# 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:** 478
**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 23, 2024, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9553 "2024-05-23T01:25:11Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > 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)? Moreover, shouldn’t the length in question be measured from the fret to the bridge at the fixed end of the string (instead of measuring from fret to fret)? ---
**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 24, 2024, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9554 "2024-05-24T13:42:08Z")
An old unsolved murder in Australia-the old locked room question > **[The Sheard Murders](https://www.oddhistory.com.au/guys-hill-ub/the-sheard-murder/)** > > In June of 1921 on a lonely bush track near Upper Beaconsfield an elderly couple were callously murdered in their small farmhouse. Despite widespread searches and nationwide coverage the murderers were never caught and the mystery still remains as... ---
**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 28, 2024, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9555 "2024-05-28T00:05:14Z")
And today I learned about [Aromachology](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromachology#Aromachologists). Apparently the scent of jasmine “in a testing room enhanced the problem-solving cognitive skills of participants and also led to them demonstrating more interest and motivation for the task at hand.” ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9556 "2024-05-28T06:16:25Z")
Apropos of which, I am reminded of listening to NPR in the '70s upon which one Noah Adams decided we needed to add the word “osmyrrah” to the language, to describe a mingling of fragrances. Sadly, it never really caught on. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2024, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9557 "2024-05-28T07:57:54Z")
This guy… [![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53751065372_cdef37c61e_o_d.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53751065372_cdef37c61e_o_d.jpg) And this guy… [![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53752310859_4ecb27c822_o_d.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53752310859_4ecb27c822_o_d.jpg) Are the same actor! ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2024, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9558 "2024-05-28T13:17:04Z")
As I continue to watch farming videos on youtube, I learn more facts that are new to me but I know are well-known to anyone living in the country. Haying takes at least five separate steps with tractors using different devices. The farmer I watch drives old tractors and tows the different devices, rather than employing a (expensive) dedicated all-in-one machine for each step: 1. Mowing the hay with a device called a “haybine”. This just chops down the green grass and alfalfa and leaves it lying in the field. 2. “Tetting” the cut grass with a tetting machine. You do this a day or two after cutting the green grass. This device tosses the cut grass around, exposing the damp buried undersides of the piles so that they dry out and don’t become moldy. 3. Raking the hay with a machine that rakes and collects the scattered hay into neat rows, called “windrows”. The purpose of this is for step 4: 4. Baling the hay with a baling machine. The tractor or baler is driven right over and along the windrows so that the hay can be scooped up in one long continuous line. The farmer can use a baler that makes the familiar square bales, or one that makes those big round rolls. 5. Moving the bales or rolls into a barn or shelter so they don’t get rained on and get moldy. Phew! And you have to perform the steps rather quickly, as the hay dries out fast and you want to collect it up when it’s still a little green. Otherwise, it’s brittle and breaks up into chaff rather than bundling up neatly. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9559 "2024-05-28T13:31:24Z")
Then, on the hottest, most humid day of the summer, you take the bales of hay to our house, where we carry the bales and stack them just right. ---
**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 28, 2024, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9560 "2024-05-28T13:34:37Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > Phew! And you have to perform the steps rather quickly, as the hay dries out fast and you want to collect it up when it’s still a little green. Gotta’ make hay while the sun shines. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9561 "2024-05-28T13:50:51Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > “Tetting” the cut grass with a tetting machine. I’ve only heard of tedding hay from crossword puzzles. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9562 "2024-05-28T14:05:28Z")
I actually bucked bales back in the day on relatives’ farms. They lived in a very dry climate so some steps were saved. There was just one pass to mow alfalfa and form into rows. Then a second pass with the baler. Then a 3rd pass to pick up bales onto a sled and take them to the place where they were stacked. Technology affected things. The pickup got autmated with a thing that grabbed the bales and stacked them onto a large trailer. Then the trailer was dumped out giving a small (but fragile) haystack. Another relative went with chopped hay. So the rows were gathered and shot into trucks and taken to the haybarn where they were shot up into the barn. (This haybarn was **huge**. All made by one man. Amazing. Sadly, it got destroyed one winter due to exceptional amount of snow.) I have one relative still in the business. Over time the bales got denser and denser until picking them up by one person required some oomph. Now the bales are bigger than cars, mega-dense and require a special thing to lift them and transport them out of the field. The bales then end up getting sent to Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9563 "2024-05-28T16:45:39Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > They lived in a very dry climate so some steps were saved. This is how I grew up ‘making hay’. (Yes, we called it that.) First we mowed the alfalfa with a sickle mower. Then we raked it into windrows. Then we baled, with the hayrack attached behind the baler where one or two guys would stack the bales onto the rack. Then the rack was towed to the barn, where two or three more guys would use a bale elevator/conveyor to move the bales from the rack up into the barn where the bales were stacked. It was generally a 4 to 7 man operation, so my dad owned a baler with two other farmers, and the work was shared between the 3 farms. And oh by the way, the smell of fresh-cut alfalfa is perhaps the best smell in the world. ---
**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 28, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9564 "2024-05-28T18:14:02Z")
Martin Van Buren’s wife’s maiden name was Hannah Hoes. Imagine if the poor woman was First Lady today. (Technically, she didn’t live long enough to become First Lady then, dying long before he won office.) Three other wives died too soon as well, those of Jefferson, Jackson, and Arthur. Teddy Roosevelt was a widower and Reagan a divorcé. There have long been rumors that Kennedy had a secret marriage when he was young, but nothing provable. ---
**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 28, 2024, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9565 "2024-05-28T18:17:48Z")
Biden’s first wife died and he remarried. Trump is on his third marriage after two divorces. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9566 "2024-05-28T20:15:15Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Kennedy had a secret marriage when he was young, but nothing provable. How could this not be provable? I thought marriages were a matter of public record. ---
**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 28, 2024, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9567 "2024-05-28T20:34:07Z")
If a marriage certificate can be found. Perhaps missing as are plenty of old records, intentionally destroyed, or a marriage outside the US where no record exists for even more reasons. Or just made up which makes it very difficult to prove. ---
**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 28, 2024, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9568 "2024-05-28T20:38:49Z")
I found this. Just some speculation that’s a huge reach. > **[Was JFK secretly married to another woman before Jackie?](https://www.aol.com/article/2015/07/21/was-jfk-secretly-married-to-another-woman-before-jackie/21212108/)** > > John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis were one of America's most beloved and widely recognized couples — but their marriage wasn't without scandal — even before they wed. It's possible that Jackie was ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2024, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9569 "2024-05-28T20:50:51Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I’ve only heard of tedding hay from crossword puzzles. “Tedding”, eh? Now I’ve learned another farming fact! It sounded like tetting to me. ---
**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 28, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9570 "2024-05-28T21:44:18Z")
That article indicates that Clarke Clifford was Kennedy’s “fixer”, though it doesn’t use the word. All really rich people have a fixer. Some are more discrete than others. ---
**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 29, 2024, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9571 "2024-05-29T02:34:00Z")
Yeah, the discrete ones are better. The continuous ones are the worst. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2024, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9572 "2024-05-29T05:10:15Z")
Vice President William Rufus DeVane King (for whom King County WA was originally named) died 4 years before his very close friend and roommate James Buchanan was inaugurated President. In fact, the office of VP remained vacant those 4 years. There were scurrilous rumors about Buchanan and King. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=477) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=479)