# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/141 "2014-03-02T05:47:07Z")
Just a nitpick, The Tracey Ullman show was a Fox show not cable. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/142 "2014-03-02T05:48:53Z")
So you’re telling me we can relatively easily find the shortest path between two places, but have basically no clue on how to find the longest one? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/143 "2014-03-02T07:46:01Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > In the interests of fighting ignorance, the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against Nixon, summarized thus: > > I. Obstruction of Justice/Abuse of Power to Obstruct Justice > II. Abuse of Power (including improper directions to the IRS and FBI, along with the wiretaps and such \*\*AskNott \*\*refers to) > III. Defying Congressional Subpoenas > > IMHO, wiretaps were a minor portion of Nixon’s misdeeds enumerated therein. To wit, after the committee reported, Nixon released addition tapes that were more explicit in his misuse of power, including calling in the CIA against the FBI, but nothing (or very little) involving wiretaps. Following these releases, all the congressmembers who had voted against the articles in committee indicated that they would vote for impeachment when the matter came to the full House. > > You can read the resolution [here](https://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/rules/deschler/52093c14_txt-16.txt), starting on Page 2184. Well, if the author wanted to stretch our suspension of disbelief, he would have written the President character with such crippling paranoia that he had gone so far as to install tape recorders in all his offices and then been hoist on his own blasting device as the tapes themselves came be used against him and his cohorts, because no one knew how to properly mishandle a strong magnet around them. That would just be too beyond the pale for even a bad sparf. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/144 "2014-03-02T09:50:59Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > So you’re telling me we can relatively easily find the shortest path between two places, but have basically no clue on how to find the longest one? :rolleyes: Also: You’re telling me a bunch of genius mathematicians couldn’t prove that you can color any map with only 4 colors without any touching regions having the same color? And when it finally **was** proven, it was by a computer and the proof is incredibly long, and difficult to understand and interpret even by experts? I’ll prove it right now! Hold my beer… ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/145 "2014-03-04T21:09:37Z")
[Facebook in talks to acquire drone company for $60 million: reports](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/04/us-facebook-titan-idUSBREA231KB20140304) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/146 "2014-03-04T21:44:00Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > So you’re telling me we can relatively easily find the shortest path between two places, but have basically no clue on how to find the longest one? :rolleyes: I know of a New York cabbie who might dispute that claim. ---
**Author:** ![YoungKusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@YoungKusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoungKusher)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/147 "2014-03-06T01:08:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Sorry, I must have gotten sucked into some bad articles on it back in the 90’s. They seemed convincing at the time but maybe I should have been more skeptical. I’ve heard some stuff about this too. Something about the erosion on the Sphinx being so extensive that it must have occurred back when Egypt had significant precipitation. That would make the Sphinx far older than what is commonly thought. Wouldn’t this notion be fairly easily proven or falsified though? Where is the debate? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/148 "2014-03-06T05:24:43Z")
> [@YoungKusher](#): > > I’ve heard some stuff about this too. Something about the erosion on the Sphinx being so extensive that it must have occurred back when Egypt had significant precipitation. That would make the Sphinx far older than what is commonly thought. Wouldn’t this notion be fairly easily proven or falsified though? Where is the debate? The [primary argument for an older Great Sphinx](http://www.robertschoch.com/sphinxcontent.html) is not so much the extent of the erosion but that it shows patterns indicative of water rather than wind. Robert Schoch also suggests that the head is younger than the body because it is rather drastically out of proportion – it may have been a rather larger, rougher-cut carving, perhaps of a different creature, then the Egyptians dug away some of the sand and carved a a giant Khufu bust, possibly without even being fully aware what lie beneath. Given that the large carvings in Turkey are 3~5 millennia older than this guy dates the great sphinx, it is not entirely reasonable to dismiss his work out-of-hand. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/149 "2014-03-06T06:13:47Z")
> [@For You](#): > > The [primary argument for an older Great Sphinx](http://www.robertschoch.com/sphinxcontent.html) is not so much the extent of the erosion but that it shows patterns indicative of water rather than wind. Robert Schoch also suggests that the head is younger than the body because it is rather drastically out of proportion – it may have been a rather larger, rougher-cut carving, perhaps of a different creature, then the Egyptians dug away some of the sand and carved a a giant Khufu bust, possibly without even being fully aware what lie beneath. > > Given that the large carvings in Turkey are 3~5 millennia older than this guy dates the great sphinx, it is not entirely reasonable to dismiss his work out-of-hand. Interesing cite, especially since in the third picture from the top, the guy in the pith helmet appears to fisting a giant stone vagina. Is that a thing now? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/150 "2014-03-06T06:36:03Z")
