# What do you STILL not understand? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2001, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208 "2001-07-04T14:12:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![hardygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/81 "2001-07-08T17:06:58Z")
I’ll try to explain professional wrestling. This is,of course,IMHO. 🙂 Professional wrestling is the male version of a soap opera. The matches are the parts of the storylines. There are usually backstage vignettes as well. As for the matches themselves,the end results are planned out beforehand. The fights are choregraphed. However, a good percentage of the hits they take are real. The punches may be pulled but the chairshots to the back are real. It all depends on the individual performer and his capacities. A good example of that would be Mick Foley. If you can rent one of his tapes, do so. ---
**Author:** ![girlwithwings](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@girlwithwings](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/girlwithwings)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/82 "2001-07-08T18:01:39Z")
logarisms… what are they?? why do they exist? and why do they pop up every so often in my math classes, screw me over for a month, and leave me just 2 points short of an A \*\*every time \*\*?? chemistry… just forget it. i’m lucky i had genius chemists for lab partners throughout high school. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/83 "2001-07-08T18:46:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > \*\*Goofy is a dog. IIRC correctly his original name was Dippy Dawg. Euty or Esprix, care to back that up and/or correct it? > > Things I don’t understand: > How Hootie and the Blowfish were ever popular. > > Why do I get lint in my bellybutton? > > \*\* Jeez, don’t you guys even read Cecil’s columns? He answered the first question [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_077.html) and the second one [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_080.html). Before anyone starts asking about pigeons bobbing their heads, check the archives. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/84 "2001-07-08T19:22:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by woodstockbirdybird \* > He answered the first question [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_077.html) and the second one [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_080.html). OK, everybody who clicked on that second link to find out how Hootie and the Blowfish got popular, raise your hands! :raises hand: ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/85 "2001-07-08T19:38:21Z")
What, you don’t see the connection between Hootie & the Blowfish and bellybutton lint? ---
**Author:** ![BlueMoonofKentucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8dc957/32.png) [@BlueMoonofKentucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMoonofKentucky)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/86 "2001-07-08T22:26:19Z")
Mountains, or rather the forces that create 'em! Now, I understand plate tectonics and subduction and upheaval et al. I can even understand that my beloved Appalachians were once connected to African continent, now half a world away. But to stand and look at the structure of these mountains like the one down the road- 30ft thick rock strata that were once horizontal which are folded into a horseshoe 400ft high x 1000ft long just scrambles my mind and humbles my soul. It’s sedimentary, it’s coal, it’s brittle shale, and it’s _ **BENT** _ like taffy. I can look at it in wonder, for hours. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/87 "2001-07-08T23:21:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kinsey \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Shirley Ujest \* > > **Politics. ( I will never waste more than 15 minutes a year on trying to understand this ever changing subject. (0 percent of politics is deciding who to blame.)** > > HeeHee > I briefly dated a PolySci major in college, very briefly. > After I explained my idea for Presidential elections (whoever wants to be Preident just runs for it alone, no running mates; whoever gets the most votes is Prez, whoever gets the second-most votes is VP…makes perfect sense to me), he dropped me like a hot potato. > I wonder why? > \*\* Actually, the Constitution set it up that way originally. Then folks figured out that it wasn’t probably the smartest thing to have the loser just “a heartbeat away” from the prize, with a high motive to see that the winner had an “accident”. I’m sure some of our history majors can document the change… ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/88 "2001-07-10T01:32:11Z")
