# Post facts that opened your eye. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 11, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262 "2008-11-11T23:20:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/181 "2008-11-13T19:26:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, they’re not mostly empty space. The space of an atom is jam packed full of fields (mostly electromagnetic fields, in this case). This may sound like pointless quibbling, except that the bits between the so-called empty space, like the protons and electrons, are themselves made of fields, too. Who says empty space can’t have fields? Depends on what “empty” means. My whole point was that as mind-boggling small as is an atom its nucleus is much much much much much more smaller. That’s amazing to me although it makes perfect quantum sense. ---
**Author:** ![MissIntent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@MissIntent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissIntent)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/182 "2008-11-13T19:33:40Z")
I took a physics class years ago with a professor who pointed out the following: If the universe is infiitely big, but there is a limited amount of physical elements, then the sequence of the elements will eventually almost repeat, except for one tiny little atom being off. So somewhere out there is a planet that’s exactly like ours, with people just like us, except one little hair on someones head is different. My mind gets blown just thinking about that. Aggggh back to some simple financial sheet analysis. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/183 "2008-11-13T19:39:14Z")
When I was seven, my parents realised I was near sighted and took me to the opticians to get my eyes tested. I remember walking out of the optician’s shop with my new glasses and realising, for the first time, that it was possible to see things in focus at a distance, and that other people had been able to do this all along. I had thought that \*everyone \*saw things the way I did, with everything more than ten feet away blurred. An eye-opener in the most literal sense. Another eye-opener was when I read that the total number of subatomic particles in the entire observable universe “probably does not exceed 10[SUP]85[/SUP]”. That’s not even a googol. It’s not even _close_. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/184 "2008-11-13T20:03:43Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Here’s an eye opening fact: > > _My alarm clock is set to 8:30 AM_ > > 😃 My alarm clock flashs 12:00. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/185 "2008-11-13T20:05:19Z")
> [@MissIntent](#): > > I took a physics class years ago with a professor who pointed out the following: > > If the universe is infiitely big, but there is a limited amount of physical elements, then the sequence of the elements will eventually almost repeat, except for one tiny little atom being off. > > So somewhere out there is a planet that’s exactly like ours, with people just like us, except one little hair on someones head is different. > > My mind gets blown just thinking about that. Aggggh back to some simple financial sheet analysis. I don’t buy that theory at all. Sure, some sequences will repeat, but the chain of sequences that led up to a world like ours with people just like us is sufficiently complex that it wouldn’t even come close to repeating. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/186 "2008-11-13T20:35:11Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I don’t buy that theory at all. Sure, some sequences will repeat, but the chain of sequences that led up to a world like ours with people just like us is sufficiently complex that it wouldn’t even come close to repeating. You’re underestimating the concept of infinity. To carry it one step farther, _if_ the universe were infinitely big, there would be an _infinite_ amount of sequences _exactly_ like this one! ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/187 "2008-11-13T21:12:47Z")
That the Earth is expanding: > **[Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](https://www.yahoo.com/)** > > Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo! ---
**Author:** ![TJVM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@TJVM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJVM)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/188 "2008-11-13T21:52:20Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Ignoring the physical impossibility of it, if you folded a typical piece of paper (assume .003 inches thick) in half 100 times, it would be 10 billion light-years thick. Here’s my variation on that, based on some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations: If you folded a piece of paper in half 43 times, it would reach to the moon. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/189 "2008-11-13T22:01:25Z")
> [@TJVM](#): > > Here’s my variation on that, based on some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations: If you folded a piece of paper in half 43 times, it would reach to the moon. Here is my 2[sup]x[/sup] eye opener. I have two parents and they each have two parents. If a generation averages out to about 20 years, just going back 600 years works out to a potential 1 billion ancestors, more than the [population of earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_of_the_earth) at that time. Maybe the eye opening part is all the inbreeding that must take place. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/190 "2008-11-13T22:03:36Z")
