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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:50 pm
by 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 7:40 pm
by Peter Mabey
Johnny Canuck wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:11 pm
Marc Meakin wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 4:45 pm 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 :roll:

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 11:46 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Mark James wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:50 pm 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 4:23 pm
by JimBentley
Mark James wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:50 pm 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:26 am
by Jon Corby
JimBentley wrote: Thu Sep 07, 2017 4:23 pm
Mark James wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:50 pm 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?

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 11:08 am
by Matt Morrison
Jon Corby wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:26 am
JimBentley wrote: Thu Sep 07, 2017 4:23 pm
Mark James wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:50 pm 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".

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 12:19 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Jon Corby wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:26 am
JimBentley wrote: Thu Sep 07, 2017 4:23 pm
Mark James wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:50 pm 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?

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 2:10 pm
by Mark James
Jon Corby wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:26 am
JimBentley wrote: Thu Sep 07, 2017 4:23 pm
Mark James wrote: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:50 pm 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:30 pm
by Jon Corby
Mark James wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2017 2:10 pm
Jon Corby wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:26 am
JimBentley wrote: Thu Sep 07, 2017 4:23 pm

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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:21 am
by 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:41 am
by 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 1:21 pm
by Mark James
I've just realised not everyone watches QI. What's not obvious though is why they don't.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 3:16 pm
by Marc Meakin
Well Sandi Toksvig is reason enough.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 4:55 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Mark James wrote: Sat Sep 09, 2017 1:21 pm 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:31 am
by Mark Deeks

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:53 am
by Jennifer Steadman
In Arrested Development, why Maeby's alter ego is called Shirley. It took until my 4th rewatch to get this.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:05 am
by 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 7:50 pm
by Marc Meakin
The theme tune to Points of View is When I'm 64....because of the lyric.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 10:14 pm
by Gavin Chipper
That's quite a good one.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 9:11 pm
by Marc Meakin
To an Estonian at least.
Saying twelve months in Estonian is funny

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 12:39 am
by Gavin Chipper
Gavin Chipper wrote: Sat Sep 03, 2016 6:19 pm 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 8:38 am
by Marc Meakin
Not seen Meet the Parents then ?

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 6:51 pm
by Mark James
Puffer fish inflate themselves with water not air.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 2:36 am
by Gavin Chipper
Marc Meakin wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2017 8:38 am 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:23 pm
by Matt Morrison
Mark James wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2017 6:51 pm Puffer fish inflate themselves with water not air.
https://i.imgur.com/xA7NDV1.gifv

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 2:15 am
by Mark James
Matt Morrison wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:23 pm
Mark James wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2017 6:51 pm 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?

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:08 pm
by Marc Meakin
That the Bob Marley song Three Little Birds is the song I always thought was called Don't Worry

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:14 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Marc Meakin wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:08 pm 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:03 pm
by 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).

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:43 pm
by 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

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:23 pm
by Johnny Canuck
Marc Meakin wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:43 pm 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 7:18 am
by Elliott Mellor
Johnny Canuck wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:23 pm
Marc Meakin wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:43 pm 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 8:35 am
by 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 5:02 pm
by Matt Morrison
I only got definite confirmation today when I bothered looking it up that there's nothing after "thrice".

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 5:20 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Matt Morrison wrote: Wed Apr 04, 2018 5:02 pm 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.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:25 pm
by Mark Deeks
It's quice. Thought this was well known.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:38 pm
by Phil Reynolds
Once, twice, thrice, quice, quince, since, spice, ace, nice, tense.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:03 pm
by Matt Morrison
I use quadrice, quintice, sextice, heptice, octice, nonice, tennis.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:16 pm
by Mark Deeks
I think this is why we didn't pass the Only Connect audition.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 11:40 pm
by Phil Reynolds
Matt Morrison wrote: Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:03 pm I use quadrice, quintice, sextice, heptice, octice, nonice, tennis.
Next in the sequence presumably being elvis.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:15 pm
by Ian Volante
Phil Reynolds wrote: Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:38 pm Once, twice, thrice, quice, quince, since, spice, ace, nice, tense.
This is like progress to textual orgasm.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:58 pm
by Martin Hurst
"Brunch" is a replacement for breakfast and lunch, not in addition to breakfast and lunch.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 3:42 pm
by Marc Meakin
Martin Hurst wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:58 pm "Brunch" is a replacement for breakfast and lunch, not in addition to breakfast and lunch.
Linner never really caught on nor Tupper

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 4:07 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Martin Hurst wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:58 pm "Brunch" is a replacement for breakfast and lunch, not in addition to breakfast and lunch.
Try this thread instead.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 9:05 am
by Marc Meakin
Astronauts wearing diapers.
Its just the thought of Neil Armstrong and co shitting their pants in them suits sullies my hero worship.
I guess even filmmakers have missed this.
Try watching Gravity ( probably the most over rated film of the last 10 years )

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 9:09 am
by Matt Morrison
True to thread as it doesn't take long thinking about it before you realise how obvious it is, but I think I've always absent-mindedly gone for "vocal chords" instead of "vocal cords".

