# Your private, off the wall theories **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2012, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963 "2012-05-05T06:39:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/41 "2012-05-06T15:14:51Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > . . . which you think plausible but probably unprovable? And I don’t mean “there’s a sock eating monster hiding behind my dryer, tee hee!” but things where you think there really could be something to it – but doubt much evidence will ever come to light, alas. > > Two of mine: > > First, many societies exhibit a _very_ long term cycle, on the order of ~75-85 years or so, where one generation lives through an all-encompassing existential crisis or transformation whose memory serves as a warning for the next two generations or so, until that era passes out of living memory for the most part and a similarly urgent crisis comes along. For the US it was the American Revolution, the Civil War, then World War II, and we’re due for another one very soon. Perhaps for some societies it’s a longer or more variable cycle, e.g. with England/the UK and the Civil War, the Seven Years War, the Napoleonic Wars and World War I. I think you would be very interested in reading _The Fourth Turning._ > **[The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy - What the Cycles of History Tell Us...](https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Turning-American-Prophecy-Rendezvous/dp/0767900464)** > > The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy - What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny \[Strauss, William, Howe, Neil\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy -... ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/42 "2012-05-06T16:52:18Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > The Gulf of Mexico does contain a well-studied major impact crater, though the crater is not thought to be responsible for the entire Gulf: [Chicxulub crater - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater) When I first heard about that impact crater I thought I had been vindicated, but as you said it is still not seen being as causing the Gulf. ---
**Author:** ![ecoaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85e7bf/32.png) [@ecoaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecoaster)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/43 "2012-05-06T17:08:24Z")
I believe that as the world has become [less violent](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228340.100-steven-pinker-humans-are-less-violent-than-ever.html) (believe it or not!) humans in the western world have become more mentally unstable and that there is a direct-ish correlation. Basically humans who have all of their basic needs met have turned inward into a destructive emotional world. This I believe is partly due to the lack of physical work we need to do to survive and also the social messages we are bombarded with in a capitalist, pro-consumption society. Also, I firmly believe that social media creates addiction and dependance and while it will never be proven to be as harmful as drug addiction, it will be better understood in years to come that communication primarily online and/or/through social media results in fundamental malaise and depression/despondency. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/44 "2012-05-06T17:10:37Z")
My theory is that childhood ADD, is caused by TV sets, (too much of the wrong stimulation) and too many toys. I think the day will come when new parents are directed to keep the TV off until the child is 6yrs old, and never own more, than their age, in toys, at a time, so they will learn to focus, concentrate, create. I think, someday, they’ll come to determine, like language, if you’re not exposed to these things before 6yrs of age, you’ll struggle with ADD the rest of your life. ( Can you imagine the effect on the birthrate. “No Tv? Let’s wait a little longer, Hon.”) ---
**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:** [May 6, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/45 "2012-05-06T17:30:44Z")
All side effects of perscription drugs are built into them for the sole purpose of selling more perscription drugs. The drug industry does not give a damn about people, only about profits, and this is the easiest way to increase drug taking. ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/46 "2012-05-06T17:55:57Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > My theory is that childhood ADD, is caused by TV sets, (too much of the wrong stimulation) and too many toys. I think the day will come when new parents are directed to keep the TV off until the child is 6yrs old, and never own more, than their age, in toys, at a time, so they will learn to focus, concentrate, create. I think, someday, they’ll come to determine, like language, if you’re not exposed to these things before 6yrs of age, you’ll struggle with ADD the rest of your life. > > ( Can you imagine the effect on the birthrate. “No Tv? Let’s wait a little longer, Hon.”) This is at least partly bunk and shows a poor understanding of living with ADD. I hope none of your close friends or family have it, for their sake. ---
