# Normal things that freak me out the more I think about them **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 21, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949 "2002-08-21T17:24:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/21 "2002-08-21T23:40:27Z")
Physics- You, me and everyother object is actually only 1 quadrillionth solid. The rest is empty space(between atoms’ nuclei and orbits, between atoms etc) Insects-they have NO lungs. They’re freakin aliens! PBS reached the same conclusion with the insect documentary Alien Empire Milk- Why is it most folks, including me, find it acceptable for adults to drink cow milk but not human breast milk? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/22 "2002-08-22T01:29:53Z")
Pets. We have little animals running around our homes, by choice. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/23 "2002-08-22T01:52:43Z")
Umm, atmospheric methane. Regardless of its source, it’s nasty stuff. And what mechanisms prevent it from just endlessly building up in the atmosphere, anyway? [To a degree, it is, and contributing to global warming.] Some 20-odd years ago, Steve Martin did a riff on the ozone layer, in which its true purpose is to shield us from the “fart layer” just beyond. Ditto for atmospheric radon. Lemme get this straight – it’s slowly emitted at a steady rate from the ground (in some areas) and accumulates to [long-term] dangerous levels in some basements, and has been for untold millions of years, so how is it our air in general isn’t totally poisoned by it by now? 😕 And toilet-bowl aerosols. Gaack. :eek: Bad wiring, overloaded wiring, and house fires. One of the leading causes of fires, but how many of us ever think to have the wiring checked, let alone replaced, every 20 years or so? Esp. given that we keep burdening the system with more and more electrical devices? And on a related note, sometimes when I turn my TV [Panasonic, 7 years old] off, it just flashes to dark but automatically comes back on again, like a trick birthday candle. When that happens I have to recourse but to just pull the plug. I’ve actually done some 'Net research into this, but didn’t find any truly relevant information. Cell phones’ electromagnetic fields and the _possible_ cancer correlation. I actually don’t use one anymore, but I still wonder if, 20 or 30 years down the road, we won’t be in for one helluva cancer spike… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/24 "2002-08-22T01:56:44Z")
grrrr. That should be, “I have _no_ recourse…”. The no-preview gremlin got me again! ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/25 "2002-08-22T02:08:21Z")
You know there is this huge flaming ball in the sky all day long and you can’t look at it or you’ll go _blind_? How scary is that? And speaking of eyes - contact lenses. Little windows stuck right on your eyeballs. You’ve got to be kidding. **Kn\*ckers** , you are absolutely right about the elevators. I have nightmares about them. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/26 "2002-08-22T02:10:29Z")
The internet, television, radio, telephones… all those things that enable communication with invisible people. I have absolutely no understanding of how in the world these things are possible. I learned the basic idea in school, of course, so I guess I “know,” but I don’t _understand_. As far as I’m concerned, it’s some freaky kind of magic. ---
**Author:** ![Skerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Skerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skerri)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/27 "2002-08-22T02:26:28Z")
Gack! Every time I get into an elevator, I have to look up. I think it comes from watching all those Bruce Willis movies where the bad guy is always hiding up in the ceiling of the elevator. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/28 "2002-08-22T03:27:35Z")
Pregnancy freaks me out, too. I can’t imagine having a PERSON GROWING IN MY BELLY. ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/29 "2002-08-22T03:48:54Z")
Hey, **SparrowHawk** , how about stars? Specifically all the ones that are many many light years away from us… starlight sure is pretty, except it’s so old… and is coming from so far away, in the cold… and if anything freaky happened with any of them there stars, we wouldn’t know for ages. Cheery! ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/30 "2002-08-22T03:51:10Z")
Oh, another one. I was growing watermelons in the garden one summer, and it occurred to me that as watermelons grow on the vine, it’s as if the vine is blowing bubble-gum bubbles full of watermelon-meat. For some reason that thought was so disturbing that it has stuck with me for years. I still eat watermelon, though. I can’t reconcile the awful vision with the physical fact of a cool, delicious watermelon. ---
**Author:** ![lothos2002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@lothos2002](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lothos2002)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/31 "2002-08-22T04:00:23Z")
nails freak me. They grow, they are supposed to be residual from claws, but they are now soft and icky. It just freaks me out to think that you can pull them off a finger. :s lothos ---
**Author:** ![jujuju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@jujuju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jujuju)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/32 "2002-08-22T04:15:23Z")
i am also freaked by pregnancy, being 36 1/2 weeks pregnant doesn’t help. actually the first pregnancy didn’t freak me out nearly as much, but i hadn’t been around babies much before that. now that i have, the idea of a really small one inside my tummy is just odd. just wiggling around in there, never having seen me. my tummy is her whole world. little feet and elbows poking out from time to time. it’s like having a parasite in there. it must be really for my son to think about. among some of his questions: “will my little sister have brown or white skin?” “when will she pop out your mouth?” “well, she won’t come out of my mouth, she’ll come out down here (pointing)” “out your penis?” wow. lots more explaining to answer that one. “mommy, how’d the baby get in your tummy? did you eat her?” “no, i didn’t eat her” -but not quite ready to explain further yet. “she just grew there”. i know, i need to explain more, but he’s only 4. ---
