# Do you really think that blanket is going to save you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 19, 2002, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708 "2002-12-19T01:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/21 "2002-12-19T17:21:16Z")
As other have said, the fact that little children don’t understand that when things are covered/put away/hidden, they still exist is because they don’t have the concept of what Jean Piaget called “object permanence” down yet. That’s why peek-a-boo is so entertaining to some small children. Kids start to realize that objects exist even when not in their presence at around one year old, I think. I’m recalling all of this from my intro and child psych classes. Google “Piaget object permanence” and you should find some more in-depth stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/22 "2002-12-19T17:25:17Z")
Wow. That first sentence is quite a horror, isn’t it? Oh well - it’s my first day of break from school. I’m allowed to forget about proper syntax and grammar. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Demise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Demise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demise)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/23 "2002-12-19T17:30:54Z")
When I’m scared, I hide in the dryer. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/24 "2002-12-19T17:36:25Z")
Sure, you laugh now, but who’ll be laughing in a few years when those eggheads at NASA invent the force field that pulls over like a blanket (FFTPOLAB for short). Then, with her **years** of training, she’ll be…UNSTOPPABLE. MUAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!! ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/25 "2002-12-19T17:38:52Z")
All I know is that I still feel safer when I’m under a blanket and have a hard time sleeping without. Course, I also still sleep with a teddy bear… ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/26 "2002-12-19T17:48:31Z")
It’s just the universal Small Child Monster Security Assessment: Hiding under the blanket – safe. Hiding under the blanket with Daddy – invulnerable. Give 'em a flashlight and they have some offensive capability. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/27 "2002-12-19T17:52:56Z")
Just wanted to say that the thread title sounded like some evil super villain’s dialogue. “Well, Bond, do you really think that blanket’s going to save you now?!” Followed by maniacal laughter. Or better yet… “I will never give up!!! Blankie will save me!” “Oh please. You really think that old blanket will save you?” Or best of all… [Ben-Hur] Where’s your blanket now? ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/28 "2002-12-19T19:04:43Z")
Oh, don’t you mean the Pharaoh in _The Ten Commandments_? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/29 "2002-12-19T19:09:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fredge \* > \*\*I remember seeing an old film clip from the '40s or 50s. It was a ‘training’ film on what to do in the event of a nuclear explosion. The film showed a family on a pic-nic and suddenly the mushroom cloud appears in the distance. What does the family do? They dive under the blanket they had laid out on the grass. I’ve always wondered exactly what the blanket was supposed to protect them from? \*\* WAG: alpha radiation? Another WAG: Is there ever another bright flash after the mushroom cloud? IIRC, the flash from a nuke is so bright it can blind you permanently. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/30 "2002-12-19T20:50:45Z")
Ah, but a blanket does work against Discworld Boogie men. Especially if you put it over one of their heads. The existential uncertainty is wonderful to behold. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/31 "2002-12-19T20:51:42Z")
Do you really want you child to know how not to be seen? Think about it. You want to explain the basics of camoflage to her? How many times have you regretted teaching her to even speak? And now you want start reading her the Anarchist Cookbook for bedtime? ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/32 "2002-12-19T20:59:03Z")
Bogey men too. They just don’t dance as well. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/33 "2002-12-20T00:19:24Z")
remember rescue 911? william shatner? episodes of icky accidents? in one of the episodes, a woman called 911 when she heard an intruder in the house. she was unable to get to a room with a lock. luckily she had a cordless phone. she tried to get behind the couch, the parts she couldn’t get behind the couch she covered with the afgan from the couch. she stayed very still and quiet and on the phone while the intruder came with in inches of her. she kept a running commentary of where he was in the house with the 911 operator. she didn’t talk while he was in the room with her. they caught the guy coming out the back door. the afgan saved her. some times there is protection under the blanket. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/34 "2002-12-20T00:35:04Z")
Er…Ten Commandments, that’s right. ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/35 "2002-12-20T02:32:56Z")
Well, the main problem is that ONE blankie ain’t gonna do the job. She needs a big, fluffy comforter as well as a regular old quilt. A big quilt, though, no baby-sized thing. Those two items, well. You just can’t get much safer than **that**. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/36 "2002-12-20T02:42:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I remember seeing an old film clip from the '40s or 50s. It was a ‘training’ film on what to do in the event of a nuclear explosion. The film showed a family on a pic-nic and suddenly the mushroom cloud appears in the distance. What does the family do? They dive under the blanket they had laid out on the grass. I’ve always wondered exactly what the blanket was supposed to protect them from? Close, bup, but no cigar. Fallout, of course! [hijack] I work in a museum, and recently we got a donation of Civil Defense manuals from the 50’s and 60’s. If you’re oustide and the Bomb hits, get in a ditch, cover yourself with a blanket, or even a newspaper. Once you get home, take a hot shower, and throw away your clothes. If you were at least a mile from the blast, you should be fine. Even funnier was the plans for the bomb shelters. They ranged from a cinderblock structure built in your basement to a low-budget one built outside, made of\* plywood\* surrounded by sandbags. The books suggested that you make the opening to the shelter like a horse gate. (A sharp ninety-degree turn . . . sort of a z-shaped opening) because _radiation can’t turn corners!!!_ [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/37 "2002-12-20T02:42:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*Do you really want you child to know how not to be seen? > > Think about it. \*\* Don’t stand up? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/38 "2002-12-20T03:19:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hastur \* > \*\*But what you do get is passers by who think it’s funny to piss down the tube. \*\* Aha. You have never seen the monster snorkel deluxe model. It is curved on both ends so it is passerby piss resistant. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/39 "2002-12-20T03:29:33Z")
Now this is something I could picture the Department of Homeland Security proposing: Blanket America! Our glorious nation from sea to shining sea bundled in a safe warm blankie! Absolutely guaranteed to protect us from werewolves, bogeymen and Saddam Hussein. We could even crochet little Hawaii-cozys. ---
**Author:** ![MrMyth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19b73/32.png) [@MrMyth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMyth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708/40 "2002-12-20T14:17:01Z")
Anyone who thinks a blanket can’t save you from monsters obviously hasn’t seen The Two Towers yet. The proof is right up there on the screen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-that-blanket-is-going-to-save-you/143708.md?page=3)