate, amethyst, citrine, jasper, opal, onyx, and tiger’s eye are all quartz. [/QUOTE] Quartz is the most common mineral in the earth’s crust. (I’ve known that for years, so maybe it doesn’t count.) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/42 "2008-04-18T11:47:24Z")
There’s an ad on the Hallmark Channel that uses the word предизвикателства. I’d been wondering what that meant for about a week now, and today I looked it up. It means “challenges”. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/43 "2008-04-18T17:42:42Z")
Einstein was not the first to predict that light would be bent by heavenly bodies. [Johann Georg von Soldner](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Georg_von_Soldner). Einstein got the figure right, though. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/44 "2008-04-18T18:25:35Z")
_Psst!_ **Quartz!** **LouisB’s** putting it about that you’re common! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/45 "2008-04-18T18:42:04Z")
[QUOTE=lizardling] A tannoy is a British PA system. [/QUOTE] I think it’s actually a brand name; I’ve seen Tannoy speakers advertised here. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/46 "2008-04-18T18:47:35Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] …antebellum NYC… [/quote] “Antebellum” means “prewar”. It was the longest time before I realised this. I thought it was simply a term describing the culture of the Old South, and for the longest time I never connected it with words like 'bellicose" or “belligerent”. > [@Sampiro](#): > > …a man named Fielding Hunt… He is far from the most prolific American serial monogamist, and in fact there are women who have been confirmed as the mother of more than 30 children due to multiple-multiple births.) “Serial monogamist”. Isn’t that illegal? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/47 "2008-04-18T19:27:44Z")
Ancient Roman deep sea divers were called **urinators**. [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/urinator](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/urinator) [http://www.jstor.org/pss/294109](http://www.jstor.org/pss/294109) ---
**Author:** ![Aithele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Aithele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aithele)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/48 "2008-04-18T19:57:33Z")
A shrunken head is made by cutting a slit into the back of the head and peeling the skin away from the skull. The eyes are sewn shut and the lips held closed with small wooden pegs. The head is then simmered in a pot for up to two hours. The skin is turned inside out and excess flesh scraped off with a knife. The skin is turned right side out and the slit sewn closed. The head is shrunk further by dropping hot stones into the neck hole and stirred to keep the skin from scorching. Sand is heated and poured into the nasal and ear openings. Hot stones are used to shape the outer features. The head is hung over a fire to blacken and harden. Then a heated machete is pressed against the lips to dry them before being sewn closed with string. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/49 "2008-04-18T21:26:56Z")
[QUOTE=Aithele] A shrunken head is made by cutting a slit into the back of the head and peeling the skin away from the skull. The eyes are sewn shut and the lips held closed with small wooden pegs. The head is then simmered in a pot for up to two hours. The skin is turned inside out and excess flesh scraped off with a knife. The skin is turned right side out and the slit sewn closed. The head is shrunk further by dropping hot stones into the neck hole and stirred to keep the skin from scorching. Sand is heated and poured into the nasal and ear openings. Hot stones are used to shape the outer features. The head is hung over a fire to blacken and harden. Then a heated machete is pressed against the lips to dry them before being sewn closed with string. [/QUOTE] Nice to know for Christmas tree ornaments! ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/50 "2008-04-18T21:38:57Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] “Antebellum” means “prewar”. It was the longest time before I realised this. I thought it was simply a term describing the culture of the Old South, and for the longest time I never connected it with words like 'bellicose" or “belligerent”.) [/QUOTE] Not just pre-any-war. Specifically pre-Civil-War. [QUOTE=uncle squeegee] There are a lot of splinter groups from the Mormon church (I thought there were only 2, there are a couple dozen). Some of the splinter groups split multiple times. [/QUOTE] I believe the number is much, much higher than that. If I remember correctly, the book _Under the Banner of Heaven_ alluded to hundreds of spinoffs. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/51 "2008-04-18T22:00:41Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] [Mary](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Mary) the 10,000 lb circus elephant was publicly hanged in 1916 after stomping on a trainer who had poked her with a prod. [/QUOTE] I read a little article on the hanging a while back. To add a bit to the Wiki story: because an elephant was a valuable commodity, if there were an incident like Mary’s, it wasn’t uncommon to simply sell the elephant to another circus and change its name (it’s unknown whether this had been done with Mary before she came to the Sparks circus). Charlie Sparks, the circus owner, was instructed by neighboring towns that they wouldn’t stand for that. Sparks had to have her killed in a very public fashion, so there could be no doubt that he hadn’t just sold her off. Thus, the hanging, which seemed less grisly than having her pulled apart by railroad engines (another idea they apparently considered). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/52 "2008-04-19T20:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] _Psst!_ **Quartz!** **LouisB’s** putting it about that you’re common! [/QUOTE] In truth, I’m a very rare find. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/53 "2008-04-20T10:05:58Z")
The last person on Earth to die of smallpox (Janet Parker) was a medical photographer contracted it from a lab accident after it had been eradicated in the wild – in 1978. I’d never really though of smallpox as being a modern disease; turns out people were still naturally contracting it after my birth. If you’d asked me to guess, I’d have said it had been eradicated by 1930 or so. It was actually the mid 70’s. Were I even a few years older, I’d probably have known that. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/54 "2008-04-23T18:28:19Z")
A **boulder** is a rock 10 inches or more in diameter. I did not know they had a defined size, or that something that small could be considered a boulder. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/55 "2008-04-23T18:33:35Z")
The primary fatty acid in soy beans is linoleic acid in cis confirmation. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/56 "2008-04-23T19:26:41Z")
I’ve always thought that the creation of the Republic of Texas was a singular event - that it was prompted by the presence of a sizable population of American settlers. But I just found out that Mexico as a whole was in a state of unrest after Santa Anna declared himself dictator. Four other states declared independence and several other states were in rebellion. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/57 "2008-04-23T19:35:32Z")
The word “sweetheart” was originally _sweetard_, in much the same way _dotard_ meens someone who is in their dotage. It became “sweetheart” because some people thought it had to do with the heart, and it eventually stuck. So the NYC working class pronunciation “sweet’aht” is really more correct. ---
**Author:** ![whenvel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@whenvel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whenvel)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/58 "2008-04-23T21:18:51Z")
A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. Nobody knows why. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/59 "2008-04-24T00:06:07Z")
[QUOTE=whenvel] A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. Nobody knows why. [/QUOTE] [The master speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_071.html) ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571/60 "2008-04-24T02:45:30Z")
A blue whale’s aorta is large enough for a grown man to crawl through. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-totally-useless-facts-have-you-learned-recently/445571.md?page=4)