# What things still amaze you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435 "2005-11-17T03:00:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/21 "2005-11-17T15:44:22Z")
**On the plus side:** A beautiful view always amazes me, even when I’ve seen it many times before. Yellowstone. Animals. I’m not a big animal lover, but when I watch them, they tend to do things that make me think “wow.” E.g., a bear going over a mountain, or the acrobatics of squirrels. What a cool person my wife is. **On the minus side:** How humanity just can’t get past wars, greed, and generally treating everything and anybody like crap. How much devastation and loss of life nature can cause. How miserably devoid of charm the area where I live is. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/22 "2005-11-17T15:50:01Z")
I’m amazed that I own several lasers. And all I use them for is to watch movies, listen to music, and play games. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/23 "2005-11-17T15:50:06Z")
Instanteous communication. How you don’t have to wait to send documents or mail, and can talk to anyone in the world at any time on a cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/24 "2005-11-17T15:53:51Z")
**groman** -my local library is chock full of books–many of them NOT grocery store fodder. So, I am puzzled by the library remark. And why do you need to buy syringes like chips? I am amazed at modern travel and its speed and frequency. At the beauty that surrounds us all, and so few notice or appreciate it. At the enthusiasm for life that little kids often have–that and their energy. I am also amazed at the internet and that I can regularly “talk” with people in Europe or Japan, if I so desire. I am amazed at medical technology and how far we have come just in my time as a nurse (20 years). I am also amazed at the ignorance and the lack of desire for knowledge that alot of people have–it’s like they don’t want to be bothered with new stuff. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/25 "2005-11-17T16:02:57Z")
As someone pointed out earlier - airplanes. Yes, I know the physics of it, but I’m still awed by watching something that big take off and travel through the sky. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/26 "2005-11-17T16:05:56Z")
> [@groman](#): > > Well, maybe not too true, but I can’t walk into my local Walgreens or Safeway and buy them nonchalantly along with some chips and dip, now can I? You could before. You can in other countries. Actually, there’s a chance you might be able to easily get syringes. However, getting _needles_ is the hard part. The syringe is just the plastic tube and plunger that holds the liquid. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/27 "2005-11-17T16:13:58Z")
It always amazes me that when I’m watching a foreign movie or play with subtitles, the lines that rhyme in the foreign language are translated into rhyming English! I just can’t see how that’s possible. On the minus side, think about how much the world has changed in the past century. There have been so many technological advances. But automobiles, for the most part, are still powered by the internal combustion engine. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/28 "2005-11-17T17:14:34Z")
Hardly a day goes by without me stopping to marvel at the natural world–how it all works and fits together. I’ve been lucky to see some National Geo/Animal Planet moments, but day-to-day things like a new flower in my garden amaze me as well. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/29 "2005-11-17T17:27:16Z")
> [@groman](#): > > Well, maybe not too true, but I can’t walk into my local Walgreens or Safeway and buy them nonchalantly along with some chips and dip, now can I? The only difference is that you may have to pay for it at a different register, but yes, you can walk into any Walgreens or CVS and ask for a bag of 1, 1/2, or 3/10 cc syringes with 29, 30, or 31 gauge needles in long or short. Long and pretty pointless nitpick, but yeah. You can still do that. -foxy ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/30 "2005-11-17T20:18:44Z")
Cell phones. My cheapo phone has more memory and processing power than most computers I’ve owned, plays games, handles calendars, email, data storage, alarm clock, camera, calculator, scheduling, is programmable, text recognition, call filtering forwarding and blocking, and manages to be smaller than a pack of smokes…and if all of that doesn’t impress me, I can talk to people anywhere. As a kid, Captain Kirk’s communicator seemed like dazzling unreachable technology…whod’ve thunk? ---
**Author:** ![InappropriateHumor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@InappropriateHumor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InappropriateHumor)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/31 "2005-11-17T20:43:26Z")
Babies. I have always and will always marvel that a living being can come from just a couple of cells. That from just that miniscule amount of “data” you get a working brain, heart, lungs, muscles, etc.; in fact a complete _individual_ . …oh, and ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_Schmeese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Marconi\_Schmeese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_Schmeese)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/32 "2005-11-17T20:43:51Z")
