# You never knew they existed. Somebody told you. Now they're everywhere! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529 "2005-09-14T01:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/61 "2005-09-14T23:12:31Z")
> [@Max Torque](#): > > So, the cigarette burns may still be useful to cue the projectionist in those cases. No one seems to mind if they’re on the film during the movie’s initial run. Films are almost always delivered to theaters disassembled, in 20 minute reels. The projectionst at the theater is the person to assemble the reels together. So it’s still quite helpful for the projectionist to know when the changeover happens when the film is projected as a whole. Distributors usually will only send replacement reels instead of whole films if there is something wrong with a section of film. As an example, my first time assembling a film, I put one reel of _Black Dog_ on backwards. Luckily we screened all the films on Thursday nights. Imagine my surprise when all of a sudden the semi is careening upside down on the sceen. But we were able to identify which reel was wrong, yank it out, and turn it around without too much trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/62 "2005-09-14T23:21:59Z")
This isn’t exactly what the OP was looking for, but other people have been saying similar things, so… I recently got married and registered for bedding, shopped for furniture, perused catalogs of flatware, etc. Now, I’ll be watching TV and I’m all, “HEY!! That’s the NORESUND bedside table from Ikea!” I recognized our new coffee table in _The 40-Year-Old Virgin_. Come to think of it, I almost bought the comforter featured in the penultimate scene of the movie. (It’s from Bed Bath and Beyond!) I’m not very materialistic in general, so I never thought I’d pay so much attention to home furnishings and props in films/TV, but it’s pretty much constant now. ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/63 "2005-09-14T23:30:24Z")
Once **Fellahbilongzelie** explained to me what those funny things nestled in the tracks on the London Underground were i COULD NOT stop seeing trip-cocks \ everywhere i go. I also seem doomed to be on trains that constantly set them off whereas my journeys before this were smooth and swift. (They are a kind of emergency brake). And i also found out about a nifty invention for blind people. You know how you press the button on the pole at the crossing and wait for the lights to change and then it beeps and flashes so everyone knows when to cross? Well on some of the crossing poles (where they put the buttons) there is a little ring at the bottom of the pole which is there solely to spin roundandroundandroundandroundandround while making a grinding noise. It’s there to alert blind people to the fact that there is a crossing nearby and if they want to press the button the need to aim about 3 feet above the grinding noise. Nifty. But now all i hear around the city is griiiinnding noises ☹ ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/64 "2005-09-15T04:42:03Z")
These little tiny lizards that, apparently, are all over Santa Fe. I never really noticed them until I nearly stepped on one last week. I now have not walked across campus without seeing at least one. Also, as mentioned in one of the linked threads: Look at the default cursor in MS Windows. The point isn’t quite in a straight line with the ‘tail’. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/65 "2005-09-15T07:56:27Z")
Dummy “CCTV cameras.” Oh, and fnords. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/66 "2005-09-15T21:44:54Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Also, as mentioned in one of the linked threads: Look at the default cursor in MS Windows. The point isn’t quite in a straight line with the ‘tail’. … You have just made my “sworn enemy” list. My pointer is now permanently bent. Wait, that came out wrong. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/67 "2005-09-15T21:52:48Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Look at the default cursor in MS Windows. The point isn’t quite in a straight line with the ‘tail’. That was just evil of you to point out. Now I have to go on-line and get new cursors for every computer… I knew I shouldn’t have read this thread again. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/68 "2005-09-15T22:01:39Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > In the mid-'80s, an old friend took me to an Italian restaurant in London, Ontario, where we had a new thing called panzerotti. It was a pizza, folded in half and deep-fried or baked. It was the only place you could get one. Nowadays they’re everywhere you go, only now they’re called calzones. Not to get into a culinary ‘chicken and egg debate’, but calzones were around way before the mid-1980s. The Italians may have stole spaghetti from the far east, but it’s a fairly safe bet they didn’t expropriate calzones from Canada ---
**Author:** ![Sensibility](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Sensibility](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sensibility)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/69 "2005-09-15T22:11:36Z")
Bit of an odd one for you here. It was once pointed out to me that there was lots and LOTS of cassette tape all over the sides of roads. Far nore than would be exected from the odd car throw out. I was told to look out for it and that once I did do, I would be surprised at just how much of it there was about! They werent talking about the cassettes themselves you understand, just the tape itself, without case. Well, having been told about it, I immediately started to notice it all over the place! To such an extent in fact that I can hardly now make a trip anywhere WITHOUT seeing the stuff! The same person said it was supposed to be tape on which ‘bad chants’ were recorded and that each time you see tape strewn about in such volume, you should pray over it so that nothing bad happens. The story goes that once prayed over it can no longer do harm. Whilst Im not sure if theres any truth in the origins of the tape, it certainly DOES seem to be most prevalent at major road junctions, alongside notoriously dangerous roads, and wrapped around lamp-posts at junctions where high accident rates are recorded! Take a look and see for yourself! You may be surprised! (hums the tune of The Twilight Zone…!) ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/70 "2005-09-16T03:12:16Z")
