# Simple factual errors that drive you nuts **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504 "2009-02-19T03:19:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/141 "2009-02-21T09:08:22Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > That would depend on who was making the observation. I recall more than a few persons complaining that thre could not be black Vulcans, based on the fact that we had seen, oh, two dozen or so, and of course the had to be typical of the species in every way. I gave it a Spock-like :dubious: based not on that but that I’d understood Vulcan’s sun to be red. Not enough UV for sunburn. Of course this assumes that UV resistance is the only reason for black skin, and makes no allowance for the many colours of Barsoomians, but at the time I thought it was illogical and they were giving us a Black Vulcan just because. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/142 "2009-02-21T15:18:09Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > _Affect_ can be a noun, too – e.g., “absence of affect” > > The me/myself thing bugs the crap out of me, too. Or should I say “bugs the crap out of myself”? 😃 Of course, sometimes I do bug the crap out of myself, but that’s not the issue. And “effect” can be a verb, meaning “to cause to come into being” or “to bring about; to accomplish.” ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/143 "2009-02-21T15:23:14Z")
“It’s just a theory.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/144 "2009-02-21T15:25:54Z")
> [@Hellestal](#): > > “It’s just a theory.” Can we get some context for that? I agree that that’s an annoying statement in reference to, say, evolution, but not if I’m admitting that the supposition I just offered is as of yet unproven. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/145 "2009-02-21T15:32:22Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > I gave it a Spock-like :dubious: based not on that but that I’d understood Vulcan’s sun to be red. Not enough UV for sunburn. Of course this assumes that UV resistance is the only reason for black skin, and makes no allowance for the many colours of Barsoomians, but at the time I thought it was illogical and they were giving us a Black Vulcan just because. “Just because” of what? Why shouldn’t Vulcans come in more than one skin tone? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/146 "2009-02-21T15:35:35Z")
> [@Hellestal](#): > > “It’s just a theory.” But evolution IS a theory. The speaker may not know what a theory is in scientific terms (gravity is “just a theory” in terms of its scientific explanation, but only the intelligent falling people doubt it exists) but the statement is not actually false. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/147 "2009-02-21T15:46:36Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > But evolution IS a theory. The speaker may not know what a theory is in scientific terms (gravity is “just a theory” in terms of its scientific explanation, but only the intelligent falling people doubt it exists) but the statement is not actually false. The statement isn’t false. The implicit assumptions behind the statement are factually incorrect in every way. They are so monstrously wrong that there are no others errors I know that convey so much ignorance in so little space. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/148 "2009-02-21T15:55:36Z")
> [@Hellestal](#): > > The statement isn’t false. > > The implicit assumptions behind the statement are factually incorrect in every way. They are so monstrously wrong that there are no others errors I know that convey so much ignorance in so little space. What makes the statement problematic is the word “just,” I think. That and the fact that it’s always uttered by idiots. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/149 "2009-02-21T16:04:50Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > It drives me nuts when people think that the price of something necessarily bears a relationship to the costs to produce it (as if the manufacturer just calculates its costs and then adds a percentage for profit). What are you proposing as the mechanism? > [@freckafree](#): > > _Affect_ can be a noun, too – e.g., “absence of affect” But virtually nobody ever uses that sense. At least, I’ve never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/150 "2009-02-21T16:08:41Z")
These people think they’re saying is sufficiently dismissive- like saying “It’s just a hypothesis” would be. [QUOTE=crazyjoe] You want reasons for why people don’t beleive that Autism is caused by vaccines? This is one of them…studies that take something people have observed time and time again, such as the effects of sugar on kids, and tell people it doesn’t happen. You might as well put out a study saying that the earth is flat. [/QUOTE] I assume you meant reasons why people DO believe autism is caused by vaccines…since the scientific evidence confirms the opposite. Don’t people wonder about all those unobserved children who had the MMR vaccine and didn’t turn out to be autistic? ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/151 "2009-02-21T17:08:45Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > So what is the lethal voltage for a person? In order to answer that, you’ll need to know the human body resistance and the lethal level of current. Again, your just working backwards from the lethal current to find a voltage. Which brings me back to my original point. You can easily survive high voltage across your body. You cannot survive high current. Current kills. We have done this one before. A car battery is capable of delivering hundreds upon hundreds of amps all at one in an instant. Yet you can grab the positive pole in one hand and the negative pole in your other hand. Not only will you not die, you won’t feel a thing. As the current would have to flow directly across your chest to get from one hand to the other, if what you are saying is correct, you would expect … something. In reality, nothing happens. This is due to the resistance of your body (skin mainly I believe) being high enough that the voltage drop across the resistance renders a zero or near zero current flow. