# What's out there that it didn't occur to you even existed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 2, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183 "2013-10-02T15:20:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/41 "2013-10-03T03:22:12Z")
[Roy Orbison in Clingfilm.](http://michaelkelly.artofeurope.com/karl.htm) Stories! A novel! An adventure game! Haikus! ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/42 "2013-10-03T06:05:36Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Going to Thailand for cheap dental and medical treatments. Someone just told me about it a week or so ago. I haven’t researched it myself, but this is an educated young coworker who has friends who’ve successfully done it. Google “medical tourism”. It’s been a big thing for quite a while, in many countries. ---
**Author:** ![drbhoneydew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@drbhoneydew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drbhoneydew)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/43 "2013-10-03T10:45:53Z")
Fruit pudding in the Scottish breakfast sense. Black and white puddings I already knew and loved, but fried cake for breakfast is a work of genius and, for me, says that the Scots frying everything stereotype can be a compliment… ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/44 "2013-10-03T12:04:35Z")
> [@drbhoneydew](#): > > Fruit pudding in the Scottish breakfast sense. Black and white puddings I already knew and loved, but fried cake for breakfast is a work of genius and, for me, says that the Scots frying everything stereotype can be a compliment… Further re strange Scottish fried eatables: this involves the Mars bar (nougat and caramel covered in milk chocolate); originated in the UK, but I understand that the US has a sweetmeat of the same name – similar but not identical. Info all about them: [www.marsbar.com](http://www.marsbar.com) I learnt a few years ago, that fish-and-chip shops (where everything is deep-fried) in Scotland, had started serving Mars bars, dipped in batter and deep-fried. To someone not a Scottish chip-shop connoisseur, this idea initially seemed nauseating; but I gather that many former sceptics of the notion have ventured to try deep-friend Mars bars, and found them delicious. I’m quite a long way from Scotland; but my brother who lives in the south of England, much closer-to, has heard of a chip-shop in a town not far from his, which has these things on its menu. Must summon up courage and give it a try… ---
**Author:** ![Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obnoxious_Hood_Ornament)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/45 "2013-10-03T13:05:22Z")
Grape-flavored (scented?) cigars. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/46 "2013-10-03T13:44:13Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > [Roy Orbison in Clingfilm.](http://michaelkelly.artofeurope.com/karl.htm) > Stories! > A novel! > An adventure game! > Haikus! We have reached the end of the internet. Nothing more to see; might as well just go back the way we came. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/47 "2013-10-03T13:54:14Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That’s old hat. The new “in” thing is “[ball ironing](http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/06/ball-ironing-a-cosmetic-procedure-for-men.html).” George Clooney had this done. Some men apparently don’t care for wrinkles down there. > > And before you cringe in horror, it’s done with a laser, not a clothes iron. Clooney was making a joke, but it appears that the joke took on a life of its own and there is such a procedure. ['Ball ironing': Clooney joke is real procedure - UPI.com](http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/Blog/2013/06/11/Ball-ironing-Clooney-joke-is-real-procedure/6751370976342/) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/48 "2013-10-03T13:58:02Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > ^^^ there’s an episode of Dirty Jobs about harvesting the special mud. I learned from a cheapie romance book that there’s a special mud that’s piped into oil wells to hold the oil down, if it would otherwise squirt up, uncontrolled. > [@vontsira](#): > > . . . I learnt a few years ago, that fish-and-chip shops (where everything is deep-fried) in Scotland, had started serving Mars bars, dipped in batter and deep-fried. . . . You can get something like that at many county fairs in the US. Also deep fried pickles. I’ve heard rumors of deep fried butter, but never seen it. That on could have been a joke. Which reminds me that I’ve seen pig races as a carny game at fairs. And that one of the local charities up in the hills has a rubber duck race down a creek. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/49 "2013-10-03T14:12:58Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > You can get something like that at many county fairs in the US. Also deep fried pickles. I’ve heard rumors of deep fried butter, but never seen it. That on could have been a joke. [Deep fried butter.](http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/10/a-whole-stick-of-fried-butter-on-a-stick-at-the-iowa-state-fair.php) Iowa State fair. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/50 "2013-10-03T14:20:33Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I learned from a cheapie romance book that there’s a special mud that’s piped into oil wells to hold the oil down, if it would otherwise squirt up, uncontrolled. > > . Yep. It’s not really obscure. It’s called _bentonite_, and it’s big business. It’s like a kind of clay. I’m told that after it’s been used and it sits out on the ground and dries out, it’s like cement. It doesn’t just “hold the oil down” – it fills in the space left after you’ve drilled out the rock, because otherwise underground pressure will tend to close up the hole, or at least distort it and reduce it in size. The bentonite lets you push back with equal pressure, but with something you can control and continue to drill through. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/51 "2013-10-03T15:39:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yep. It’s not really obscure. It’s called _bentonite_, and it’s big business. [Drilling mud](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drilling_fluid)is more than just bentonite- there are multiple variants, some of which don’t include bentonite. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyUseless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MostlyUseless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyUseless)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/52 "2013-10-03T16:24:26Z")
