# Things you are shocked people don't know **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348 "2016-09-19T14:50:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/41 "2016-09-19T22:10:29Z")
They really should have figured out to NOT Tailgate. People will want to change lanes. If there are no spaces (because you morons are tailgating), what do they do? Yes, they _slow down_! DUH! What happens to everyone following that person? They all move as far forward as possible before admitting that they really can’t go faster than the car ahead. IOW\_ Now They’re Tailgating. Please try to remember: two solid objects (cars, for instance) CANNOT occupy they same space at the same time. that car wanting to merge will eventually merge - if there had been space available, it would have merged at highway speed, not the 5 mph while we all again do the “One from Column A, One from Column B” routine at the point the one lane ceases to exist. And the folks think it will take a computer to figure this out. Sadly, it probably WILL take “The Cloud” (All Hail The Cloud!) to work out spacing. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/42 "2016-09-19T22:43:03Z")
A while back while at work I looked out the window and noticed that a flag was flying at half-mast. I said “I wonder why that flag is half-mast”. My 25-year-old co-worker looked at me as if I were speaking Swahili. She had no idea what half-mast meant. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/43 "2016-09-19T22:45:08Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Probably not. All I’ve used is drills, dremels, and reciprocating saws. But I were to use something more exotic, I still don’t usually read the instructions, just let someone who knows how to use it show me how to use it. I prefer both, if available. Nothing like hands on with someone who knows the tool. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/44 "2016-09-19T22:45:17Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’ve run into a truly amazing number of educated Canadians who don’t know how many provinces Canada has. > > The number, by the way, is ten, and has been for the entirety of most peoples’ lives. A rather round and easy number to recall. I don’t know that you could come up with a more easily remembered number than ten. If it was something weird like 87, okay. But ten? > > I find this very odd. It’s not a tough civics question. My Canadian friend does not know the capital of Canada. I found this out while reading a trivia question. mmm ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/45 "2016-09-19T22:45:39Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > Once, having stumbled upon one case that I took to be aberrant, I conducted a straw poll of a few dozen maths graduates – there was a shocking number of individuals who believed that it was hot in summer because the earth was closer to the sun. I give up – why is it hotter in the summer? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/46 "2016-09-19T22:48:12Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > I don’t remember, but I do remember Dad freaking out when he saw me pouring hot bacon grease down the kitchen sink drain. “What are you doing?! You can’t pour grease down the drain! You’ll clog the pipe!” Well, gee, Dad, you never told me that’s why you poured it into those orange juice cans. I thought you were just doing that to save it for cooking with! My father was cleaning out his mother’s apartment and putting leftovers in the garbage disposal. I don’t know what possessed him to do this, since it’s not like it was garbage that would have created a smell or anything, but he decided to put rice down the disposal. A bag of uncooked rice out of the bag. :smack: He would have been in his 60s at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/47 "2016-09-19T22:57:16Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > Once, having stumbled upon one case that I took to be aberrant, I conducted a straw poll of a few dozen maths graduates – there was a shocking number of individuals who believed that it was hot in summer because the earth was closer to the sun. To be fair, the Earth IS closer to the sun… in summer for the Southern Hemisphere. So on half the Earth that’s sort of true… … but that’s NOT why it’s hotter in summer. > [@gigi](#): > > I give up – why is it hotter in the summer? Because the hemisphere you’re in is tilted towards the sun, which means more solar radiation reaches it for more time during a 24 hour period and that is what heats up that part of the Earth. Thus, even if we’re actually farther away from the sun during the Northern Hemisphere summer, because the that part of the Earth receives more solar radiation during that time it heats up more. At the same time, the Southern Hemisphere is receiving less solar radiation and thus it cools off and experiences winter. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/48 "2016-09-19T23:02:22Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > I dated someone once who didn’t understand some really basic kitchen stuff. She was completely baffled at the idea of keeping ziploc-style sandwich bags, snack bags, and quart freezer bags, she didn’t get that they’re different sized bags for different purposes. Even after I’d point out how freezer bags are better at freezing a typical quantity of meat, or that snack bags work great for keeping small objects together and unlost where a bigger bag would be too inconvenient, she just considered my keeping so many boxes of the same thing a weird quirk. She also didn’t get the concept of different spices, ‘why do you have half a dozen things of pepper? just pick one pepper and get rid of the rest’. The fact that fine ground black pepper, coarse ground black pepper, whole peppercorns, white pepper, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper are all different things used for different purposes (you’re not going to fill a pepper shaker with whole peppercorns) was just beyond her. Same thing with having garlic salt and garlic powder, or kosher salt and regular salt - the idea that they are different things used in different ways for different dishes was just beyond her. It was really bizarre, and to this day I’m really not sure how to answer ‘why do you have six things that have pepper in the name but look and taste every different?’ without a heavy dose of sarcasm and/or eye-rolling. You should have asked her why she had so many pairs of shoes. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/49 "2016-09-19T23:05:38Z")