There’s the little things like how can someone who isn’t convinced the world owes him or her a living be a democrat, or why do so many people watch reality shows? The big ones are: Why do we have double constants in English? The mis in “mistake” sounds like word “miss”, and they’re spelled differently. Yes, I know we got words from other languages which the double constants sound different, but we have tinkered with the spellings so much that it seems odd that we’d honor them in this case. What causes traffic jams? If there’s an accident or construction, I can grasp that there is something in the road slowing down traffic as cars go around it. But there are traffic jams for no appearent reasons quite frequently, and not just near on-ramps. ---
**Author:** ![SteveinSpain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@SteveinSpain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveinSpain)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/89 "2001-07-10T10:13:35Z")
I don’t understand: professional sports. heavy metal. drinking hard booze. pot being illegal. British still in Gibralter. hurry-up & wait drivers. and, support of monarchies. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/90 "2001-07-10T11:33:24Z")
Calculus You know, integration/differentiation. I swear that the maths teacher must have called all the other kids aside the week before and told them _“Look, I’m going to pretend to explain something incomprehensible next week, why don’t you all pretend to understand and we’ll see that poor **Mangetout** squirm”_ ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/91 "2001-07-10T13:42:54Z")
Allergies. Why can something like shellfish or a simple peanut cause such a life-threatening reaction in some people, but have absolutely no effect on others? Why can hubby and I walk outside on a Spring day and he is fine, but within minutes, my nose is congested, my eyes are watering, I’m sneezing like crazy, wheezing like an asthmatic, and my throat is itching? ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/92 "2001-07-10T14:23:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by MaxTheVool \* > > **-the difference between current and voltage, and various related topics, such as why a squirrel can run along a power line without getting hurt, and why putting your hand on a huge-ass tesla coil makes your hair stand up, but doesn’t actually hurt you** > > Current is the actual movement of the electrons, measured in amperes. > Voltage is the potential difference between the positive and negative ends of the circuit. > > The squirrel does not get fried because it is not grounded. Two basic rules electricity follows: it wants to go to ground and it wants to take the path of least resistance. The squirrel has more resistance than the wire. The squirrel is also not a path to ground, so there’s no reason to go through it. > > I can’t answer the Tesla coil question. \*\* I think I can explain it. The current in the Tesla coil is incredibly low, however the voltage is **very** high. Because of the current, the electricity is not damaging, but the voltage is charging your hair. All the seperate hairs are getting the same charge (either negetive or positive, not sure which exactly) en just as two poles of the same charge on a magnete are repelling each other, so are the hairs on your head. That’s why they stick up and away from each other. Clear? ---
**Author:** ![Acco40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Acco40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acco40)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/93 "2001-07-10T14:35:37Z")
Still don’t get how the fed can keep cutting interest rates like that whenever they feel like it. I’m not complaining, but how low can they go? Down to zero? Someone has got to be losing money when they do that! No one has yet to adequately explain this concept to me without drowning me in hardcore econ theory. Just about anything manufactured amazes me. And how the hell do they make marbles with no seams or imperfections… perfectly round… a little TOO round if you ask me… clearly the work of superior beings. ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/94 "2001-07-10T14:48:14Z")
Personally, I can’t grasp the concept of Death. I know it is inevitable and everything deteriorates, etc. But I can’t grasp the fact that a few years from now, I will be no more… That everything will continue without me and that I just stop to exist. This is VERY hard to fathom. I keep wonderig what it would be like, but then realise that that is nonsense because I wouldn’t be there to contemplate it anymore. Anyway, it a bit freightening, but at the same time I’m a bit excited to find out if there is _really_ nothing to find or if there is something after afterall… ---
**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:** [July 10, 2001, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/95 "2001-07-10T14:51:48Z")
The day of an election, there are all these people at street corners and on the highway overpasses waving signs with candidates’ names on them. They think that people will vote for their candidate who otherwise would not. Now, are these people right, or are they morons? There’s not a whole lot of middle ground here. You don’t take a morning off work to go stand on an overpass and wave a sign because you think, “Well, we might get another vote or two, but that’s about it.” If I was gonna do that, I’d have to know that a couple thousand people would look at that sign and say, “Huh. Election day. I think I’ll vote… for THAT person.” When did the ability to get people to stand in the rain and wave signs with your name on it one of the criteria for a competent leader? Did it show up in Clinton’s impeachment hearings? “But Senator, people all over the country waved signs! We have pictures!” ---
