NationStates Jolt Archive

What is out there that is considered mainstream common knowledge, but that you think is utterly wrong? Is there any issue on which you feel the majority of the planet are a bunch of flat-earthers? Have you come to any realizations that you feel put you before your time? Or if thats not the case can you point out a common misconception that a lot of people have that either amuses or pisses you off? Please share.

For one, its "music hath charms to sooth the savage breast" not the savage beast.

Well, things like mobile phones at petrol stations. It just doesn't do anything, but they have the signs everywhere, and when you have a mobile there, they look at you funny.

Well, things like mobile phones at petrol stations. It just doesn't do anything, but they have the signs everywhere, and when you have a mobile there, they look at you funny.
I've always found that one funny too. Although in my country that particular myth goes unsupported.

Well, things like mobile phones at petrol stations. It just doesn't do anything, but they have the signs everywhere, and when you have a mobile there, they look at you funny.
Yeah, that is just stupid. If the cell phone can ignite the gas from four feet away, it could do it from a hundred feet away.

Well, things like mobile phones at petrol stations. It just doesn't do anything, but they have the signs everywhere, and when you have a mobile there, they look at you funny.
The TV show Mythbusters thoroughly debunked cell-phone ignition of petrol vapors. You're far more likely to set yourself and a gas station alight by failing to discharge static electricity if you re-enter your car during fueling and then touch metal near the vapors (before grounding yourself farther away from the gas tank opening).

How about "being cold causes you to catch a cold". Hate that one.

The TV show Mythbusters thoroughly debunked cell-phone ignition of petrol vapors. You're far more likely to set yourself and a gas station alight by failing to discharge static electricity if you re-enter your car during fueling and then touch metal near the vapors (before grounding yourself farther away from the gas tank opening).
Exactly (Don't you just love that show? I love that show!)

But try to explain that to the dude behind the counter, and be prepared for the most outrageous look you have ever seen...

Or the myth that Newtonian Physics is the reason why objects fall at the same rate wrt the earth. It is true, but Newtonian physics do not prove it.

Also, people's understanding of how an aerofoil produces lift is incorrect.

For one, its "music hath charms to sooth the savage breast" not the savage beast.

No kidding?

*snip*
Also, people's understanding of how an aerofoil produces lift is incorrect.
Absolutely!

They may know about Bernoulli, but not about Coanda and "sticky" fluids.

Ever decant something from a glass and it runs down the outside of the glass rather than where you wanted it to go? Fluids tend to stick to similar surfaces, so if your decanter doesn't have sharp enough angles or is smooth all the way from the inside of the lip to the outside, you'll get that messy result.

Air is a fluid, too. Far less dense than water, but sticky for the same reason. As a result, air rushes downward toward the ground once it passes over the top of an airfoil, providing upward thrust (via Newton's 3rd). The Coanda Effect and Bernoulli's Principle are both responsible for flight.

Exactly (Don't you just love that show? I love that show!)

But try to explain that to the dude behind the counter, and be prepared for the most outrageous look you have ever seen...
I just think it's dumb to not pay attention to fueling and hate the constant use of cell phones already -- I don't need a fake explosion threat to want to not see them at a gas station.

I for one get amused and a little sad whenever people show a complete misunderstanding of what radiation is or how it works (I'm an X-Ray tech) I've had different people think its a gas, others spontaneuosly close their eyes and hold their breath for foot x-rays. The best was one guy who thought it would knock an object he was holding out of his hands. Amazing.

Absolutely!

They may know about Bernoulli, but not about Coanda and "sticky" fluids.

Ever decant something from a glass and it runs down the outside of the glass rather than where you wanted it to go? Fluids tend to stick to similar surfaces, so if your decanter doesn't have sharp enough angles or is smooth all the way from the inside of the lip to the outside, you'll get that messy result.

