# Truly mundane things you have learned recently **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273 "2007-02-07T21:48:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/21 "2007-02-09T02:22:46Z")
[QUOTE=Dooku] I just figured out, **last night** , the double-meaning of “Every kiss begins with Kay.” Then I did some work to make me feel smarter. [/QUOTE] Oh boy. You are so stupid. I have known that since…um…you posted this. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/22 "2007-02-09T02:31:16Z")
Belarus is the only country in Europe in which capital punishment is currently practiced. I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this similarly titled wiki page, but now its stuck in the shores of my memory forever. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/23 "2007-02-09T02:54:18Z")
I can’t quote the movie, but in Men in Black II, the one alien is told that what they seek has left the third planet. Then, after looking confused, the other says “Earth, you idiot!” Johnny Knoxville says “Third rock from the sun. I never got that til just now”. Pardon the inaccuracies please. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/24 "2007-02-09T05:33:40Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > > [@Dooku](#): > > > > I just figured out, last night, the double-meaning of “Every kiss begins with Kay.” Then I did some work to make me feel smarter. > > Oh boy. You are so stupid. I have known that since…um…you posted this. Yeah, me too. So put me down for this one on the thread list. . . recently, as in, since I opened this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/25 "2007-02-09T05:54:47Z")
I learned what a tamale is. I ate one. It was delicious! (it’s cornmeal rolled with choice of meat) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/26 "2007-02-09T06:40:04Z")
[QUOTE=Sunshine and Smiles] Belarus is the only country in Europe in which capital punishment is currently practiced.\ [/QUOTE] Until they get good at it? Hah! I slay me. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/27 "2007-02-09T07:32:27Z")
So does Belarus, if you’re not careful. ---
**Author:** ![Penchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Penchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penchan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/28 "2007-02-09T07:58:42Z")
I just learned (or realized) that what the guy is saying in the Dirty Jobs theme song is “dirty white boy”. That seems inappropriate for a Discovery Channel show. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/29 "2007-02-09T09:01:40Z")
A surprisingly large number of Etch a Sketch drawings involve [penises](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=407693). I don’t know why. Do you? ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/30 "2007-02-09T10:51:52Z")
I just learnt that the tower of Pisa is 55.863 meters tall. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/31 "2007-02-09T10:57:13Z")
[QUOTE=Sunshine and Smiles] Belarus is the only country in Europe in which capital punishment is currently practiced. [/QUOTE] Officially, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/32 "2007-02-09T11:26:27Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] You know how sliced apples turn brown if you let them sit too long? And they say you can put lemon juice on them to prevent browning? Well, I never liked that idea because then the apples taste sour.About a month ago, it occurred to me that I could just rinse the lemon juice off before serving the apples. [/QUOTE] It is the vitamin C in the lemonjuice, not the acid, that works as an “antioxidant” and prevents the apples from going brown. Vitamin C has little taste to begin with, and works well in low concentrations. So next time, you could just grind up a cheap vitamin C tablet, and dissolve it in a little water, and sprinkle it over your apples instead of lemon juice. That’s how commercially presliced apple or presliced mushrooms are kept from turning brown. Myself, I learned that Outlook has a neat feature for keeping up with to-do lists, but I yet have to find out how it works. ---
**Author:** ![cooky173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71c47a/32.png) [@cooky173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cooky173)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/33 "2007-02-09T12:22:53Z")
Cerulean and Topaz can both be blue, Viridian is a blue green and Crimson is red or purple (blue and red) This makes Tomb Raider Legend a very interestig game when you have to distinguish these colours on a small, old tv. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/34 "2007-02-09T12:46:27Z")
[QUOTE=HelloKitty] And here I was confusing Charlie Callas with [James Callis](http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0314979/BATTLESTARG_SCIFI_03045.JPG.html?path=pgallery&path_key=Callis,%20James&seq=5) ! :smack: [/QUOTE] Or for Eastern Suburbs winger [John Callus](http://rleague.com/db/article.php?id=20295), whom, I might add for a sense of completeness, was one of the physically ugliest men ever to play rugby league. I have no photo cite, and you can be thankful for that. mm ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/35 "2007-02-09T23:44:14Z")
To my list of folk remedies for hiccups, I have added _eating two green olives_ and _drinking a small amount of vinegar_. The Blackwater corporation employs roughly 48,000 mercenary soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the end of this year’s Super Bowl, Tony Dungy was doused with a barrel of ice water. Tarik Glenn intended to follow up with a barrel of Orange Gatorade, but it was bumped aside by the first barrel. The Gatorade doused an employee of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who was standing next to Coach Dungy. ---
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/36 "2007-02-10T00:24:38Z")
If you go into Windows Task Manager, the processes tab, and you click on CPU twice to organize them so you can see the top performers. It jumps all around, right, as new things kick in? If you press the Control button (ctrl), it freezes it. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/37 "2007-02-10T02:02:11Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] It is the vitamin C in the lemonjuice, not the acid, that works as an “antioxidant” and prevents the apples from going brown. [/QUOTE] Actually, vitamin C is an acid, ascorbic acid. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/38 "2007-02-10T03:08:13Z")
I’m known at my workplace as the word usage/grammar/punctuation Nazi. (“That’s not a podium, damn it. It’s a lectern!”) I just learned that “touchstone” does not mean, metaphorically, the thing that centers and grounds you when you touch it. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/39 "2007-02-10T03:26:43Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] To my list of folk remedies for hiccups, I have added _eating two green olives_ and _drinking a small amount of vinegar_ [/QUOTE] Do you already have ‘eat a teaspoonful of sugar’? Much less nasty than drinking vinegar :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273/40 "2007-02-10T04:30:02Z")
[QUOTE=merrily] If you go into Windows Task Manager, the processes tab, and you click on CPU twice to organize them so you can see the top performers. It jumps all around, right, as new things kick in? If you press the Control button (ctrl), it freezes it. [/QUOTE] Sweet. I’ve now learned this, too! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-mundane-things-you-have-learned-recently/391273.md?page=3)