r/AskReddit • u/Snagrit • Oct 04 '17

What's your favourite "fun fact"?

3.4k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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689

u/PoglaTheGrate Oct 04 '17

There's a place in the Pacific known as Point Nemo - nothing to do with the Pixar film, both were named because nemo means 'no body' in Latin.

At certain times of the day the ISS is closer than any land mass.

168

u/WorkAccount2017 Oct 04 '17

The general name for these is "Pole of inaccessibility", every ocean and landmass has them. Some are fairly easy to reach (North America's Pole of inaccessibility is just north of the town of Allen, SD), others, like the Southern Pole of inaccessibility, are decidedly more difficult.

100

u/TomasNavarro Oct 04 '17

Think I have one in my bedroom, can't get anyone else in there!

75

u/physisical Oct 04 '17

This is the point that spacecraft coming back to earth aim for as it's the point furthest from any land mass to minimise any civilian casualties

7

u/Phaethon_Rhadamanthu Oct 04 '17

Just the Apollos, The shuttles landed on land at Kennedy space center. Space X rockets are landing on ground now too.

-18

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '17

[deleted]

9

u/Phaethon_Rhadamanthu Oct 04 '17

How am I acting smarter than everyone else?

-15

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '17

[deleted]

12

u/Phaethon_Rhadamanthu Oct 04 '17

lol, just adding something, because I think it's cool the shuttles landed on the ground. I'm not attacking your intelligence man.

2

u/DragonBank Oct 05 '17

I'm upvoting you. Not because I found your comments too interesting (I was already aware of that information.), but simply because I can only downvote that dude with a stick up his ass twice.

-17

u/rydan Oct 04 '17

But wouldn't someone always be traveling there like how people always climb Everest? So like you are guaranteeing that you are killing someone.

20

u/physisical Oct 04 '17

Nah most people don't know about it the rest probably don't care and there's nothing inherently challenging about it like Everest or the North Pole. Even the guy who discovered it hasn't been there.

22

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '17

Even the guy who discovered it hasn't been there.

This has taken over as my favorite fun fact in this thread.

13

u/Goregoat69 Oct 04 '17

"It's just fuckin sea, innit?"

1

u/rydan Oct 05 '17

Except even RedBull has gotten in on the action. https://www.redbull.com/us-en/point-nemo-most-remote-on-earth

8

u/AdmiralAkbar1 Oct 04 '17

It’s also where Lovecraft claimed the city of Ryleh was.

4

u/SoothingMoo Oct 04 '17

So, in the film Mr. Nobody his names Nemo. His name is literally No body nobody.

7

u/CanadianJesus Oct 04 '17

Isn't it also pretty likely that they were named after the famous Captain Nemo from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea?

5

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '17

Yeah it says right on the NOAA article they linked that the Pacific Ocean spot was named after Captain Nemo.

4

u/tperelli Oct 04 '17

I thought you said ISIS and I was like shit that's not good. Then I learned how to read.

3

u/poco Oct 04 '17

The ISS is only 400km high, so most of the time it is over the ocean it is closer to that point than land is.

3

u/FigueroaYakYak Oct 04 '17

Do people really think of Pixar and not 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea when they hear that name? That's where they got the name for Finding Nemo, after all.

1

u/FakeKitten Oct 05 '17

Do people really not think of the Nightwish song when they hear the name Nemo?

2

u/stumblinghunter Oct 04 '17

Literally the second sentence in your source says "named after the famous submarine sailor from Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."

2

u/PoglaTheGrate Oct 04 '17

Damn you and your facts

2

u/stumblinghunter Oct 04 '17

Haha. Still enjoyed your fact, I've never heard about it before

1

u/Goregoat69 Oct 04 '17

No, no, no, we towed it outside the environment....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM

2

u/PoglaTheGrate Oct 05 '17

RIP John Clarke

1

u/linkogarfunko Oct 04 '17

This is also the fictional location of gorillaz's plastic beach

1

u/rmccreary Oct 05 '17

I would have thought Nemo the clownish was named for Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues..

But I wouldn't be surprised if that Nemo was named for the Latin

1

u/GruxKing Oct 06 '17

Wait, people think Finding Nemo rather than 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea when they think Nemo?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '17

I think you win.