Air is a fluid, too. Far less dense than water, but sticky for the same reason. As a result, air rushes downward toward the ground once it passes over the top of an airfoil, providing upward thrust (via Newton's 3rd). The Coanda Effect and Bernoulli's Principle are both responsible for flight.
Excactly!

No kidding?
Nope. "Breast" in this case refers to the heart as seat of the emotions. A "savage breast" therefore meant either one of savage disposition (or so thought by the colonial English of, say, Africans), or one in a savage mood.

I for one get amused and a little sad whenever people show a complete misunderstanding of what radiation is or how it works (I'm an X-Ray tech) I've had different people think its a gas, others spontaneuosly close their eyes and hold their breath for foot x-rays. The best was one guy who thought it would knock an object he was holding out of his hands. Amazing.
Holy living fuck, are you serious? Knock something out of his hand?!? Oy.

Absolutely!

They may know about Bernoulli, but not about Coanda and "sticky" fluids.

Ever decant something from a glass and it runs down the outside of the glass rather than where you wanted it to go? Fluids tend to stick to similar surfaces, so if your decanter doesn't have sharp enough angles or is smooth all the way from the inside of the lip to the outside, you'll get that messy result.

Air is a fluid, too. Far less dense than water, but sticky for the same reason. As a result, air rushes downward toward the ground once it passes over the top of an airfoil, providing upward thrust (via Newton's 3rd). The Coanda Effect and Bernoulli's Principle are both responsible for flight.

Hmmm, is the sticking necesary? I mean imagine a world where the air didn't stick to the underside of the wing, it still couldn't travel through the wing, so it would still be forced down. Still providing lift.

Holy living fuck, are you serious? Knock something out of his hand?!? Oy.

I really feel that most people are still cro-magnon's and that a minority of individuals are moving technology forward. People's power to be foolish amazes me. I'll be trying to xray someone and I'll want to put them in the right position, so I'll adjust them a little, to which they'll respond like a power asist vacume and fling themselves all over. Would they do this for a photographer? Or I'll get these Mexicans who don't speak a word of English, I'll begin talking to them giving them instructions but they just stare and blink. Sometimes a few paragraphs of wasted breath will go by before I realise the're not understanding (they pretend to have a clue). The first words any foreigner should learn, as I did in Costa Rica are "I can't speak X". So then I'll ask them in Spanish why they didn't tell me, and I get more blinks. Retarded. Sorry venting, actually I may start a thread: Stupid shit to avoid doing while in X-Ray . /rant

Hmmm, is the sticking necesary? I mean imagine a world where the air didn't stick to the underside of the wing, it still couldn't travel through the wing, so it would still be forced down. Still providing lift.
I suppose, but it would probably be forced up with just as much force (ie: the air splits rather evenly). I doubt it would work in a non sticky world.

Which reminds me. Friction is not caused by the groves on the surface of two objects getting stuck on eachother. It is from the two surfaces sticking to eachother.

I for one get amused and a little sad whenever people show a complete misunderstanding of what radiation is or how it works (I'm an X-Ray tech) I've had different people think its a gas, others spontaneuosly close their eyes and hold their breath for foot x-rays. The best was one guy who thought it would knock an object he was holding out of his hands. Amazing.

I'd be an arsehole. "Holding your breath won't help...it's INSIDE you."

:p

The whole "big bad wolf" crap. Wolves are far less threatening than people make them out to be, and much less so than some other North American predators. Luckily, pretty much nobody in the scientific community takes such crap seriously.


Another was the Dubai thing. The media kept saying that they were going to takeover 6 ports. That, however, is bullshit. My dad works in the shipping industry, and apparently, the company was only going to take over 6 terminals. Terminal = basically an individual dock, not an entire port. That's a bit simplified, but it was extremely misleading of the media to say "ports," instead.

Disease. My fellow Americans, really you have no risk of getting SARS, West Nile Virus, Anthrax, Mad Cow Disease or any other bullshit disease the media hypes up. RELAX and stop letting the media tell you to be afraid.

