# 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:** 482
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9633 "2024-06-06T17:14:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, if just using someone’s voice counts, then it might not be his final ever, because some other movie could do the same thing. Makes you wonder how Sir Laurence Olivier would’ve felt about them using his voice and likeness for **Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow**. Or Peter Cushing about his Uncanny Valley image in **Rogue One** ---
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9634 "2024-06-06T18:08:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Or Peter Cushing about his Uncanny Valley image in **Rogue One** IIRC, the family gave their permission for that. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9635 "2024-06-06T19:06:44Z")
_Star Trek_ fans know that the Enterprise is NCC-1701, and people have speculated about how the number 1701 was selected. In an interview, the designer of the ship, assistant art director Matt Jefferies (for whom the ship’s Jefferies Tube was later named), said he wanted “a very simple number that could be spotted quickly. So I eliminated 3, 6 ,8, and 9. I also thought of the ship as being the 17th starship design and that it was the first in the series.” Okay, that would seem to settle it, but… Most Trekkies (or Trekkers, if you prefer) and cinema buffs have heard the name Linwood Dunn. He invented the optical printer, the device that essentially made it possible to do special effects, and was responsible for many innovations in film SFX. He created effects for films from the original _King Kong_ (1933) and _Citizen Kane_ (1941) through to _2001: A Space Odyssey_ (1968) and…wait for it…_Star Trek [TOS]_ (1966-69). > It was mostly Dunn who photographed the 11-foot large [Starship Enterprise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Enterprise) model,[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linwood_G._Dunn#cite_note-5) designed by series creator [Gene Roddenberry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry) and [Matt Jefferies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Jefferies) and built by Dick Datin, Mel Keys, Venon Sion, and Volmer Jensen at Production Model Shop in Burbank, California. Dunn also generated footage that could be used by the three other optical houses involved with Star Trek—the Howard Anderson Company, Westheimer Company, and [Van Der Veer Photo Effects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Der_Veer_Photo_Effects)—all necessary due to the large number of effects shots and tight weekly production schedule. Dunn continued to work on the series until its cancellation in 1969. [Wikipedia.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linwood_G._Dunn#Inventions_and_innovations) A friend of mine who knew Dunn when he (my friend) was a graduate student at USC had heard a rumor that 1701 came from Dunn’s home street address. (This came up because he is helping me with some research on Dunn.) While looking through Dunn’s papers at the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today, he found a letter written to Dunn at [1701 Evergreen St. Burbank, CA 19505](https://www.google.com/maps/place/1701+Evergreen+St,+Burbank,+CA+91505/@34.1791649,-118.355648,3a,75y,279.98h,91.42t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smi0DGEZYWmOcWEjtc2bFGQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dmi0DGEZYWmOcWEjtc2bFGQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.share%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26yaw%3D279.9806294633574%26pitch%3D-1.4183372420139477%26thumbfov%3D90!7i16384!8i8192!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x80c2959996f8de63:0x5e1eb1df73df05a9!2s1701+Evergreen+St,+Burbank,+CA+91505!3b1!8m2!3d34.1791967!4d-118.3559257!16s%2Fg%2F11c5fk90lm!3m5!1s0x80c2959996f8de63:0x5e1eb1df73df05a9!8m2!3d34.1791967!4d-118.3559257!16s%2Fg%2F11c5fk90lm?coh=205410&entry=ttu) (This is not doxing Dunn: he died in 1998, age 93.) It’s quite possible that Jefferies’ explanation is all there is, and Dunn’s address is merely a coincidence. Or maybe it was both. There’s no question that Jefferies knew and worked closely with Dunn, and maybe he saw a chance to give a little nod to him in the number. Who knows? ---
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9636 "2024-06-06T19:53:06Z")
I recently learned that P-I-E is not some nebulous concept, but reseachers have studiously reconstructed it from many clues, to the point that it could theoretically be used in something resembling its original form.              As one might expect, it had very complex grammatical structure: languages erode over time, in much the same way as The Old Man of the Mountain is now little more than an anonymous hillside. But the belief is that it was a sort of lingua franca that was comprehensible to millions of people, from Mumbai to Oslo to Lisbon, in a time when the world was occupied by tens of millions of people.              Language, in my perception, in inextricably linked, symbiotically, with social culture, so P-I-E could offer us fascinating insights into the lives of ordinary people of many millenia past. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9637 "2024-06-06T20:01:33Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > But the belief is that it was a sort of lingua franca that was comprehensible to millions of people, from Mumbai to Oslo to Lisbon, in a time when the world was occupied by tens of millions of people. This is confusing two things. When it was a lingua franca comprehensible to somethings of people (probably tens of thousands), it was much more limited geographically. By the time it spread to encompass the area from Mumbai to Oslo to Lisbon, it had fragmented into no-longer-mutually-intelligible daughter languages. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9638 "2024-06-06T20:02:35Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > As one might expect, it had very complex grammatical structure: languages erode over time, in much the same way as The Old Man of the Mountain is now little more than an anonymous hillside. That is not how language evolves over time. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9639 "2024-06-06T20:06:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Or Peter Cushing about his Uncanny Valley image in **Rogue One** The CGI version in Rogue One looked fine. The real Peter Cushing himself falls into the Uncanny Valley. > [@commasense](#): > > It’s quite possible that Jefferies’ explanation is all there is, and Dunn’s address is merely a coincidence. Or maybe it was both. I’m picturing something like Jefferies: “We need a number, but something without any 3s, 6s, 8s, or 9s, because those are hard to read.” Dunn: “How about 1701?” Jefferies: “Yeah, that’d work. I guess it’d mean it’s, like, the 17th design, and the first ship of that series.” ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9640 "2024-06-06T20:39:39Z")
