# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785 "2024-07-25T15:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 136
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2701 "2025-06-21T17:51:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, that was 13 minutes wasted. The title of the video is “This is on EVERY Map. But It Doesn’t Exist.”. But he says repeatedly that the graves he’s looking for aren’t on all maps, and tries to make that out as being mysterious. In fact, the video consists mostly of saying trivial bits of information, and then stating that that information is somehow mysterious. > > Near as I can tell, the sum total content of the video is “A few old maps label this particular spot as ‘Elkham’s Grave’, but we don’t know anything else about it”. Which is, well, not a mystery at all; it’s just one of the very many things we don’t know about the past. To be fair, that’s one of Paul Whitewick’s weaker videos. He does regularly come up with some interesting stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2702 "2025-06-22T22:57:32Z")
I saw a video from Fermilab today that claimed that an estimated 20,000 stars per second disappear from our sight due to the expansion of the universe. It’s a concept I have heard of before but that number really stunned me (and also it’s tough to find anything else online about it). ---
**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 23, 2025, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2703 "2025-06-23T02:12:43Z")
TIL that there is a ferry between Punta Arenas Chile (on the Strait of Magellan) to Puerto Williams (on the Beagle Channel, SE of Ushuaia). It is a 30 hour ride to what is basically the southernmost town in the world (Puerto Williams is farther south than all of South Georgia Island). ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2704 "2025-06-23T03:16:22Z")
Not stars. Galaxies. That works out to 1.7 billion galaxies per day, and trillions upon trillions of stars. ---
**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 23, 2025, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2705 "2025-06-23T03:40:21Z")
No, it is stars, not galaxies: > **[The Universe Is Disappearing, And There’s Nothing We Can Do To Stop It](https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/the-universe-is-disappearing-and-theres-nothing-we-can-do-to-stop-it-e4dc82220293)** > > With every second that goes by, tens of thousands of star disappear from our reach. And it’s getting worse. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2706 "2025-06-23T07:48:40Z")
Ah thanks for finding that ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2707 "2025-06-23T12:11:29Z")
We’ll find some way to slow it down. Maybe reverse or modulate some polarity somewhere. ---
**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 23, 2025, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2708 "2025-06-23T12:28:16Z")
Note that that’s the average rate, but because stars are grouped into galaxies, the actual rate would be clumpy. That is, a lot of seconds go by without any stars crossing the horizon, and then a whole bunch do so nearly all at once in some galaxy. Also note that any galaxy that’s about to do this would already be so faint and redshifted that, even though it’d be theoretically possible to detect it, practically, it wouldn’t be. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2709 "2025-06-23T12:47:10Z")
Once I made a painting representing a wild rose; I traced around the edge of a guitar pick, rotating it 72° each time to get the 5 petals. “Why Nature loves the number five, And why the star-form she repeats” —Emerson, “Woodnotes I” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2710 "2025-06-23T15:07:50Z")
Solving a decades-long mystery: Before “All in the Family” premiered, two pilots were shot with different actors for Mike and Gloria. Neither ever saw the light of day. Some years later, a writer (the name of whom I didn’t set to memory) had a very extensive interview with Norman Lear, and while he apparently got a wealth of information, the one thing he was completely tight-lipped about was the names of the Mike and Gloria actors from the pilots. Said something to the effect that he thought it might damage their careers. Well, some years after that, the writer had a chance meeting with Rob Reiner one day, and in their conversation just threw out the question as to Reiner knew their names as well as the original Lionel. And he did! With one exception, as it turned out, they didn’t have much in the way of careers anyway. First pilot had Tim McIntyre and Kelly Jean Peters. McIntyre’s biggest role was probably playing Alan Freed in “American Hot Wax” (1980). Peters’ career was mostly guest roles. Second pilot: Chip Oliver and Candy Azzara. Oliver was a former Oakland Raiders linebacker. Azzara has had a rather lengthy career playing character roles. D’Urville Martin played Lionel in both pilots. His major roles were in the 1970s blaxploitation films. ---