Years back, I worked mineralogical drilling in Nevada. We used large amounts of Wyoming Bentonite. This was used along with water to keep the hole wet so the pipe didn’t generate too much heat and dry the hold (leading to stuck pipe string). ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/53 "2013-10-03T16:36:33Z")
You all have restored my faith in cheap romance novels. > [@runner pat](#): > > [Deep fried butter.](http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/10/a-whole-stick-of-fried-butter-on-a-stick-at-the-iowa-state-fair.php) Iowa State fair. But not my faith in the taste of fair attendees. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/54 "2013-10-03T16:36:55Z")
[Pink salt](http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/pinksalt.php). ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/55 "2013-10-03T16:48:46Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Further re strange Scottish fried eatables: this involves the Mars bar (nougat and caramel covered in milk chocolate); originated in the UK, but I understand that the US has a sweetmeat of the same name – similar but not identical. Info all about them: [www.marsbar.com](http://www.marsbar.com) > > I learnt a few years ago, that fish-and-chip shops (where everything is deep-fried) in Scotland, had started serving Mars bars, dipped in batter and deep-fried. > [@Yllaria](#): > > You can get something like that at many county fairs in the US. Also deep fried pickles. I’ve heard rumors of deep fried butter, but never seen it. That on could have been a joke. > [@runner pat](#): > > [Deep fried butter.](http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/10/a-whole-stick-of-fried-butter-on-a-stick-at-the-iowa-state-fair.php) Iowa State fair. Well; I bow, and “cede the palm” to you Americans, for being, as often, bigger and better and more outrageous – here, re the deep-frying of stuff – than we feeble Brits can even dream of 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/56 "2013-10-03T17:03:00Z")
I’m sorry, I just can’t beat dinosaur porn. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/57 "2013-10-03T17:06:18Z")
Yeah, there’s fried butter at the Texas State Fair as well, in addition to both chicken-fried bacon AND pig races. Bonus points if you attend one while eating the other. (“Go faster, you stupid pig, or you’ll end up _nom_ like this _snarfnom_ bacon in my _mmmm_ hand!”) They had deep-fried cheesecake a while back, too, not sure if they’re offering that this year. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/58 "2013-10-03T17:34:08Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > The Sentinelese of the Andaman Islands who have aggressively resisted all contact with civilisation. An untouched people - I hadn’t realised there were any left on the planet. > > [http://excitingearth.com/tag/andaman-island/](http://excitingearth.com/tag/andaman-island/) [**Hmmmmm**](http://anthropology.net/2007/09/14/watch-out-the-anthropologists-are-coming/anthropologists-anthropologists/). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/59 "2013-10-03T19:33:29Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Going to Thailand for cheap dental and medical treatments. Someone just told me about it a week or so ago. I haven’t researched it myself, but this is an educated young coworker who has friends who’ve successfully done it. > > I may check into it. You’d best check into it soon, because prices are rising. Medical costs here have skyrocketed from a decade ago. It’s not a good a deal as it used to be but no doubt still cheaper than in the West. Still, I’d check out India. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183/60 "2013-10-04T02:26:24Z")
Something I learned about a few years ago is The Crown of Thorns. It’s a relic that is believed by true believes to be the actual crown that Jesus wore during the crucifixion, currently kept in Notre Dame in Paris. Sure, there are lots of such relics that people believe crazy things about, no biggie, right? Well, there are a few things that are different about this. First of all, as far as modern scientists can tell, it’s at least not something that can be immediately disproven. The dating and analysis of the types of thorns involved indicate that it’s at least from within a few centuries of the time of the crucifixion, and the plant the thorns came from are plausibly from the right region. More interestingly, there’s a clear historical chain of custody that goes all the way back to Constantinople around the year 400 or 500. Obviously still many generations removed from the historical Jesus, but still pretty serious. Most interestingly, at least to me, is that back in the middle ages and Renaissance, when everyone in Europe was pretty religious, they believed that this crown of thorns was in fact The Crown Of Thorns, making it the most valuable object in the world. At one point (hoping I get the details approximately right) the king of France purchased it from the Byzantine emperor for so much money that it was basically 2/3 of the money France spent that year. I think the idea that there actually WAS a single most valuable and holy item in the entire world for centuries on end is pretty neat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-out-there-that-it-didnt-occur-to-you-even-existed/670183.md?page=4)