\*How to merge on a damn freeway from an acceleration ramp. Folks, people already on the highway have the right a way and should not have to speed up, slow down, or change lanes to adjust for you. \*That there is no federal gun registration and, with a very small exception, no state/local gun registration. I can’t believe how many people have asked me how they go about registering a gun they just bought. \*What the job of the vice President actually is. Waiting for someone to die is not a job! ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/50 "2016-09-19T23:06:06Z")
**Things you are shocked people don’t know** Soylent Green is _ **PEOPLE!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/51 "2016-09-19T23:10:05Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > My Canadian friend does not know the capital of Canada. I found this out while reading a trivia question. > > mmm To be fair, it’s not a real country anyway. 😉 How about a Texan who does not know where Mexico is? As I’ve reported on this Board before, I had just returned to West Texas from a trip to Mexico. I was sitting in my regular bar, when a lady of my acquaintance said hello and mentioned she hadn’t seen me for a while. I said I’d been in Mexico. She said, in all seriousness as I was soon to learn: “Where’s that?” I laughed at what I thought was her little joke, but it hurt her feelings enormously. She said in a hurtful tone of voice: “Well, I’m not smart like you.” Turns out she honestly did not know where Mexico was despite, again, having been born and raised in Texas. Granted, she was not the smartest bulb in the bunch at the best of times, and I don’t think she had finished high school – she’d left to pursue a, um, professional career – but I was flummoxed by that revelation and felt bad to boot. She was not kidding, you had to know her. I also knew an American in Thaailand who was from Baltimore and had a master’s degree in journalism. So it is inexplicable to me that he had never heard of HL Mencken. He seriously had not. Although he grew up in Baltimore, his master’s was from a small school in Boston, and his bachelor’s degree was in a non-journalism-related field. But still that seems incredible. I’ve heard he’s still over there, but he has some serious mental problems and has in fact been in and out of psychiatric wards in Bangkok. He absolutely refuses to leave Thailand, but it would be the best thing for him. I used to see his writings in the paper occasionally. He writes freelance, considers himself quite the storyteller, but his stuff is pretty innocuous tourist fluff for the most part, with no insights whatsoever. The last I heard, his main job now is teaching English at some school he managed to wheedle his way into. Strange little guy, to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/52 "2016-09-19T23:13:46Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There are Americans who don’t know how many states there are (or how many stars are on the flag). > > There are people, including some women, who think women pee out of their vaginas. There are women who don’t know which part of their parts is their vagina or their vulva and the difference in location between both. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/53 "2016-09-19T23:17:03Z")
I was at a friend’s house and spilled something all over the place on his electric stove. I apologized and started cleaning, ending with me lifting up the entire stove top to clean underneath. He had no idea his stove could do that. He’s lived there for 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![PrimalEnvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85f322/32.png) [@PrimalEnvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrimalEnvy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/54 "2016-09-19T23:54:59Z")
That certain Newfoundlanders can’t name the capital of Labrador when asked. Funny in a sad way. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/55 "2016-09-20T00:45:56Z")
Two come to mind. My stepdaughter was making Manwich as a teen and failed to brown the ground beef first. My son had a girlfriend who decided to clean her cat box full of clumping litter by pouring the entire contents into a toilet. Not mine, thankfully. Her parents had to replace the entire toilet. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/56 "2016-09-20T01:27:42Z")
> [@Buttercup\_Smith](#): > > Two come to mind. My stepdaughter was making Manwich as a teen and failed to brown the ground beef first. While it’s normal to brown the meat first, it’s not really a big deal if you don’t. It won’t be as beefy, but you’ll get a more tender product in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/57 "2016-09-20T02:13:40Z")
My unit had to drive some trucks to Lakehurst Naval Air Station to turn them in. When I mentioned that we would be right next to the crash site two of my men had never heard of the Hindenberg. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/58 "2016-09-20T02:21:06Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > My unit had to drive some trucks to Lakehurst Naval Air Station to turn them in. When I mentioned that we would be right next to the crash site two of my men had never heard of the Hindenberg. Oh, the humanity! ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/59 "2016-09-20T02:32:40Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > A while back while at work I looked out the window and noticed that a flag was flying at half-mast. I said “I wonder why that flag is half-mast”. My 25-year-old co-worker looked at me as if I were speaking Swahili. > > She had no idea what half-mast meant. > mmm Some people don’t know that flags on land fly at half-staff. Only flags on a ship fly at half-mast. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348/60 "2016-09-20T02:42:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **pkbites** > > \*What the job of the vice President actually is. Waiting for someone to die is not a job! What do you mean by this? The only thing he really has to do is cast a tie-breaking vote, which I don’t think has happened in my lifetime, and count the votes of the electoral college, which really I didn’t even know until I just now looked it up. I’d be shocked if the majority of people did know that. As for what he actually does, isn’t that largely worked out between the president and the vice? So their role could change dramatically between presidencies, or they could basically have no role, like in the 19th century when it was largely seen as irrelevant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-are-shocked-people-dont-know/766348.md?page=4)