**Author:** ![False\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee7513/32.png) [@False\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/False_God)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/96 "2001-07-10T15:19:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neptune\_1984 \* > \*\*How Buffalo Bill got his name in _Silence of the Lambs_. Clarice says something like it was because he used to skin his humps, but I do not get that at all. I’ve been ignorant about this for, like a year. I have some ideas, but I doubt if they are good ones. \*\* Like Buffalo Bill Cody, the ostensible buffalo hunter and Western showman. Buffalo have humps,and to hump something is to have sex with it or carry it. Buffalo Bill (Jame Gumb) skinned young women(some of whom he’d had sex with) to make clothing. Buffalo Bill (Cody) skinned buffalo (and the protuberance aft of their heads, fore of the buttocks-the “hump”)to make, well, things from buffalo hide. And yes, I know the taxonomic versus common for buffalo versus bison. The things standing on the nickel and roaming Yellowstone are bison, Cape and water buffalos are buffalos. I just don’t think he’d have done as well with the name “Bison Bill”. What don’t I get? Actually, I can figure most of this stuff out. If I don’t understand it, I do a google or go to the “How Stuff Works” webpage and look it up. Of course, I have friends who are, variously, doctors, chemists, computer scientists and all-around geeks, so I can always ask them. Did I mention both my brother and dad are engineers? I got disourses on thermodynamics when I was five. I think it may have warped me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/97 "2001-07-10T19:43:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by D Marie \* > \*\* > I don’t understand car racing as a sport. I understand that is exciting to watch, that people like to follow particular drivers, etc. I understand that driving the cars, navigating, strategy, etc., requires a lot of skill. Can someone explain to me the _athletic_ ability that is required? Endurance? \*\* It’s not a sport (IMHO). It is, to quote George Carlin, “a bunch of redneck jerkoffs driving 500 miles in a circle.” I understand the skill. But I agree with you. There’s no athletic ability in being able to sit for long periods of time. If NASCAR wants to make the races more entertaining, then whoever comes in last during the time trial should have to go the _other_ direction. Let him go clockwise. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/98 "2001-07-10T20:34:45Z")
Statistical physics. I got a C- in the last course I took, and that was just flat-out charity. I did my homework with a Magic 8-Ball and an Ouija board. “Why is this multiplied by a factor of four?” “Because, there are two spatial degrees of freedom, plus one rotational degree of freedom, and the factor out front is 2n-2.” “But _why_?” “Well, just, just, just 'cause. If you just _think_ about it, it’s obvious.” Podkayne breaks down, sobbing. ---
**Author:** ![jmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmonster)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/99 "2001-07-10T22:00:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MaxTheVool \* > -Why so few people listen to showtunes Too wordy. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > And I also don’t understand how people of religious persuasions can be so blind to some obvious truths, like, for example, absolute unequivocal facts. Some unequivocal facts challenge their beliefs, and without their beliefs, they don’t feel like they’re a special part of the universe. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DKW \* > Beavis and Butthead, and the people who actually liked it. Not once in its entire run did I ever find anything even remotely enjoyable about it. Basically, I thought it was an incredibly crude shoestring-budget hack attempt by MTV to “cash in” on the primetime animation “craze”. They really are funny. Don’t pay attention to the animation, it’s all in the dialog. Especially the music video segments, which are a lot like MST3K. > [@](#): > > The entire goddam American public education system. How violent assaults and open disrespect for any and all rules are considered normal is beyond me. Yeah, how come I used to get beat up all the time, and now that I’m older, I can get jailed and/or sued for touching someone? > [@](#): > > Why anyone who claims to read Playboy for the articles is subject to endless ridicule. For the record, yes, I’ve read a few issues, and