**Author:** ![cthulhuCultist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cthulhuCultist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cthulhuCultist)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/33 "2002-08-22T04:21:32Z")
When I think about it, stars kind of bother me. The light we see has been travelling for years, in some cases hundreds, thousands, or millions of years. As far as we know, the light we see might be from a star that isn’t there any more. In fact, we can state with some confidence that many of the stars we see aren’t there any more. Every star in the universe, including our own sun, could be snuffed out, and we wouldn’t now it for another seven minutes. ---
**Author:** ![cthulhuCultist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cthulhuCultist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cthulhuCultist)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/34 "2002-08-22T04:27:22Z")
When I think about it, stars kind of bother me. The light we see has been travelling for years, in some cases hundreds, thousands, or millions of years. As far as we know, the light we see might be from a star that isn’t there any more. In fact, we can state with some confidence that many of the stars we see aren’t there any more. Every star in the universe, including our own sun, could be snuffed out, and we wouldn’t now it for another seven minutes. ---
**Author:** ![LilCutie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@LilCutie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilCutie)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/35 "2002-08-22T04:51:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marine\_One \* > \*\* > > - Eating. > Have you noticed how close the stomach and lungs are? What a poor design. How come 100,000 people don’t die from trying to breath pie? Air and pie try to be in the same place on the way down. > > \*\* 😃 For some reason this strikes me as incredibly funny! My boyfriend is always talking about eating pie, I think i’m gonna show him this. Sleeping sometimes freaks me out. This because sometimes I suffer from (what’s that thing called where you can’t move in your sleep), whatever it’s called, I think Sleep paralysis, and it is really scary each time. So often, when I go to sleep I try to tell myself not to think about the sleep paralysis thing, because if I don’t think about it, it won’t happen. -Jenny\* ---
**Author:** ![fizgig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@fizgig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizgig)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/36 "2002-08-22T05:22:40Z")
Pregnancy freaks me out. I’m glad I’m not alone in this. Fortunately, I don’t want kids, so there’s no conflict of interests. People with hairy armpits who apply stick-type deodorant/anti-perspirant. It must just get all clotted on the pit hair. This has disturbed me for years. I don’t think spray deodorant would be much better. Fake fingernails. As in, the big plastic claws that are long and curved, and cover the natural nail all the way back to the cuticle. Ugh. These are usually accompanied by the drawn-on, overly exaggerated eyebrows, and sometimes the dreaded dark lipliner, and crunch permed hair. This combination gives me the screaming fantods, and I can’t get away fast enough. Digestion. Hard to get around this one, but I can’t fathom how the aforementioned piece of pie turns into constituent molecules, which are further broken down, and absorbed across the intestine into the bloodstream, eventually forming ATP, fat, protein, enzymes, etc. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/37 "2002-08-22T05:25:18Z")
**Tap water**. It goes through those pipes an awful long way. Have you seen the inside of some of those pipes? I try not to think about it or I’d be boiling every last drop before doing anything with it. **belly buttons**. They leak sometimes. What is that stuff and where does it come from? And how big is the damn hole that it’s coming through!? **information in the air** all those radio stations, tv signals, cell phone conversations, wireless internet, satellite tv, government stuff… all flying around in the air all around us all the time and you can’t even see it! Imagine if you could? What happens if the air gets so clogged up that you can’t put any more info there? What happens if it all gets scrambled up? **what if…** we had to start civilization all over. All the people from now, but without any modern resources at all… just plopped down in raw nature… computer programmers, nuclear power plant workers, car manufacturing CEOs… could we rebuild enough technology and such while the people who knew how to were still alive for it to continue? How much would we lose? Just how much of our current knowledge is actually known by people? How many people have that knowledge? How many individuals out there actually understand, fundamentally, how a computer works? ---
**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/38 "2002-08-22T06:08:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jwhee \* > \*\*i\ > > it must be really for my son to think about. among some of his questions: > > “will my little sister have brown or white skin?” > > “when will she pop out your mouth?” > “well, she won’t come out of my mouth, she’ll come out down here (pointing)” > “out your penis?” wow. lots more explaining to answer that one. > > “mommy, how’d the baby get in your tummy? did you eat her?” “no, i didn’t eat her” -but not quite ready to explain further yet. “she just grew there”. i know, i need to explain more, but he’s only 4. \*\* That is soooo freaking cute… I wouldnt know how to react! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/39 "2002-08-22T06:34:17Z")
I love this thread. How about sleeping? Every living creature needs to go comatose for several hours of every day. Semi-dead. Our brains are as active, if not more active, as they are when we’re awake. Studies show sleep is so important that animal brains ‘remember’ the amount and quality of sleep they get, and compensate for sleep deprivation by falling asleep faster and staying asleep longer. Being without it rather quickly leads to insanity, and then death. ---
**Author:** ![AndYrAStar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@AndYrAStar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndYrAStar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/40 "2002-08-22T07:28:04Z")
Similar to the pregnancy thing… The fact that I contain _eggs_. _Human_ eggs. :::shudder::: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949.md?page=3)