**Author:** ![FrillyNettles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ea924/32.png) [@FrillyNettles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrillyNettles)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/47 "2012-05-06T18:04:27Z")
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fibromyalgia are just smoldering tissue level hypothyroidism, and will likely improve with supplementation of T3 (note: not levothyroxine), even though blood levels of this hormone may be normal. The virtual epidemic of endocrine diseases in this country is due in large part to genetically modified crops and flame retardant fabrics (there is some evidence the flame retardance may be responsible for hyperthyroidism in cats, but I doubt it will be definitively proven). Life experiences, for each individual, are created as part of a multi-player RPG controlled by our “higher selves.” Players are occasionally “resurrected,” and this accounts for feelings of deja vu or the sense that something happened that, well, didn’t. What happens to each player is not necessarily experienced by other players in the game. The reason this is all occurring is so that “we” can experience the physical world. I don’t really know how to articulate this to make sense to anyone else, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/48 "2012-05-06T20:24:55Z")
-I have noticed, at work, that there seems to be a link between chronic pain and having had a shitty life. I think some people internalize all the crap that happened to them and it manifests through physical pain. It’s almost like conversion disorder, however most chronic pain patients actually have physical reasons for their pain as well, so it’s not purely psychological. -I’ve also noticed a it seems that disproportionate amount of fibromyalgia patients have had hysterectomies, making me think FM might be at least partially hormonal. -I think a high sugar intake can make depression symptoms worse. -America’s obesity epidemic is caused by our tendency to put high fructose corn syrup in EVERYTHING. If that shit was banned obesity rates would probably drop. Unfortunately it tastes great and it’s cheap, so it’s not going anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/49 "2012-05-06T20:26:29Z")
Dragons were actually a few different species of neotenous salamanders which grew to crocodile size, and which were hunted to extinction millenia ago. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/50 "2012-05-06T20:40:38Z")
The Boson Higgs particle: I think the weight is on some other plane of existence unobservable to us. Dark energy: I think these are two planes of existence that are colliding into each other. The laws of physics that govern them only have about 0.000000001% in common. (Just made that number up.). Which would explain why we don’t don’t see dark energy all around us. But you can if you look out into the vastness of space. Kind of like cellophane sheets. One by itself is see through. But put a thousand sheet together and now it looks all white and blurry. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/51 "2012-05-06T21:30:43Z")
> [@ecoaster](#): > > I believe that as the world has become [less violent](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228340.100-steven-pinker-humans-are-less-violent-than-ever.html) (believe it or not!) humans in the western world have become more mentally unstable and that there is a direct-ish correlation. Basically humans who have all of their basic needs met have turned inward into a destructive emotional world. This I believe is partly due to the lack of physical work we need to do to survive and also the social messages we are bombarded with in a capitalist, pro-consumption society. Meh, that’s fine with me as long as I can get me some good soap and Ikea 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/52 "2012-05-07T13:31:53Z")
About cars and obesity…I weighed 105 lbs. from age 14 until I got my first car ten years later. I got by going places riding my bike or taking the bus. After I got a car I started putting on a few pounds every year. Coincidence? Just part of the aging process? (The fact that I drove us all to McDonald’s for lunch in my car probably figured in.;)) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/53 "2012-05-07T13:40:43Z")
> [@fumster](#): > > I still hold that the Gulf is Mexico is an impact crater, despite no scientific evidence to back it up. You’re a [little bit right](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater). Personally, I think Oswald was the lone assassin. No conspiracy. However, if there had been a conspiracy, I’d bet money that LBJ was involved in some manner. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/54 "2012-05-07T13:59:36Z")
Another theory I posted a while back: [The Elves killed Isuldur](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=2753912). Not a modicum of evidence in the Professor’s writings AFAIK, but still, it makes sense, darn it! > [@The Elves killed Isildur](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elves-killed-isildur/144327/1): > > Nobody in Middle Earth or on these boards has asked the crucial question: What would have happened in the history of the Ring if Isildur had survived? > > Isildur was certain to become corrupted by the Ring, and he was already head of a major, practically world-wide empire (encompassing the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor). Do I smell ascendent Dark Lord? It wouldn’t have taken him too long to become as powerful as Sauron, and eventually just as evil. > > Would the Elves eventually have to make war against Men as they were led by a new Enemy? Would the Nazgul have flocked to Isildur’s aid? Two of Middle Earth’s other three ringbearers, namely Elrond and Galadriel, had to be keenly aware of these dangers. It was in their explicit INTEREST to have NOBODY controlling the One Ring, so that they would be free to wield their own. > > It SEEMED to be just happenstance that Isildur was caught with his pants down some time after the final showdown with Sauron. Indeed, he had already made it back home to Gondor, bringing the Ring with him, of course, before venturing out again to