# What can the SDMB agree on? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 4, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459 "2015-12-04T23:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/61 "2015-12-06T18:13:18Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Bailey! This ^ times 10. Exploding powerful fireworks in a puppy’s anus for fun is not a nice thing to do . ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/62 "2015-12-06T21:33:42Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Bill Clinton was the best President in recent decades? > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Bush I Washington (I consider late 18th century “recent decades”, relative to the rule of, say, Augustus Caesar…who would have been a fine US president, too). ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/63 "2015-12-06T22:17:17Z")
This question has come up before. I believe all of the Dope agreed Bugs Bunny is funnier than Mickey Mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/64 "2015-12-06T22:19:30Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > “Things happen for _reasons_, and we can understand those reasons. We may be forced to bow to the Unknown, but never to the Unknowable.” Uh. Religious people still show up and post here. Not even counting the Woo peddlers. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/65 "2015-12-06T23:25:56Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > This question has come up before. > > I believe all of the Dope agreed Bugs Bunny is funnier than Mickey Mouse. Yeah, but Daffy Duck mops the floor with both those varmints. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/66 "2015-12-07T00:09:48Z")
I think everyone on the dope can agree we’re not like _those_ people. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/67 "2015-12-07T00:17:03Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Washington (I consider late 18th century “recent decades”, relative to the rule of, say, Augustus Caesar…who would have been a fine US president, too). Now I’m picturing Bush the Younger banging his head against the walls of the White House, crying, “Dick Cheney, give me back my pallets of U.S. currency!” That attempted joke aside, say what you will about U.S. presidents, they do not generally win their way to power by leaving behind a trail of the bodies of their political opponents. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/68 "2015-12-07T02:01:29Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > I think everyone on the dope can agree we’re not like _those_ people. Except those of us who are \*those \*people. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/69 "2015-12-07T02:07:45Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Except those of us who are \*those \*people. Yeah, but even you guys aren’t _them_. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/70 "2015-12-07T02:33:04Z")
Obviously the vast majority of facts about the world are either agreed on by everyone, or have a very large consensus. We all agree humans usually are born with two hands and that the gravitational force decreases with square of distance. However, those things are not interesting to discuss. Pretty much by definition everything that shows up in GD is going to involve disagreement, and most things in IMHO (the exception only being where the OP doesn’t know how common a viewpoint is). If you’re asking what do we agree on here that humans in general do not (or are ignorant of), then I guess there are examples in GQ where someone got a definitive, authoritative answer, and then it becomes shared knowledge of the SDMB. First example that comes to mind is “Retrograde orbits are unstable, unless the satellite is small and very far away”. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/71 "2015-12-07T03:27:16Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Washington (I consider late 18th century “recent decades”, relative to the rule of, say, Augustus Caesar…who would have been a fine US president, too). As played by Brian Blessed, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/72 "2015-12-07T03:58:56Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Hopefully (though I’m not at all certain), at least the following: > > The best estimate for the age of the universe is between 13 and 15 billion years old or so. > > The Earth is an oblate spheroid that revolves around the Sun. > > The Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old. > > Life arose sometime between 3 and 4 billion years ago or so. > > The best explanation for the diversity of life on Earth is evolution from common descent. I’m a creationist, so scratch the last one on “what everyone agrees on”. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/73 "2015-12-07T04:02:11Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Bill Clinton was the best President in recent decades? Disagree. Reagan if you go back that far, if not then the senior Bush. After Bush I they’ve all been so bad I’d have a hard time picking the “best”. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2015, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/74 "2015-12-07T05:43:30Z")
I think we all agree that correlation does not imply causation. As the previous two posts demonstrate. (If we can pretend for a moment that anecdote does equal data, we would still have trouble determining the direction of causation, if any. More likely, we would discover a common third causative factor that leads to both “creationism” and “thinking Reagan and Bush I were clearly the only worthy US presidents in the past 30-plus years.”) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/75 "2015-12-07T06:01:32Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I think we all agree that correlation does not imply causation. . . . In the general case, yes… I don’t suppose anyone here thinks the rooster’s crow causes the sun to rise. But it is worth noting that a specific kind of correlation – where there is only one free variable – is the definition of causation. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/76 "2015-12-07T06:54:55Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > relative to the rule of, say, Augustus Caesar…who would have been a fine US president, too). What? You do realise that Augustus is most famous for destroying the Roman Republic by gradually eroding the power of the senate and eventually declaring himself Dictator for life and later Emperor? ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/77 "2015-12-07T10:09:05Z")
[**Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?**](https://youtu.be/aQtU_fYe6gE) I think we all agree on the answer to that question. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/78 "2015-12-07T12:21:54Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > What? You do realise that Augustus is most famous for destroying the Roman Republic by gradually eroding the power of the senate and eventually declaring himself Dictator for life and later Emperor? Yes. Your point? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/79 "2015-12-07T12:50:08Z")
The Princess Bride is one of the top five films ever made. Forum avatars are overrated. Unity in thought, word and deed is an excellent goal for an individual but any attempt to impose it on a society leads to stagnation and totalitarianism. The War of Jenkin’s Ear is an underappreciated turning point in the economic development of European culture. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459/80 "2015-12-07T15:57:46Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > This question has come up before. > > I believe all of the Dope agreed Bugs Bunny is funnier than Mickey Mouse. I could get behind this. I think that there are things that the SDMB has a consensus on, if not total agreement, while other things bring out rancorous contention every time they come up. 9/11 Truther threads generally have the vast majority of posters agreeing that it’s nuts…the same with most CTs, though some of the loopier economic or political CTs from the left or right winger types get a bit more traction than others. Still, I’d say on woo or CT related topics you get as close to a SDMB consensus as you are likely to get, with perhaps 80-90% of posters (even higher on some topics) in general agreement. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-the-sdmb-agree-on/739459.md?page=5)