# When good adults believe bad science (share your stories) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738 "2005-12-30T16:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/321 "2006-01-15T19:08:19Z")
Whoops. I meant men, obviously. (Well, maybe not so obviously). But still, this is something you can _easily_ directly prove or disprove! ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/322 "2006-01-15T21:52:26Z")
Actually, I believe a family was making money off the roulette wheels in the 1990s by studying the patterns of winning numbers. It took several of them working together quite a while to get the information, then playing the numbers, but they could win steadily. The casinos figured it out because the leader would not let them tip the roulette workers. The dealers started noticing them and realized they were winning a lot. Lok ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/323 "2006-01-15T23:17:20Z")
On the missing rib thing: I actually _am_ missing a rib (on one side only), and even knowing that, I can’t really count them. Nobody noticed until I had my spine x-rayed. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/324 "2006-01-16T00:25:58Z")
> [@Harvey The Heavy](#): > > I’ve had several people insist that Mexico is in South America: “It’s south of America.” They don’t believe me when I tell them that “America” means the entire New World. That reminds me of a native Brooklynite acquaintance who got a little huffy with me over geography one time. He was going on about that buddy of his who lived “out on Long Island.” I casually mentioned that Brooklyn is on Long Island. “The Hell it is.” or words to that effect shot back. To him “Long Island” was that place out there somewhere that certainly had nothing to do with his home town. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/325 "2006-01-16T00:39:32Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > On the missing rib thing: > > I actually _am_ missing a rib (on one side only), and even knowing that, I can’t really count them. Nobody noticed until I had my spine x-rayed. Adam, is that you? ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/326 "2006-01-16T03:52:54Z")
A friend who thought he had keen chef skills decided to cook us some burritos at another friend’s house. He made them, with our help, and they were pretty good. Just after we got into the car to head back to my house, he said, “Those burritos would’ve been spicier if I had stirred the meat more.” I mentioned that that would be impossible, although they could have had a more consistent spiciness in theory, but each bite tasted pretty consistent to me. We argued all the way back home. As I was parking, he said, “Well you have to at least admit that it _could_ have made them spicier.” I was quite irritated by this point, and said, “No I don’t, because that’s fucking moronic.” I think he said something about me being closed-minded to what he was saying, I held in a laugh, and we stopped talking for a while. > [@deevee](#): > > I once had a girlfriend who would crank up the thermostat all the way on a cold day then move it back when the room reached the desired temp. Same with preheating an oven, crank it up to 500 to make it heat up faster. One of my cars has automatic climate control. When the friend mentioned above and I would get in it on a cold morning, he’d turn the temperature up to 80. I’d immediately turn it back down to 72. He’d say something like, “What the hell are you doing? It’s cold in here!” And I’d say, “Yeah, and when it’s 72, it won’t be cold anymore.” The thing would blow full heat until around a degree below what you had it set at, and then would gradually reduce the fan speed. It’s not like it was going to be cold any longer with it set to 80. And I can understand setting it a little higher until your body temperature catches up, but 80 is just hot no matter how cold you are. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738/327 "2006-01-16T08:22:50Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Adam, is that you? Steve?!? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-adults-believe-bad-science-share-your-stories/337738.md?page=16)