The baffling and shocking things you've learned.

[Chancie]

What's something that you've discovered, learned, found out, etc. that just completely baffled you? Anything at all, really. Maybe you can shock someone else with your knowledge in this thread. xD

For me, it'd be the fact that I discovered that "The Lion King" was based off/paralleled with Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Someone in my English class said it (we're reading Hamlet now) and it pretty much floored the entire class.
...I still can't get over it...

Now, it's your turn. :3

 

[Cherry Cola]

There are some people that *gasp* don't share my opinion!

And also the plot twist from Oldboy

Did not see that coming!

 

[Aerodyamic]

I learned that many people are stupid, while many people are not. I was hoping that everyone was as intelligent as I (supposedly) am, and was just running a similar con-game.

Sadly, there really are people stupid enough to actually be a detriment to the gene pool.

 

[Legion]

I found out that pretty much everyone I work with are closet racists. I am just glad there are not any non-caucasians at work or else it would become a hell of a lot more stressful. Although it might mean they'd all get fired which would be amusing.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

British (fucking state-sponsored) faith schools. Their existence baffles me, and the little opt-outs they get when it comes to teaching them facts (and that's not a dig at religion itself - I mean that they don't have to teach proper science, which is perfectly compatible with religion - creationism and intelligent design for some reason are scientific suddenly - huzzah for the detriment of education).

 

[VivaciousDeimos]

The tips of shoelaces are called aglets. Their purpose is sinister....

Actual answer: I learned a few things in biology that were interesting, like when you eat fruit (apples, oranges, etc.) you're eating the plant equivalent of an ovary. I found that to be a fun realization.

OP: I remember learning the same thing about the Lion King, it makes watching it as an adult more interesting. There's a lot of Shakespeare woven into mainstream media, 10 Things I Hate About You is a retelling of Taming of the Shrew, for example, but Lion King is still a little more baffling since its ~Disney~ and a cartoon, and Hamlet is pretty dark.

 

[Kajt]

That I had watched all episodes of Stargate SG-1, and that there were no new ones coming; My favourite TV-show had ended.

 

[randomsix]

When you shoot an electron at two small slits, it goes through one slit, the other slit, both slits, and neither.

But if you put a detector on one of the slits, the electron only goes through one or the other.

 

[Burwood123]

I learned that absolutely everything is composed of mostly empty space. (Due to the spacing of electrons from the nucleus of an atom.) And if you took all 6Billion of us, took away the empty space and compressed us down. We would be the size of A Single Sugar Cube

 

[Aerodyamic]

When you shoot an electron at two small slits, it goes through one slit, the other slit, both slits, and neither.

But if you put a detector on one of the slits, the electron only goes through one or the other.

Hurrrr.... slits

 

[Hurray Forums]

I learned that absolutely everything is composed of mostly empty space. (Due to the spacing of electrons from the nucleus of an atom.) And if you took all 6Billion of us, took away the empty space and compressed us down. We would be the size of A Single Sugar Cube

Yeah, this idea kind of took a while to wrap my head around. Because of this nothing really "touches" anything, atoms just repel each other like magnets. When you sit on a chair you're not actually really sitting on it, you're hovering over it because your atoms refuse to get any closer to the chair atoms. Yes, that's right, people can levitate!

 

[SimuLord]

That in community college, teachers' performance evaluations are partially based on how many students drop or don't drop the class, so they have an incentive to dumb the material way down so the stupid people stick with it.

Then again, in a stroke of Fridge Brilliance, I thought "no wonder the average wage for an associate's degree is only about a nickel on the dollar higher than for a high school education only!" Those same idiots transfer to the full university as juniors...and flunk out.

 

[nick n stuff]

the little Rubber/eraser on the end of a pencil is called a 'plug'

The more you know

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

That in community college, teachers' performance evaluations are partially based on how many students drop or don't drop the class, so they have an incentive to dumb the material way down so the stupid people stick with it.

Then again, in a stroke of Fridge Brilliance, I thought "no wonder the average wage for an associate's degree is only about a nickel on the dollar higher than for a high school education only!" Those same idiots transfer to the full university as juniors...and flunk out.

I prefer my high school's way of doing it - those that take the test are the ones we judge the teacher on. Those that drop out - basically fuck them.

 

[Lukeydoodly]

When you shoot an electron at two small slits, it goes through one slit, the other slit, both slits, and neither.

But if you put a detector on one of the slits, the electron only goes through one or the other.

This. The fact that you are observing something can change it's behaviour.

Quantum shit is weird man.

 

[SimuLord]

That in community college, teachers' performance evaluations are partially based on how many students drop or don't drop the class, so they have an incentive to dumb the material way down so the stupid people stick with it.

Then again, in a stroke of Fridge Brilliance, I thought "no wonder the average wage for an associate's degree is only about a nickel on the dollar higher than for a high school education only!" Those same idiots transfer to the full university as juniors...and flunk out.

I prefer my high school's way of doing it - those that take the test are the ones we judge the teacher on. Those that drop out - basically fuck them.

American high schools can't do that because of our asinine No Child Left Behind law, that basically codifies "dumb it down for the most retarded student" as the law of the land.

I'd love to see the state that basically tells the US Department of Education to take its school-funding extortion and shove it up its ass.

 

[lolmynamewastaken]

that my feet smell but my shoes don't...
gravity fucks your shit up. Frequently.
you don't actually swallow 8 spiders a year, as there is a gag reflex that wakes you up if you swallow anything other than saliva during the night. although i think i'd rather stay asleep if something crawled in to my mouth while i was asleep...
hitting a stationary object at 30mph has the same effect as falling from a 5 story building.
traveling at 30mph and ending up on the floor, you lose an inch of flesh for every metre you travel.
bush diving is fun.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

I learned that absolutely everything is composed of mostly empty space. (Due to the spacing of electrons from the nucleus of an atom.) And if you took all 6Billion of us, took away the empty space and compressed us down. We would be the size of A Single Sugar Cube

Yeah, this idea kind of took a while to wrap my head around. Because of this nothing really "touches" anything, atoms just repel each other like magnets. When you sit on a chair you're not actually really sitting on it, you're hovering over it because your atoms refuse to get any closer to the chair atoms. Yes, that's right, people can levitate!

Yes, this had always been one of my favourite facts of science.

I remember I wrote something about this.

"Whilst offering consolation in the form of tentative, male-bonding-type physical contact attempts with the uppermost little atom on [male protagonist]'s left shoulder (actual contact with the atom would require much damage to [male protagonist]'s precious flesh, as well as to the immediate surrounding environment)..."

 

[Conkzerton]

Anything quantum. Superfluid (at about 2K) helium FLOWS UP HILLS. Fuck, I love physics.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

That in community college, teachers' performance evaluations are partially based on how many students drop or don't drop the class, so they have an incentive to dumb the material way down so the stupid people stick with it.

Then again, in a stroke of Fridge Brilliance, I thought "no wonder the average wage for an associate's degree is only about a nickel on the dollar higher than for a high school education only!" Those same idiots transfer to the full university as juniors...and flunk out.

I prefer my high school's way of doing it - those that take the test are the ones we judge the teacher on. Those that drop out - basically fuck them.

American high schools can't do that because of our asinine No Child Left Behind law, that basically codifies "dumb it down for the most retarded student" as the law of the land.

I'd love to see the state that basically tells the US Department of Education to take its school-funding extortion and shove it up its ass.

On the bright side, the smarter students would probably completely destroy those tests, wouldn't they?