Clearing up some common misconceptions.

[nklshaz]

Hello fellow Escapists. As the title of this thread suggests, what are some common misconceptions that you would like to clear up? It can be about any topic, just as long as everyone here (Myself included, of course) learns a thing or two.

I'll start. I know this one applies to other nations, but I'm going to direct it at my own, because I know for a fact that we are guilty of it.

My fellow Americans, you do NOT need to eat an entire fucking cow every day! Seriously, I'm amazed by how much people over-consume meat in this country. I have no moral stance against eating meat, but damn, most people I see eat WAY too much. This wouldn't be so bad, but the average American doesn't eat enough fruits or vegetables either. I don't know why, but people here in America always seem to be concerned about not getting enough protein. (And trust me, we're in no danger of it) Hell, most fruits and vegetables taste damn good too, so I' m surprised that people here don't eat more of them.

Your turn Escapists. Please, educate us. Have a nice day

Edit: Several people on this thread seem to think that I am defining the term "too much" by personal opinion, or that I'm trying to judge people. I was defining "too much" based on the general national health guidelines, and I'm certainly not trying to judge anyone. I'm not on any anti-meat crusade, it's just something I recently observed in my environment, and did a little research on. Many statistics reported that the average American does eat too much meat, or at the very least, not enough fruits and vegetables. And to reiterate; this is an observation, not a judgement or criticism. Now if we could keep this thread on topic, that would be great. Thank you.

 

[nklshaz]

Here's a good one: sweeping generalizations are, in general, pretty bad.

Well it's nice to see that my first reply was at least a clever one While my assumption about all of America is potentially inaccurate, and based on nation-wide studies rather than direct observation, I can safely say that people around me eat too much meat. Seriously, you should see the average serving of meat around here, they're almost comically large.

OT: Another fun misconception; Apples do not contain more caffeine than a cup of coffee. I know that sounds like a rather obvious one, but you'd be surprised by how many people believe that they do.

 

[Brandon237]

I am neither Sheldon Cooper nor a robot. While this mostly applies to people who know me IRL, it gets annoying after the fiftieth time someone says "You know who he reminds me of... Sheldon!"

Also, gravity is F'ing weak (compared to the other forces at least). Not sure I have actually see that as something misconstrued, but it seems like it might be just because it is one of those things.

The Big Bang =/= Evolution =/= Abiogenesis. To anyone who starts a debate in one and turns it into another thinking they are the same: Do your M****r-f*****g homework before you start the debate. Please.

Thank-you very much, I will be here all night[footnote]I will not, I am going to bed now, so don't expect to find me tonight. Unless you have the dream-riding unicorn. Goodnight[/footnote].

 

[DevilWithaHalo]

My fellow Americans, you do NOT need to eat an entire fucking cow every day! Seriously, I'm amazed by how much people over-consume meat in this country. I have no moral stance against eating meat, but damn, most people I see eat WAY too much. This wouldn't be so bad, but the average American doesn't eat enough fruits or vegetables either. I don't know why, but people here in America always seem to be concerned about not getting enough protein. (And trust me, we're in no danger of it) Hell, most fruits and vegetables taste damn good too, so I' m surprised that people here don't eat more of them.

How in the blue hell is this a common misconception? I have never seen anything in America that suggests eating anymore meat than a balanced meal would require. This appears to be your personal view point on a *choice*, not a misconception.

Although the irony did make me chuckle.

 

[nklshaz]

I am neither Sheldon Cooper nor a robot. While this mostly applies to people who know me IRL, it gets annoying after the fiftieth time someone says "You know who he reminds me of... Sheldon!"

Also, gravity is F'ing weak (compared to the other forces at least). Not sure I have actually see that as something misconstrued, but it seems like it might be just because it is one of those things.

The Big Bang =/= Evolution =/= Abiogenesis. To anyone who starts a debate in one and turns it into another thinking they are the same: Do your M****r-f*****g homework before you start the debate. Please.

Thank-you very much, I will be here all night[footnote]I will not, I am going to bed now, so don't expect to find me tonight. Unless you have the dream-riding unicorn. Goodnight[/footnote].

I don't know you IRL, nor am I an expert on the big bang theory or evolution, I agree with you on the gravity bit. If I recall correctly, the force of gravity on Earth is roughly 9.81 newtons. And as you said, it's rather easy to generate a force greater than that.

 

[Suicidejim]

The Big Bang =/= Evolution =/= Abiogenesis. To anyone who starts a debate in one and turns it into another thinking they are the same: Do your M****r-f*****g homework before you start the debate. Please.

I'll second this motion. People who start equating these concepts with one another lose all credibility in an argument in my eyes.

As for my own suggestions:

1) Sharks, in general, are not too vicious. Although this isn't a cue to start trying to hug a Great White.

