# 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:** 217
**Author:** ![EastUmpqua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eastumpqua/32/6025_2.png) [@EastUmpqua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastUmpqua)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4329 "2022-05-03T21:04:30Z")
> [@EastUmpqua](#): > > If you had a non-rotating Earth, there would be no ocean tides, but there would still be a tidal force. Edited to add: There would be no daily tides. There would still be monthly tides, with a tidal force component and a centrifugal component. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4330 "2022-05-03T22:07:57Z")
I stumbled across this [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/final-presidential-job-approval-ratings](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/final-presidential-job-approval-ratings) They didn’t include FDR or JFK because they died in office. They had Truman through Trump, making 12 presidents. There’s approve, disapprove, and no opinion percentages. If you go by approval ranking, Trump… had 34%, putting him in a three way tie for 8-9-10 rank If you go by disapproval ranking, Trump… was 11/12, only outdone by Nixon ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4331 "2022-05-04T01:29:54Z")
Dec 1899, the SS Warrimoo is midway, on its voyage from Vancouver to Australia. After a star fix,the Captain notes ship’s position is: LAT 0 30’ N, LONG 179 30’W. Calls his navigator to the bridge, check and double check, change position slightly, on a clear and calm night, until they lay on the Equator and across the International dateline. Such that; the bow: Southern Hemisphere, mid summer, 1JAN 1900 the stern: Northern Hemisphere, mid winter, 31 DEC 1899. Two different days, different months, different years, different seasons, different centuries! ---
**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:** [May 4, 2022, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4332 "2022-05-04T02:29:42Z")
OK, I’ll be that guy… The century didn’t change until 1901. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2022, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4333 "2022-05-04T03:27:50Z")
… you can see yourself out, I presume? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4334 "2022-05-04T04:14:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The century didn’t change until 1901. Not that century, the other one. ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4335 "2022-05-04T11:21:01Z")
[Shark in a roof, UK (google maps)](https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7591603,-1.213202,3a,73.5y,169.18h,81.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sHvlffeEBwaoBVnUWcQZYnQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en) Thanks to today’s [Ripley’s Believe it or Not!](https://www.gocomics.com/ripleysbelieveitornot/2022/05/04) (gocomics link) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4336 "2022-05-04T11:50:03Z")
They must have laxer building codes than “the land of the free”. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4337 "2022-05-04T12:11:27Z")
Definitely not in an HOA - I’m not sure most building codes would address a roof decoration, assuming it doesn’t affect the actual structural integrity. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2022, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4338 "2022-05-04T13:19:37Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > They must have laxer building codes than “the land of the free”. Sure about that? In Wisconsin there’s **[a house with a roasted chicken dinner in the front yard](https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4262,-91.3996348,3a,15y,116.87h,85.22t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFqv3zoSySstK3Tph5nCVjA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en)**. ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4339 "2022-05-04T13:52:16Z")
The google map gives a link to a whole webpage with explanations, bookings, and gift shop. It was put up in secret, on 9 August 1986, and endured a 6 year battle to remain. > **[About - The Shark House](https://www.headingtonshark.com/Home/About)** > > The Headington Shark House is a 25ft long steel and fibreglass sculpture of a shark crashing through the roof of an otherwise average house on a quiet residential street. It was originally created as a protest against war and state censorship by Bill... Something that the _New Yorker_ would call “There Always Will Be An England”. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4340 "2022-05-04T15:02:12Z")
Ah, so that’s where the shark jumped to. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2022, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4341 "2022-05-04T19:40:04Z")
Long before a certain ad campaign make jest of the phrase “gimme a light”, there was the [Bude-Light - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bude-Light) ---
**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:** [May 5, 2022, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4342 "2022-05-05T01:32:42Z")
Some years ago I had occasion to write some music. The composition was simple, but actually writing it on staves, that was hard. Here’s a video of a music typewriter being used…maybe it would have helped. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uctqHxzkNYI/maxresdefault.jpg "Keaton Music Typewriter Demo") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uctqHxzkNYI) How did they ever produce scores of music in the old days? I guess just like writing the alphabet, the more you do it, the better you get at it? ---
**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:** [May 5, 2022, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4343 "2022-05-05T01:56:14Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > How did they ever produce scores of music in the old days? I guess just like writing the alphabet, the more you do it, the better you get at it? Indeed. In fact famously Mozart supposedly could look at a written score and know exactly how it would sound. ---
**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:** [May 5, 2022, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4344 "2022-05-05T02:51:07Z")
Benjamin Britten wrote his music at a desk, without any musical instruments around. He’d just write the notes on paper and know how they’d sound. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4345 "2022-05-05T02:55:31Z")
So did Shostakovich, in Soviet living standards: crowded with kids running around (between nights waiting to get yanked out of bed by the GPU). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4346 "2022-05-05T03:21:47Z")
Don’t all composers do this? What would be the point of making funny looking marks on rows of lines if they didn’t know what it would sound like? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4347 "2022-05-05T03:26:33Z")
There’s an illustration of, I think one of the B’s, where he appears to be picking it out on a lute while another guy transcribes. ---
**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:** [May 5, 2022, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4348 "2022-05-05T06:21:29Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Don’t all composers do this? What would be the point of making funny looking marks on rows of lines if they didn’t know what it would sound like? The common image is that of the composer sitting at the piano and trying out the sound on it. It does seem that way for popular composers, and certainly someone like Paul McCartney, who doesn’t read music, might develop songs that way, but it seems there are classical composers who don’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=216) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=218)