# Stupidity you have heard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761 "2014-08-04T05:07:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Lonnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lonnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lonnie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/141 "2014-08-06T21:56:22Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Chelation is a legitimate treatment for people who have been exposed to heavy metals, but there are some woo people (and frighteningly, some chiropractors), who promote chelation as a cure-all. A lot of these people have no idea what chelation is, because they will recommend it for exposure to aluminum (which they self-diagnose on the basis of deodorants having aluminum salts, or cooking with aluminum pots), or for conditions which have absolutely nothing to do with any kind of metal poisoning, like bacterial infections. > > I don’t know why that guy was supposed to have his leg amputated, but while some diabetics lose legs to gangrene because they have problems with wound healing, they also lose them to vascular problems and nerve problems. It’s possible he is still going to lose the leg. It may be he had some vascular problem that was causing him pain, and the pain went away because he finally had so much nerve death he wasn’t registering the pain anymore. Who knows? People go to faith healers, toss away crutches, and run around the stage, then two weeks later collapse in worse shape than ever. You are right. I don’t know what happened to guy with the leg problem but he said it was vascular. This was in an MD’s office, not a faith healer. If you go to a reputable MD he /she would never do chelation spuriously without a challenge test first. I had to beg the chelation doc to even get the test. And taking supplements orally to do chelation does not usually work. There is only one product I know of that ends up with the chelator in the blood and my doc developed it. You need IV treatment properly supervised with doctors and nurses monitoring you frequently. Most people do not need so many treatments. My body had trouble detoxifying. BTW, when my doc added a hydrogen peroxide bag to my metal chelators bag, I stopped getting my frequent respiratory infections. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/142 "2014-08-06T22:22:47Z")
Here is California we are having a DROUGHT! And the local weather lady suggest that they just take the fire fighting planes and just scoop up ocean water and drop that all over the state. Thankfully the news anchor suggested that the salt might be a problem and she said, “Oh, really? Ok, todays weather is…” ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/143 "2014-08-06T23:13:17Z")
Just to clarify about chelation, the NIH study was done only on those who had a prior heart attack. It said nothing about other vascular disease. Also, all of these patients were also receiving conventional therapy. I say this because I once had a patient who refused standard treatment for heart disease in favor of chelation, despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise. She died of a massive heart attack within the year. Right now, chelation therapy is not FDA approved for anything except heavy metal toxicity. Unfortunately, in the past, there have been charlatans who have claimed it as a cure-all for multiple diseases. I would suggest that if you go to somebody who suggests chelation rather than standard therapy instead of as an adjunct (and does not explain the risks and that it is experimental) that you run fast and far. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/144 "2014-08-07T00:48:58Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > A video rental clerk in RI asked for a driver’s license to set up an account, and I gave her my Alberta (Canada) driver’s license. > “This is a weird license!” > “I’m Canadian!” > “I’ve never met someone from… Canadia?” > > I thought to myself “you still haven’t!” Maybe she had just listened to the [Australian Prime Minister](http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/canadia-trends-on-twitter-after-tony-abbott-gaffe-20140609-zs1sr.html). ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/145 "2014-08-07T02:32:31Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > This is not so much stupid as clueless. Well, maybe both, but it isn’t about a matter of fact. > > A local television station had one of their reporters at the airport to greet soldiers coming back from Desert Storm service. One soldier and his wife/SO are in a heavy clinch and the perky young reporter sticks the microphone in their face and asks, _“So, do you have any special plans for this evening?”_ I vote for “deliberately obnoxious”. I sometimes suspect TV news clowns of working their subjects, the way a standup comic works the audience. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/146 "2014-08-07T02:47:45Z")
I know a woman who believes it is against the law for anything on TV to be a lie, or made up (save for fictional programming, obviously), so if she sees a documentary on the moon landing being faked, or the alien autopsy, she believes these things must be true, because it’s illegal for TV to lie. I also saw an interview with a woman who thought the movie _The Exorcist_ was a documentary, and therefore proof that possession happens. Her reasoning? “People’s heads don’t spin all the way around!” ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/147 "2014-08-07T04:03:28Z")
Cow-orker just last summer: Muslims don’t worship the same God we (Christians) do. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/148 "2014-08-07T04:56:32Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I know a woman who believes it is against the law for anything on TV to be a lie, or made up (save for fictional programming, obviously), so if she sees a documentary on the moon landing being faked, or the alien autopsy, she believes these things must be true, because it’s illegal for TV to lie. > > I also saw an interview with a woman who thought the movie _The Exorcist_ was a documentary, and therefore proof that possession happens. Her reasoning? “People’s heads don’t spin all the way around!” What’s she think of Sharknado? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/149 "2014-08-07T05:10:09Z")
I had a _police officer_, who had responsed to my call of handicap-parking violation (this was from the same asshole who did it practically every day in his shiny mercedes), tell me that she couldn’t write a citation for parking w/o a permit because the car belonged to a car-dealership and had dealer plates. :mad::dubious::smack: Wha…the, huh!!! (This was a young officer and I had the feeling she just didn’t know what to do. And nothing happened.) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/150 "2014-08-07T08:38:53Z")
