# Well-known obvious facts that a lot of people are ignorant of **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 28, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294 "2016-04-28T00:06:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/181 "2016-05-05T11:13:46Z")
As for the moon and sun being the same apparent size…because the moon’s distance from Earth changes slowly over time, this is only true for the approx. five-million-year period during which sentient beings (humans) happened to evolve. Some have posited that this is too coincidental to be a coincidence…that, somehow, Australopithecines were inspired to get smart when they beheld a total eclipse (or just beheld two objects of similar size moving around in the sky). No plausible causal link has been offered, but it is a funny idea. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/182 "2016-05-05T11:14:12Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > I don’t believe that last part is true. Certainly the store does not have the right to use force on anyone for anything. Any more than I can invite someone into my house and then attack them. > > What the store can and in fact does do is call the police. The police can instruct the person to leave and use force if necessary to compel the person to obey the officer’s lawful commands. I don’t believe, IANAL, that the police can use force just because the person is not where they should be. The can use force to enforce their lawful order to move. I once had a person at work who was arguing loudly and refused to leave. I told her I did not want to do business with her and told her to leave. She refused, so I called the police. They arrived and told her she would be arrested and charged with defiant trespass if she did not leave immediately. Instead of leaving she slapped the state cop across the face. I never saw anyone move so quickly and efficiently. In the blink of an eye he had her face down on the counter and handcuffed. This was Pennsylvania, circa 2005. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/183 "2016-05-05T13:34:11Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > So what do you do when someone shows you a whole display of items all marked consistently with your stickers, but that comes up as a different price? Does your place do the courtesy of selling it at the marked price? > [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > There’s a difference between “do the courtesy of” and “legally have to”. > > Do the courtesy of is: These are supposed to be 5 bucks…It’s ringing at 9…See this sign says so…oops! it’s the wrong sale! here it is for 5 > > Legally have to: This TV is supposed to be $500…it’s ringing at $2000…too bad, the slip says 500 give it to me now > [@gigi](#): > > Right, I’m just hoping that the store stands by their label when it’s clear it’s not someone trying to defraud them. If enough places don’t, there oughta be a law! > [@rbroome](#): > > I don’t believe that last part is true. Certainly the store does not have the right to use force on anyone for anything. Any more than I can invite someone into my house and then attack them. > > What the store can and in fact does do is call the police. The police can instruct the person to leave and use force if necessary to compel the person to obey the officer’s lawful commands. I don’t believe, IANAL, that the police can use force just because the person is not where they should be. The can use force to enforce their lawful order to move. I know that in New Jersey, the sticker price is not a legally binding contract. If the bar code rings up for more than the sticker, I call the manager, who goes to the aisle and checks the other stickers. If there’s more than one, we do the customer the courtesy of selling it for the stated price. Then we find out who did the stickers and make them remove the wrong ones and put on the right price. A lovely way to spend an hour. If there’s just the one the customer has, we refuse to sell it for the lower price. If the customer gets nasty, we cancel the order and tell them to please leave and don’t come back. The only time we had two customers get into a dispute in the store, we had the biggest guy (6’4" Dave) to tell them to please leave and take it outside. They did, and someone called the cops. Whenever children start fighting, or any other annoying activity in the store, I tell them “We do not allow fighting (or whatever) in the store. Please stop or go outside.” When one boy got really allowed because his parents would not buy him a toy he wanted, he sat on the floor and refused to stand up. After his parents told him for two minutes to stand up and get moving, I said “You cannot sit on the floor in the store. You have to stand up.” Boy immediately stood up, his mother went purple stifling her laughter, and the father mouthed “Thank you.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/184 "2016-05-05T15:59:15Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > As for the moon and sun being the same apparent size…because the moon’s distance from Earth changes slowly over time, this is only true for the approx. five-million-year period during which sentient beings (humans) happened to evolve. > > Some have posited that this is too coincidental to be a coincidence…that, somehow, Australopithecines were inspired to get smart when they beheld a total eclipse (or just beheld two objects of similar size moving around in the sky). > > No plausible causal link has been offered, but it is a funny idea. You can say that again! ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/185 "2016-05-06T00:17:23Z")
