# 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:** 74
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1461 "2025-01-29T16:00:37Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Who volunteers to tell it it’s not a dinosaur? But it _is_ a dinosaur, like all other birds. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1462 "2025-01-29T16:24:37Z")
Interesting fact stumbled on in the current Death Pool thread: > [@2025 SDMB Celebrity Death Pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/404): > > You realize the lyrics to the MASH theme were written by Mike Altman, the director’s 14-y/o son, who made more in song royalties than his dad made directing the movie (because he did not get residuals in his contract). ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1463 "2025-01-29T17:32:48Z")
And the lyrics were not used for the TV show (they were sung in the movie, so it’s not a Gene Roddenberry situation when he grabbed royalties from Alexander Courage). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1464 "2025-01-29T17:38:57Z")
Does a lyricist still get half the writing royalties off of instrumental covers? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1465 "2025-01-29T17:45:00Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > And it turns out, the genealogy display is not a tapestry, but more like a wall-mounted installation. You can see a decent picture of it about two-thirds of the way down **[this page](https://danielasantosaraujo.com/vianden-castle/).** That photo has it’s own URL apart from the webpage that’s hosting it. If we drop the photo’s URL into a post … [![](https://danielasantosaraujo.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/vianden-castle-33.jpg) ](https://danielasantosaraujo.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/vianden-castle-33.jpg) (click to zoom in a bit) ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1466 "2025-01-29T17:56:09Z")
The cover art for pulp magazines, largely lost They were garish and color-saturated by design, since the cheap paper stock absorbed and dulled the ink. But the artists made a virtue of necessity, creating a distinct aesthetic. Approximately 50,000 paintings were made, then sent to the printer for color separation and reproduction, and many of the covers still exist. But of the original paintings, only 900 or so remain. When Conde-Nast acquired the failing pulps in 1961, they auctioned the art. No bids came in. They then offered the art for free to their employees. No takers. So off to the landfill. 1961 was just a little bit too soon to appreciate this moment in American culture as it passed into history. “Nostalgia” was for Grandma Moses and Currier and Ives. Classical architecture was being eradicated for Modernism, and Pop Art was a few years in the future (Warhol’s Brillo Boxes wouldn’t appear until 1964, and at LA’s Dwan Gallery, not respectable NYC). [![](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/3/future-science-fiction-july-1950-classic-sci-fi-pulp-magazine-covers.jpg) ](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/3/future-science-fiction-july-1950-classic-sci-fi-pulp-magazine-covers.jpg) ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1467 "2025-01-29T18:02:41Z")
Ah! The future of space travel. Where men word heavy pressure suits and women wore bikinis. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1468 "2025-01-29T18:09:04Z")
Once again Tyson demonstrates that he’s an idiot. The statement is true, but is such a ridiculous understatement that it’s like saying “McDonald’s has sold more than 10 hamburgers.” To quantify, let’s say we’re talking about two cubes of iron 37 meters apart. Each cube weighs 7.9 g and thus consists of 0.14 moles of iron atoms. Each atom contains 26 electrons and 26 protons, so there are 2.2 x 1024 charged particles in each separated cube, with a total charge of 13,500 Coulombs in each. The electrostatic force between two such charges 37 m apart is 1.2 x 1015 newtons. That’s about 220 million times the Space Shuttle’s thrust of 5 million N. The electrostatic force would far exceed the strength of the shuttle body, so the charges would fly together, crumpling the shuttle like tissue paper. That’s assuming there is some magic holding each cube together. In reality, the repulsive forces within each cube would cause it to blow apart with enormous energy, far larger than the largest nuclear bomb. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1469 "2025-01-29T18:09:58Z")
TIL that Shari Lewis, pal of Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy, and Charlie Horse (and who was arguably, my first crush), co-wrote an episode of Star Trek (S3,E18). ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1470 "2025-01-29T18:10:55Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > (and who was arguably, my first crush) Hope you mean Shari and not Charlie Horse. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1471 "2025-01-29T18:12:16Z")
I anticipated that kind of response, hence the wording of my parenthetical aside. ETA: It doesn’t seem to have done any good. EETA: Yes, Shari was the one who got my motor running. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1472 "2025-01-29T18:13:28Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > TIL that Shari Lewis, pal of Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy, and Charlie Horse (and who was arguably, my first crush), co-wrote an episode of Star Trek (S3,E18). Four year old Slithy Tove to child @kaylasdad99: “Back off! She’s mine!” ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1473 "2025-01-29T18:20:46Z")
