REALLY obvious things you've just realised

[Mark James]

The noise made when clicking your fingers is the sound of the finger hitting your palm not the finger and thumb rubbing together.

[Peter Mabey]

You only need a maximum of four colours to make a political map of the world without any adjacent countries having the same colour

Is this still true when considering exclaves and colonies that aren't connected to the countries' main landmasses (e.g., Sint Maarten as part of the Netherlands)?

No, the 4-colour theorem only applies to a surface which is simply connected

[Gavin Chipper]

The noise made when clicking your fingers is the sound of the finger hitting your palm not the finger and thumb rubbing together.

Shit. Why has no-one mentioned this before? A quick couple of clicks just now suggest you might be right as well.

[JimBentley]

The noise made when clicking your fingers is the sound of the finger hitting your palm not the finger and thumb rubbing together.

Yes, I love this one! I never used to be able to click my fingers until I figured this out. Nowadays of course, my finger-snaps are much sought-after by all the top popular music artistes and have featured on many hit records, none of which I can bring to mind presently, for some reason.

That said, I can also produce a reasonably loud noise without using the palm, by forcing the thumbnail back (edit: actually I'm forcing it forward, come to think of it, i.e. towards the palm) and releasing it (whilst ensuring that the finger used doesn't impact the rest of the hand). It's a different quality of sound, but it's similar. I don't have very long thumbnails though; it would be interesting to hear the sound made using this technique on e.g. a two-inch long nail. Or maybe it would just break off? I think I'll try to grow the one on my right thumb in the interests of research.

[Jon Corby]

The noise made when clicking your fingers is the sound of the finger hitting your palm not the finger and thumb rubbing together.

Yes, I love this one!

What am I missing here? Why on earth would anyone think a finger and thumb rubbing would produce a sudden sharp click sound?

[Matt Morrison]

The noise made when clicking your fingers is the sound of the finger hitting your palm not the finger and thumb rubbing together.

Yes, I love this one!

What am I missing here? Why on earth would anyone think a finger and thumb rubbing would produce a sudden sharp click sound?

I think it's more of a case of "I never spent any time at all thinking about how the sound is made" rather than "I believed the sound was made in a different way".

[Gavin Chipper]

The noise made when clicking your fingers is the sound of the finger hitting your palm not the finger and thumb rubbing together.

Yes, I love this one!

What am I missing here? Why on earth would anyone think a finger and thumb rubbing would produce a sudden sharp click sound?

So this was the most pressing thing that needed a reply in two months?

[Mark James]

The noise made when clicking your fingers is the sound of the finger hitting your palm not the finger and thumb rubbing together.

Yes, I love this one!

What am I missing here? Why on earth would anyone think a finger and thumb rubbing would produce a sudden sharp click sound?

What you're missing is the title of the thread.

[Jon Corby]

Yes, I love this one!

What am I missing here? Why on earth would anyone think a finger and thumb rubbing would produce a sudden sharp click sound?

What you're missing is the title of the thread.

I meant the fact that several people also seemed to agree that this was groundbreaking news.

[Matt Morrison]

Isn't the whole point in these things is that they aren't groundbreaking, and people are shocked by their having felt like they were groundbreaking discoveries only for a moment's thought to lead them to believe that no, they're actually "REALLY obvious"?

The only difference with the finger snapping is that most of the posts in these threads have been people making these groundbreaking discoveries and then coming to realise that they aren't groundbreaking away from the forum, then later on posting about it here. With the finger snapping Mark's first post fits this and then you're seeing subsequent people doing the groundbreaking-no-actually-really-obvious thing in almost real time on the forum.

[Marc Meakin]

At the risk of incurring the wrath of Mr Corby, I've only just realise the cracking sound made by a whipcrack is caused by a small sonic boom.

[Mark James]

I've just realised not everyone watches QI. What's not obvious though is why they don't.

[Marc Meakin]

Well Sandi Toksvig is reason enough.

[Gavin Chipper]

I've just realised not everyone watches QI. What's not obvious though is why they don't.

The smugness rating is too high.

Also, what Charlie says.

[Mark Deeks]

https://twitter.com/Advil/status/907092348345241601

[Jennifer Steadman]

In Arrested Development, why Maeby's alter ego is called Shirley. It took until my 4th rewatch to get this.

[Gavin Chipper]

I used to think that your cholesterol level was the level of build-up in your arteries, whereas it's actually just a measure of cholesterol in your blood. What I was thinking of seems to be atherosclerosis.

[Marc Meakin]

The theme tune to Points of View is When I'm 64....because of the lyric.

[Gavin Chipper]

https://twitter.com/Advil/status/907092348345241601

That's quite a good one.