Hmmm, is the sticking necesary? I mean imagine a world where the air didn't stick to the underside of the wing, it still couldn't travel through the wing, so it would still be forced down. Still providing lift.
Sorry, you lost me.

I really feel that most people are still cro-magnon's and that a minority of individuals are moving technology forward. People's power to be foolish amazes me. I'll be trying to xray someone and I'll want to put them in the right position, so I'll adjust them a little, to which they'll respond like a power asist vacume and fling themselves all over. Would they do this for a photographer? Or I'll get these Mexicans who don't speak a word of English, I'll begin talking to them giving them instructions but they just stare and blink. Sometimes a few paragraphs of wasted breath will go by before I realise the're not understanding (they pretend to have a clue). The first words any foreigner should learn, as I did in Costa Rica are "I can't speak X". So then I'll ask them in Spanish why they didn't tell me, and I get more blinks. Retarded. Sorry venting, actually I may start a thread: Stupid shit to avoid doing while in X-Ray . /rant
Vent away! It's entertaining.

Here's another one: recycling.

The only thing it makes sense to recycle is aluminum, 'cuase it's already worth something and doesn't need to be subsidized. Recycling paper is a manufacturing process and uses up energy and other resources.

(Thank you Penn & Teller)

Here's another one: recycling.

The only thing it makes sense to recycle is aluminum, 'cuase it's already worth something and doesn't need to be subsidized. Recycling paper is a manufacturing process and uses up energy and other resources.

(Thank you Penn & Teller)
Think you should expand Aluminum to Most Metals.

Oh yeah, and one more that's really big around here: ethanol.

It takes 1.3x more energy to produce ethanol from corn than it does to produce gasoline. And fossil fuels are used in the ethanol process. This is not a solution, but for the love of all that's holy, don't breathe a word of that around here, you'll be publicly lynched.

Think you should expand Aluminum to Most Metals.
Of course -- I was referring to the most common curbside municipal recycling programs, and aluminum is a staple among those.

Landfilling: $50/ton

Recycling paper and plastic: $150/ton

That's tax money, folks.

Of course -- I was referring to the most common curbside municipal recycling programs, and aluminum is a staple among those.

Landfilling: $50/ton

Recycling paper and plastic: $150/ton

That's tax money, folks.

Even failing that, did you know for every pound of recycled paper fibre produced it makes a pound of waste product. Also that the resultant fibre is significantly weaker than the original fibre). And the amount of energy required to recycle paper, is significantly greater (well over double) the amount needed to make the original paper. The paper fibre strength applies cause it means that the fibre has to be mixed with many more chemical additives to get the same quality(and strength) of paper as the original fibre requires. So take that all ya damn tree lovin hippies who think by saving one tree your saving our world (I'd glady lose a 2nd or 3rd growth tree to keep FRESH paper fibre in cycle instead of all this paper recycling BS... let alone the 4th + growth forest that are startin to mature now)

The popular misconception that "Darwinism" is about "Survival of the fittest" (Herbert Spencer) and not "It is not the strongest species that will survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change" (Charles Darwin).

Of course -- I was referring to the most common curbside municipal recycling programs, and aluminum is a staple among those.

Landfilling: $50/ton

Recycling paper and plastic: $150/ton

That's tax money, folks.

Yeah, however, landfill takes land. With recycling, you use the same land to reprocess the shit over and over again, whereas with landfilling eventually you run out.

Of course, I come from an area where land costs are EXTREMELY high, so landfill is regarded as a bit of a reckless and wasteful way to use land.

Aluminum and metals should always be recycled, aluminum in particular since so much is used.

I agree a bit about energy, though, you shouldn't use an energy source that takes more to produce than you can get out of it. Unless of course you can improve it until this is no longer the case.

However, an alternative to fossil fuel is needed.