**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 23, 2025, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2711 "2025-06-23T15:39:17Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > rotating it 72° each time I’ve noticed that it’s common for the spokes in each of the wheels of a car (that holds a tire) to have five of them, each 72% from the next spoke. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2712 "2025-06-23T16:28:21Z")
Per Tom Weller’s “Science Made Stupid”: > “Red shift” shows increasing totalitarian domination of the outer reaches of the universe. Write your congressman! [![](https://www.besse.at/sms/redshift.gif) ](https://www.besse.at/sms/redshift.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2713 "2025-06-23T17:42:27Z")
The [Forth Bridge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Bridge) in Scotland is approaching the 25 years expected lifetime of its last paint job which started in 2002. For the first time in its history (dating back to 1889), there were no painters on the bridge in 2011, and only a few for the odd touch-up jobs since.. Allegedly - 6 million rivets were used in its construction. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2714 "2025-06-23T18:31:15Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > > > For them, a “triviae” was a place where three roads met. > > Since we’re in the “interesting fact” thread, I figure this is a good place to note the “meeting of three roads” word also gave this famous landmark its name. > > [Trevi Fountain - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain) Oedipus famously killed his father Laius at “the place where three roads meet”: the roads to Thebes, Delphi and Daulis. The roads are still in the same location and there’s a monument at the spot. > **[The crossroads of Oedipus and the present Greek dilemma](https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Greece/The-crossroads-of-Oedipus-and-the-present-Greek-dilemma-140227)** > > Where Oedipus killed his father Laius, the roads from Thebes, Delphi and Daulis meet. At that abandoned crossroads, in a Greece overwhelmed by an economic crisis, today Europe may find its way again ---
**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 23, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2715 "2025-06-23T18:43:12Z")
Was it the Delphian Oracle who predicted Oeddy’s future? ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2716 "2025-06-23T18:52:06Z")
Yes, twice, when Laius and Jocasta asked about his fate as a baby, and then when he wanted to know whether Polybus king of Corinth was his biological father or adoptive father. ---
**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 23, 2025, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2717 "2025-06-23T19:39:33Z")
There have been fourteen movies from the same plot as what we know as the movies we know as _The Parent Trap_. These aren’t just movies with somewhat similar plots. These are ones based on the same original source (and presumably paying royalties to that source). It began as an idea by a German screenwriter named Erich Kästner in 1942. At that time, he was unable to convince anybody else to turn this into a film. In 1949, he published a novel in German with this plot. Filmmakers then began making movies from this. They have been in various languages and set in various countries. There have also been a stage musical and a graphic novel of this plot. There was also a animated television show of this plot. One of the movies was animated. One of the movies was a television movie. There were three sequel movies (and hence not the same plot) of the 1961 movie. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2718 "2025-06-26T01:13:50Z")
A post was merged into an existing topic: [Sonny Troll Posts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonny-troll-posts/1020150/10) ---
**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 23, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2719 "2025-06-23T20:12:32Z")
The Forth Bridge was completed around the same time as the Eiffel Tower and their construction overlapped. One big difference is that Gustav Eiffel distrusted steel and therefore stuck to the well-understood wrought iron, which was also cheaper. But steel needs less frequent painting and allowed the Bridge to be longer than the Tower. In addition, there are worries today that the Tower may be suffering corrosion because of previous imperfect paint jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2720 "2025-06-24T10:35:38Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > For the first time in its history (dating back to 1889), there were no painters on the bridge in 2011, I remember reading much the same about the Sydney Harbour bridge (changes in paint technology had moved it from a 6 year painting cycle to a 30 year painting cycle) But I can’t see any confirmation now. The SHB had a 100 year design lifetime, common for works at the time, and one result of the relaxed painting regime is that they now need to do a bit of catch-up work to get it ready for the 2032 anniversary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=135) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=137)