There is no law, federal nor in any state. that requires a dispensing optician to see a Rx less than one year old. They will tell you there is such a law, but there is not. It is simply internal policy by an optician who, by odd coincidence, happens to have an optometrist conveniently standing by in the back room. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/186 "2016-05-06T00:47:45Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There is no law, federal nor in any state. that requires a dispensing optician to see a Rx less than one year old. They will tell you there is such a law, but there is not. It is simply internal policy by an optician who, by odd coincidence, happens to have an optometrist conveniently standing by in the back room. For glasses, sure. You can buy from Zenni Optical or their competitors and put in whatever numbers you want, buy some comical coke-bottle lenses if you want. For contact lenses, there is some leeway by state, but [more stringent requirements](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/contact-lens-rule-guide-prescribers-sellers). The optometrists also can’t make you buy from only “their” opticians. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/187 "2016-05-06T02:27:58Z")
Retail" According to a Bus. Law professor, an advertisement is NOT an “offer to sell” it is a “solicitation of an offer to buy”. Hence the “Brand New Car for $5.00!” does not mean you can demand a car for $5.00, it means you are asked to make that offer. I do not have to agree to sell at the offered price. I suspect it is a law which requires the “only one at this price” verbiage in tiny print. So: that price sticker is not an offer to sell at that price. It is asking you to offer to buy it at that price. An offer I can refuse. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/188 "2016-05-06T02:53:20Z")
Using a space heater near the thermostat in the summer will make the air conditioner run near-continuously. I had an administrative assistant who didn’t understand this concept. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/189 "2016-05-06T05:18:48Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > We call it a lunar eclipse when the sun seen from the moon is eclipsed by the earth and we see the moon in the earth’s shadow. The latter occurs much more often, because the earth is a much larger body to get in the way of the view of the sun. Actually, no. There are about as many lunar eclipses as solar, but because lunar eclipses can be seen over almost the whole night side of the Earth, they’re visible to many more people. Catalog of solar eclipses [NASA - Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses](http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEcat5/SEcatalog.html) Catalog of lunar eclipses [NASA - Index to Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses](http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LEcatalog.html) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/190 "2016-05-06T05:19:40Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Using a space heater near the thermostat in the summer will make the air conditioner run near-continuously. > > I had an administrative assistant who didn’t understand this concept. You have to keep a summer thermostat set lower in a humid climate than in a dry climate, because the principal value of the AC is to defeat the humidity, not the temperature. But the thermostat regulates according to registered temperature only and ignores the presence of humidity in the air. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/191 "2016-05-06T08:18:39Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Turning the thermostat higher (or lower) than the desired temperature does not cause the house to heat up (or cool down) any more quickly. After 23 years, my wife still doesn’t understand that it’s not like turning up the stove burner. I only have one thermostat. My bedroom gets warm faster if I turn the heat up. The bedroom gets warm quieker if the thermostat is set to raise the temperatue by 6C than if it’s set to raise the temperatue by 3C. Actually, the same is true of most of the house. Most of the 18C house gets warm quicker if the area around thermostat is at 25C than it does if the area around the thermostat is at 20C. The temperature is more even, and evens out more quickly, if I don’t let it turn the fans off when it turns the fire off, but my wife hates that. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/192 "2016-05-06T08:23:30Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > According to science history as I’ve learned it, Galileo actually did some version of this experiment, but not from the top of any straight, leaning, or other tower. > > He worked in his laboratory (home?) and rolled balls down an inclined wooden surface with a trough cut in it for the ball to roll in. He noticed that the time it took to roll the ball down the trough wasn’t affected by the weight of the ball. So it wasn’t exactly just a thought experiment either. But he didn’t do that experiment either. Or at least, if he did, he choose to use fake numbers in his published data :). Because the numbers aren’t correct: if you roll real balls, the numbers have to be corrected for rotational momentum, and his recorded numbers are only correct if the balls magically have linear moementum without having any rotational momentum. