# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/61 "2008-11-12T18:10:34Z")
Cenotaph. There was a profile of one of them in the Guardian last week that I posted here somehwere. ---
**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 12, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/62 "2008-11-12T18:10:34Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > That everyone, right deep down inside themselves, is flawed or weird or insecure or troubled in some way. I came to understand this one gradually. There was never a single eye-opening realization. Everyone is different except me. I’m the only one who’s the same. ---
**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 12, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/63 "2008-11-12T18:13:23Z")
> [@Hrududu](#): > > I’ll never forget the day that I as a small child realised that everybody else had thoughts in their heads. I don’t know if I thought they were robots or what before. But the realisation that everyone else had their own worlds going on inside their heads just like me blew my tiny mind. I love the childhood ones. My childhood one might sound a bit arrogant but it’s a genuine realization: That I am intelligent. It was a great confidence booster when I realized that my troubled brain was also quite clever, cleverer at least than most of my peers. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/64 "2008-11-12T18:16:15Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The “eye opener” was how soon a human or a human story is completely forgotten, even when it begs to be told, and how this woman has been dead less than a century, has well over a thousand descendants, and I doubt that 1 in 20 of them have ever heard her name, or much care. 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. ---
**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 12, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/65 "2008-11-12T18:19:34Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > Out of curiosity, what did this open your eyes to? I’ve heard this a lot too and I’ve never understood why it was meaningful. Well it opened my eye to the fact itself - That I started out female! Kinda puts us Males down a peg or two - to know that we are just modified females! And I guess it’s not hugely meaningful, just an interesting fact that I never knew until I found out. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/66 "2008-11-12T18:22:42Z")
When I found out that I wasn’t the only male in the world who was sexually attracted to other males. Suddenly, I wasn’t alone in the universe. ---
**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 12, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/67 "2008-11-12T18:23:00Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > That .999999… does not approach 1. It _is_ 1. Do you mean .9 recurring? If there is a finite number of 9s then that is “Nearly 1” isn’t it? ---
**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 12, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/68 "2008-11-12T18:26:03Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > People don’t really live inside my television. Try telling that to my cat. > [@](#): > > Bugs Bunny is not a real person. I don’t believe you. > [@](#): > > Naps are fun. But they don’t happen nearly often enough. > [@](#): > > The cake is a lie. You’re my kind of person. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/69 "2008-11-12T18:27:23Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > There does seem to be only one verified **American** World War I combat veteran. Yup, he lives in Charles Town, WV. [Frank Buckles - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buckles) ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/70 "2008-11-12T18:28:27Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Exodus 22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”. Some people think it should read poisoner instead. I don’t know which is more correct. Just posed this question to a very good friend of mine who’s an ordained Methodist minister and he says that the translation should have been “poisoner” and not witch. ---
**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 12, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/71 "2008-11-12T18:29:33Z")
Love your sig **BaneSidhe**. What’s it from? ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/72 "2008-11-12T18:31:05Z")
The “there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on Earth” thing blew me away the first time it sunk in, and still does. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/73 "2008-11-12T18:32:09Z")
I just found out by clicking on one of the links above that Finland had a [civil war](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War). That’s a new one on me. ---
**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 12, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/74 "2008-11-12T18:37:43Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Do you mean .9 recurring? > > If there is a finite number of 9s then that is “Nearly 1” isn’t it? 😕 That’s what the “…” part means; it’s recurring, and not finite. ---
**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 12, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/75 "2008-11-12T18:38:31Z")
> [@Santo\_Rugger](#): > > 😕 > > That’s what the “…” part means; it’s recurring, and not finite. Well, now I know something new. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/76 "2008-11-12T18:39:56Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Love your sig **BaneSidhe**. What’s it from? I’m not really sure! There’s a fellow who works in the office that’s responsible for blasting permits, training and so on, and I saw it on a t-shirt he had on one day. I’ve also heard a couple of my friends who’re engineers say it too. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/77 "2008-11-12T18:59:23Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Diplodocus lived about 150-odd million years ago. Triceratops lived 65 million years ago. We’re closer to Triceratops than they are to Diplodocus. Really gave me a greater appreciation for just how long the “age of the dinosaurs” lasted, and how immensely short our stay on the planet has been. There was an interesting Nova special hosted by Carl Sagan some time ago, in which he explained the concept of the “geological calendar” (I THINK that’s what he called it). Basically, it took the entire historical span of the Earth - from the time it was merely a gathering cloud of spacedust to the present day - and fit it all into one calendar year. In this calendar, the dinosaurs (all three ages) dominated the Earth from roughly the end of May to about mid-August. By comparison, human beings did not even _exist_ until the last _fraction_ of the last _second_ of the last _hour_ of New Year’s Eve. On a personal level, realizing that not everybody experiences alcohol-induced blackouts, that not many people actually drink every single day, and that in fact very few people smoke pot (let alone daily) and ‘occasionally’ use cocaine made me rethink a few of my own bad habits. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/78 "2008-11-12T19:03:17Z")
> [@Natty\_Bumppo](#): > > The fact that the last Civil War widow [is still alive](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E3DB1E30F935A25755C0A9629C8B63) open my eyes to how young our country is. One way to look at the age of the United States is younger than three lifetimes. This fails to impress me. From the article: > [@](#): > > the teenage bride of an octogenarian Confederate veteran in the 1930’s :dubious: It seems like the same sort of nonsense you hear when someone’s trying to tout the “vast experience” of their employees, i.e., “sitting before you is 110 years of experience!” I always say, “Or one year of experience, 110 times.” ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/79 "2008-11-12T19:13:20Z")
That I am currently older than my father was in my earliest memories of him. That I’ve lived in my current city longer than my hometown where I was born and raised. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262/80 "2008-11-12T19:22:19Z")
> [@Capcha](#): > > To **Hrududu** and **Cheesesteak** : at a young age as i used to stand on an overpass, looking at each window (in the numerous apartment buildings) with their different decorations and marvel about all the lives that i would never know, learn, understand or how many resemble mine. That’s kinda like mine when I was younger. We’d be driving somewhere and as I looked into the other cars I realized: the person I see may be the best friend, mother, brother, sister of that girl who I’m going to meet one day and marry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-facts-that-opened-your-eye/472262.md?page=5)