# An Omnibus Discussion Thread In Which You Can Ask All The Questions/Topics Not Good Enough To Start OPs About **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 1, 2026, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554 "2026-06-01T22:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [June 4, 2026, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/41 "2026-06-04T04:23:32Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > What was your favorite decade and year of the Internet / World Wide Web? 2010, I had a blog and twitter handle called The Belated Nerd and wrote daily about what was going on in pop culture 50 years earlier. I kept it going for several years until the “Well, actually…” crowd in the comments just made it no fun anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Past\_Paper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/past_paper/32/21268_2.png) [@Past\_Paper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Past_Paper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/42 "2026-06-04T04:34:39Z")
**SPOILERS AHEAD ABOUT A MOVIE FROM 2009** Before I forget, here’s one that’s been bugging me for a while: **At the end of the move _Push_ (2009), there’s those cardboard boxes with a tiger logo on all of them, and that’s a fulfillment of an earlier future-psychic-prediction; Question: does that tiger logo appear anywhere earlier in the movie (I already know the answer is no, but also-) Is that logo purely made-up for the movie, and if so what does the asian writing on the boxes say?** There’s a brand of tea called Peace Tea, and Coca-Cola Freestyle Fountain Machines have this brand on them. There’s like 4 or 5 different flavors available on the average Coca Cola Freestyle Fountain Machine, including just regular ‘Sweet’ flavor. **Late last year, Coco Cola Freestyle machines apparently stopped having the regular Sweet flavor for Peace Tea; why’d it disappear?** **What’s a city or country you’ve visited in recent decades that you actually expected to be sucky or disappointing and yet were happily surprised was not that bad or was even good or great?** ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/43 "2026-06-04T05:23:02Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > **I wish I could eat authentically-made Medieval-style pie.** I am _not_ talking about meat pies or the like, I mean European type fruit pies of the desserts kind but Medieval or maybe circa 1600 type pie, made in the style and all. **Any comments / suggestions?** Check out Max Miller’s “Tasting History” YouTube channel. He recreates a lot of foods from history. I know I’ve seen medieval recipes in there before, so he might have something that interests you. ---
**Author:** ![Past\_Paper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/past_paper/32/21268_2.png) [@Past\_Paper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Past_Paper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/44 "2026-06-04T05:25:43Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Check out Max Miller’s “Tasting History” YouTube channel. He recreates a lot of foods from history. I know I’ve seen medieval recipes in there before, so he might have something that interests you I _know_ I’ve watched (half-attention like) some of his or very similar video/s, a few weeks ago even; but **Where might I be able to try a slice / pie Medieval or 1600 style, does anywhere make or sell them?** ---
**Author:** ![Past\_Paper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/past_paper/32/21268_2.png) [@Past\_Paper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Past_Paper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/45 "2026-06-04T06:03:03Z")
**In the scene in _Pulp Fiction_ in which Quentin Tarantino stands in a kitchen and drinks coffee, [why is the round yellow picture frame behind him filled with a pitch-black material of some kind?](https://www.google.com/imgres?q=tarantino%20drinking%20coffee%20pulp%20fiction&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BODVkYjJmNWYtNTdkNy00ZjQ2LTkxMTctMGRkYzI5YzI0YWZjXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0110912%2Fcharacters%2Fnm0000233%2F&docid=MmO4H5IFeX1gBM&tbnid=4Vn4OjpfPsUc-M&vet=12ahUKEwje04iK9OyUAxUNKlkFHVsuJRYQnPAOegQIGhAB..i&w=1024&h=433&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwje04iK9OyUAxUNKlkFHVsuJRYQnPAOegQIGhAB)** I assume it’s probably just an empty picture frame, so it’s like a piece of paper in there? Or is it some dark liquid of some kind? ---
**Author:** ![Past\_Paper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/past_paper/32/21268_2.png) [@Past\_Paper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Past_Paper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/46 "2026-06-04T07:31:37Z")
Almost all movies that take place in Washington, D.C. occur there because they involve The President / politics / government. Two exceptions: _The Exorcist_, and that doesn’t count because the D.C. setting is the result of the alleged real-life exorcism having taken place in a suburb of D.C., and _Wedding Crashers_- the script had it take place in Boston, but because of cold weather and the director being from D.C. they filmed it there instead. Apparently “Director Dobkin liked the idea of using the D.C. monuments as visual metaphors for the characters’ personal growth” and also “The story features a wealthy, Kennedyesque political family, making D.C. the ideal home for Christopher Walken’s character, who serves as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury”. **How many movies can you name that take place in Washington, D.C. despite not being about politics or the government?** ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/47 "2026-06-04T11:49:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Past\_Paper](#): > > > > **How many female novelists or writers have ever written a novel or screenplay that had a man as the main character?** > > Naomi Novak with her Temeraire series.(nine books) and more- Lots of them. Ursula Kroeber LeGuin, for instance. Ged. Shevek. Genly Ai. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/48 "2026-06-04T12:08:21Z")
Robin Hobb (real name Margaret Ogden) has an extensive series about Fitzchivalry Farseer and The Fool, both male characters. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/49 "2026-06-04T12:48:26Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > **Some magazines (especially special one-off issues) have a ‘Display Until’ date printed on the cover. a) why does it matter that much and b) what happens if a store continues displaying it for sale long past that date?** Nothing is going to happen - “display until” dates are usually on magazines that don’t publish frequently. A “display until” on a weekly or monthly magazine isn’t needed as the cover date serves that function - retailers will pull the July 3 issue when they get the July 11 issue, or the August issue when the September one comes in. But when do the pull the “Spring” issue? If they pull it too late, they won’t get credit on the return. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/50 "2026-06-04T13:14:35Z")
