# 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:** 139
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2761 "2025-06-27T13:22:52Z")
Today I learned that there is actually a lyricist credit on the song “Gonna Fly Now” from the movie _Rocky._ It took two people to write “Getting strong now / Trying hard now / Gonna fly now.” ---
**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 27, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2762 "2025-06-27T13:42:25Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > The system analysts were the ‘real professionals’, of course: coding was thought of as a menial task. So much so that, when people figured out how to use computers themselves for the really menial parts, they were actually referred to as “self-programming computers”. It probably didn’t take long after that for people to realize that, no, there really was still room for actual human programmers, even on a computer with a compiler. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2763 "2025-06-27T14:27:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It probably didn’t take long after that for people to realize that, no, there really was still room for actual human programmers, even on a computer with a compiler. Ah, the pipe-dream of high level language creators: a language so powerful yet intuitive that ‘even a manager could use it’… 🙂 Those of us in the trade have probably encountered a few managers who think they are programmers because they once got a couple of Excel macros working! Speaking from a lifetime career as a kernel-level system software engineer… Mind you, with LLMs, the day is getting closer… ---
**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 27, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2764 "2025-06-27T14:50:58Z")
Even with LLMs, you’re still going to have managers asking for [seven red lines, all perpendicular, some drawn with green ink and some transparent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg). ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2765 "2025-06-27T15:02:40Z")
Am I the only one who gets that reference? ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2766 "2025-06-27T15:17:49Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > A fact I would find interesting to find out is whether those claims of feminizing seeds are true If you mean do they consistently produce female plants, then yes, they do ! From memory It’s done using a compound of silver somehow.. Info [here.](https://www.growsensor.co/post/understanding-seed-feminisation-what-you-need-to-know) ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2767 "2025-06-27T15:20:12Z")
I don’t get the reference, but I’m quite familiar with the phenomenon. I distinctly remember one manager who insisted that while the monthly figures in her budget report were correct, the yearly total wasn’t what she wanted. ---
**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 27, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2768 "2025-06-27T15:24:34Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > The Purina Cat Chow commercials that have aired since the 1970s (Purina Cat Chow! Chow, Chow, Chow!) are a riff on the “Cha-Cha-Cha” dance. In all my years, it only recently occurred to me. …and the way they get the cat to “cha cha cha” is by a kind of looping – printing a few frames in reverse order after a forward motion. Then doing this two more times. It’s the same way the British propagandists created a film of Hitler apparently doing a little jig of victory when learning about the Fall of Paris in 1940 > **[What is the truth about Hitler doing a dance for joy at the signing of...](https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-truth-about-Hitler-doing-a-dance-for-joy-at-the-signing-of-France-s-surrender-in-1940)** > > Answer (1 of 5): There is no truth. It was a film that was edited to make it appear Hitler was dancing a jig. > > The Republic of France fell to Nazi Germany in June 1940. The Germans stage-managed it so that Hitler would receive the French surrender in... > **[The Hitler Jig Professor Buzzkill](https://professorbuzzkill.com/2016/06/25/hitler-jig-myth/)** > > France fell to Nazi Germany in June 1940. The Germans stage managed it so that Hitler would receive the French surrender in the same railroad car that the ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2769 "2025-06-27T15:34:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s the same way the British propagandists created a film of Hitler apparently doing a little jig of victory when learning about the Fall of Paris in 1940 There’s the interesting fact. I knew of the film and had no idea it was faked until now. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2770 "2025-06-27T15:35:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Even with LLMs, you’re still going to have managers asking for [seven red lines, all perpendicular, some drawn with green ink and some transparent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg). I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that… ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2771 "2025-06-27T15:38:24Z")
They rolled with the gag and had all the Nazis perform the Lambeth Walk [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fnBhQHa0xDI/maxresdefault.jpg "THE LAMBETH WALK / SHORT PROPAGANDA FILM THAT OUTRAGED ADOLF HITLER 34534b") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnBhQHa0xDI) ---
**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 27, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2772 "2025-06-27T15:49:05Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Am I the only one who gets that reference? The original short story behind Day of the Triffids, no? And irradiating seeds is a quite common practice. Basically, you take thousands of seeds, subject them all to high doses of ionizing radiation, and then plant them and see what comes up. A lot of them die, a lot will have no apparent change, but of the few that do change, occasionally you’ll get something good (here defined as “something that you can sell”): Maybe a different color from a flower, or a fruit that’s a little bit bigger or hardier, or whatever. It’s essentially a random shotgun method of genetic engineering (and which is allowed for products labeled as “non-GMO”). I think that man-in-the-moon marigolds are an actual variety that was produced this way, but the search results are so cluttered with hits for the story that it’s hard to find concrete information. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2773 "2025-06-27T16:53:21Z")
That was exactly what I meant and your link gives just the answer I was looking for, ignorance fought. Thanks a lot! The process is a bit weird and unexpected, at least for me, but it makes sense. I wonder how anybody came up with the idea. Whoever it was, drugs may have played a role 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2774 "2025-06-27T17:45:29Z")
Just you and me. This [link may help.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Effect_of_Gamma_Rays_on_Man-in-the-Moon_Marigolds) ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2775 "2025-06-27T18:23:20Z")
I was right up near a huge fish in Hawaii listening to it chomping on coral, when it took a massive audible poop, squirting out a long white cloud of digested coral. I heard a fish pooping. I still can’t fit that cosmic existential puzzle piece into my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2776 "2025-06-27T19:03:27Z")
The master speaks > **[Do fish fart? Plus: angels dancing on the head of a pin (cont.)](https://www.straightdope.com/21343500/do-fish-fart-plus-angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin-cont)** ---
**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 27, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2777 "2025-06-27T19:29:32Z")
You might also b interested in this. I stumbled across a copy at the museum in St, Johnsbury VT last year when we wer up there to se the ecipse. It gave me some interesting reading while waiting for the sun to go out. > **[Does It Fart?: 9781786488268: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Does-Fart-Definitive-Animal-Flatulence/dp/1786488264)** > > Does It Fart? on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Does It Fart? ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2778 "2025-06-27T19:56:40Z")
You have just supplied my top Christmas gift for this year. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2779 "2025-06-27T21:27:55Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Today I learned that there is actually a lyricist credit on the song “Gonna Fly Now” from the movie _Rocky._ > > It took two people to write “Getting strong now / Trying hard now / Gonna fly now.”  I wonder if they split it 50-50 or if they fought over who wrote 2 out of the 3 lines. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2780 "2025-06-27T21:56:06Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Am I the only one who gets that reference? Saw the play; watched the movie [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=138) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=140)