# 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:** 11
**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 14, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/201 "2008-11-14T01:44:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Lobsang** :[Britney Gallivan](http://pomonahistorical.org/12times.htm) would like a word with you. As is often the case, my mind chooses a moment that is _just_ too late to reveal a pertinent fact to me - That Mythbusters (if memory serves) managed to do a twelfth fold. Still, the fact remains - twelve is still a stupidly small number to contemplate when one imagines the two facts of how thin the paper is, and how wide it is. If one did not have a grasp of the concept “when you double something it gets big in a hurry” then one would be totally flabbergasted by how few folds can be achieved from wafer thin acre wide paper. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/202 "2008-11-14T06:10:33Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I had a moment of epiphanic clarity once where I saw a connection between all living things, and how that connection was what we called god… but it was almost completely visual/emotional and I have never really been able to successfully put into words exactly what that epiphany was. I can recall it vividly but it isn’t based on any kind of knowledge, so it’s really hard to convey it to anyone else. It changed how I saw everything, though, forever. Was this with or without chemical assistance. I’m not being snarky–I really want to know. I’ve had similar experiences (mine were more aural than visual), but they all involved unsanctioned pharmaceuticals. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/203 "2008-11-14T09:15:34Z")
> [@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) This is really cool! Thanks for the info. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/204 "2008-11-14T10:18:00Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I’m inhaling people’s dead skin. Me too, but as I’m in my bedroom currently it’s probably mostly mine. ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/205 "2008-11-14T10:34:42Z")
> [@](#): > > I noticed this too when finding out my own family history. If you’re one of the lucky few you warrant a mention in an official document of some sort or upon a gravestone but you still wind up meaning nothing to your grandchildren’s children for the most part. I remember reading Wuthering Heights in school. Towards the end of the book the main narrator visits the graves of the three people that had been battling it out over the years in love and hatred. He described their quiet graves and how nobody could understand by looking at them what crazy shit had gone on between the three. It just made me think about the countless stories out there that will never be told. I too have been blown away by some facts I’ve learned on here over the years. Now when somebody uses the phrase “Tell me something I don’t know” I answer excitedly “Pineapples don’t grow on trees.” ---
**Author:** ![laughingboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@laughingboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laughingboy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/206 "2008-11-15T04:06:58Z")
That some people apparently use the phrase “opened my eye” instead of “opened my eyes” when describing something eye-opening. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/207 "2008-11-15T16:15:25Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Half the people you meet are dumber than average. Shouldn’t that be 1/2 +/- 1? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/208 "2008-11-15T16:55:42Z")
> [@laughingboy](#): > > That some people apparently use the phrase “opened my eye” instead of “opened my eyes” when describing something eye-opening. But see, you said ‘eye-opening’, not ‘eyes-opening’. 😛 When my father crashed the car (very slowly) into a concrete planter while taking me to school, I finally started to realize that my parents weren’t perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Libre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@Libre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Libre)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/209 "2008-11-15T17:39:10Z")
When, as a teenager, I began to really grasp that no two people see things (ie, their worldview) in the same way; this was really something eye opening. Probably most important for me, was this: I, alone, am responsible for my own feelings. Other people or situations don’t make me angry, hurt, sad, etc.; rather, my feelings are the result of the inner dialogue going on in my own head. And, most recently (finally, at 38 years old!) that: “I am OK, with all my faults and insecurities and lack of accomplishments.” For me, this was truly profound. I used to get hurt and angry from certain things others told me about me. Now that I am beginning to truly love myself, you could say pretty much anything you want to me and I am not likely to be offended, because I accept myself for who I am. This concept alone is earth-shattering. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/210 "2008-11-15T18:12:31Z")
This is so obvious, but. . . Movies/television programs/ that are “based on a true story.” Basically, meaning “this movie is fictional, but was inspired by a real life story.” ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/211 "2008-11-15T18:23:32Z")