Gladden Fields with only a token contingent of guards. > > So here’s my theory: Elrond _knew_ what would happen to Isildur and the dangers of a new Dark Lord arising, and a disasterous new war that the Elves and free Men might not win this time. Elrond was right there at the beginning, and could see the corruption already working on Isildur as he claimed the One Ring for his own. However, he could hardly take the Ring from Isildur by force in front of all of those Men arrayed for battle. Nor could he assail Isildur once he had returned to Minas Tirith. > > Furthermore, that “attack by Orcs” at Gladden Fields always struck me as just a little too neat–the newly crowned King of the most powerful kingdom in the world just happened to be wandering around undefended and far away from his kingdom–BUT not too far away from Lorien and the wily Lady of the forest. > > So. The Elves somehow lured Isildur out on a lightly defended expedition and then attempted to seize the Ring by force. They shot him in the river when he tried to get away, and the Ring was lost, leaving the Elves to sweat it out for another couple of thousand years. > > All this casts a new light on Elrond’s subsequent behavior, doesn’t it? All that business about protecting Isildur’s heir. And it would have been the right thing for them to do, at least in their own eyes, a fact that further persuades me that this is a viable theory. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/55 "2012-05-07T14:08:24Z")
The vast majority of history through late antiquity is bunk. Honestly, the textual support for what we “know” about figures like Alexander the Great and Charlemagne is much more flimsy than most ancient/early medieval historians would like to admit. And let’s not even start with Egyptian narrative history. I don’t \*really \*believe the above, but I’ll admit that I’ve rolled my eyes a few times teaching ancient history. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/56 "2012-05-07T16:00:27Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > -I think a high sugar intake can make depression symptoms worse. I think this might be true for some people. Me, I notice, if I go on a low-carb diet, my depression symptoms get worse after about a week. My sister had a similar experience with a low-fat diet. I think diet does affect depression, but not in the same way for everybody. Or maybe it’s that depression is a symptom brought on by many different causes (kind of like “flu-like symptoms”). ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/57 "2012-05-08T02:49:12Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > The vast majority of history through late antiquity is bunk. Honestly, the textual support for what we “know” about figures like Alexander the Great and Charlemagne is much more flimsy than most ancient/early medieval historians would like to admit. And let’s not even start with Egyptian narrative history. > > I don’t \*really \*believe the above, but I’ll admit that I’ve rolled my eyes a few times teaching ancient history. This may of be interest: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New\_Chronology\_%28Fomenko%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Chronology_%28Fomenko%29) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/58 "2012-05-08T03:41:53Z")
This is my SEGO theory: String Theory is bunk. Inflation is bunk. There are no such things as Dark Matter or Dark Energy. These will all be revealed to be convenient assumptions on the class of phlogiston or the interstellar ether. There is **Something Else Going On ™** in physics and cosmology that we don’t yet, or possibly can’t, understand. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/59 "2012-05-08T04:57:19Z")
-Something will happen in December 2012, but it will be entirely human-caused. This doesn’t mean that the Mayans’ “prediction” will come true, it will simply be a self-fulfilling prophecy (people will behave badly because they think the world is going to end). -There has to be _something_ to this whole “ghosts” thing. The vast majority of ghost stories are likely complete bunk, but for the remaining .1%, I think there has to be something else going on. There are some scientists who think infrasound may be the cause of people’s hallucinations, and I think that’s promising, but I don’t think that’s the whole story. Perhaps there’s something going on in a plane of existence that we cannot otherwise perceive…but whatever it is, it has nothing to do with the dead. -Every mythical creature (dragons, fairies, bigfoot, etc.) has some grain of truth to it. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963/60 "2012-05-08T05:07:48Z")
That humans in the developed countries are having more health problems (allergies, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, autism etc) due to two major reasons. First we keep infants and small children much too sanitize (see the master’s statements on [allergies](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3049/what-purpose-do-allergies-serve)). We should have them out in dirt (and yes putting it in their mouths). The second is closer to the OP wish being much more private and off the wall. Because so many people in the last 75ish years have been saved by modern medicine and then they went on to reproduced children, we have many health problems that before would have been culled by the grandparents of the people with those problems not living to reproduce. Thus it is a good thing for the human species, while bad for individual humans, that we will soon have drug resistant bacteria. It means healthier humans in future generations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-private-off-the-wall-theories/620963.md?page=4)