Anyway, more stuff. Another thing that annoys me is the perception that everyone needs a cell phone. Obviously no they don't, as people did fine before they were invented. People don't need them, they just want them. What pisses me off more is when people tell me that I need a cell phone. No, I don't, and I think I know my own needs.

I get a little annoyed whenever the press seems most concerned with movie stares. I don't care about them. their lives outside their careers are irrelevant to me, and there's a lot of stuff more important than that crap.

Yet another thing that irritates me in a little way is the persistant belief among many Americans that a country called "Czechoslovakia" is still in existance today. It's amazing how many people believe this. It's been more than a fucking decade since it split into Czech and Slovakia. So stop fucking referring to a non-existant country!

And then there's the near total lack of understanding that many Americans have in regards to science, but that rant could fill a fucking book.

It takes 1.3x more energy to produce ethanol from corn than it does to produce gasoline. And fossil fuels are used in the ethanol process. This is not a solution, but for the love of all that's holy, don't breathe a word of that around here, you'll be publicly lynched.


I believe the point is ethanol, while not a solution, is a renewable source of fuel, fossil fuels while more efficient are not renewable.


On a similar vein the enviromentalists who keep spouting "We're destroying the earth" bug the shit out of me.

A lot realise we can't do that now but you still get some and god it's annoying.

I believe the point is ethanol, while not a solution, is a renewable source of fuel, fossil fuels while more efficient are not renewable.


On a similar vein the enviromentalists who keep spouting "We're destroying the earth" bug the shit out of me.

A lot realise we can't do that now but you still get some and god it's annoying.

Destroying the Earth would be next to impossible for us. Even though it's a small planet, its mass compared to us is huge. We could seriously alter the face of it, but destroying it is not possible for us, at least right now.

However, what we are doing is fucking ourselves over, and a lot of other species as well.

Oh yeah, and one more that's really big around here: ethanol.

It takes 1.3x more energy to produce ethanol from corn than it does to produce gasoline. And fossil fuels are used in the ethanol process. This is not a solution, but for the love of all that's holy, don't breathe a word of that around here, you'll be publicly lynched.

They need a more energy filled plant, like hemp.

They need a more energy filled plant, like hemp.Yes, but then you have to stop people from smoking your crops :p

Yes, but then you have to stop people from smoking your crops :p
Easy---> Slayer. Hippies hate Death Metal. Although, Slayer is hardly Death Metal.

Easy---> Slayer. Hippies hate Death Metal. Although, Slayer is hardly Death Metal.

Slayer is thrash.

But that works too, because hippies pretty much hate any kind of metal.

Slayer is thrash.

But that works too, because hippies pretty much hate any kind of metal.
I know it's thrash. I was just quoting South Park.

Damned Hippies and there inablity to like music where there is not a century between beats.

Slayer is thrash.

But that works too, because hippies pretty much hate any kind of metal.So, we could use recycled aluminium ?

Absolutely!

They may know about Bernoulli, but not about Coanda and "sticky" fluids.

Ever decant something from a glass and it runs down the outside of the glass rather than where you wanted it to go? Fluids tend to stick to similar surfaces, so if your decanter doesn't have sharp enough angles or is smooth all the way from the inside of the lip to the outside, you'll get that messy result.

Air is a fluid, too. Far less dense than water, but sticky for the same reason. As a result, air rushes downward toward the ground once it passes over the top of an airfoil, providing upward thrust (via Newton's 3rd). The Coanda Effect and Bernoulli's Principle are both responsible for flight.

I always thought that Newton's 3rd Law is responsible for flight, due to the angle of attack of the wing, resulting in air deflecting downwards and the wing deflecting upwards. The "air wedge" model that explains why paper airplanes and kites can fly, or why airplanes can fly upside-down. Coanda effect contributes to this, but Bernoulli's Principle is a result of this, not a cause of flight.

