Not really a joke, more PTSD having worked in this space for a few years. "29.97" is what everyone calls it, but the value is exactly 30000/1001 which cannot be represented as a floating point number, so you have to use rational arithmetic when dealing with framerates and timestamps on video (if you care about accuracy), ... and don't get me started on drop-frames, oy!
1. TV was 60i (interlace), which equates to 30p (progressive)
2. The missing 0.03 frames is due to how color NTSC works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InrDRGTPqnE