I just “stumbled across” the fact that my boss does NOT believe we ever landed on the moon. My boss is the TECHNOLOGY director. I want to go home now. 😳 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9641 "2024-06-06T21:52:04Z")
You have my sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9642 "2024-06-06T21:58:22Z")
Yeah, there’s “good” interesting and “bad” interesting. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9643 "2024-06-06T22:03:36Z")
I seem to recall hearing that there is a Chinese curse that goes something like “_May you live in interesting times_.” ---
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9644 "2024-06-06T22:44:19Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I just “stumbled across” the fact that my boss does NOT believe we ever landed on the moon. We didn’t. At least, I’m sure I didn’t, and I don’t think you did either. It was some other guys, Armstrong, Aldrin, and a few others, not us. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9645 "2024-06-06T22:47:26Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I just “stumbled across” the fact that my boss does NOT believe we ever landed on the moon. My boss is the TECHNOLOGY director. Don’t want you to get in trouble, but is there more to this story? How did you stumble across this info? You don’t work for Boeing or something I hope. Those ideas are hardly acceptable for a 17yo in 7-11 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9646 "2024-06-07T03:27:00Z")
Proto-Indo-European was spoken in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe. ---
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9647 "2024-06-07T08:05:27Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > …Dunn at > > [1701 Evergreen St. > Burbank, CA 19505](https://www.google.com/maps/place/1701+Evergreen+St,+Burbank,+CA+91505/@34.1791649,-118.355648,3a,75y,279.98h,91.42t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smi0DGEZYWmOcWEjtc2bFGQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dmi0DGEZYWmOcWEjtc2bFGQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.share%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26yaw%3D279.9806294633574%26pitch%3D-1.4183372420139477%26thumbfov%3D90!7i16384!8i8192!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x80c2959996f8de63:0x5e1eb1df73df05a9!2s1701+Evergreen+St,+Burbank,+CA+91505!3b1!8m2!3d34.1791967!4d-118.3559257!16s%2Fg%2F11c5fk90lm!3m5!1s0x80c2959996f8de63:0x5e1eb1df73df05a9!8m2!3d34.1791967!4d-118.3559257!16s%2Fg%2F11c5fk90lm?coh=205410&entry=ttu) > > (It’s quite possible that Jefferies’ explanation is all there is, and Dunn’s address is merely a coincidence. Or maybe it was both. There’s no question that Jefferies knew and worked closely with Dunn, and maybe he saw a chance to give a little nod to him in the number. Who knows? Maybe! Here’s another fun coincidence - go north from that address and check out the first cross street. Not exact but it did result in a double take from me. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2024, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9648 "2024-06-08T01:35:13Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I recently learned that P-I-E is not some nebulous concept > [@eschereal](#): > > P-I-E could offer us fascinating insights Arrrgh. I had to try to figure out what you were talking about, re-read your post for a clue, then give up and google P-I-E, then wade through _dozens_ of pie recipes… (seriously, pages of nothing but Apple Pies and Rhubarb Pies), finally tried a different approach and found a link to “Proto Indo European language” (spoilered that, in case you wanted to keep it a secret… heh heh). ---
**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:** [June 8, 2024, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9649 "2024-06-08T04:29:04Z")
I get the impression that archaeology has shown that, thousands of years ago, people were travelling and trading over much longer distances, along coasts and up rivers, than used to be imagined. They must have had some better way of communication than just thumping each other with the nearest weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9650 "2024-06-08T13:02:29Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > A friend of mine who knew Dunn when he (my friend) was a graduate student at USC had heard a rumor that 1701 came from Dunn’s home street address. Anyone who has watched Big Bang Theory might have noticed that when they show up at Wil Wheaton’s house, his address is 1701. I thought that was a nice touch. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2024, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9651 "2024-06-08T13:04:38Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > > [@commasense](#): > > > > A friend of mine who knew Dunn when he (my friend) was a graduate student at USC had heard a rumor that 1701 came from Dunn’s home street address. > > Anyone who has watched Big Bang Theory might have noticed that when they show up at Wil Wheaton’s house, his address is 1701. I thought that was a nice touch. So Wheaton lives in the same house Linwood Dunn use to live in? ---
**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:** [June 8, 2024, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9652 "2024-06-08T23:00:36Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I get the impression that archaeology has shown that, thousands of years ago, people were travelling and trading over much longer distances, along coasts and up rivers, than used to be imagined. I think the issue is that language must have developed tens of thousands of years ago, not mere thousands. Small groups of humans must have traveled huge distances in the far past, whether [the single African origin or the multi-regional gene flow theory](https://www.nature.com/scitable/content/out-of-africa-versus-the-multiregional-hypothesis-6391/) describes the evolution of Sapiens better. They had language 150-200,000 years ago. But P-I-E is only 6 or 7,000 years old. It itself developed from some even earlier proto language that linguists only make some guesses about. How, when, and where they emerged and spread is pretty much totally unknown. Quora is often loopy but there’s a spectacular answer to what we know about earlier languages by Daniel Ross if you scroll down [this page](https://www.quora.com/What-came-before-proto-indo-european). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=481) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=483)