Well, things like mobile phones at petrol stations. It just doesn't do anything, but they have the signs everywhere, and when you have a mobile there, they look at you funny.


I'm with you. There has been no documented evidence for mobile phone use ever creating any sort of problem with filling stations. Even Discovery Channel's 'Myth Busters' couldn't make an explosion with a mobile phone.

If filling stations are so worried about the possibility of an electrical spark starting a fire then why don't they ban shoes with metal tacks in them; why aren't the floors of filling areas made from non-conductive rubberised material?

Oh it makes so little sense. Rant over.

BTW: In America where you can lock the filling nozzle to fill the car whilst you go off and do something else. They have had combustions when people have slid in and out of cars, creating a static charge, and then gone back to the filling nozzle - and a static spark between outstretched hand and metal nozzle have lit fumes. This is probably the origin of this TOTALLY UNTRUE MYTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I feel much better now.

Or the myth that Newtonian Physics is the reason why objects fall at the same rate wrt the earth. It is true, but Newtonian physics do not prove it.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Certainly I can derive the fact from simple Newtonian equations, and Newton himself was aware of the fact. So you cannot mean that the fact is not included in Newtonian physics.

Or do you just mean that while Newtonian physics incorporates the fact that falling objects accelerate at a constant rate, but that Newtonian physics does not "prove" this fact... for the same reason that it does not "prove" anything, which is that it has been superceded by relativity and quantum physics?

I am not aware of any people who do not know this.

What is out there that is considered mainstream common knowledge, but that you think is utterly wrong? Is there any issue on which you feel the majority of the planet are a bunch of flat-earthers? Have you come to any realizations that you feel put you before your time? Or if thats not the case can you point out a common misconception that a lot of people have that either amuses or pisses you off? Please share.
Well, the idiot embrace of FauX "news" viewers of the Bush administration's repeated chantings of al-Qaida/Hussein collaboration. That went on for some time, and to many educated folks' chagrin, continues still.

"See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the (truth) :rolleyes: to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."
-Shrubya, at the Athena Performing Arts Center at Greece Athena Middle and High School Tuesday, May 24, 2005 in Rochester, NY

On a similar vein the enviromentalists who keep spouting "We're destroying the earth" bug the shit out of me.

A lot realise we can't do that now but you still get some and god it's annoying.

This is like saying a 120mm Rheinmetall cannon can't destroy a T-72 tank. Do you have any idea how much energy would be required to vaporize a T-72?

Destroying the Earth doesn't mean blowing it up like Alderaan in Star Wars. A life-supporting environment is the main value of the Earth. Turning the Earth into a worthless chunk of rock like the moon, or a hellhole like Venus seems to me a sufficient definition for destruction. Although in the case of runaway greenhouse effect, its really the sun destroying Earth, we just make it possible.

I'll get annoyed if some boob says we're vaporizing the Earth, but I haven't heard that one yet.

This is like saying a 120mm Rheinmetall cannon can't destroy a T-72 tank. Do you have any idea how much energy would be required to vaporize a T-72?

Destroying the Earth doesn't mean blowing it up like Alderaan in Star Wars. A life-supporting environment is the main value of the Earth. Turning the Earth into a worthless chunk of rock like the moon, or a hellhole like Venus seems to me a sufficient definition for destruction. Although in the case of runaway greenhouse effect, its really the sun destroying Earth, we just make it possible.

I'll get annoyed if some boob says we're vaporizing the Earth, but I haven't heard that one yet.
Actually, less sunlight is reaching Earths surface now than ten years ago.

didn't read the whole thred, but the one that annoys me is

"Christians can only have sex in the dark, in missionary position, for the purposes of reproduction"

:rolleyes:

I know it's thrash. I was just quoting South Park.