Well, to me, the face of the Sphinx looks pretty feminine, though some have said it was carved in the likeness of the contemporaneous Pharaoh – at that scale, it might be difficult to distinguish a giant vulva from a great big ass-crack, but if your kink is monument-fisting, gender might not matter all that much. The page belongs to the one notable heretic who argues for a much older Great Sphinx, so it is horse’s, umm, mouth, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/151 "2014-03-10T07:44:12Z")
UFC, 1993: A silly little one-off freakshow meant to answer a question that didn’t actually need to be answered (and certainly wasn’t answered by any of the goofballs who showed up tonight). Ended with Royce Gracie winning without breaking a sweat, of course. Point made, Rorion Gracie gets to thump his chest, yada yada whatever, is the Super NES out yet? UFC, 1994-1996: Every moronic (“There are no rules!”), crackheaded (“Banned in 48 states!!!”), peabrained (“Fight to the **DEEEAAAAAAATH!** ”), cement-skulled (“A match can end in knockout, submission, injury, corner throwing in the towel, or… **DEEEAAAAAAATH!** ”) PR bungle imaginable. More flops, failures, and washouts than American Idol. Ken Shamrock getting fired up to kick butt and slipping on a banana peel, over and over and over. PPVs getting cut off because they ran too many damn commercials in the beginning. Steve Jennum winning a championship after 1. winning one match 2. against Harold freaking Howard. Fence grabbing…all the goddam fence grabbing. David “Tank” Abbot and his thugs nearly driving John McCarthy out of the sport. Mark Coleman winning a championship after 1. dominating two opponents 2. and having no freaking opponent for the final. UFC, 1997-2000: Events are increasingly in disarray; can’t even settle on a format anymore. Political attacks become increasingly brutal. Some decrepit Vietnam War fossil makes up a bunch of inflammatory BS about “human cockfighting” and his every word is treated as gospel. Widespread protests, calls for bans and arrests. Completely loses the PPV market; now all anyone knows of it is through word of mouth and this newfangled computer doohickey called the Internet. No support from anyone with the power to change things. UFC, today: Big time, big money league. Massive, global phenomenon. The gold standard for American MMA promotions. Regularly featured on Spike TV and ESPN. Some of the biggest names in all of MMA (some, like Mirko Flipovic and Brock Lesnar, arriving after becoming famous elsewhere). Has outlasted Pride FC (the biggest MMA promotion in Japan’s history, never once subject to any kind of political backlash). All its old enemies…protestors, boxing, one-dimensional flops, joke reputation, criminals like Tank…have been ground to dust. I defy you to name one league with an early track record even remotely comparable to UFC’s that didn’t become a sad footnote to sports history, much less a roaring success. ---
**Author:** ![YoungKusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@YoungKusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoungKusher)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/152 "2014-03-10T15:27:50Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > UFC, 1993: A silly little one-off freakshow meant to answer a question that didn’t actually need to be answered (and certainly wasn’t answered by any of the goofballs who showed up tonight). Ended with Royce Gracie winning without breaking a sweat, of course. Point made, Rorion Gracie gets to thump his chest, yada yada whatever, is the Super NES out yet? Wait, what _is_ your point? Are you suggesting that it was somehow obvious that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu would defeat any other fighting style? I mean yes, if your an athletic, skilled, jiu-jitsu artist facing an opponent who has no idea how to defend your style of fighting, then it’s obvious that you would win. Obvious to people nowadays that is, but not in 1993… > [@](#): > > UFC, today: Big time, big money league. Massive, global phenomenon. The gold standard for American MMA promotions. Regularly featured on Spike TV and ESPN. Some of the biggest names in all of MMA (some, like Mirko Flipovic and Brock Lesnar, arriving after becoming famous elsewhere). Has outlasted Pride FC (the biggest MMA promotion in Japan’s history, never once subject to any kind of political backlash). All its old enemies…protestors, boxing, one-dimensional flops, joke reputation, criminals like Tank…have been ground to dust. -Mirko “crocop” Filipovic and Brock Lesnar both retired from MMA in 2011, so that’s hardly “UFC today.” “UFC today” would sound more like this: “two Olympic medalists fight for championship!” in reference to the Ronda Rousey vs Sara McMann right. The fact that the league has women fighters who, by no coincidence, are both Olympic medalists from two other sports, says the most about the league’s growth and success. -Don’t forget that the UFC is on FOX now too, not just cable anymore (or PPV for that matter) > [@](#): > > I defy you to name one league with an early track record even remotely comparable to UFC’s that didn’t become a sad footnote to sports history, much less a roaring success. Maybe when compared to other leagues the UFC has had it’s political hardships, but when you really think about it, it’s certainly not a, “plot-hole in reality,” that it became successful. The sport has become very popular and the UFC has continually displayed it’s ability to recruit most of the best talents in the sport. However, I would argue that a successful LLC called “Zuffa” is in existence _is_ a plothole. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/153 "2014-03-10T15:38:31Z")
That whole “Joan of Arc” story sounds like a bad Mary Sue fanfic. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/154 "2014-03-10T23:30:19Z")
