# Things you can't get your head around **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129 "2005-06-28T01:56:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/41 "2005-06-28T22:49:22Z")
People who don’t get math. I mean, there’s numbers. There’s letters (sometimes). There’s rules. Juggle the letters and numbers via the rules laid out for you, and you have your answer. It’s simple. I still can’t get my head around the phenomenon of creation. Not birth or the universe or anything (well, that too), but art, buildings, etc. It is always amazing to me to watch a bunch of assorted parts some together into a giant mess, and turn out into something complete, organised and whole. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/42 "2005-06-28T23:21:09Z")
I can’t get my head around the whole “Hilton Family” (Paris, Nicky, the Mom) phenomenon…I. Just. Don’t. Get. It. I still don’t understand how they get all the little people inside the TV set, either. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/43 "2005-06-28T23:29:53Z")
The fact that people believe in Scientology blows my mind (I’ve been thinking about it recently due to the TC fracas). They really believe that a mediocre science fiction writer discovered how an alien warlord 75 million years ago sent disembodied beings to Earth, who now mess up our lives. People really believe that. Wow. The way evolution works. It’s insanely complicated. There’s a species of crab whose claws are really small, so when they’re large enough, they go get anemones and put them on so they grow from the claws. Then they wave them at predators. I mean, how the heck did they figure out to do that? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/44 "2005-06-28T23:40:05Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Oh, and that big bright round thing in the sky during the day? We call it the Sun, but really it’s a star. Whoa. There was a good program (I think on PBS) last week about the influence of the sun and moon on the Earth. They had an antique mechanical contraption with the sun, moon, and Earth doing their thing, including the tilt of the Earth, and it’s the first time I was able to get my head around seasonal differences in different parts of the world. I still have a hard time with the moon and tides. It’s 240,000 miles away! How can it move water? It’s magic, I tell ya! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/45 "2005-06-28T23:41:51Z")
Oh, forgot. The reason I quoted Cervaise was because while we were watching the program, my husband asked “What’s the sun?” I told him it was a small star, and he was quite surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Elvez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@Elvez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elvez)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/46 "2005-06-28T23:43:39Z")
Radio and television, and basically anything “broadcast” using the electro-magnetic spectrum. I’ve had a lot of enducation based on broadcasting, and I still am not really clear on how they piggyback a second vibration that translates into voice and music and such, on waves of energy that are caused by the magnetic nature of the planet. It boggles me. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/47 "2005-06-29T00:12:25Z")
> [@Jayn\_Newell](#): > > People who don’t get math. I mean, there’s numbers. There’s letters (sometimes). There’s rules. Juggle the letters and numbers via the rules laid out for you, and you have your answer. It’s simple. _Now_ I get it 😉 I agree with the broadcast one. Signals and signal processing are baffling to me. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/48 "2005-06-29T00:13:26Z")
> [@Elvez](#): > > , and I still am not really clear on how they piggyback a second vibration that translates into voice and music and such, on waves of energy that are caused by the magnetic nature of the planet. It boggles me. Ya’ ever hear of people surfing? I think that is like it. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/49 "2005-06-29T00:24:29Z")
Three things I’ve posted about previously and received explanations that I sorta kinda understand but not very well: Why parallel circuits don’t short circuit along the shortest path. Why whoever brings the most money to a poker game can’t simply out-ante everyone. Why global warming is 100% bad with no local or partial redeeming factors at all. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/50 "2005-06-29T00:32:03Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Why global warming is 100% bad with no local or partial redeeming factors at all. It’s good for the Alaskan sugar cane industry. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/51 "2005-06-29T00:40:54Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Why whoever brings the most money to a poker game can’t simply out-ante everyone. > all. Let me take a stab at that. First off, you can never “out-ante”, because an ante is a forced bet by all players that want in on the hand, and it’s the same amount for all players. Now, the only way to outbet another player is to put in more money than they have. OK, so you do that. Well, certain games (like Texas Hold 'Em) allow one to go all in, so all he has to do is put in all he has if he wants to stay in, and you get back what’s over his amount. In games where a player has to match you exactly (or raise, he’ll jsut fold, and say fuck you cause you’re being a giant jerk-ass. Then you don’t get invted back for more poker. So basically all you can do is win everyone’s ante, which is usually small compared to how much you could win through smart betting, and eventually the people you’re playing with will stop playing with you and you won’t win anything. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/52 "2005-06-29T01:09:22Z")
