# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 3) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 29, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157 "2026-01-29T18:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 41
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/801 "2026-03-18T17:36:49Z")
When I was in junior high (ca early ‘70s), there were two customs. First was to render a pinch to anyone not wearing green. Second, if you received a pinch but in fact were wearing some green, you got to punch the pincher - 10 times, IIRC. Consequently, pre-pubescent boys being pre-pubescent boys, we tried to wear the tiniest bit of green possible to get pinched so we could deliver retaliatory punches. ISTR my brother putting a small spot of green paint on one shoe. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/802 "2026-03-18T17:52:19Z")
Wow, @ricepad. Where were you located, if I may ask? This is so foreign to me, yet we’re about the same age. (Well, actually, you’re about a decade older than me.) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/803 "2026-03-18T18:02:21Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > Consequently, pre-pubescent boys being pre-pubescent boys, we tried to wear the tiniest bit of green possible to get pinched so we could deliver retaliatory punches. Oh yeah, I forgot the counterpunch. We had that too, though I don’t think we had people stealth-greening like that. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/804 "2026-03-18T18:06:11Z")
The green flash is like the sailboat from Mallrats. It’ll never be my turn to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/805 "2026-03-18T18:50:58Z")
It’s been my lifelong dream to see the green flash. How does one optimize chances of seeing it? My principle is “Trust women - protect choice.” Being pro-choice means I oppose all tinkering with the birth rate. I reject both pro-natalism and anti-natalism in favor of free choice for women. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/806 "2026-03-18T19:00:22Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > How does one optimize chances of seeing it? Be near the equator and close to if not in the sea with a view of the western horizon at sunset or the eastern horizon at sunrise. ETA: These are not requirements, and in fact close to the equator means it will only last a second or two, but this is the best chance to see it. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/807 "2026-03-18T19:02:56Z")
I grew up in California’s Central Valley. In elementary school, some teachers would cut paper shamrocks out of construction paper to pin on kids who showed up at school without any green. By junior high, it was no hold’s barred! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/808 "2026-03-18T19:04:29Z")
Fascinating - thanks. So, maybe a Southeast US-Texas-Rocky Mountains-Western US thing, but not a Northeast-Midwest thing. ---
**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:** [March 18, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/809 "2026-03-18T19:04:44Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > In elementary school, some teachers would cut paper shamrocks out of construction paper to pin on kids who showed up at school without any green. I remember that, too. Southern California circa 1970. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/810 "2026-03-18T19:04:55Z")
Honestly never cared about seeing the green flash. ---
**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:** [March 18, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/811 "2026-03-18T19:06:44Z")
So, pinches are a West Coast thing and the green flash is East Coast thing. I feel cheated. ---
**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:** [March 18, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/812 "2026-03-18T19:08:27Z")
For 30 years I have lived in a house with a westward view of the ocean. I have seen literally thousands of sunsets into the ocean horizon. I have seen the Green Flash maybe once. Last Thanksgiving my son was visiting and we were watching the sun set into an especially clear horizon. We were talking about the Green Flash and how neither one of us had ever seen it. Then just as the sun disappeared, there seemed to be a flash of green. Was that it?!? Unfortunately, we are both near-sighted and neither of us were wearing our glasses! I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t grab my glasses when I saw how clear the horizon was. So I’m saying that I probably saw it, but not as clearly as I would have liked. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/813 "2026-03-18T19:09:24Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > the green flash is East Coast thing. The first time I saw it was in Monterey California. Subsequently I’ve seen it off the coast of west Africa and in the Mediterranean Sea. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/814 "2026-03-19T02:19:06Z")
My senior class had a time capsule, I put something in it, damned if i could remember what. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/815 "2026-03-19T02:21:15Z")
I didn’t put anything on a time capsule but I recorded a (very inane) message to be stored in one. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/816 "2026-03-19T02:22:07Z")
Man, time capsules were a big deal in the 70s, and I think our school did one, but I just can’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/817 "2026-03-19T03:11:10Z")
I attended my 50th high school reunion in 2022. In 1972, our class had placed a time capsule in a common area at the high school, under a concrete walk, marked by a bronze plaque with the class year on it. At the 50th reunion, the time capsule was dug up. At least, it was supposed to be. Turns out, there was nothing under the plaque. Either the location was mis-marked, or no time capsule was actually placed; no one could recall exactly what happened 50 years ago. Rather anticlimactic. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/818 "2026-03-19T13:54:14Z")
The most likely explanation is it was stolen by a time traveler. Something was put in there that will save the world in the future. I can’t think of another logical explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/819 "2026-03-19T13:56:28Z")
Excellent application of ~~Occam’s~~ Mulder’s Razor ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/820 "2026-03-19T14:20:19Z")
I have a smooth face which is due to an excellent application of Gillette’s razor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157.md?page=40) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157.md?page=42)