> [@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. Instead the author decides to plunk down another continent across his path. How very convenient. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > Columbus was the luckiest crackpot in history. He made four voyages to the New World but always assumed they were part of Asia that he was looking for, he never understood the circumference of the Earth even though plenty of his contemporaries did and he still ended up with whole nations honoring him even though he just took the equivalent of 4 Caribbean cruises with some island sight-seeing. > > He never even saw North America proper and his landings in Central America were brief and he didn’t understand those either. It was all Asia to him even though he didn’t find anything that originally set out to find in the first place. The end result was a bunch of captive Caribbean islanders and the start of lots of deadly infectious diseases that spread across the region but most people still think that he discovered the modern day U.S. or maybe Mexico. It isn’t true. > > He island hopped in places that we still like to go on vacation today like the Virgin Islands. I am sure it was a series of nice cruises for the day but the entire premise was completely wrong. Columbus died in peace knowing that he had finally found Asia even though where he really went was about as far from it as you can get on sailing boats. It didn’t matter if the culture and eventual spices did not match the original intentions. He got his ships four times over and proved everyone wrong in his deluded mind. Y’know I was thinking about these posts this morning on my ride to work. The mythology I learned was that _Cristobal Colon_\* was looking for a sea route to India (not China) – thus the reason we’re stuck with the misnomer of Indians as a generic term for all the native American peoples that were already here to greet the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. And the summary of the tale is “Hey, he was WRONG but nevertheless he discovered what we now know is the American continent.” Okay, but it’s not like nobody had ever been to India or met Indian people. In fact both the ancient Romans and Greeks knew enough about India to refer to the region by name and Europeans were already doing business with Chinese and Muslim traders before Marco Polo and his family managed to skirt around the north of the region (as recollected in the tales of his journeys in the 13th century). Two hundred years later, when setting out to find a (shorter?) sea route to India, wouldn’t it be wise to take people who can speak the language of the place you expect to reach? Surely there must have been a merchant or two in China or western Asia who could speak one of the widespread languages of India – or at least east-coastal India? How is it that not one of the crew on four ships was able to pipe up with “Hey, boss, none of these people are speaking any of the eight Indian languages we know. They don’t even sound remotely close to what we’ve learned. Not only that, but we’re not seeing the stone architecture, pagan art, or even the tasty spices and foods we expected. Where’s the Saffron, Tea, panchayat, Ghee? **Maybe this isn’t really India**.” –G! I’ve always wondered: Is this the reason/root of the terms Colony, Colonialism, etc? ---
**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:** [March 11, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/155 "2014-03-11T01:27:35Z")
I thought “the Indies” was a term for islands in the far East (the Philippines were sometimes called the East Indies, as opposed to the Caribbean being the West Indies). Europeans were vaguely aware that there were islands east of Cathay (Japan, etc.) and that was what Columbus was aiming for. Marco Polo aside, I doubt any European in the late 15th century knew anything specific about Indian or Chinese architecture, clothing, language, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/156 "2014-03-11T13:06:35Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I thought “the Indies” was a term for islands in the far East (the Philippines were sometimes called the East Indies, as opposed to the Caribbean being the West Indies). Europeans were vaguely aware that there were islands east of Cathay (Japan, etc.) and that was what Columbus was aiming for. Marco Polo aside, I doubt any European in the late 15th century knew anything specific about Indian or Chinese architecture, clothing, language, etc. Yes, he thought they were the (East) Indies, i.e. the Spice Islands, not India itself. Correct me if I’m wrong but there wasn’t much, if any, direct sea contact with those islands by Europeans at the time of Columbus’s voyages. Trade was carried out via Arab merchants who had explored that region. > [@Grestarian](#): > > I’ve always wondered: Is this the reason/root of the terms Colony, Colonialism, etc? I don’t think so. Colony comes from _colonus_ meaning “farmer”. Perhaps they share the common root, though - was he actually “Chris Farmer”? The more common explanation I’ve heard is that it comes from “dove” - his original Italian name was Colombo. ---
**Author:** ![Srsly\_Dad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Srsly\_Dad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Srsly_Dad)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/157 "2014-03-11T14:01:15Z")
The movie Predator came out in 1987. If someone then told you that 2 people from that movie would go on to become Govenors of US states, you would have looked at them they they were nuts. If they then said that Jesse Venture would be one of the two, you would definitely advise them to change their medication. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/158 "2014-03-11T19:08:20Z")
> [@Srsly\_Dad](#): > > The movie Predator came out in 1987. If someone then told you that 2 people from that movie would go on to become Govenors of US states, you would have looked at them they they were nuts. If they then said that Jesse Venture would be one of the two, you would definitely advise them to change their medication. Reminds me of this bit from [the Agony Booth recap of _Batman and Robin_](http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Batman___Robin_1997.aspx): > [@](#): > > _(Poison Ivy takes out the guard played by Jesse Ventura)_ And, thankfully, this is the last of the state governors that we’ll be seeing in this movie. [April 2004 Note: This recap was originally posted in November of 2002, and yes, I know this joke is now out of date. Please stop emailing me. —Albert] ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/159 "2014-10-17T16:13:12Z")
And the 10th month shall be October, which is from the Latin for 8. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533/160 "2014-10-17T16:18:54Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > And the 10th month shall be October, which is from the Latin for 8. Well, it does follow September, which is from Latin for 7. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-reality/681533.md?page=9)