> [@Dob](#): > > Sleep. I dont get sleep. One second im awake at 11:30pm, then next thing I know its 8am in the morning!! One second im a thinking conscious person, then im not. Freaks me out, which is probably why have a hard time sleeping!! Add me to this list. Sometimes I’ll be lying in bed, and thinking about it. What am I doing? Pretending I’m asleep? C’mon! One thing that scares me because I can’t wrap my head around it is things like Jupiter. I can’t comprehend anything about it. It’s got storms that have been going forever, many larger than Earth. The world! And the conditions are so severe. I mean, what if you suddenly found yourself in Jupiter? It’s so severe, you’d probably not even know you were dead! How everything is made of matter. But where did it come from? ~S&S (who just blew a cerebral cortex) ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/53 "2005-06-29T01:57:53Z")
Music. What the flaming heck is it, really? You can explain until you’re blue in the face, but I’ll never understand it. ☹ “Beauty is truth, and truth beauty, and that is all you need know.” (I know I’m probably mangling the quote quite horribly, but some things just seem to be ineffable.) ---
**Author:** ![EnderWay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d26b3c/32.png) [@EnderWay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnderWay)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/54 "2005-06-29T02:04:36Z")
> [@vertizontal](#): > > Money. > > I still don’t understand where “new” dollars come from. > Right now, there are trillions of US dollars in the world. > 200+ years ago, where were none. > Somehow it’s involved with loans, but I still don’t get how the money supply grows. Ahhh, thats easy. Yes loans! Lets say you have $1,000.00. You don’t need to use it right away, so you put it in that bank for safe keeping and to earn intrest. Said, bank has to keep a small percent of that on hand for you to use, say $200.00. The bank can now loan out $800.00, Now there is $1,800.00 in the world. Your original $1,000.00, clearly yours with bank statrment for proof. Plus the $800.00 that Joe Blow is spending to fix his roof. Bank pays you less intrest than it is charging for the loan and that too is “new” money! I was going to give a short explination of how the Federal Reserve Bank can affect the money supply and infation but that started to turn into an Economics lecture. Lets just say the Feds have some nice tools in which they can control the money supply with. Money the paper kind really has nothing to do with how much “money” is in the word. It’s all virtual. I don’t mean just electronic. We just do electronic bookeeping now, but even before computers “money” and the money supply is just the record of who owes who and who has what amount! Sounds a little shakey? 1929, Stcok Market Crash, Great Depression! Well the Federal Reserve and the FDIC don’t guanrentee anything, IMHO. If everyone all at once decides they what their cash now … we’re all screwed! ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/55 "2005-06-29T02:22:57Z")
Can’t wrap my head around how BIG the universe is. If the earth is an orange on my kitchen table, then the moon is a cherry by the kitchen sink, and the sun is a cafe 4 blocks away, and pluto is a shivelled up grape on the edge of the city (70km away), the nearest star (proxima centauri) is another cafe 40 real earths away (just over half way to our moon). The next dozen stars are randomly scattered cafes around 1.5 real-moons away, with 2 dozen within 2 real-moons distance of our orange on the kitchen table. But the size of our galaxy from ‘cafe sun’ of ours would be 300 billion cafes and restaurants scattered over one and a half times our real solar system. That analogy only covered our galaxy (Milky Way) of diameter 12,000 light years. Then next closest spiral galaxy (Andromeda) is 2,000,000 light years away with emptyness in between. But there are 100 billion, or ‘beans and beans’ as Carl Sagan would say, other galaxies in the universe. I cannot wrap my head around that. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/56 "2005-06-29T02:35:41Z")
That incredibly beautiful women I know don’t think they’re hot. I mean, how do you get your makeup on in the morning if you don’t own a mirror??? ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/57 "2005-06-29T02:41:40Z")
> [@antechinus](#): > > Can’t wrap my head around how BIG the universe is. > > If the earth is an orange on my kitchen table, then the moon is a cherry by the kitchen sink, and the sun is a cafe 4 blocks away, and pluto is a shivelled up grape on the edge of the city (70km away), the nearest star (proxima centauri) is another cafe 40 real earths away (just over half way to our moon). The next dozen stars are randomly scattered cafes around 1.5 real-moons away, with 2 dozen within 2 real-moons distance of our orange on the kitchen table. > > But the size of our galaxy from ‘cafe sun’ of ours would be 300 billion cafes and restaurants scattered over one and a half times our real solar system. > > That analogy only covered our galaxy (Milky Way) of diameter 12,000 light years. Then next closest spiral galaxy (Andromeda) is 2,000,000 light years away with emptyness in between. > > But there are 100 billion, or ‘beans and beans’ as Carl Sagan would say, other galaxies in the universe. > > I cannot wrap my head around that. [Eric Idle]We’re 30,00 light years from galactic central point we go round every 200 million years and our galaxy is only one of millions of billions in this amazing and expanding universe [/eric idle] You know, its mind boggling the other way too. Now imagine an atom the size of that orange. While I don’t have any statistics, think about how big a grain of sand would be, or for that matter, how big an orange would be. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_MuD\_PhuD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Elmer\_MuD\_PhuD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_MuD_PhuD)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/58 "2005-06-29T02:57:42Z")