Damned Hippies and there inablity to like music where there is not a century between beats.
It isn't a matter of tempo, it's a matter of "grooooooviness". Hippies like "jam bands" (the Dead, Phish) who play songs that last for hours without any sense of structure beyond the beat and a few chords. Tempo has nothing to do with it.

didn't read the whole thred, but the one that annoys me is

"Christians can only have sex in the dark, in missionary position, for the purposes of reproduction"

:rolleyes:
I can definitely debunk that one from personal experience alone.

I can definitely debunk that one from personal experience alone.
HA! me too. ;)

HA! me too. ;)
In fact, though I haven't been with many women, the freakiest among them came from the most religious backgrounds...God bless 'em!

I'm amazed that some people still think that you can get AIDS just by touching someone who has it.

The the saying "Great minds think alike" is the end of the saying...

but NO!

its "Great minds think alike and fools seldom differ."

The the saying "Great minds think alike" is the end of the saying...

but NO!

its "Great minds think alike and fools seldom differ."
along those same lines (or maybe not)

most people don't realize that "you can't have your cake and eat it too" is technically backwards and should have been translated as "you can't eat your cake and have it too" which on the whole makes a lot more sense.

also, the verse in Proverbs "Train a child up in the way he should go and he will not depart from it" should be "Train a child up in the way he should go and it will not depart from him"

which completely changes the meaning from "if you raise your kids right they won't screw up" into "if you raise your kids right, they might screw up, but they will know they are doing wrong"

Actually, less sunlight is reaching Earths surface now than ten years ago.

I'm doin a masters in Environmental Science, so it bugs me when people believe we're destroying the world too. The light not reaching the earth's surface is being reflected by pollutants in the atmosphere but not after warming the air in the atmosphere. If you go back into geologcial history and look at mean global temp we're in one of the coolest periods there have been, there is a centre line of mean global temp, the high side being "greenhouse" the low side being "icehouse", we are in icehouse now, and are only 1/7th of the way to greenhouse. People talk about the ice caps as if they have always been there - but for most of geological history they have been absent so their melting is not an extreme of climate at all. I don't approve of the pollution going on but I don't like the misunderstanding of global climate change, as the geological record tells us the climate experiences wild changes without our input, so whether we pollute or not its highly likely that massive climatic change will happen if the climate follows its cycle.

I'm doin a masters in Environmental Science, so it bugs me when people believe we're destroying the world too. The light not reaching the earth's surface is being reflected by pollutants in the atmosphere but not after warming the air in the atmosphere. If you go back into geologcial history and look at mean global temp we're in one of the coolest periods there have been, there is a centre line of mean global temp, the high side being "greenhouse" the low side being "icehouse", we are in icehouse now, and are only 1/7th of the way to greenhouse. People talk about the ice caps as if they have always been there - but for most of geological history they have been absent so their melting is not an extreme of climate at all. I don't approve of the pollution going on but I don't like the misunderstanding of global climate change, as the geological record tells us the climate experiences wild changes without our input, so whether we pollute or not its highly likely that massive climatic change will happen if the climate follows its cycle.
I think many people are worried because humans evolved in a colder world climate. If the world keeps getting warmer, some people are going to have a tough time getting through the day. Heatstroke alread kills people in Toronto every summer. Most of the food we eat, also prefers to grow in a colder environment.

I think many people are worried because humans evolved in a colder world climate. If the world keeps getting warmer, some people are going to have a tough time getting through the day. Heatstroke alread kills people in Toronto every summer. Most of the food we eat, also prefers to grow in a colder environment.

I understand that its scary, but increasingly its looking likely that it will happen any way, stoppin polluting will doubtless slow the effects but its arguable for how long, also if some scientists are to be believed the thermohaline conveyour (or oceanic circulation current) will end due to salt water dillution from melting ice caps and thus the main heat transfer method of the earth will end and it will get colder in most parts.

Theres a far more immediate problem possed by pollutants that gets missed by most people which is the massive negative effect it has on health - ie asthma, cancer etc. That recieves far less publicity than global warming but has definately affected peoples lives alot more than global warming.