# Ever been shocked at what some people believe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369 "2012-05-18T22:14:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/202 "2012-05-31T01:04:38Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > But the point is, it’s a complicated topic involving actual knowledge of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics and probably other kinds of dynamics… not something where we should point and laugh at someone who isn’t up to speed on it. I don’t think there is anything complicated about the idea that you can’t use cool air to cool something else to a temperature below that of the air. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/203 "2012-05-31T03:24:39Z")
Sure you can. Evaporative cooling, vortex tubes. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/204 "2012-05-31T07:53:42Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Sure you can. Evaporative cooling, vortex tubes. 😃 this isn’t about pressurised gases or (JT) adiabiatic expansion across an orifice, the specific example was as follows: Subsea control valves operated by hydraulic fluid (water / glycol mix) and carried through umbilical lines from the Rig floor to the valves subsea. The umbilicals containing the control lines were exposed to atmospheric elements as before they entered the sea and routed subsea. The air temperature was never lower than 2 degrees celsius. However with wind speeds upto 50 km/per hour this would _feel_ to a warm blooded person -6 However, it is only actually 2 degrees. My colleague a supposed degreed engineer could grasp this concept. Perhaps he was standing on a treadmill > **[Wind Chill Factor Calculator](http://www.springfrog.com/weather/wind-chill.htm)** ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/205 "2012-05-31T13:04:51Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > I don’t think there is anything complicated about the idea that you can’t use cool air to cool something else to a temperature below that of the air. Hmm, we used to use ice to cool things below the temperature of ice. Just add rock salt, crank for half an hour, and out comes yummy ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/206 "2012-05-31T17:09:49Z")
I was once shocked at what someone believed… he believed that a sufficient knowledge of thermodynamics to fully explain the concept of wind chill was such common and basic knowledge that for someone else to lack it was shocking. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/207 "2012-05-31T17:48:53Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Hmm, we used to use ice to cool things below the temperature of ice. Just add rock salt, crank for half an hour, and out comes yummy ice cream. You are not making that ice cream colder than the ice you used to make the ice+salt mixture. ---
**Author:** ![boozilu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@boozilu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boozilu)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/208 "2012-05-31T23:09:44Z")
My dad believes he can track the weekly lotto numbers over the past few years to predict the upcoming winning numbers. The fact that his system has never worked has no impact on this belief. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/209 "2012-06-01T04:14:49Z")
Does he have a theory as to \*how \*previous number draws affect future ones? What mechanism is involved to make sure the 23 (say) is picked this time? ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/210 "2012-06-01T04:31:04Z")
> [@boozilu](#): > > My dad believes he can track the weekly lotto numbers over the past few years to predict the upcoming winning numbers. > > The fact that his system has never worked has no impact on this belief. I was in a cab with a cabbie from Jamaiica who told me he figured out the lottery isn’t random, because (some mumbo about this week’s and last week’s was the same except three less the first number, five more the second, etc etc). The way he ranted though it was obvious his delusion the lotto was predictable was not his only problem so I just nodded politely. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/211 "2012-06-02T03:03:32Z")
Got **this** lovely thing in my email today: [http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/porkfacts.html](http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/porkfacts.html) She cut n pasted the whole thing, too. No idea why she sent it – the mailing list she posted it too is a listserv for my classmates from my social media marketing class. It has nothing to do with christianity or diet. I’d love to pick her apart – aside from assuming anyone on the list cared, or that everyone is christian, I find it appalling that she apparently thinks a pig would _choose_ to live in filth, if it had a choice. But it’s probably not worth it. She can be (and is often) pretty histrionic. Even a mild “Please don’t post irrelevant stuff to the list” would probably result in a meltdown. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/212 "2012-06-02T05:54:17Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > Got **this** lovely thing in my email today: > > [http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/porkfacts.html](http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/porkfacts.html) > [@](#): > > The pig is so poisonous and filthy, that nature had to prepare him a sewer line or canal running down each leg with an outlet in the bottom of the foot. Out of this hole oozes pus and filth his body cannot pass into its system fast enough. Some of this pus gets into the meat of the pig. Ooookay.. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/213 "2012-06-02T15:42:54Z")
Man, that website is all kinds of crazy. “The advancement of religion and the education of the public in respect of the faith and belief that Britain and the other Celto-Saxon nations are Israel.” Oh. Well then. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/214 "2012-06-02T18:01:00Z")
I am guessing: [British Israelism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Israelism). No, it doesn’t make more sense when explained rationally. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Like\_Pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I\_Like\_Pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Like_Pie)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/215 "2012-06-02T19:02:46Z")
I had a friend who was **adamant** that the meat in Subway subs was not real meat. She especially had it in for the bacon. ---
**Author:** ![benbo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@benbo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benbo1)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/216 "2012-06-02T19:48:00Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > I was in a cab with a cabbie from Jamaiica who told me he figured out the lottery isn’t random, because (some mumbo about this week’s and last week’s was the same except three less the first number, five more the second, etc etc). The way he ranted though it was obvious his delusion the lotto was predictable was not his only problem so I just nodded politely. Classic example of how a superstition or crazy belief stems from a grain of truth. It’s well known in the statistical field that a proof of true randomness is the appearance of pseudo-patterns - so some numbers actually do show up more often than other. However, there is no ‘system’ to predicting which of these will be there any 1 week. But if longterm analysis reveals some numbers showing up more often than others, the system is legit. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/217 "2012-06-02T20:15:44Z")
I worked with a woman who believed that if you didn’t put the cover of the copy machine down when making a copy, it would make you sterile. And she had a college degree. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/218 "2012-06-02T20:28:03Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > I worked with a woman who believed that if you didn’t put the cover of the copy machine down when making a copy, it would make you sterile. And she had a college degree. Much easier than a vasectomy, though! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/219 "2012-06-03T00:30:42Z")
I have mentioned this here before- I had a shift manager at a previous job who believed in all seriousness: \*The reason that it is called ‘going down south’ was because sea level is lower closer to the equator that one gets. \*That the best way to navigate through the Bering Strait is to keep the constellation known as the Southern Cross over your left shoulder. \*That unless you had it turned off at the breaker box, or something plugged into the power point, electricity leaked out of the sockets. [OK, technically at the quantum level this is sort of true.] ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/220 "2012-06-03T01:06:56Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I am guessing: [British Israelism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Israelism). No, it doesn’t make more sense when explained rationally. It’s something more along the lines of Christian Identity. British Israelism holds that the Jews were one of the 12 tribes of Israel, and [this guy doesn’t](http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/hebrew2.html). I don’t see anything in there about white supremacy, though, so maybe it’s something in between. > [@](#): > > …the best way to navigate through the Bering Strait is to keep the constellation known as the Southern Cross over your left shoulder. Erm… is that shocking because it’s not true, or because he had an opinion on how to navigate through the Bering Strait? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369/221 "2012-06-03T01:17:08Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > \*That the best way to navigate through the Bering Strait is to keep the constellation known as the Southern Cross over your left shoulder. ] That would seem to be a very impractical way of keeping your bearings straight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-shocked-at-what-some-people-believe/622369.md?page=12)