> [@Winnie](#): > > See, I have the same issue. For the life of me I can’t understand what’s going on in Trading Places and I think I’ve seen that movie 349803840 times. So when I read **Vtwin** ’s very well written explanation of the market, here is what I see: > “think of the stock market as a big game of hot potato… blah blah blah dividends. blah blah blah companies equity. blah blah blah logistical termination” and I just completely tune out. Why were Billy Ray and Winthorp on the floor? What did they have to sell? What were those little slips of paper? Why could they just walk on the floor and start yelling stuff and everyone came running over? > > I just don’t _get_ it. Falls to the floor sobbing. As best I understand, Billy Ray and Winthorp were selling short. It plays out like this. 1. They steal the crop report and replace it with a fake one that says something like, “The harsh winter did effect the supply of oranges.” Fewer oranges → a shortage of F.C.O.J. → a rise in F.C.O.J. price. So, since the Dukes think there’s a shortage, and the price will rise after the crop report comes out, they start to buy right away. Other people see them do this, and start buying. All this pushes the price artificially high (think Tickle Me Elmo, and Cabbage Patch; mass hysteria causes people to spend $2000 on a toy). 2. Meanwhile, Billy Ray and Winthorp go to a stock broker and essentially borrow some stock in F.C.O.J. using the money Penelope and Coleman gave them for collateral. For the sake of argument, let’s say they borrowed 10,000 shares. They can do what they want with it, but by some agreed upon time, they have to return those 10,000 shares to the broker. They decided to sell this borrowed stock at $142, grossing them $1.42mil. 3. The real crop report comes out. Everyone learns that the winter did not effect the supply of oranges, there will be no shortage of F.C.O.J, and so the price will not go up. In fact, it starts to drop, a lot. 4. Billy Ray and Winthorp still have to return the 10,000 shares of F.C.O.J. to the broker. They buy them back for about $29, costing them $290,000. 5. They made $1.17mil. Not yacht or personal island money, but my guess is they know a few people who could put that money to work for them in the stock market. My own personal mind bend, how in the hell does “y-a-c-h-t” sound like yot. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/59 "2005-06-29T05:17:52Z")
> [@TripingJimiThing](#): > > As best I understand, Billy Ray and Winthorp were selling short. It plays out like this. > > 1. They steal the crop report and replace it with a fake one that says something like, “The harsh winter did effect the supply of oranges.” Fewer oranges --\> a shortage of F.C.O.J. --\> a rise in F.C.O.J. price. So, since the Dukes think there’s a shortage, and the price will rise after the crop report comes out, they start to buy right away. Other people see them do this, and start buying. All this pushes the price artificially high (think Tickle Me Elmo, and Cabbage Patch; mass hysteria causes people to spend $2000 on a toy). > 2. Meanwhile, Billy Ray and Winthorp go to a stock broker and essentially borrow some stock in F.C.O.J. using the money Penelope and Coleman gave them for collateral. For the sake of argument, let’s say they borrowed 10,000 shares. They can do what they want with it, but by some agreed upon time, they have to return those 10,000 shares to the broker. They decided to sell this borrowed stock at $142, grossing them $1.42mil. > 3. The real crop report comes out. Everyone learns that the winter did not effect the supply of oranges, there will be no shortage of F.C.O.J, and so the price will not go up. In fact, it starts to drop, a lot. > 4. Billy Ray and Winthorp still have to return the 10,000 shares of F.C.O.J. to the broker. They buy them back for about $29, costing them $290,000. > 5. They made $1.17mil. Not yacht or personal island money, but my guess is they know a few people who could put that money to work for them in the stock market. > > My own personal mind bend, how in the hell does “y-a-c-h-t” sound like yot. And how did all that result in the Duke brothers bankruptcy? Because their man failed to sell off the OJ stocks that he bought? (I seem to recall he was crushed by the other brokers) Sorry if this sounds like a CS question…but I’m another one who never understood thet stock market scene in _Trading Places_ ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_MuD\_PhuD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Elmer\_MuD\_PhuD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_MuD_PhuD)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129/60 "2005-06-29T07:46:34Z")
> [@DataZak](#): > > And how did all that result in the Duke brothers bankruptcy? Because their man failed to sell off the OJ stocks that he bought? (I seem to recall he was crushed by the other brokers) [This](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=174138&highlight=Trading+places) explains it better than I did, or could for that matter. I should have searched earlier. But yes, you’re essentially right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-get-your-head-around/310129.md?page=4)