# 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:** 349
**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:** [July 17, 2023, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6971 "2023-07-17T05:47:53Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > [At least 4 people have been killed trimming palm trees.](https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2015/08/24/tree-trimming/) Not by falling. By being suffocated at the top. šŸŽ¶šŸŽµ Unexpected Ways to Die! šŸŽµšŸŽ¶ ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6972 "2023-07-17T08:31:42Z")
When I was growing up in southern Indiana, there was an x-rated drive-in a few small towns over from where I lived. It sat off in a fairly secluded area. Hereā€™s the thing, though: depending on the time of the year, you could see the screen from the highway. If my parents knew this, they never let on. But we kids knew exactly when and where to look to catch a glimpse of a bared breast (or worse!). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6973 "2023-07-17T10:10:21Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > šŸŽ¶šŸŽµ Unexpected Ways to Die! šŸŽµšŸŽ¶ Were you thinking of _Dumb Ways to Die_, by any chance? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IJNR2EpS0jw/hqdefault.jpg "Dumb Ways to Die") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw) ---
**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:** [July 17, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6974 "2023-07-17T12:56:18Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > [@Sunspace](#): > > > > šŸŽ¶šŸŽµ Unexpected Ways to Die! šŸŽµšŸŽ¶ > > Were you thinking of _Dumb Ways to Die_, by any chance? > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw) Yes, but ā€˜Dumbā€™ didnā€™t quite seem to fit. ---
**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:** [July 17, 2023, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6975 "2023-07-17T17:10:11Z")
> [@Danger, Will Robinson (Discussing increased incidences of syphilis in Texas)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/2): > > Itā€™s easily treatable IF it gets diagnosed. Since the typical symptoms are painless chancres on the genitals which resolve in a few months (while the spirochetes continue to burrow deeper and deeper into the body), a LOT of folks just ignore those minimal symptoms, if they notice them at all. And if the disease advances to tertiary syphilis and it can be a real bugger to try to cure. Today I learned that a chancre is not a person who works at a chancery. I always spell the lesion ā€œcankerā€. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6976 "2023-07-18T00:43:32Z")
The English word ā€˜muscleā€™ derives from the ancient Greek for mouse (via Latin of course); apparently the way muscles rippled under the skin looked to them like mice running around under there. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6977 "2023-07-18T01:13:17Z")
Now Iā€™m imagining a horror movie in which hive mind mice eat their way into a corpse and animate it like a puppet. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6978 "2023-07-18T01:16:03Z")
you must be thinking of what has been said about the senator from Cancun ---
**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:** [July 18, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6979 "2023-07-18T01:18:40Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > You must be thinking of what has been said about the senator from Cancun. What has been said? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6980 "2023-07-18T01:20:38Z")
Unflattering things which do not really belong in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6981 "2023-07-18T01:43:10Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > What has been said? I think itā€™s a Ted Cruz reference. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6982 "2023-07-18T01:54:03Z")
[![](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYJI5OtUBFq0-AUF8JJHAvDxDxbd3Jvyaljh4FMw2tltzrkJPrn0uR7VgB0XErFs2EBNw&usqp=CAU) ](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYJI5OtUBFq0-AUF8JJHAvDxDxbd3Jvyaljh4FMw2tltzrkJPrn0uR7VgB0XErFs2EBNw&usqp=CAU) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6983 "2023-07-18T05:54:23Z")
I watched a plane fly by at maybe 2000ā€™ overhead and thought about the sound and how it was not coming from where the plane was but from some distance back, where it had been, even though it seemed to be from right above. You can see a spaceship approaching. It is about 5M miles away (well lighted, and you have good binoculars) moving at about 200Kmph. But, what you see is not where the ship is but where it was 20 seconds ago (that distance is around 20 lightseconds). As it gets closer, the light-distance decreases, so the image you see gets closer to the ship.        Hence, the speed you measure for the ship is faster than it is actually going (the image is catching up with the physical position). The difference is minute but enough that you might need to correct for the difference. As it flies by and heads off into the distance, it appears to slow down a tiny bit as the image falls behind.        I think there is something of import to this, but not sure what, since I do not work for JPL. I guess it must be that you should never rely on things being where you think they are. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6984 "2023-07-18T07:17:05Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I think there is something of import to this, but not sure what, since I do not work for JPL. I guess it must be that you should never rely on things being where you think they are. Iā€™m not sure if this is exactly the same sort of thing, but Iā€™ve read that the Global Positioning System does account for relativistic effects in order to achieve the level of accuracy that it does. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2023, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6985 "2023-07-19T02:53:52Z")