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 10:26 am
by Marc Meakin
Matt Morrison wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 9:09 am True to thread as it doesn't take long thinking about it before you realise how obvious it is, but I think I've always absent-mindedly gone for "vocal chords" instead of "vocal cords".
Vocal Chords are loud trousers 😀

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 10:30 am
by Marc Meakin
I've just found out that certain Irish names are pronounced nothing like their spelling like Niamh (neeve )
Padraic (porik) Eidlah (ailey )

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:53 pm
by Gavin Chipper
I used to think that "shyster" was actually "scheißter"/"scheisster" and some sort of German swear word. Though looking at the origin, it seems that I might be basically right.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:02 pm
by Ian Volante
Marc Meakin wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 10:30 am I've just found out that certain Irish names are pronounced nothing like their spelling like Niamh (neeve )
Padraic (porik) Eidlah (ailey )
There was a Siobhan on Why Don't You back in the eighties, that confused me for a bit. It's pretty routine outside England to have to deal with these names, quite confusing when people called Mhairi aren't consistent in pronunciation though. And I've never met a native Caitlin on this island who pronounced it right.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:51 pm
by Mark James
Marc Meakin wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 10:30 am I've just found out that certain Irish names are pronounced nothing like their spelling like Niamh (neeve )
Padraic (porik) Eidlah (ailey )
They are pronounced how they are spelled. When you're taught how certain letter combos are pronounced in the Irish language they make sense. Certainly more sense than things like Worcestershire or Leicester or Featherstonehaugh. How is that last one fanshaw? Even when you learn the rules of pronunciation in English they don't make sense.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 12:29 pm
by Marc Meakin
Mark James wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:51 pm
Marc Meakin wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 10:30 am I've just found out that certain Irish names are pronounced nothing like their spelling like Niamh (neeve )
Padraic (porik) Eidlah (ailey )
They are pronounced how they are spelled. When you're taught how certain letter combos are pronounced in the Irish language they make sense. Certainly more sense than things like Worcestershire or Leicester or Featherstonehaugh. How is that last one fanshaw? Even when you learn the rules of pronunciation in English they don't make sense.
Just trying to explain to my granddaughter the pronunciation of one gives me a headache without all the inconsistencies of words ending in ough

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:40 am
by Mark Deeks
Jimmy Carr looks like Richard Nixon.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:42 pm
by Paul Worsley
Mark Deeks wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:40 am Jimmy Carr looks like Richard Nixon.
I was going to post something along the line of "Bollocks!", but, actually, you have a point.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:58 pm
by Mark James
Marc Meakin wrote: Thu Apr 25, 2019 12:29 pm
Mark James wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:51 pm
Marc Meakin wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 10:30 am I've just found out that certain Irish names are pronounced nothing like their spelling like Niamh (neeve )
Padraic (porik) Eidlah (ailey )
They are pronounced how they are spelled. When you're taught how certain letter combos are pronounced in the Irish language they make sense. Certainly more sense than things like Worcestershire or Leicester or Featherstonehaugh. How is that last one fanshaw? Even when you learn the rules of pronunciation in English they don't make sense.
Just trying to explain to my granddaughter the pronunciation of one gives me a headache without all the inconsistencies of words ending in ough
I tried to order a brand of beer in Poland once. It's called Zywiec. I was calling it zwei wick. The bar girl laughed her ass off. She said it was pronounced shivich but then someone else said it's supposed to be shivets. So anyway yeah different languages pronounce letters differently.

You know the pronunciation guide after words on Wikipedia and such. Does anyone else find they don't help. It's obviously an attempt to universalise letter pronunciation but I've never heard it explained out loud anyway so it's just as baffling.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 11:05 pm
by Mark Deeks
Paul Worsley wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:42 pm
Mark Deeks wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:40 am Jimmy Carr looks like Richard Nixon.
I was going to post something along the line of "Bollocks!", but, actually, you have a point.
On the internationally approved Deeks-Dexter Scale of lookalike quality, this is a solid 0.7 Deeker.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri May 10, 2019 9:46 am
by Gavin Chipper
I don't know how obvious this actually is, but this seems the most appropriate thread. As you probably know zero degrees latitude (not longitude surprisingly) is the line that goes from the North Pole to the South Pole through the Greenwich Meridian and so on.

And if you look at a map, isn't it so very convenient that you have that line going down the centre of the map and the edge of the map perfectly separates Alaska from Russia?

Image

Well, it turns out that it doesn't. Maps have been lying to us. Zero degrees latitude isn't in the centre of these maps. On the map above (and many others), there are about 190 degrees to the right and 170 degrees to the left of zero. I suppose it would be too much of a coincidence for the world to have worked out in such a nice way.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Fri May 10, 2019 1:11 pm
by Jon O'Neill
That's a good one.

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sat May 11, 2019 11:07 am
by Innis Carson
Gavin Chipper wrote: Fri May 10, 2019 9:46 am As you probably know zero degrees latitude (not longitude surprisingly) is the line that goes from the North Pole to the South Pole through the Greenwich Meridian and so on.
...no, that really is longitude. Zero degrees latitude is the equator. Is there a joke going over my head here?

(though to acknowledge your earlier point on the subject, yes, latitude is a weird name for it)

[EDIT: Oh I see, you are correcting my and everyone else's long-running misuse of these words. Very good. As you were]

Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Posted: Sat May 11, 2019 4:24 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Actually I think I probably just confused myself but we'll go with deliberate.