# 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:** 477
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9533 "2024-05-21T18:03:19Z")
**In other old, tall things news** : a Prospect Mound was a garden feature in Tudor England. Essentially an artificial hill, it allowed you to climb up and survey your property – something to provide a nice view (“Prospect”). > As Francis Bacon put it in his famous essay On Gardens of 1625: ‘At the End of both the Side Grounds, I would have a Mount of some Pretty Height…to looke abroad into the Fields.’ Prospect mounds may also have been quite a practical thing to build: > Was it done for entirely aesthetic reasons? Perhaps not because other general building work and particularly the digging of moats or fishponds, cellars or rubbish pits left lots of debris and earth which had to be put somewhere. A number of them still exist (see [this article](https://thegardenstrust.blog/2015/09/12/mounts-and-mounds/), from which the above quotes were taken). Unsurprisingly, not all were purpose built; an existing mound could be integrated into the garden – prehistoric earthworks for example, or the motte from an ancient motte-and-bailey castle. Which brings me to a (possible) second interesting random fact… [Upthread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across/851674/6150) I posted about the small town of Lewes in Sussex having two castles (!). Well, maybe I was wrong – maybe it has **three** (!!) Its origins are not known, but The Mount may be a repurposed motte. [CastlesUK.net lists it](http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_south/198/themount.htm), with the comment: > The Mount is a possible earthwork motte, which could also be defined as a 17th century garden feature, used as a prospect mound. Standing at the eastern end of a low spur, the mound dominates the entrance to north, west and south-east valleys but nothing is known as to its origin. [Lewes Priory - The Mount and Dripping Pan](https://www.lewespriory.org.uk/mount) The view from The Mount, with another castle clearly visible on the horizon (you can zoom and rotate this image). https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!4v1716314487374!6m8!1m7!1sCAoSLEFGMVFpcFBpNVNNQWZ4YnpYeWRSZVc3dHZjRklIaENMOVVISXE5cjRfVGUy!2m2!1d50.8691284!2d0.0105158!3f340.51330034258956!4f-2.530927468697456!5f1.5359379220530025 Another view: https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!4v1716314655358!6m8!1m7!1s6EtzztlaGuFJXZEYCnDQ1A!2m2!1d50.86907793722381!2d0.01120672455913455!3f276.9410806328687!4f8.19305513916946!5f0.7820865974627469 j ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9534 "2024-05-21T18:05:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > There’s only 6 minutes of full CGI models in **Jurassic Park**. The vast majority of special effects in the film were practical. The raptors and dilophosaurus were puppets. The triceratops was animatronic. The T-Rex was mostly animatronic. Only the long shots of the brachiosaurs and the herd of gallimimus were fully CGI. T-Rex chasing the Jeep was CGI. > > Probably goes a long way in explaining why other all-CGI creatures in other films, even Jurassic Park’s own sequels, _still_ look crappy over 30 years later. I’ve been aware of this since the movie came out. I was very disappointed that the pictures illustrating the first **Jurassic Park** calendar featured only images of the “practical” dinosaurs and none of the CGI ones. _Those_ were the images I _wanted_ to see, dammit! ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9535 "2024-05-21T18:15:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I want to say Florence because I remember James Burke going on about it. Probably in an episode of “The Day The Universe Changed.” No, it wasn’t Florence or any other of the best known Northern Italian cities like Pisa, Milano, Turin, Siena or Verona. It was a small, now unimportant (except for tourism) city in a hilly landscape. And I didn’t see it on that program, but on the German channel ZDFinfo. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9536 "2024-05-21T18:17:48Z")
San Gimignano? > **[San Gimignano](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gimignano)** > > San Gimignano (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Italian pronunciation: \[san dʒimiɲˈɲaːno\]) is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of its tower houses... j ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9537 "2024-05-21T18:19:44Z")
Yes, thanks, that’s definitely the town I meant. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9538 "2024-05-21T18:46:01Z")
Or it was perhaps the same Bologna that started this topic here: > **[Why Medieval Bologna Was Full of Tall Towers, and What Happened to Them](https://www.openculture.com/2024/05/why-medieval-bologna-was-full-of-tall-towers-and-what-happened-to-them.html)** > > Image by Toni Pecoraro, via Wikimedia Commons > Go to practically any major city today, and you'll notice that the buildings in certain areas are much taller than in others. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9539 "2024-05-21T18:47:45Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Or it was perhaps the same Bologna that started this topic here: No, it was indeed San Gimigano, I immediately remembered the setting and the skyline in the wiki article. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9540 "2024-05-21T18:52:01Z")