Thereā€™s something called ā€œrelativistic aberrationā€, where an object traveling at a high percentage of the speed of light would look distorted because of how fast the object was moving in the time it took its light to reach you. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6986 "2023-07-19T17:10:14Z")
Today I learned about the ā€œ[Wicked Bible](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible).ā€ it was a misprint in 1631 by the royal printers in London, that ended up saying ā€œThou shalt commit adultery.ā€ Pretty funny. There are fifteen known copies of the Wicked Bible today in the collections of museums and libraries in the British Isles, North America and Australasia. if I had millions Iā€™d buy one. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6987 "2023-07-19T17:34:40Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Iā€™m not sure if this is exactly the same sort of thing, but Iā€™ve read that the Global Positioning System does account for relativistic effects in order to achieve the level of accuracy that it does. The GPS system accounts for special relativity effects (due to the difference between the velocity of the satellites and the velocity of the GPS receiver) and general relativity effects (due to difference between Earthā€™s gravitational acceleration on the satellites and on the GPS receiver). Without these corrections, the GPS system would be uselessly inaccurate. > **[Error analysis for the Global Positioning System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_analysis_for_the_Global_Positioning_System#Special_relativity)** > > The error analysis for the Global Positioning System is important for understanding how GPS works, and for knowing what magnitude of error should be expected. The GPS makes corrections for receiver clock errors and other effects but there are still residual errors which are not corrected. GPS receiver position is computed based on data received from the satellites. Errors depend on geometric dilution of precision and the sources listed in the table below. > User equivalent range errors (UERE) are ... > [@Lumpy](#): > > Thereā€™s something called ā€œrelativistic aberrationā€, where an object traveling at a high percentage of the speed of light would look distorted because of how fast the object was moving in the time it took its light to reach you. In 2012 an educational game was released to help people understand relative aberration: > **[A Slower Speed of Light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Slower_Speed_of_Light)** > > A Slower Speed of Light is a freeware video game developed by MIT Game Lab that demonstrates the effects of special relativity by gradually slowing down the speed of light to a walking pace. The game runs on the Unity engine using its open-source OpenRelativity toolkit. > In A Slower Speed of Light, the player controls the ghost of a young child who was killed in an unspecified accident. The child wants to "become one with light", but the speed of light is too fast for the child. This is solved th... Shapes, velocities, and colors all become progressively more and more distorted as the speed of light gradually slows down over the course of the game to the point where itā€™s not much faster than the playerā€™s walking speed, meaning youā€™re walking at a very high percentage of the speed of light. You can download for free here: [http://gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light/](http://gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light/) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6988 "2023-07-19T18:15:19Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I think there is something of import to this, but not sure what, since I do not work for JPL. I guess it must be that you should never rely on things being where you think they are. > **[Superluminal motion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superluminal_motion)** > > In astronomy, superluminal motion is the apparently faster-than-light motion seen in some radio galaxies, BL Lac objects, quasars, blazars and recently also in some galactic sources called microquasars. Bursts of energy moving out along the relativistic jets emitted from these objects can have a proper motion that appears greater than the speed of light. All of these sources are thought to contain a black hole, responsible for the ejection of mass at high velocities. Light echoes can also produce... ---
**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:** [July 19, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6989 "2023-07-19T18:23:35Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Shapes, velocities, and colors all become progressively more and more distorted as the speed of light gradually slows down over the course of the game to the point where itā€™s not much faster than the playerā€™s walking speed, meaning youā€™re walking at a very high percentage of the speed of light. Itā€™s the shapes that blow my mind. Itā€™s because your line of sight becomes non-conic (or alternatively, becomes conic in a non-Euclidean space), so you get a really weird ā€œfisheyeā€ effect. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6990 "2023-07-19T21:46:48Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Without these corrections, the GPS system would be uselessly inaccurate. Just curious: how inaccurate? 50 feet? 20 yards? 50 miles? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=348) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=350)