# Plot holes in reality **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2014, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533 "2014-02-17T08:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/61 "2014-02-18T14:52:34Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > One of the most unbelieveable things about Columbus is that he supposedly pulled off the impress-the-natives-with-a-prediction-of-an-eclipse trick. You expect me to believe that? That trick never works… It’s the stuff of fiction – Mark Twain used it in “Connecticut Yankee” and H. Rider Haggard in “King Solomon’s Mines”, and so did a lot of other people. How could anyone expect such a hokey routine to work I real life? It happened one other time – Tenskwatawa, The Shawnee Prophet used a predicted eclipse to gather support in 1806. Who would believe that an Indian would use such an example of the supposed superiority of European science? It’s obviously bad plotting. [http://www.teemings.net/series\_1/issue16/calmeacham.html](http://www.teemings.net/series_1/issue16/calmeacham.html) ---
**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:** [February 18, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/62 "2014-02-18T16:40:34Z")
The fact that a plant that grows in pretty much all soils and climates, and has known medicinal and industrial uses dating back thousands of years, is illegal in the vast majority of jurisdictions in the world. The fact that women (and men) selling themselves for sex, which has gone on for probably as long as _H. Sapiens_ first climbed down from the trees, is illegal in the vast majority of jurisdictions in the world. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/63 "2014-02-18T17:00:28Z")
The first African-American President . . . and he’s not assassinated by some crazed white supremacist. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/64 "2014-02-18T17:09:53Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > What’s more surprising is that it didn’t appear first in a Tom Clancy novel. Uh, it did. Tom Clancy wrote [Debt of Honor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_of_Honor) in 1994. > [@wikipedia](#): > > However, an embittered Japan Air Lines pilot—driven mad by the deaths of his son and brother during the conflict—flies his Boeing 747 directly into the U.S. Capitol during a special joint session of Congress. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/65 "2014-02-18T17:15:31Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I have to give you that one. It isn’t just that the whole earth under the town is on fire, it is that we still do not have the technology to extinguish it at all. Those coal seams deep underground just have to burn until it they are done and that can take anywhere from decades hundreds of years. No 911 call can help anyone there. > > The really strange thing is that there are still a few people that live in Centralia. Many of the buildings are still standing including the old churches and there are still a few people with kids hanging around even though the ground around them can collapse at any time into a sinkhole. I have never been there myself but I want to. It is supposed to be incredibly spooky. The omnipresent fumes of the fire contaminate everything and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. It’s very difficult to get there. The main road leading into the town has been blocked off and traffic is diverted around where it used to be. You really have to watch for the signs leading to it or carry a map with you (it was, surprisingly, not on GPS at the time) There are also signs warning people about trespassing and that you’ll face arrest if you do so. When I was working in New Jersey 5 years ago, I drove over to see it. While I got some good pics, I also got ran off by a state trooper as they have problems with people trying to loot items and with trespassing. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/66 "2014-02-18T17:26:29Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Actually. we impeached the President for covering up and attempting to cover up multiple felonies. Also for not being smart enough to distance himself from the corruption within his own administration. > > The “spying part” was never more than a minor consideration. Nixon wasn’t impeached. You may want to watch that episode again. > [@Oakminster](#): > > That **IS** fiction. The fact that many otherwise intelligent people seem to believe it is a reality hole. That is right. Clinton was impeached for trying to cover up that he had received multiple blowjobs, not for receiving just one. Big difference. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/67 "2014-02-18T17:30:24Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > The platypus. > > You’re saying the female beaver-thing kind of “sweats” milk and lays eggs, the male has poisonous spikes on his feet, and it has a bill that has sonar? Suuuure. > > Oh, and it just so happens that the 4 other species of mammals that lay eggs are also from Australia. _How convenient!_ Um… there’s only one other egg laying species found in Australia, and it’s also found in New Guinea, which has another 3 endemic egg laying species as well. Aussie wildlife does have plenty of other plot holes though- so it has the majority of the world’s marsupials, and not one of them lives in water? Did someone forget about that major habitat while cobbling them all together in a hurry or something? They remembered 'em [in South America](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_opossum)… ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/68 "2014-02-18T18:42:25Z")