I think Carl Sagan did this one - If you start with a whole pie, and cut it in half, and then cut the half in half, and then cut the quarter in half, how many cuts will it take until you get a slice that is only an atom thick? About ninety cuts. Or, a Pogo speech, as delivered by Bob Bless, Ph.D, on the last lecture of my astronomy class in 1975 - ["Thar’s only two possibilities: Thar is life out there in the universe which is smarter than we are, or we’re the most intelligent life in the universe. Either way, it’s a mighty sobering thought.”](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pogo) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/191 "2008-11-13T22:08:36Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > My eye was opened when I read in (I think) “The selfish Gene” that all humans start out female. Chemical processes during the very early stages of life turn female sex organs into male, and so on. Eh, that’s not precisely true. Every human at conception is XX or XY, which nearly always determines the eventual sex. The undifferentiated sex organs are neither female nor male. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/192 "2008-11-13T22:23:05Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I don’t buy that theory at all. Sure, some sequences will repeat, but the chain of sequences that led up to a world like ours with people just like us is sufficiently complex that it wouldn’t even come close to repeating. Given an infinitely lived universe, the probability that this world never repeats–and I mean that in the exact sense, not approximately–is exactly equal to zero. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/193 "2008-11-13T22:48:20Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > To die before my last two years of life? Sure, once I get the paradox worked out. 🙂 Hey I heard that most fatal accidents happen in the home, so I’m going to move.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/194 "2008-11-13T22:56:43Z")
That “An eye for an eye,” while it sounds incredibly harsh to us, was a big step forward in the realm of lawmaking and justice, because what they were doing at the time was escalating the response. Someone kills your brother, you kill three of his. Someone steals your sheep, you lead your village in a deadly raid against his village. – That it was possible for two people to have sex without removing all their clothes. As sex had been explained to me, “First, you take off all your clothes…” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/195 "2008-11-13T23:10:13Z")
Every once in a while, after a haircut, I’ll look at the hair and think, “I made that. Out of food.” It weirds me out. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/196 "2008-11-13T23:16:02Z")
I’m inhaling gas that’s been through somebody’s intestines. I’m inhaling people’s dead skin. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/197 "2008-11-13T23:39:41Z")
> [@WormTheRed](#): > > What? Could they be blue then if they ate something else? Yes, I think so. I’m not sure what species of algae you would have to feed flamingos or if they would take it, but if some interested zookeeper could get algae with carotenoid in the purple pigments instead of the ususal orange and red, it might work. For some easy info on why flamingos are pink, see here: [http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-flamingo.html](http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-flamingo.html) ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/198 "2008-11-13T23:43:24Z")
Based on the discussion of the surviving Civil War widow, I did a quick search for the last Revolutionary War widow. [She lived to see the twentieth century](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F07E1DA1631E733A25751C1A9679D946797D6CF). ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/199 "2008-11-14T01:11:07Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Do you take Wikipedia for cites? The article on “passenger pigeon” said that. Also that there would be more than a hundred nesting in one tree. Can you imagine the ecological impact of driving that species extinct? > > And the kicker is that we _ate them to death_. Om nom nom! It has been suggested that at their peak Passenger Pigeons accounted for between 25 and 40% of the total landbird population of the United States. That blows my mind. It may not be strictly true that we ate every single one of them however. Several factors probably contributed to their decline, including deforestation an possibly disease as well. But one important point is that the birds evolved to live in huge populations. Before firearms their very numbers protected them from predators, the local hawks or whatever could only take a relatively small number of birds before the massive flock moved on. Once the huge flocks had been reduced beyond a certain tipping point the bird declined very rapidly, they hadn’t evolved survival strategies to exist in small populations. My cite is the book \*Extinct Birds \*by Errol Fuller 2001. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/200 "2008-11-14T01:23:16Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > Yes, I think so. I’m not sure what species of algae you would have to feed flamingos or if they would take it, but if some **interested** zookeeper could get algae with carotenoid in the purple pigments instead of the ususal orange and red, it might work. > > For some easy info on why flamingos are pink, see here: > [Home | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants](http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-flamingo.html) I read the bolded word as “ingested” at first. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262.md?page=11)