# Things You Suspect But Could Never Prove **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 16, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177 "2010-02-16T06:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FrustratedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@FrustratedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrustratedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/1 "2010-02-16T06:09:00Z")
No one has ever learned to speak a foreign language or play an instrument via a book. People can’t learn to skate or swim if they’re past a certain age. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/2 "2010-02-16T06:59:08Z")
Everyone else is either a robot or aliens or dead and I’m the only real person in the world. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/3 "2010-02-16T07:30:23Z")
This book might interest you: [**What We Believe but Cannot Prove: Today’s Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty**](http://www.amazon.com/What-Believe-but-Cannot-Prove/dp/0060841818) Great read. > [@](#): > > The title’s question was posed on [Edge.org](http://Edge.org) (an online intellectual clearing house), challenging more than 100 intellectuals of every stripe—from Richard Dawkins to Ian McEwan—to confess the personal theories they cannot demonstrate with certainty. The results, gathered by literary agent and editor Brockman, is a stimulating collection of micro-essays (mainly by scientists) divulging many of today’s big unanswered questions reaching across the plane of human existence. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/4 "2010-02-16T07:43:36Z")
Every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes. There are an infinite number of pairs of twin primes. Every Collatz sequence eventually reaches the 4,2,1 cycle. Wait, is that not what the OP is looking for? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/5 "2010-02-16T08:56:50Z")
This is more “consider quite plausible” than flat out believe, but: There’s some sort of “police” spacecraft robot(s) in the solar system, quietly watching to make sure that nothing more advanced than us comes along and gobbles up our solar system; and makes sure we don’t send out craft to do the same to others when we become advanced enough. In fact, this theory holds that such machines are in most or all systems; if we aren’t the first technological species in the galaxy, something must be keeping some ambitious species from colonizing/exploiting everything in sight. One possibility is that the first species to gain the power to do so was of a preservationist, peacekeeping frame of mind and imposed order. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/6 "2010-02-16T10:28:52Z")
The hour hand should be the long one and the minute hand should be the short one, and we’ve all been getting it wrong all this time. And now it’s too late to change it. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/7 "2010-02-16T10:31:51Z")
American Idol is rigged. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/8 "2010-02-16T10:43:23Z")
That the US knows _roughly_ where Osama bin Laden is; but not pinpointed enough to get him without a) using a nuke, or b) launching a massive conventional military assault; which both might not work, and, assuming he’s in (a granted remote, hard to control section of) Pakistani territory, lead to what the scriptures call a “bigass shitfight” politically and militarily. Which _also_ might result in nukes getting tossed around. …oh, and that if you can kill a ghost, the dead person the ghost was will come back to life. There are, understandably, a number of problems with putting this to a test. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/9 "2010-02-16T10:57:58Z")
That human intelligence, ultimately, can understand anything that is understandable at all. That the universe as a whole is understandable. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/10 "2010-02-16T10:58:18Z")
Osama Bin Laden is dead but it is in the interests of a number of organisations to allow the public to believe he is alive. ---
**Author:** ![yastobaal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/258eb7/32.png) [@yastobaal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yastobaal)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/11 "2010-02-16T11:02:07Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > This is more “consider quite plausible” than flat out believe, but: > > There’s some sort of “police” spacecraft robot(s) in the solar system, quietly watching to make sure that nothing more advanced than us comes along and gobbles up our solar system; and makes sure we don’t send out craft to do the same to others when we become advanced enough. In fact, this theory holds that such machines are in most or all systems; if we aren’t the first technological species in the galaxy, something must be keeping some ambitious species from colonizing/exploiting everything in sight. One possibility is that the first species to gain the power to do so was of a preservationist, peacekeeping frame of mind and imposed order. Thanks for blowing my mind. Though I am slightly imaging the fatter and older aliens being given the backwater places like our solar system and hiding behind advertisments to catch a few zed’s ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/12 "2010-02-16T11:20:07Z")
Bush didn’t choke on a pretzel. He and Cheney had a fistfight. Both had facial bruises at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/13 "2010-02-16T11:40:39Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Bush didn’t choke on a pretzel. He and Cheney had a fistfight. Both had facial bruises at the same time. Huh, I hadn’t noticed that. I’ve subscribed to the theory that Bush’d gotten drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/14 "2010-02-16T11:48:25Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Huh, I hadn’t noticed that. I’ve subscribed to the theory that Bush’d gotten drunk. Cheney, who had a bruised lip, said that his dog had jumped up and bumped him in the face. It even made [SNL News Update](http://snltranscripts.jt.org/01/01lupdate.phtml): > [@](#): > > Tina Fey: Dick Cheney appeared at his birthday party Wednesday with a bruised lip, after one of his dogs bumped into his mouth while playing. Leading many to ask, “What is up with this administration?!” Cheney’s got a bruised lip, Bush has a huge scrape on his face, Ashcroft has burn marks all over. Tell the truth - do you guys have a Fight Club? I think there’s a White House Fight Club! > > Jimmy Fallon: Tina, you know the first rule of White House Fight Club. > > Tina Fey: I know - Don’t talk about White House Fight Club. > > Jimmy Fallon: Yeah. [punches Tina in the face] ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/15 "2010-02-16T12:32:23Z")
> [@FrustratedIdiot](#): > > No one has ever learned to speak a foreign language or play an instrument via a book. I started learning the guitar last summer. I took a few group lessons to start, and played a different instrument in high school, but I’ve done most of it from a book. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > Everyone else is either a robot… I’m not. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/16 "2010-02-16T12:59:49Z")
Bush was on a bender when Katrina hit Rush Limbaugh wears women’s underwear The price of gas is determined by throwing a dart or spinning a wheel Butchers sell some of their meat at a higher grade than what the USDA stamp says Nobody truly likes steak tartar or caviar or champagne The low water toilets actually use more water because you have to flush them so many times ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/17 "2010-02-16T13:52:10Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > That human intelligence, ultimately, can understand anything that is understandable at all. > > That the universe as a whole is understandable. I agree with these. Plus . . . I believe the universe is absolutely teeming with intelligent life. I also believe that humanity will prevail and flourish; we are no closer to self-annihilation than we were 50 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/18 "2010-02-16T14:16:23Z")
Some snowflakes are alike. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/19 "2010-02-16T14:39:16Z")
Honesty is the best policy. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177/20 "2010-02-16T14:52:00Z")
Since agencies have first started keeping fingerprint records, some fingerprints have been found to be alike. * * * Information listed on threads requesting innocuous poster information does get compiled into a database by someone off-board somewhere to first identify the real names of the posters, find out their employers, list their political, religious, and orientation beliefs as well as to isolate individual weaknesses for possible exploitation/blackmail later on. Oh wait, thats just the paranoia kickin’ in… 😉 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-suspect-but-could-never-prove/529177.md?page=2)