[Marc Meakin]

To an Estonian at least.
Saying twelve months in Estonian is funny

[Gavin Chipper]

I used to think that a buffoon was a type of animal. I also had no idea that a jackass actually was a type of animal.

Likewise I had no idea that Gaylord was a real name.

[Marc Meakin]

Not seen Meet the Parents then ?

[Mark James]

Puffer fish inflate themselves with water not air.

[Gavin Chipper]

Not seen Meet the Parents then ?

When I said I had no idea, I meant up to some point in the past. But I haven't seen it anyway. Nor have I seen Meet the Fockers. But I have seen Meet the Conts.

[Matt Morrison]

Puffer fish inflate themselves with water not air.

https://i.imgur.com/xA7NDV1.gifv

[Mark James]

Puffer fish inflate themselves with water not air.

https://i.imgur.com/xA7NDV1.gifv

That's how I found out. That video was going around Facebook and I felt kind of stupid that it hadn't occurred to me that that's what they actually did. Apparently they can fill themselves with air when they are out of water but how often is that gonna happen without human intervention?

[Marc Meakin]

That the Bob Marley song Three Little Birds is the song I always thought was called Don't Worry

[Gavin Chipper]

That the Bob Marley song Three Little Birds is the song I always thought was called Don't Worry

I would have assumed it was called something like that as well. I mean, having just looked it up, it's a song I know and its name is not something I'd really considered.

[JimBentley]

This doesn't really fit here, but doesn't exactly deserve a new topic ("possibly not obvious things you've just found out").

I've always detested the smell of melted cheese, especially melted Parmesan cheese. I thought it smelled like vomit and would only eat it under duress. It was pretty much the only food-related thing I didn't really like.

Anyway, I found out yesterday that a principal component of melted cheese - which is especially prominent in Parmesan - is butyric acid, which is also the thing that gives vomit its distinctive smell. So I was right all along. Eating Parmesan cheese is pretty much like eating vomit.

(Also why American chocolate is so foul - contains the same substance).

[Marc Meakin]

On a similar culinary note. I've only recently found out when you cook a steak the redness oozing out is not blood it's myoglobin, found in muscle tissue

[Johnny Canuck]

On a similar culinary note. I've only recently found out when you cook a steak the redness oozing out is not blood it's myoglobin, found in muscle tissue

I legitimately wonder if Michael Calder learned this fact shortly before he filmed the Series 42 grand final (featuring his famous declaration of MYOGLOBIN). I'd say learning it is one of the most common real-life ways to be exposed to the word.

[Elliott Mellor]

On a similar culinary note. I've only recently found out when you cook a steak the redness oozing out is not blood it's myoglobin, found in muscle tissue

I legitimately wonder if Michael Calder learned this fact shortly before he filmed the Series 42 grand final (featuring his famous declaration of MYOGLOBIN). I'd say learning it is one of the most common real-life ways to be exposed to the word.

If I recall rightly, he worked in the blood department of a hospital.

[Gavin Chipper]

I'm not sure how obvious this is, but you know how people say that the three primary colours of light are red, green and blue, and that the three primary colours of pigment are red, yellow and blue? Well, I always thought that was a bit weird, and it turns out that apparently, the three primary colours of pigment are actually magenta, yellow and cyan (which are the secondary colours of light - magenta = blue + red; yellow = red + green; cyan = green + blue). So the red/yellow/blue thing is just a myth.

[Matt Morrison]

I only got definite confirmation today when I bothered looking it up that there's nothing after "thrice".

[Gavin Chipper]

I only got definite confirmation today when I bothered looking it up that there's nothing after "thrice".

Even "thrice" is only used by lunatics.

[Mark Deeks]

It's quice. Thought this was well known.

[Phil Reynolds]

Once, twice, thrice, quice, quince, since, spice, ace, nice, tense.

[Matt Morrison]

I use quadrice, quintice, sextice, heptice, octice, nonice, tennis.

[Mark Deeks]

I think this is why we didn't pass the Only Connect audition.

[Phil Reynolds]

I use quadrice, quintice, sextice, heptice, octice, nonice, tennis.

Next in the sequence presumably being elvis.

[Ian Volante]

Once, twice, thrice, quice, quince, since, spice, ace, nice, tense.

This is like progress to textual orgasm.

[Martin Hurst]

"Brunch" is a replacement for breakfast and lunch, not in addition to breakfast and lunch.

[Marc Meakin]

"Brunch" is a replacement for breakfast and lunch, not in addition to breakfast and lunch.

Linner never really caught on nor Tupper

[Gavin Chipper]

"Brunch" is a replacement for breakfast and lunch, not in addition to breakfast and lunch.

Try this thread instead.