> [@Libre](#): > > Probably most important for me, was this: > > I, alone, am responsible for my own feelings. Other people or situations don’t make me angry, hurt, sad, etc.; rather, my feelings are the result of the inner dialogue going on in my own head. > > And, most recently (finally, at 38 years old!) that: > > “I am OK, with all my faults and insecurities and lack of accomplishments.” > > For me, this was truly profound. I used to get hurt and angry from certain things others told me about me. Now that I am beginning to truly love myself, you could say pretty much anything you want to me and I am not likely to be offended, because I accept myself for who I am. This concept alone is earth-shattering. I have an awareness of this concept, but it’s not fully realized. I still have thoughts like “why do the mean people want to sabotage me so?” But I did have a similar epiphany a couple of years ago when I realized that I didn’t have to retaliate whenever I was attacked, verbally or otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/212 "2008-11-15T18:26:46Z")
Yeah realizing that the people who are really mean and nasty to me aren’t people I’d ever want to be friends with anyway went a long way to being able to not be hurt by it and not react. I was also able to choose to not be around those people (in real life) or read what they write (online–ignore lists are wonderful). ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/213 "2008-11-17T04:25:17Z")
> [@Libre](#): > > When, as a teenager, I began to really grasp that no two people see things (ie, their worldview) in the same way; this was really something eye opening. I wonder the same thing, but in a more literal sense (i.e., not the part about the worldview). Everyone who’s not colorblind could tell you that grass is green and the blood is red, but how do I know that these colors aren’t “reversed” in some people? In other words, if I suddenly entered the body of a different person, is it possible that blood would be what my normal self thinks of as green, and grass red? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/214 "2008-11-17T04:50:30Z")
Yeah I think we all hit that one and ponder it at least once in our lives. It’s a mindbender for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/215 "2008-11-17T04:59:31Z")
I remember being profoundly affected by someone else’s realization… “You know, when you visit a graveyard…they have when you were born, and when you died, and that little line in between…that’s your whole life.” Someday, we are all going to be representing by a “-”. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/216 "2008-11-17T05:02:53Z")
> [@Euthanasiast](#): > > That there is absolutely nothing new or original in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Everything is either plagiarized from texts from older religions or various forms of art that predated the books. > > That some of the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition and all from the Salem Witch Trials are almost exclusively the result of a mistranslation of a single line in the King James version of the Bible. > > I could do this for days. Perhaps you should have done it for less time than you did; neither of the above is true. If you really want to get into either, start a new thread laying out your case. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/217 "2008-11-17T05:14:49Z")
Here’s one I thought of yesterday. Average life expectancy in the UK is something like 75 years. So take 13 average people on the street. The entire history of their lives, the sum of all the experiences they’ll have, added all together is almost 1000 years. In the same amount of time as those 13 people’s lives, we’ve gone from knights and swords to cars and computers. Take 27 people, and that’s 2000 years. Wikipedia says humans originated about 200,000 years ago - that’s the lifetimes of just two and a half thousand-odd people today. The entire history of the human race can be matched in duration just by those few thousand people. I’m not really sure why I find that fascinating, but I do. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/218 "2008-11-17T05:25:33Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Here’s one I thought of yesterday. > > Average life expectancy in the UK is something like 75 years. So take 13 average people on the street. The entire history of their lives, the sum of all the experiences they’ll have, added all together is almost 1000 years. In the same amount of time as those 13 people’s lives, we’ve gone from knights and swords to cars and computers. Take 27 people, and that’s 2000 years. Wikipedia says humans originated about 200,000 years ago - that’s the lifetimes of just two and a half thousand-odd people today. The entire history of the human race can be matched in duration just by those few thousand people. [Not only that . . .](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10441499&postcount=154) ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/219 "2008-11-17T05:33:55Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > [Not only that . . .](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10441499&postcount=154) Well, typical. Now i’m going to be wondering whether I really came up with that on my own or whether I scanned your post and it triggered the thought in my mind later on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/220 "2008-11-17T05:45:24Z")
Skin colour is determined by a layer of epithelial cells one cell thick. All the problems in all the world in all history based on skin colour caused by a layer of cells one cell thick. Hunh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262.md?page=12)