# The Physical Geography of the world and our historical timeline are being supernaturally changed as I type this **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 7, 2021, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576 "2021-05-07T05:41:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/161 "2021-05-08T00:29:09Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > **Modding** : OK, this thread has become completely silly. I’m going to kick it back out of GD and back to MPSIMS. There have been lots of threads moved _to_ GD to allow full debate. This is the first time I remember a thread being moved _from_ the austere halls of GD _to_ MPSIMS to allow silliness. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/162 "2021-05-08T00:31:11Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > …to allow silliness. It’s not so much “allow” as it is “bow to the inevitable.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/163 "2021-05-08T00:53:34Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > My own memory tells me that some years back a science fiction writer said that travel between alternate realities isn’t difficult – in fact, it’s so easy that people do it all the time without noticing. That’s why, for instance, your keys are on the coffee table in the living room but you’re absolutely positive that you left them on the kitchen counter last night. > > Unfortunately, I can neither find this quoted anywhere on line, nor find anyone else who remembers it. “If On a Foggy Night”, by Larry Niven. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/164 "2021-05-08T01:06:28Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > **Modding** : OK, this thread has become completely silly. I’m going to kick it back out of GD and back to MPSIMS. May I say, your goatee is looking rather dashing today? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/165 "2021-05-08T01:10:45Z")
[The border between France and Belgium has changed!!!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-belgian-farmer-moved-the-border-between-france-and-belgium/941391) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/166 "2021-05-08T01:21:16Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Human memory isn’t a lossless digital recording. Our memories are reconstructions, based on disparate bits and pieces. I remember a cartoon in the 60s where memory was shown as a bunch of monkeys in your brain, raiding file cabinets to retrieve a memory. Though this is how many of us think of the process, it is NOT the best analogy. Those monkeys should have been at a workbench, reconstructing a memory out of torn photos, crumpled audiotapes, comments from parents, staticky TV clips and third-hand stories. Oh, and the monkeys should be stoned. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/167 "2021-05-08T02:25:54Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > My own memory tells me that some years back a science fiction writer said that travel between alternate realities isn’t difficult – in fact, it’s so easy that people do it all the time without noticing. See, this is my biggest problem with the Mandela Effect… (I truly want to believe in it, because it would be SO COOL! I mean, visit an alternate timeline? It’d be like living a Sci-Fi story). But how do you deal with The Law of Conservation of Matter? When Rachel morphed into a cat (I still love those Animorph stories), the author invented an extra dimension just to store the extra mass. But for someone to just disappear? Big problem for alternate timelines, inter-dimensional travel… or time travel, as well. (By the way, the last time I traveled in time, I ended up floating in interplanetary space, because the Earth had moved.) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/168 "2021-05-08T02:41:55Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > This is the first time I remember a thread being moved _from_ the austere halls of GD _to_ MPSIMS to allow silliness. The hall monitor in GD: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3ANufwUPFm8/hqdefault.jpg "Monty Python - silly") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ANufwUPFm8) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/169 "2021-05-08T02:44:53Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But how do you deal with The Law of Conservation of Matter? > > When Rachel morphed into a cat (I still love those Animorph stories), the author invented an extra dimension just to store the extra mass. But for someone to just disappear? Big problem for alternate timelines, inter-dimensional travel… or time travel, as well. And what about the world next door, where there are suddenly two of you? Maybe it’s a loop. You move from timeline A to timeline B. YouB moves to timeline C. YouC moves to timeline D. &c, &c – and eventually you_n_ takes your place in timeline A. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/170 "2021-05-08T02:50:58Z")
I clearly remember th “Franco-American” jingle being sung at the end of Spaghettios commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Fhari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Fhari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fhari)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/171 "2021-05-08T04:11:53Z")