The Fool isn’t exactly male. But Fitz certainly is. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/51 "2026-06-04T14:50:30Z")
**Does anybody really care about Olivia Rodrigo’s new haircut? Or Millie Bobbi Brown’s and Jake Bongiovi’s relationship drama?** I see articles like this all over Buzzfeed, and I want to respond with “Who. The Fuck. _Cares_?” but that would indicate that I care since I took the time to post. And obviously these articles get clicks, else they wouldn’t be on the front page. Seriously though, who cares about this shit, and more importantly, **why**? What corner of your brain has an itch that gets scratched by learning about a young starlet’s new hair style, or her drama with her baby daddy, or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/52 "2026-06-04T14:57:06Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > **Some magazines (especially special one-off issues) have a ‘Display Until’ date printed on the cover. a) why does it matter that much and b) what happens if a store continues displaying it for sale long past that date?** (I was in a drug store that had several mags with Display Until dates that were long past) It may be a tax thing. Some areas charge a sales tax on books put periodicals are exempt from the tax. A date on the cover is the legal indication that the material is a periodical. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/53 "2026-06-04T15:03:23Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > **If you could visit either the 1930s, 1940s, or 1950s (AD/CE of course 😉 ), but only one of those, which would you choose?** Note: you’ll be there a few weeks or months or so, unless you wanna leave early. Also: this visit is for time-vacation enjoyment only, NOT for changing history, meeting any past relatives or such, profiting from it in any money or power way, or investigating historical mysteries/questions, etc. Just an enjoyment visit, nothing else. My answer: 1940s. The fifties. The thirties had the great depression and the forties had the world war and its aftermath. I feel both of those events would have created a background of general uneasiness. I feel people in the fifties felt the world was improving and they were generally happier. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/54 "2026-06-04T15:08:04Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@DrDeth](#): > > > > > [@Past\_Paper](#): > > > > > > **How many female novelists or writers have ever written a novel or screenplay that had a man as the main character?** > > > > Naomi Novak with her Temeraire series.(nine books) and more- > > Lots of them. Ursula Kroeber LeGuin, for instance. Ged. Shevek. Genly Ai. Donna Tartt - _The Secret History_ George Eliot (a.k.a. Mary Ann Evans) - _Daniel Deronda_, _Adam Bede_, _Silas Marner_, _Felix Holt_ and my personal favorite female-written screenplay: Nancy Dowd - _Slap Shot_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/55 "2026-06-04T15:13:54Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > How many female novelists or writers have ever written a novel or screenplay that had a man as the main character? Lois McMaster Bujold is another example of a female writer who’s written several books with a male protagonist. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/56 "2026-06-04T15:20:30Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > **In the scene in _Pulp Fiction_ in which Quentin Tarantino stands in a kitchen and drinks coffee, [why is the round yellow picture frame behind him filled with a pitch-black material of some kind?](https://www.google.com/imgres?q=tarantino%20drinking%20coffee%20pulp%20fiction&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BODVkYjJmNWYtNTdkNy00ZjQ2LTkxMTctMGRkYzI5YzI0YWZjXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0110912%2Fcharacters%2Fnm0000233%2F&docid=MmO4H5IFeX1gBM&tbnid=4Vn4OjpfPsUc-M&vet=12ahUKEwje04iK9OyUAxUNKlkFHVsuJRYQnPAOegQIGhAB..i&w=1024&h=433&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwje04iK9OyUAxUNKlkFHVsuJRYQnPAOegQIGhAB)** I assume it’s probably just an empty picture frame, so it’s like a piece of paper in there? Or is it some dark liquid of some kind? Complete speculation here but maybe there was a picture of a person in the frame. Somebody may have realized at the last minute that this person might not want to have their likeness in a movie so the picture was covered up. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/57 "2026-06-04T15:21:50Z")
You mean it’s not a mirror he forgot to uncover after sitting shiva? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/58 "2026-06-04T15:25:25Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > How many movies can you name that take place in Washington, D.C. despite not being about politics or the government? There’s _D.C. Cab_, which is a comedy about a cab company in the city. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/59 "2026-06-04T15:34:35Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Seriously though, who cares about this shit, and more importantly, **why**? What corner of your brain has an itch that gets scratched by learning about a young starlet’s new hair style, or her drama with her baby daddy, or whatever? My understanding is that human beings have a genetic instinct to form social bonds with the people around them. Part of this is having feelings about minor details in other people’s lives, like what they’re wearing or when they change their hair style or an argument they had with a family member. Historically, this social feeling used to work only with people you actually encountered in you daily life. You didn’t care what was happening in a village a day’s travel away. But modern media has put people into regular “contact” with celebrities. You see a movie star or singer on a regular basis on talk shows and magazine articles. Your brain isn’t evolved to handle the reality that this is a one-way relationship; as far as your genes are concerned, you must have a relationship with these people if you’re seeing them so frequently. So you begin to form a social bond with them, albeit a one-sided one because they’re not encountering you the way you’re encountering them. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554/60 "2026-06-04T15:38:37Z")
Huh. Well, that’s an informative explanation. Ignorance fought. Although I still think that reporting on a celebrity’s hairstyle is stupid in the extreme, but at least I know _why_ Buzzfeed feels compelled to report it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-omnibus-discussion-thread-in-which-you-can-ask-all-the-questions-topics-not-good-enough-to-start-ops-about/1030554.md?page=4)