“Well, yeah, of course I manipulated her. You’re a guy, you know as well as I do that a lot of time women need to be manipulated because they don’t know what’s best for themselves.” – One of my ex’s exes ---
**Author:** ![Lonnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lonnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lonnie)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/151 "2014-08-07T12:48:20Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Just to clarify about chelation, the NIH study was done only on those who had a prior heart attack. It said nothing about other vascular disease. Also, all of these patients were also receiving conventional therapy. I say this because I once had a patient who refused standard treatment for heart disease in favor of chelation, despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise. She died of a massive heart attack within the year. Right now, chelation therapy is not FDA approved for anything except heavy metal toxicity. Unfortunately, in the past, there have been charlatans who have claimed it as a cure-all for multiple diseases. I would suggest that if you go to somebody who suggests chelation rather than standard therapy instead of as an adjunct (and does not explain the risks and that it is experimental) that you run fast and far. Yes. I should have mentioned that chelation for heart/vascular problems is NOT a substitute for traditional medicine. The people I have talked to have gone for chelation for heart problems when told by mainstream medicine that there is nothing more we can do. There is no guarantee your patient would have lived with standard therapy either. And yes. Run far from charlatans. I go to an MD who is governed by his peers such as the AMA. I repeat. We need more studies. My docs’ patients were set to do one and it was cancelled by the AMA. I forget the reason we were told. ---
**Author:** ![Lonnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lonnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lonnie)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/152 "2014-08-07T13:08:32Z")
Stupidity - Two items reported in the Stuart, FL, news paper the same week - A Florida man went into a gun store, bought a gun, came out, and in the parking lot shot himself in the foot. If I recall the circumstances correctly, another FL man was fishing off a dock, saw his line get eaten by a shark, and got into the water to free his line. I remember he knew the shark was there and for some reason got into the water and was attacked. I talked to a surf boarder there in Stuart just after a surfer was killed by a shark. He said they all knew that at a certain time in the evening the sharks came in closer, but they still surfed. He was going to stop surfing in the evening though, since his buddy was killed. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/153 "2014-08-07T13:16:04Z")
I had a friend who worked in electronics repair. One time he went on for half an hour bitching about being pulled over for speeding before I finally got him to explain why he thought he should be exempt. He said the police couldn’t stop him for speeding because he installed their radios. Uh, whut? As an aside, I remember a state rep (Joe Jackson, NC) who got pulled over for speeding. He told the officer it was illegal to prevent a government employee from attending session. He cited some obscure law from the early 1800’s meant for horse and carriage societies. The legislature since struck down the law. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/154 "2014-08-07T13:46:37Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > I had a friend who worked in electronics repair. One time he went on for half an hour bitching about being pulled over for speeding before I finally got him to explain why he thought he should be exempt. He said the police couldn’t stop him for speeding because he installed their radios. Uh, whut? > > As an aside, I remember a state rep (Joe Jackson, NC) who got pulled over for speeding. He told the officer it was illegal to prevent a government employee from attending session. He cited some obscure law from the early 1800’s meant for horse and carriage societies. The legislature since struck down the law. Oops! :o ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/155 "2014-08-07T14:13:09Z")
Many years ago, when I was stationed in Keflavik, Iceland, it was an extremely clear, cold day, and you could clearly make out Snæfellsjökul mountain and glacier on the horizon. I pointed out to one of my cow-orkers (actually she was several ranks higher than me) that Snæfellsjökul was where the entered the Earth in _Journey to the Center of the Earth_. She asked me what year that happened as if it was a historical event.:smack: P.S. Being from New York, I could not believe the visibility in the clean air of Iceland. Seeing a mountain clearly from 60 miles was not unheard of, and at the time I had 20/15 vision, and could actually make out details. They also had a couple of sets of tourist binoculars set up at one end of the base that was on a plateau that you could use to see across the bay. The lack of trees helped, also… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/156 "2014-08-07T14:28:54Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Here is California we are having a DROUGHT! And the local weather lady suggest that they just take the fire fighting planes and just scoop up ocean water and drop that all over the state. > > Thankfully the news anchor suggested that the salt might be a problem and she said, “Oh, really? Ok, todays weather is…” Well, THAT’S just dumb. Dumping seawater on plants and crops. They should dump\*\* Gatorade\*\*! It has, like, electrolytes and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/157 "2014-08-07T14:31:47Z")
^ Word! Look how green the grass is at all sporting events. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![wisernow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@wisernow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wisernow)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/158 "2014-08-07T14:31:49Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > “Muslims and Jews have hated and been at war with one another for hundreds of years.” There are indeed a few verses in the Koran that mention the Prophet having a tough time with the Jews when in Medina. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/159 "2014-08-07T14:38:44Z")
Somehow that puts me in mind of St. Patrick driving all the snakes out of Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/160 "2014-08-07T15:19:01Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Somehow that puts me in mind of St. Patrick driving all the snakes out of Ireland. The snakes probably THANKED him, and then headed someplace a lot warmer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761.md?page=9)