I loved her too when I was a child. I was also impressed that she was able to entertain my own kids decades later. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1474 "2025-01-29T19:07:59Z")
I’m definitely seeing the Slave Leia Bikini there. Which I now think was another Lucas homage to pulp-era science fiction. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1475 "2025-01-29T19:14:21Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > To quantify, let’s say we’re talking about two cubes of iron 37 meters apart. Each cube weighs 7.9 g and thus consists of 0.14 moles of iron atoms. Each atom contains 26 electrons and 26 protons, so there are 2.2 x 1024 charged particles in each separated cube, with a total charge of 13,500 Coulombs in each. The electrostatic force between two such charges 37 m apart is 1.2 x 1015 newtons. That’s about 220 million times the Space Shuttle’s thrust of 5 million N. > > The electrostatic force would far exceed the strength of the shuttle body, so the charges would fly together, crumpling the shuttle like tissue paper. In discussions of fundamental forces, I had heard many times that electromagnetism was a lot stronger than gravity, but I could never get my head around it because I had never been shown an example that clearly demonstrated it. But if you think of the gravitational attraction between a thumb-sized parcel of protons and a thumb-sized parcel of electrons that are 57 meters apart (the space shuttle stack height), it’s imperceptibly small to a human being, whereas the electromagnetic attraction is almost enough to lift Mount Everest. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1476 "2025-01-29T19:44:50Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > In discussions of fundamental forces, I had heard many times that electromagnetism was a lot stronger than gravity, but I could never get my head around it because I had never been shown an example that clearly demonstrated it. But if you think of the gravitational attraction between a thumb-sized parcel of protons and a thumb-sized parcel of electrons that are 57 meters apart (the space shuttle stack height), it’s imperceptibly small to a human being, whereas the electromagnetic attraction is almost enough to lift Mount Everest. Gravity is irrelevant to the premise. The Shuttle is a solid, opaque object entirely because of electrostatic force to begin with. Hence, a small but significant change in the electrostatic dynamic could be enough to severely compromise its material integrity. All gravity contributes is a tiny but measurable difference in GR between the pad and the cockpit. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1477 "2025-01-29T20:00:55Z")
It’s just a thought experiment. Anyway, just using a magnet to pick up a piece of metal off a table should be enough to demonstrate how much weaker gravity is. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1478 "2025-01-29T20:17:45Z")
It **is** weaker, although that’s a little unfair because the Earth’s center of mass is ~6357 kilometers away. At the magnet’s distance you’d need “only” about a large mountain compressed into neutronium. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1479 "2025-01-30T14:36:39Z")
**Irony Department** > **[Johnstown Flood Museum Closed Because Of Flooding](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/johnstown-flood-museum-closed-because-of-flooding_n_679a9feee4b052304fb74260)** > > A Pennsylvania museum dedicated to remembering the effects of a 19th century flood is temporarily closed because of an interior water leak. I’ve been there, after reading McCullouch’s book **The Johnstown Flood**. A great litle museum that I didn’t get to spend enough time at. The article oversells the “flooding” – it’s an internal leak. The Museum’s up high enough that it wouldn’t actually flood unless extraordinary circumstances arose. But I think they just couldn’t resist the headline. I was surprised, when I visited, to see that 2/3 to 1/2 of the earthen dam that failed, causing the flood, is still there. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1480 "2025-01-30T16:10:26Z")
For no very good reason I was reading up about Freda Payne’s 1970 hit, Band Of Gold - written, it turns out, by Edythe Wayne and Ron Dunbar. Who (you might reasonably ask) is Edythe Wayne? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XVzzrW11-Xw/maxresdefault.jpg "Band Of Gold [Single Version] - Freda Payne") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVzzrW11-Xw) Edythe Wayne, it turns out, is a _nom de plume_ for the writing and producing team [Holland-Dozier-Holland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland%E2%80%93Dozier%E2%80%93Holland) (who also produced the record). > From 1969 to 1972, due to a legal dispute with Motown, they did not write material under their own names, but instead used the collective pseudonym “Edythe Wayne”. Also of interest is how many up-and-coming young, talented people were on the record: > Golden World/Motown session singers Pamela Vincent, Joyce Vincent Wilson, and Telma Hopkins provided the background vocals on the record. Wilson and Hopkins would later go on to form the group Tony Orlando & Dawn. Also singing in the background is Freda Payne’s sister and future member of The Supremes, Scherrie Payne, who was also signed to Invictus at the time as a member of the group The Glass House. > > The distinctive electric sitar part is played by Dennis Coffey. The lead guitar on the selection is performed by Ray Parker Jr.,[5] who later headed the team Raydio before becoming a solo recording artist in his own right. [Cite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_of_Gold_(Freda_Payne_song)) j [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=73) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=75)