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/193 "2016-05-06T08:28:45Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > I was working in a trailer manufacturing plant doing air line assembly (brakes and bags) when they were just switching from ‘need air pressure to keep on’-type brakes to the ‘need air pressure to keep off’-type brakes. Always had that on trains. On the buses we used to use at school, the same resevoir was used for opening and closing the door. If you kept playing with the door, the air brakes failed off. But they had seperate park brakes as well. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/194 "2016-05-06T16:58:00Z")
Can someone explain what exactly is so shocking about the fact that pineapples don’t grow on trees, to the extent that some people, upon being told this, refuse to believe it? I mean, I don’t think it’s intuitively obvious that they _don’t_, but all different kinds of fruits grow on all different kinds of plants, so why do people think the pineapple plant “should” be a tree? I don’t recall when I found out what a pineapple plant looks like, but I don’t recall being shocked or incredulous at the time. I probably just thought “so that’s what a pineapple plant looks like. That’s interesting.” ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/195 "2016-05-06T17:22:35Z")
I learned that pineapples did not grow on trees in the 2nd or 3rd grade (I don’t remember which). It was in our spelling book. Each week, we had a story that had different words highlighted in it that were that week’s spelling words. One of the weeks’ story was about the pineapple plantations in Hawaii. They had pictures. That is also how I learned about the Smoke Jumpers. Didn’t everyone (at least in the US) use these spelling books? See what happens with common core? People start thinking pineapples grow on trees. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/196 "2016-05-06T18:57:35Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Can someone explain what exactly is so shocking about the fact that pineapples don’t grow on trees, to the extent that some people, upon being told this, refuse to believe it? I mean, I don’t think it’s intuitively obvious that they _don’t_, but all different kinds of fruits grow on all different kinds of plants, so why do people think the pineapple plant “should” be a tree? I don’t recall when I found out what a pineapple plant looks like, but I don’t recall being shocked or incredulous at the time. I probably just thought “so that’s what a pineapple plant looks like. That’s interesting.” I don’t think anybody is shocked by it. Mildly surprised isn’t even a good description. We need a word that means " having an only slightly interested “you don’t say!” reaction to a bit of trivia before moving on to something of greater interest" to describe how people actuall feel when they find out the truth about pineapples. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/197 "2016-05-06T19:42:26Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Can someone explain what exactly is so shocking about the fact that pineapples don’t grow on trees, to the extent that some people, upon being told this, refuse to believe it? I mean, I don’t think it’s intuitively obvious that they _don’t_, but all different kinds of fruits grow on all different kinds of plants, so why do people think the pineapple plant “should” be a tree? I don’t recall when I found out what a pineapple plant looks like, but I don’t recall being shocked or incredulous at the time. I probably just thought “so that’s what a pineapple plant looks like. That’s interesting.” I agree, but I suspect some is linguistic: pine (trees) + apple (trees) ≠ bromeliads ---
**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:** [May 6, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/198 "2016-05-06T21:20:59Z")
For that matter, road apples don’t grow on trees, either. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/199 "2016-05-06T21:23:40Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > The same side of the moon (pretty much) faces the earth all the time. Until satellites and manned spacecraft orbited the moon, no human had ever seen the “Dark Side” of the moon. I once pointed this out to an otherwise very intelligent person and he just laughed and didn’t believe it. WTF? And, it’s not “Dark” since it gets sunlight half the time. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294/200 "2016-05-06T21:28:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Dr. Oz is irrelevant. The ingredients lists themselves say that there’s sand in there. It’s usually listed as “silicon dioxide (to ensure free flowing)”. Silicon dioxide is not “sand”. Yes, some sand is mostly made up of silicon dioxide, but saying Silicon dioxide = “sand” is like saying Water= snow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-obvious-facts-that-a-lot-of-people-are-ignorant-of/753294.md?page=11)