# 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:** 365
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7291 "2023-08-22T18:50:22Z")
TIL Deep Purple, the band, was named after Deep Purple, the song. Originally an instrumental, lyrics were added due to it’s popularity in sheet music sales. I never knew of or heard of the song, Deep Purple. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7292 "2023-08-22T19:30:49Z")
Nice melody. It’s said to be part of the Great American Songbook. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hH2-4-drxIg/hqdefault.jpg "Larry Clinton and His Orchestra with Bea Wain - Deep Purple (1939)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH2-4-drxIg) ---
**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:** [August 22, 2023, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7293 "2023-08-22T20:34:47Z")
Reposting. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2023, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7294 "2023-08-22T20:38:06Z")
I’m guessing this #1 hit from 1963 is the most familiar version. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vGDbXEk9USE/hqdefault.jpg "Deep Purple by Nino Tempo and April Stevens") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGDbXEk9USE) ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7295 "2023-08-23T04:10:58Z")
I was aware of the clock tower in Mecca, completed in 2011, but I wasn’t aware quite how big it is. The clock faces are 43 m (141 ft) in diameter. Here’s a size comparison with other clock faces: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/Comparison_four_face_clocks.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/Comparison_four_face_clocks.jpg) The clock tower is 601 m (1,972 ft) tall, so dwarfs the Empire State Building, which is 443.2 m (1,454 ft) tall. Size comparison: [![](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprodmigration%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fa9f980c0-8687-4a82-806d-9800f2a61b62.jpg?crop=580%2C580%2C0%2C0) ](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprodmigration%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fa9f980c0-8687-4a82-806d-9800f2a61b62.jpg?crop=580%2C580%2C0%2C0) World’s tallest buildings in 2023: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Tallest_buildings_2022.png/970px-Tallest_buildings_2022.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Tallest_buildings_2022.png/970px-Tallest_buildings_2022.png) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7296 "2023-08-23T16:14:23Z")
When I was learning touch typing in the 1980s one of the exercise was to type over and over again “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.” My mother told me that when she learned touch typing in the 1950s, it was “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party.” I always wondered which country, or which party. Today I stumbled on a little book by Charles E Weller called [The Early History of the Typewriter](https://books.google.com/books?id=FhI9AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) (1918) that seems to answer the question. During the testing phase of the first practical typewriter by inventor Christopher Latham Sholes and partners, someone came up with the line “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party”. The author says this was “in the midst of an exciting political campaign.” He doesn’t say which campaign exactly, but it was implied to have been about 1866 or '68. As for which party, presumably it was the Republican Party, since Sholes was a state legislator in Wisconsin as a member of the Free Soil Party until that party ceased to exist in the mid-1850s, and as a Republican from then until he left the legislature about 1858. He remained active in Republican party for the rest of his life. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7297 "2023-08-23T16:26:14Z")
What about the quick brown foxes and lazy dogs? Will no one consider their plights? Just kidding. Nice investigation. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7298 "2023-08-23T16:33:34Z")
I always wondered: Did people type one of those “All The Letters” phrases to check whether the typewriter was working, or to see if their typing was consistent? (It was easy to hit some of the keys heavier than others, so you’d have a bold **C** and a light A because those were struck by the thumb and pinky respectively…) ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7299 "2023-08-23T16:39:14Z")
I’ve always assumed the purpose of those phrases is to check speed (words per minute) and/or training for novice typists. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7300 "2023-08-23T16:39:48Z")
You all might have known this before, but today I stumbled across why we call Mach 1 traveling at the the speed of sound. And Mach 2, twice that speed, etc. > The use and name of Mach numbers was proposed by Swiss engineer Jakob Ackeret in 1929. Ackeret named the term Mach **after the physicist Ernst Mach** , who conducted an experiment photographing an object moving faster than the speed of sound in 1887. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7301 "2023-08-23T17:02:29Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > What about the quick brown foxes and lazy dogs? Will no one consider their plights? And do jackdaws REALLY love my big sphinx of quartz? Or are they just being nice? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7302 "2023-08-23T17:21:28Z")
> [@digs](#): > > one of those “All The Letters” phrases > **[Pangram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangram)** > > A pangram or holoalphabetic sentence is a sentence using every letter of a given alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and typing. > The best-known English pangram is "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". It has been used since at least the late 19th century, was used by Western Union to test Telex/TWX data communication equipment for accuracy and reliability. Pangrams like this are now used by... ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7303 "2023-08-23T17:24:13Z")
The classical German pangram is: _Franz jagt im komplett verwahrlosten Taxi quer durch Bayern._ Which hilariously translates to: _Franz chases in the totally desolate taxi all across Bavaria._ Another such German classic is the first sentence ever transmitted in 1861 through the invention of [Philipp Reis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Philipp_Reis), the inventor of the telephone according to Germans (as with every invention, several nations claim to have invented it, with often similar good arguments): _Das Pferd frisst keinen Gurkensalat_ _The horse doesn’t eat cucumber salad_ ---
**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:** [August 23, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7304 "2023-08-23T17:31:33Z")
> [@digs](#): > > (It was easy to hit some of the keys heavier than others, so you’d have a bold **C** and a light A because those were struck by the thumb and pinky respectively…) Were you just offering a hypothetical example, or do you really type those letters with those digits? ---
**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:** [August 23, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7305 "2023-08-23T17:45:33Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I always wondered: Did people type one of those “All The Letters” phrases to check whether the typewriter was working, or to see if their typing was consistent? > > (It was easy to hit some of the keys heavier than others, so you’d have a bold **C** and a light A because those were struck by the thumb and pinky respectively…) That could be just as easily checked by typing “abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz” or even “qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7306 "2023-08-23T17:56:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > …do you really type those letters with those digits? Nope, never even tried touch-typing. But I remember old manual typewriters with old ribbons that took a lot of effort, and thinking I could never get that much force with my little finger. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7307 "2023-08-23T17:57:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > @hogarth , not many people I’ve met are familiar with serviceberries. Interesting, another berry that is no berry at all: it is a [rose.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier) (see post 7174). They look nice, wonder whether I can find one in Europe. Had never heard of them until now. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7308 "2023-08-23T18:49:07Z")
**D.V. Pike flung J. Q. Schwartz my box** ---
**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:** [August 23, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7309 "2023-08-23T19:30:41Z")
That’s cheating ! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7310 "2023-08-23T19:41:13Z")
Mr Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=364) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=366)