The government shutdown of 2013. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/69 "2014-02-18T21:00:46Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Christopher Columbus thinking he could sail west to China. In any reasonably constructed fictional universe, he would have died in the attempt and never be heard from again… Pretty much happened to Magellan. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/70 "2014-02-18T21:14:15Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > That is right. Clinton was impeached for trying to cover up that he had received multiple blowjobs, not for receiving just one. Big difference. :rolleyes: Or more like the legal definition of third base vs. going all the way. (Which is what started it.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/71 "2014-02-18T21:30:43Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Or more like the legal definition of third base vs. going all the way. (Which is what started it.) There was also disagreement about whether or not the rookie was eligible to play in the majors. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/72 "2014-02-18T21:45:50Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The first African-American President . . . and he’s not assassinated by some crazed white supremacist. Yet. Nugent’s still out there. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/73 "2014-02-18T22:01:24Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > That is right. Clinton was impeached for trying to cover up that he had received multiple blowjobs, not for receiving just one. Big difference. :rolleyes: He was impeached for lying to Congress. If the dumbass had either 'fessed up or declined to answer, there would have been no impeachment. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/74 "2014-02-19T13:39:58Z")
> [@runningdude](#): > > Pretty much happened to Magellan. “Magellan sailed all the way around the world, and told everyone how he had been killed in the Phillipines.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/75 "2014-02-19T13:44:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “Magellan sailed all the way around the world, and told everyone how he had been killed in the Phillipines.” You’d be pretty pissed off if you were one of the guys on the ship that _did_ make it all the way round the world, and then you look in the record books and see some dead dude who barely made it halfway take all the credit. “Yes, very interesting, Señor Elcano. Now tell me, did Magellan find any potatoes?” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/76 "2014-02-19T15:27:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The first African-American President . . . and he’s not assassinated by some crazed white supremacist. I think the crazed white supremacists have given up trying to “reform” the system and are now waiting for it to die. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/77 "2014-02-19T15:38:09Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > He was impeached for lying to Congress. If the dumbass had either 'fessed up or declined to answer, there would have been no impeachment. Strike the words “to Congress,” and replace them with “under oath, both to a grand jury and in a deposition,” and you’re in better factual shape. There were four [Articles of Impeachment](http://usgovinfo.about.com/blimpeach.htm) voted in against President Clinton: [ul] [li]Perjury before the federal grand jury [/li][li]Perjury in the Jones deposition[/li][li]Obstruction of justice[/li][li]Generic “Abuse of power”[/li][/ul] it’s true that one specification of the ‘abuse of power’ item was making false statements to Congress – but that was listed alongside false and misleading statements deceiving the people of the United States, false and misleading statements to members of the Cabinet and White House aides, and the frivolous assertion of executive privilege. In short, whatever lies he delivered to Congress were small potatoes in the impeachment stew. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/78 "2014-02-19T16:41:22Z")
> [@pojimba](#): > > Water expands when it freezes. Drives ME crazy! ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/79 "2014-02-19T16:45:51Z")
In the 50s and 60s we thrilled at the videophones in science fiction, esp cartoons. Now we can have videophoning in a number of ways _yet we prefer to type back and forth with one another using our thumbs._ ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/80 "2014-02-19T17:35:56Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > In the 50s and 60s we thrilled at the videophones in science fiction, esp cartoons. Now we can have videophoning in a number of ways _yet we prefer to type back and forth with one another using our thumbs._ I have a theory about this: Many people like the fact that phone calls are somewhat impersonal, and texting/e-mail very much so. I think that most people really don’t want a form of long-distance communication that allows for face-to-face meetings. This is videophones, Skype and similar services are still niche products. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533.md?page=5)