there _are_ articles in there. Heck, there’d better be for how much they charge per issue. Note that I never once read Playboy JUST for the articles. I mean, c’mon, you think I’m _stupid_ or something? It’s a joke. It’s funny because you’re obviously looking at the naked women and your excuse is so pathetic. But, some of the articles are actually very good, and some of the extra-fake women don’t do it for me at all. > [@](#): > > Daylight Savings Time. Exactly _how_ does this save money or make things easier for schoolkids? Most people have to be awake and doing stuff for a specific period of time every day (e.g., 7am to 11pm). So, if the sun rises at 4:30am and sets at 7:30pm, there’s all this sunlight that nobody sees in the morning and all this darkness that you have to use lightbulbs to combat at night. If you move an hour of sun from the morning to the evening, you aren’t using as much electricity. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arden Ranger \* > Andy Warhol. > > Did he do _anything_ origional or did he just color in the lines of other people’s stuff and paint soup label portraits? It seems simple now, but nobody had thought of it yet. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bwk \* > Why men adore breasts so much, if you had two lumps of fat like that anywhere else, they would be repulsed. I don’t know either, but I sure do like 'em! > [@](#): > > How anybody ever lived in the southern US before air conditioning. Use a hand-fan. Drink lemonade. Wear linen. Mop brow with a handkerchief. > [@](#): > > Don’t even get me started on why anyone cares about space travel. There might be cool stuff out there. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by girlwithwings \* > logarisms… > > what are they?? why do they exist? and why do they pop up every so often in my math classes, screw me over for a month, and leave me just 2 points short of an A \*\*every time \*\*?? Logarithms? Try multiplying big numbers without a calculator. Try making sense of natural population growth or other feedback systems. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfkin477 \* > What causes traffic jams? If there’s an accident or construction, I can grasp that there is something in the road slowing down traffic as cars go around it. But there are traffic jams for no appearent reasons quite frequently, and not just near on-ramps. Brake-light scare and other bad driving habits. If you see brake lights ahead of you, let off the gas. Don’t hit the brakes until you actually need to slow down a lot. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \* > The day of an election, there are all these people at street corners and on the highway overpasses waving signs with candidates’ names on them. They think that people will vote for their candidate who otherwise would not. Were you **here** in November? Great gobs of people had no freaking clue who they were going to vote for. I’d rather they just stay home. Or vote for Nader. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208/100 "2001-07-10T22:01:35Z")
In answer to the question about how people of religious persuasions can maintain their disbelief of “absolute unequivocal FACTS” - I only need to quote **biobrat** ’s reference to "class on the first day… and the Professor says:“I hope none of you have taken Classical Mechanics because it all breaks down on this level.” Everything breaks down on some level. It just does. The reason “absolute unequivocal facts” break down before those who are dealing with mystical and eternal realities is because they, rightly or wrongly, believe themselves to be standing on firmer ground than you. And in answer to how many roads a man can walk down before he can call himself a man, the answer is 17. The problem is it has to be 17 _specific_ roads, and they’re scattered across the world, so it’s kinda tricky. Curiously, one of them is Randolph Road in Glasgow, not two miles from my house. Another is somewhere in New Zealand; I believe there are only a couple in the Americas; a few in Africa, including a major highway (I guess the manliness comes from dodging trucks) and an almost-vanished bush track. There are also some ordinary streets in Russia, and Asia. There must be more. It’s also an odd situation because you have to walk DOWN the roads - if you walk back up them, you cancel them out. So you have to start again from that road, and do the others again, in the right order. And they’re all ROADs. Not Boulevards, Avenues or Crescents. Still, there you have it. Next time someone asks you that question, answer abruptly “Seventeen” and change the subject. Ignore him studiously when he asks why. When the Dylan song comes on, just turn it off as soon as he sings that line and flatly say “Seventeen” - or if you’re a fan, at least repeatedly answer “Seventeen” while the song plays. Oh, hang on. I’ve just realised this is all crap. Sorry. (goes to prepare a microwave noodle meal for one) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-still-not-understand/71208.md?page=6)