# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 207
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4129 "2022-03-29T23:53:08Z")
Subaru are cars, but not all cars are Subarus. Cognac must come from the Cognac Region in France and meet certain standards. This is a Protected Mark, and only brandies that meet the standards may be called “cognac.” Spanish brandy is totally different and exactly the same. Armagnac beats them both hands-down. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4130 "2022-03-30T00:07:20Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > It appears it’s called the “trombone gobble” or the “throat garble”. > Some geezer in the comments on [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGUXbwYx7Lg) claims his grandfather did it on a trombone. > Also… [from this thread](http://mfoxweb-001-site22.mysitepanel.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5026&sid=6169974c649a62375b2a7386eab6fbd0&start=10) > > > “Nope. Actually, it was Greg Ford/Terry Lennon animator extraordinaire Nancy Beiman (whom I met at RIT last October) who told me exactly how the sound effect was made - a long trombone note with the mute being manipulated so it sounds like “wa-wa-wa-wa-wa”, then sped up to four times its normal speed.” Interesting. I assumed that in the old days everything was done while watching the video. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hlWGXWXvr7Q/maxresdefault.jpg "How cartoon sound effects are made (Tom and Jerry)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlWGXWXvr7Q) That trombone thing seems so uniform…I guess they just played the sped up recording each time? And I wouldn’t have guessed putting a cymbal on the snare head would have made that sound (where Tom is hitting the brakes to stop). Some odd sound effects instruments here: > **[Weird Instruments That Are Used in Almost All Horror Movie Soundtracks](https://thevault.musicarts.com/weird-instruments-that-are-used-in-almost-all-horror-movie-soundtracks/)** > > If you want to kick off this year's haunted house with a heavy dose of horror, then join us as we explore the origins of horror movie soundtracks. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4131 "2022-03-30T01:47:11Z")
Down in Mexico is an entire neighborhood of 3D printed homes for impoverished families. > **[World's 1st 3D Printed Neighborhood Being Built In Mexico](https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/02/06/worlds-first-3d-printed-neighborhood-mexico)** > > A community of 50 homes is being built in Tabasco, Mexico, as part of a project to help end global homelessness. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4132 "2022-03-30T10:47:19Z")
wow if that works structurally it would be great but someone would get it banned cause that could put the real estate market in dire straits ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4133 "2022-03-30T11:11:38Z")
Given any finite positive integer, you can find that many consecutive numbers without a prime. To be more precise, let n\>1. Then the sequence (n+1)!+2 to (n+1)!+n+1 contains no primes. For all k such that 1\ **Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4134 "2022-03-30T13:48:36Z") I was just made aware of the Napier deltic diesel engine. I am not a " car or engine " person so when I saw that I was impressed and also thought, " that looks like it wants to explode in an angry mess of flying metal " > **[Napier Deltic](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The Napier Deltic engine is a British opposed-piston valveless, supercharged uniflow scavenged, two-stroke diesel engine used in marine and locomotive applications, designed and produced by D. Napier & Son. Unusually, the cylinders were disposed in a three-bank triangle, with a crankshaft at each corner of the triangle. > The term Deltic (meaning "in the form of the Greek letter (capital) delta") is used to refer to both the Deltic E.130 opposed-... ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4135 "2022-03-30T14:21:07Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > wow if that works structurally it would be great but someone would get it banned cause that could put the real estate market in dire straits Seems to me that the majority of real estate markets would have nothing to worry about due to the land there not being cheap enough for such projects to be economically feasible. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4136 "2022-03-30T14:46:29Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > I was just made aware of the Napier deltic diesel engine… I had friends who were train spotters, who would blather on about locomotives called Deltics. I had no idea that the technology behind the name was so impressive. j ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4137 "2022-03-30T18:53:30Z")
It’s not real estate agents but building contractors and carpenters’ unions that have relentlessly opposed modernizing building codes that would allow for more prefab modular housing. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4138 "2022-03-30T19:44:22Z")
! That is exactly what i was going to say ! ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4139 "2022-03-30T21:29:51Z")
To support a training exercise **Mighty Derringer,** the federal government produced a fake newscast showing Indianapolis getting [nuked.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlS4f-mS27k) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4140 "2022-03-30T22:07:35Z")