I still can’t wrap my brain around the whole fax machine concept even though I use one on a daily basis. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/33 "2005-11-17T20:44:42Z")
Anything in nature with amazing geometric patterns including, but not limited to, sea shells, Queen Anne’s Lace (and many other flowers), insects. That I can get on a piece of pavement similar to the one **Roland O** describes and see mountains, prarie, taller different mountains, desert, temperate rain forest, enormous trees, fascinating caverns, hot springs, etc. all on one continent. **Mangetout** , knitting was the first thing that popped into my head but I take it back a step. When I contemplate this I always imagine a sheep standing next to a beautiful intricate fair isle sweater. How did someone make the jump from big pile of smelly, unruly fluff, to finished sweater? Similarly, someone at some point looked at a chicken egg and figured out merengue oh, and that The Lockhorns continue to be published. . . ---
**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:** [November 17, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/34 "2005-11-17T20:51:00Z")
1. Wanted posters from the old west. Back before xerox, how did they copy photographs like that? 2. CDs. How can that much stuff fit on so small a space? 3. The commodity trading pit. How on earth do they know what is happening? 4. Baseball. Exactly 90 feet between bases makes for just the right difficulty in beating out infield hits and stealing bases. 85 feet would make the game too offense-happy, 95 feet would kill the offense. 5. DNA and chromosomes. How on earth do they know chromosome 17 from chromosome 11? ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/35 "2005-11-17T22:28:11Z")
There are 6 billion people in the world, and counting. 6 billion! That’s a heck of a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![Elko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elko/32/3196_2.png) [@Elko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elko)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/36 "2005-11-17T22:45:29Z")
SF Bay Areans may be able to relate to mine: you’re driving up Portrero SF in and shortly after it turns into upper Market and comes around the bend on Twin Peaks, the city and the Bay beyond just explode into view. I’ve been here for close to 15 years, and coming around that bend never fails to make me go, “Wow!” I just feel lucky all over again that I get to live in such a pretty place. ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/37 "2005-11-17T22:53:27Z")
Nature amazes me all the time; clouds, sunsets, and mountains especially. Really old churches and cathedrals give me such a feeling of awe, especially the ones with gorgeous stained glass windows and flying buttresses. A lot of artwork takes my breath away too; recently at the SAM I thought the Warhol stuff was neat, but those old religious devotionals and carved jade things were definitely amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/38 "2005-11-17T22:54:52Z")
Children. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/39 "2005-11-17T22:56:10Z")
> [@Elko](#): > > SF Bay Areans may be able to relate to mine: you’re driving up Portrero SF in and shortly after it turns into upper Market and comes around the bend on Twin Peaks, the city and the Bay beyond just explode into view. I’ve been here for close to 15 years, and coming around that bend never fails to make me go, “Wow!” I just feel lucky all over again that I get to live in such a pretty place. I love that bend, so add that to my list. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435/40 "2005-11-17T23:34:17Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Cell phones. My cheapo phone has more memory and processing power than most computers I’ve owned, plays games, handles calendars, email, data storage, alarm clock, camera, calculator, scheduling, is programmable, text recognition, call filtering forwarding and blocking, and manages to be smaller than a pack of smokes…and if all of that doesn’t impress me, I can talk to people anywhere. And you didn’t even mention the internet connection. Last time I was out with my Dad, he said he wanted to get to a bar so he could check on the score. I had them in a minute on my phone. Hey, what good is a handheld interface to a global communications network if you can’t find out how the Bears are doing? I’m continually amazed by math. How patterns and logic and structure can be so elegant and intertwined and beautiful, and yet have such incredible practical applications as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-still-amaze-you/331435.md?page=3)