> [@Sensibility](#): > > Whilst Im not sure if theres any truth in the origins of the tape, it certainly DOES seem to be most prevalent at major road junctions, alongside notoriously dangerous roads, and wrapped around lamp-posts at junctions where high accident rates are recorded! Maybe the roads are dangerous because everyone is too busy praying to look where they’re going :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/71 "2005-09-16T03:48:04Z")
> [@JohnBckWLD](#): > > Not to get into a culinary ‘chicken and egg debate’, but calzones were around way before the mid-1980s. The Italians may have stole spaghetti from the far east, but it’s a fairly safe bet they didn’t expropriate calzones from Canada To be fair, I didn’t say that they didn’t exist before I found out about them. I said there was this one restaurant in London where you could get them before anybody else was making them there. I love Italian food and was a patron of most of the Italian restaurants in Hamilton and Toronto. After trying panzerotti in London, I tried to find it elsewhere, to no avail. Then it caught on, and you can get them just about anywhere now. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/72 "2005-09-16T04:39:33Z")
That the n is lowercase in the Seven-Eleven logo while the rest of “Eleven” is uppercase. Rainbow patterns in NTSC TV (used in the US, Japan but not Europe) where color patterns show up on objects such as shirts and ties. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/73 "2005-09-16T04:50:13Z")
Addendum: I could say the same about poutine. I have always been a fan of french fries and gravy. The first time I ever saw it with cheese curds was at a county fair in the early 1980s in a little town in Southern Ontario. That was the only place you could get it, once a year, for three days. Then we learned that it was called poutine, and it came from Quebec. Of course, now, it’s ubiquitous in Ontario and probably most points westward. It’s on the menu at Burger King (and theirs is awful). ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/74 "2005-09-16T04:52:18Z")
I was wrong - not BK, I believe it was Harvey’s. Sorry. And yes, theirs is awful. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/75 "2005-09-16T05:18:36Z")
> [@Sierra Indigo](#): > > Same here, **Fight Club** was what did it for me. I never used to notice them all that much, now I sometimes find myself actively looking for them. Me too. But then as karmic retribution for causing countless people who wouldn’t have noticed otherwise to be disracted by them, now everywhere Chuck Palahunik goes food service people come up and discribe to him the various bodily substances they’ve put in people’s food. I suspect even he did not really want to know how “everywhere” that particular phenomenon is. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/76 "2005-09-16T06:06:51Z")
> [@KJ](#): > > This has happened to me a lot, but I can only think of one example right now. I live in an apartment that’s very close to the main Microsoft campus. At Microsoft there are little orange parking permits that hang from your rear view mirror. Once I started paying attention to the parking permits I noticed that during rush hour, 70-80% of the cars on the street I live on have them hanging from their mirrors. Yes! Doesn’t anyone work at Boeing anymore? After my son died, I started seeing the trucks from “EverGone” trucking. It seems no one else moves freight here. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/77 "2005-09-16T06:13:03Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Also, as mentioned in one of the linked threads: Look at the default cursor in MS Windows. The point isn’t quite in a straight line with the ‘tail’. AAARRRGGHHHH! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/78 "2005-09-16T07:15:09Z")
[Here’s an old thread of mine about those reel-change thingies](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=153514), from back when _nobody_ I mentioned them to saw them. Yet another time that the SDMB has reassured me that I’m not crazy. (They balance out all the times that it’s reassured me that I am, indeed, crazy.) ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/79 "2005-09-16T11:21:12Z")
How about this one: Traffic Light Positions I never noticed just how many traffic lights there are at a typical American intersection. Usually, there’s at least one far light and one near light, often on opposite corners. Often times there’s a couple of near and far lights. I didn’t realize the significance of this until I was driving in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro a few years back: they have one single light either directly over the intersection or directly over the stop line. The result is that the first car in line cannot see when the light changes! You must either a) stop a car length back, b) crane your neck in a funny to see the light, or c) wait for the very polite toot of the horn of the car behind you. Upon my return, I noticed how lights are carefully positioned so that you usually see one directly over where you should stop, as well as one on the other side of the intersection, to avoid having to twist your neck to see. I suppose the reason why other places don’t do this is simple economics: it’s cheaper to buy one light for the whole intersection. About the reel change dots: I must admit that I didn’t know about them until after I had been a projectionist for over a year. I mentioned my profession to someone and the answer was “So you have to sit and wait for those dots in the upper right corner of the screen, right?” to which I said “Huh?” In my defense, as stated earlier, they are totally unneeded in a modern multiplex. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529/80 "2005-09-16T12:46:12Z")
Here’s something from natutre. I rarely noticed these untuil I started researching them. Now I see them all the time. And I’m a carrier – I point them out to other people (like my wife, Pepper Mill), and now _they_ se them all the time, too. **Sundogs** They’re more common, by far, than rainbows, and often pretty spectacular. But people don’t look for them unless they know about them. [http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/parhelia.htm](http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/parhelia.htm) [http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/ice/sd.rxml](http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/ice/sd.rxml) [http://www.meteoros.de/arten/ee02e.htm](http://www.meteoros.de/arten/ee02e.htm) I’ve suggested that these lie at the root of several myths: [http://www.weatherwise.org/articles/Dec02.htm](http://www.weatherwise.org/articles/Dec02.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-never-knew-they-existed-somebody-told-you-now-theyre-everywhere/321529.md?page=5)