I don’t understand having a distinct detail for detail recollection of these paintings, period. I have long been aware, sort of, of dogs playing poker paintings, and I believe Roseanne Connot’s living room had such a painting on the wall. Other than that? I have an image of at least one cigar, and maybe one dog being white with some dark spots, but that’s as detailed as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/172 "2021-05-08T04:39:35Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I clearly remember th “Franco-American” jingle being sung at the end of Spaghettios commercials. Uh-oh! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/173 "2021-05-08T04:41:27Z")
> [@Something](#): > > The famous series of paintings depicting dogs playing poker have been supernaturally altered from what hundreds of millions of human beings, myself included, distinctly recall them being. This is actually solid proof of your contention, as dogs playing poker mostly do not exist in this reality, and hence the paintings are obviously a leakage from an alternate reality. I mean, a dog can _ **try** _ to play poker, and occasionally one tries to get in a game, but they’re so hopelessly bad at it. As soon as a dog gets a good hand (or “paw”, as they like to call it) his eyes light up, his mouth opens and his tongue hangs out in a smile of reckless delight, his ears perk up, and most of all, his tail starts wagging madly. Dogs are completely incapable of assuming the “poker face” so critical to success in the game. So with poker, dogs generally don’t even bother trying. But if South America moves again, and Stouffer’s starts making stovetop stuffing again, look out! The poker dogs will be back! And there will be more paintings honouring their skills! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/174 "2021-05-08T04:53:53Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I mean, a dog can _ **try** _ to play poker, and occasionally one tries to get in a game, but they’re so hopelessly bad at it. A guy is invited to a private poker room, and when he gets there the place is rocking. Four tables, drink servers, chips everywhere… and there’s a dog playing poker. An honest to God German Shepherd is playing Texas Hold 'Em. He walks over and stares, open-mouthed, in amazement. The dog sits there and patiently waits for his cards, peeks at them, and plays. Makes bets, raises, folds. It’s the most astounding thing he’s ever seen. “Whose dog is this?” the guy says. Another gentleman at the table says “Oh, this is my dog Patches.” “Jesus Christ, he’s playing poker! This must be the smartest dog who ever lived!” “Hell no he isn’t,” the dog’s owner says. “He’s down two hundred bucks.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/175 "2021-05-08T04:55:43Z")
> [@Something](#): > > the dramatic changing of size, shape, and location of countries and continents on our maps is still unexplained and REAL. Changing from WHAT? I’ve been alive 49 years, I’m obsessed with maps - I can draw a pretty decent world map freehand - and the map of the world looks the same to me as it always has. It hasn’t changed. Buddy, if you seriously believe this, you need to go speak to your physician. I am absolutely serious. I am concerned for your well-being. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/176 "2021-05-08T05:08:48Z")
Well, I mean due to wars, boundary disputes and what not many nations have changed quite a bit. The old Soviet Union is gone, Germany is one nation, etc. But I do not think that is what he means. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/177 "2021-05-08T05:43:05Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > and the map of the world looks the same to me as it always has. It hasn’t changed. - Your memories were altered to match the new reality. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/178 "2021-05-08T07:35:05Z")
Something, if you’d seriously like to read about how unreliable human memories are, try reading the works of Elizabeth Loftus, like _The Myth of Repressed Memory_. ---
**Author:** ![tavaritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@tavaritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavaritz)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/179 "2021-05-08T08:00:21Z")
I rememeber a television document on false memories that described one aspect of human memory that is very feasible for creating false memories. Human memory reinforces itself every time a memory is accessed. So when someone is suggesting to you that something happened at certain moment you start to remember what happened then and and while yo’re remembering you start to write into your memory the same thing to reinforce the memory and if this process is interrupted one can insert false memories. It’s not the same as destructive computer memory where every read must be followed by write. But it is something like that nevertheless as the memory is rewriten when you access it. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576/180 "2021-05-08T10:12:20Z")
> [@tavaritz](#): > > I rememeber a television document on false memories that described one aspect of human memory that is very feasible for creating false memories. How do you know you really watched it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physical-geography-of-the-world-and-our-historical-timeline-are-being-supernaturally-changed-as-i-type-this/941576.md?page=10)