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/152 "2009-02-21T17:15:09Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > What are you proposing as the mechanism? I think he’s suggesting that the price of a product is determined by the amount people are willing to pay, not by how much it costs to produce. I suppose what he’s saying is inaccurate in a wider sense- lots of companies that manufacturers of consumer products sell high-end items that they actually sell at a loss in order to enhance the overall image (automakers, for example). Still, in general terms, it’s silly to suggest that manufacturing cost has no bearing on price. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/153 "2009-02-21T17:17:52Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > “Just because” of what? Why shouldn’t Vulcans come in more than one skin tone? Meh. Be a bit odd if melanin response evolved independently on different planets. While there are general variations in color in just about every species on earth, there isn’t as wide a range as seen in humans for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![Wiggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@Wiggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wiggie)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/154 "2009-02-21T17:38:00Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > Countless? > > As a parent, I can assure you that I have performed numerous empirical studies on this, and my study results trump your countless others. > > Someone once pointed me to a study that said that a one year old should be able to, unassisted, drink from an open topped cup without spilling. I’ve been alive for nearly 40 years and I have NEVER seen one who could do this. > > You want reasons for why people don’t beleive that Autism is caused by vaccines? This is one of them…studies that take something people have observed time and time again, such as the effects of sugar on kids, and tell people it doesn’t happen. You might as well put out a study saying that the earth is flat. My numerous empirical studies show that every parent that believes this will often make exclamations about the correlation between dietary sugar and misbehaving children when koolaid or M&Ms are involved, but never when apple juice or an orange are involved. Despite the fact that all four are loaded with sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/155 "2009-02-21T17:51:25Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > > [@freckafree](#): > > > > Affect can be a noun, too – e.g., “absence of affect” > > But virtually nobody ever uses that sense. At least, I’ve never heard it. I’ve heard it many times, but then again my mother is a psychologist. It’s not common in ordinary conversation, but “affect” is the clinical term used to describe emotional expression. Someone suffering from depression, for instance, might be described as displaying a lack of affect, or more properly blunt or flat affect. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/156 "2009-02-21T18:03:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Meh. Be a bit odd if melanin response evolved independently on different planets. > > While there are general variations in color in just about every species on earth, there isn’t as wide a range as seen in humans for the most part. I note that Vulcans, like Terrans, Klingons, Cardassians, Bajorans, Betazeds, Andorians, Tellarites, Jem-hadr, Vorta, whatever the hell Kes was, and whatever the hell Neelix was, have four fingers plus a thumb on each hand. Not four fingers and two thumbs, or six fingers and one thumb, or three finges and one thumb, etc. Why is that any less improbable? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/157 "2009-02-21T18:04:20Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > It’s not common in ordinary conversation, but “affect” is the clinical term used to describe emotional expression. Someone suffering from depression, for instance, might be described as displaying a lack of affect, or more properly blunt or flat affect. I’ll grant you that _affect_ exists as a verb in a technical setting, but the post I quoted did not use it in that sense. _Affect_ as a noun in general usage is obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/158 "2009-02-21T18:06:00Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I note that Vulcans, like Terrans, Klingons, Cardassians, Bajorans, Betazeds, Andorians, Tellarites, Jem-hadr, Vorta, whatever the hell Kes was, and whatever the hell Neelix was, have four fingers plus a thumb on each hand. Not four fingers and two thumbs, or six fingers and one thumb, or three finges and one thumb, etc. Why is that any less improbable? It’s quite possible that there’s a good anatomical explanation why 4/1 is a somehow optimal arrangement of digits in an intelligent life form. However, it’s probably just more likely that there are no SAG members with seven fingers on each hand. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/159 "2009-02-21T18:10:09Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > What are you proposing as the mechanism? Seriously? Supply and demand primarily, and the whim of the entrepreneur as the other. Both of those are valid. I do SAT & ACT tutoring on the side. the more options a potential student finds acceptable for receiving the service I offer, the more I am going to have to lower my prices. The fewer alternatives a prospect finds acceptable, the more I can raise them. And, of course, I have an attitude rider. If the student or his/her parenst pisses me off early on, I charge more. If I like the student or his/parents, or identify with them in some way, I’ll cut them a deal if needed. Hell, if I am having a good month and think the kid is cool, I’ll do it for a nominal price. Why should it be any different? > [@](#): > > But virtually nobody ever uses that sense. At least, I’ve never heard it. I hear it _affect_ used in that sense all the time. But I may hang around more counselors, therapists, & persons in counseling or therapy than you. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/160 "2009-02-21T18:11:51Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s quite possible that there’s a good anatomical explanation why 4/1 is a somehow optimal arrangement of digits in an intelligent life form. However, it’s probably just more likely that there are no SAG members with seven fingers on each hand. But there are plenty of SAG members with skin tones other than the European norm. Why shouldn’t they be hired to play Vulcans? Why must Vulcans be portayed as all being Caucasian with slightly greenish skin? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504.md?page=9)