I had not read the thread till the end, so I missed your post. Still funny how the same things come back at you almost simultaneously from different angles: I read about the towers of Bologna yesterday in Open Culture, today in wikipedia linked by **Lumpy**. A third time would have been just right. Now I’m itching to build a prospect mound. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9541 "2024-05-21T19:20:19Z")
I’d known the very bare bones, but the whole story is much more interesting. > **[Cadaver Synod](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver_Synod)** > > The Cadaver Synod (also called the Cadaver Trial; Latin: Synodus Horrenda) is the name commonly given to the ecclesiastical trial of Pope Formosus, who had been dead for about seven months, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome during January 897. The trial was conducted by Pope Stephen VI, the successor to Formosus' successor, Pope Boniface VI. Stephen had Formosus' corpse exhumed and brought to the papal court for judgment. He accused Formosus of perjury, of having acceded to the papac ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9542 "2024-05-21T19:28:16Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Now I’m itching to build a prospect mound. Well your swamp must be pan-flat right? I think it should work… j ---
**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:** [May 21, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9543 "2024-05-21T19:31:11Z")
Indeed it is pan-flat. And I can almost hear my wife screaming _VETO!_ Could be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9544 "2024-05-22T00:38:03Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > The story was that this city had several rich merchant families, and they all wanted to show their wealth and outdo the others by building towers that had absolutely no strategical or other practical use other than building them higher and higher in a rat race between those families. My \* cough \* tower is bigger than your tower ---
**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:** [May 22, 2024, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9545 "2024-05-22T00:39:28Z")
Huh, I never would have guessed that lunch meat could be stacked that high. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2024, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9546 "2024-05-22T00:59:34Z")
You’re so full of it ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9547 "2024-05-22T20:44:33Z")
Idly watching the BBC’s coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, I learn that the President of the Royal Horticultural Society is Keith Weed. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9548 "2024-05-22T22:41:11Z")
the distance between the frets of a guitar (and probably all string instruments) is the square-root of 2 (which is 1.41) so walking up the fretboard, every space between frets is 1.41 times bigger than the space before. [![](https://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FRETBOARDS_Rosewood.jpg) ](https://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FRETBOARDS_Rosewood.jpg) Having said that - can anybody share a thought about the square-root thing? … normally this denotes a surface, which doesn’t make sense on a stringed instrument. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2024, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9549 "2024-05-22T23:12:45Z")
It’s the effective length of the string and the ratio needed to get the right vibration for the next note. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9550 "2024-05-22T23:36:27Z")
It’s quite obvious from looking at that photo that the spacing of each pair of frets is not 1.4 times the spacing of the previous pair. Maybe each space is the TWELFTH root of 2 (about 1.06) times the previous one (because there are 12 notes in an octave)? ---
**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:** [May 23, 2024, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9551 "2024-05-23T00:10:36Z")
This is correct for modern guitars. Searching led me to this fascinating site on the history of guitar fret spacing, a sentence I never imaged I’d write. > **[Liutaio Mottola Lutherie Information Website](https://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/fret.htm)** > > Information for builders of stringed musical instruments. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2024, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9552 "2024-05-23T00:40:27Z")
thx and yes, **12th** root of 2 … I went from memory, (and yes, I SHOULD know better by now 😉 ) ignorance fought! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=476) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=478)