Ethan Allen had a nephew named Heman. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4141 "2022-03-30T22:51:28Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > I was just made aware of the Napier deltic diesel engine. And you just made me aware of it. That is fascinating! ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4142 "2022-03-30T23:04:55Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > It appears it’s called the “trombone gobble” or the “throat garble”. > Some geezer in the comments on [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGUXbwYx7Lg) claims his grandfather did it on a trombone. > Also… [from this thread](http://mfoxweb-001-site22.mysitepanel.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5026&sid=6169974c649a62375b2a7386eab6fbd0&start=10) > > > “Nope. Actually, it was Greg Ford/Terry Lennon animator extraordinaire Nancy Beiman (whom I met at RIT last October) who told me exactly how the sound effect was made - a long trombone note with the mute being manipulated so it sounds like “wa-wa-wa-wa-wa”, then sped up to four times its normal speed.” Like most kids, I played 33rpm vinyl at 78rpm and thought it was funny. “Chipmunks!” Only it wasn’t just that the pitch was higher…the tempo increased. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_and_the_Chipmunks) says: > The Chipmunks’ voices were recorded at half the normal tape speed on [audiotape](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape_sound_recording) by voice talent (on the 1960s records, generally Ross Bagdasarian Sr.'s own voice overdubbed three times, on the post-1980s records, studio singers) talking or singing at half the normal speaking rate. When the tape was played back at normal speed, they would sound a full [octave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave) higher in pitch, at normal tempo. The technique was by no means new to the Chipmunks. For example, the high- and low-pitched characters in _[The Wizard of Oz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1939_film))_ were achieved by speeding up and slowing down vocal recordings. Also, [Mel Blanc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Blanc)’s voice characterization for [Daffy Duck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daffy_Duck) was [Sylvester the Cat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_the_Cat)’s voice sped up to some extent. Now, the same effect is created digitally and in real-time with a [pitch shift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_shift). If you take a Chipmunks video, like “[Time Warp](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4spB9_FRhQ)” and slow it down, the pitch doesn’t change. By the way for those who haven’t discovered it…look across the bottom of the window in youtube, where the CC and so on are located. Click the gear and you get an option for speed. At .25x you might expect the Chipmunks to sound normal…but they don’t. Likewise with this sound effect. Oh well. I guess you need a physical medium, like a disc or tape, rather than electronic. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4143 "2022-03-30T23:13:57Z")
I learned today that Ted Kennedy was expelled from Harvard his freshman year for having another person take a Spanish test for him. He left school for a few years (during which he served in the military) before returning to the school and eventually graduating. ETA: the reason I learned it today, by the way, is that the story of the expulsion was reported by the Boston Glob on this day (March 30th) in 1962. [http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/kennedy/day2\_ted\_cheats/](http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/kennedy/day2_ted_cheats/) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4144 "2022-03-30T23:35:29Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > If you take a Chipmunks video, like “[Time Warp](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4spB9_FRhQ)” and slow it down, the pitch doesn’t change. By the way for those who haven’t discovered it…look across the bottom of the window in youtube, where the CC and so on are located. Click the gear and you get an option for speed. At .25x you might expect the Chipmunks to sound normal…but they don’t. The VR video player I use has a slo-mo function that makes people sound drunk. I wonder what it would do for Chipmunks. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4145 "2022-03-31T00:40:43Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > If you take a Chipmunks video, like “[Time Warp](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4spB9_FRhQ)” and slow it down, the pitch doesn’t change. By the way for those who haven’t discovered it…look across the bottom of the window in youtube, where the CC and so on are located. Click the gear and you get an option for speed. At .25x you might expect the Chipmunks to sound normal…but they don’t. Likewise with this sound effect. Oh well. > > I guess you need a physical medium, like a disc or tape, rather than electronic. Yeah, YouTube decreases playback speed by slowing down the rate the digitized data is played; only analog recordings of the waveform shift the pitch when played back at reduced speed. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4146 "2022-03-31T01:52:29Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > YouTube decreases playback speed by slowing down the rate the digitized data is played; This isn’t correct. If it were, then sounds would be played at a lower pitch when played at a speed lower than 1X. Afterall, slowing down an analog record or tape just slows down the rate that analog data is being played. YouTube is doing something more complicated, i.e. they are sampling short snippets of audio, analyzing for frequency content, and then playing exactly those frequencies for a short period before moving on to the next snippet of video. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4147 "2022-03-31T02:40:47Z")
Who was the first NBA player to shatter a backboard? I just found out and could not believe it: “Throughout the history of basketball there have always been athletes with the size and strength to slam dunk the ball through the rim. However, the first NBA player to shatter a backboard, Chuck Connors (who would become far more famous as an actor), did not do so with a dunk. When playing for the Boston Celtics in 1946, Connors took a set shot during pregame warmups, hitting the front of the rim. Because an arena worker had failed to place a protective piece between the rim and backboard, the backboard shattered.” - [Backboard shattering - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backboard_shattering) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4148 "2022-04-01T06:18:07Z")
‘French Roast’ with coffee is merely a method of roasting. It tells you nothing of the quality of the bean. In France, they roast the bean until it is almost burnt (they do everything different in France 😉 🙂 ). It says that in a gourmet cookbook I have 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=206) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=208)