And on a more personal note:

2) If I'm being sarcastic and snide towards you, this means I like you and consider you a friend. If I don't, or am neutral, you won't get a single harsh word out of me. This is often an issue for people I've just met.

 

[Brandon237]

I am neither Sheldon Cooper nor a robot. While this mostly applies to people who know me IRL, it gets annoying after the fiftieth time someone says "You know who he reminds me of... Sheldon!"

Also, gravity is F'ing weak (compared to the other forces at least). Not sure I have actually see that as something misconstrued, but it seems like it might be just because it is one of those things.

The Big Bang =/= Evolution =/= Abiogenesis. To anyone who starts a debate in one and turns it into another thinking they are the same: Do your M****r-f*****g homework before you start the debate. Please.

Thank-you very much, I will be here all night[footnote]I will not, I am going to bed now, so don't expect to find me tonight. Unless you have the dream-riding unicorn. Goodnight[/footnote].

I don't know you IRL, nor am I an expert on the big bang theory or evolution, I agree with you on the gravity bit. If I recall correctly, the force of gravity on Earth is roughly 9.81 newtons. And as you said, it's rather easy to generate a force greater than that.

Indeed it is, like... fridge-magnet or 1V battery easy
Strong Nuclear force is well... insanely strong. Then Electromagnetism and Weak Nuclear Force are kinda difficult to rank against each other because of the differences in how they are carried and what they affect, and then far below them all in terms of strength is gravity. The main reason they cannot find gravitons and gravitational radiation is that it is too damn weak to detect with current instruments.

And as for the Big Bang / Evolution / Abiogenesis:
Big Bang is essentially the origin of the universe as a whole, how it started and what happened immediately after it did.
Abiogenesis is how life formed from inorganic material (A-Bio-Genesis)
Evolution is what happened to life (study of the past) and what does happen to life as a general rule and why (The theory explaining the past and making predictions for the future of life).

The Big Bang =/= Evolution =/= Abiogenesis. To anyone who starts a debate in one and turns it into another thinking they are the same: Do your M****r-f*****g homework before you start the debate. Please.

I'll second this motion. People who start equating these concepts with one another lose all credibility in an argument in my eyes.

As for my own suggestions:

1) Sharks, in general, are not too vicious. Although this isn't a cue to start trying to hug a Great White.

What is worse is that the people will argue against you that you are wrong when you tell them that they have derailed things, thinking that "disproving" either of the less argued ones automatically does the same for evolution. It does not. It does lead to me wanting to smack people.

This too, humans kill far more sharks than sharks kill humans. We are not ideal prey for them, and they generally know it.

 

[Limecake]

Also, gravity is F'ing weak (compared to the other forces at least). Not sure I have actually see that as something misconstrued, but it seems like it might be just because it is one of those things.

The Big Bang =/= Evolution =/= Abiogenesis. To anyone who starts a debate in one and turns it into another thinking they are the same: Do your M****r-f*****g homework before you start the debate. Please.

it might be considered a misconception since people only consider how much gravity affects us, it might seem strong since it's keeping all of us glued to the earth but it's not even in the same ballpark as the others, Magnetism is the other common one.

Here's another one: The Big Bang isn't really considered to be an 'explosion' but more a rapidly expanding event. This is just a misconception caused by the name though.

Finally, Recycling! It costs us more money to recycle most things and we are not running out of landfill space. The exception to this would be anything you get paid to recycle (like aluminum) since it's cheaper to reuse the aluminum the companies pay your for it!

 

[DoPo]

One that applies to everyone i guess is newb=/=noob
a newb is somebody new to the game, and bad because of that newness.
A noob is an idiot who is unwilling (or incapable) of becoming better.

Yes, I second that. The term "newb" is just "newbie" shortened, "noob", however, came from that (as far as I know) but developed into it's own meaning - an insult. One is like calling somebody "inexperienced", which means that they lack experience, not the prospect of becoming better, the other is like calling them "retarded" - not nice at all.

So, somewhat related - "hacker [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html]". It is not an inherently bad word. It could be, but you have to explicitly specify it, e.g, "malicious hacker". Most people use it to mean "cracker".

Same goes for "hack [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hack.html]". It could be bad, but I mostly see it used as meaning 1. or 6.

 

[nklshaz]

If there's anything people eat too much of it's carbohydrates. They're one of the worst things you can eat, it's akin to eating pure fat.

Here's Canada's national food health guide, America's guide is pretty much the exact same.

That's right, the food group proven to be worse for your health than any other, is the same food group your government is telling you to eat lots of. It's one of the reasons why obesity has climbed so high in the past 50 or so years, people simply became convinced that bread is very healthy and that you should eat lots of it.

It's not like people actively follow the food guides, but when it's clearly telling you that eating a bunch of bread is actually a little better for you than eating a bunch of vegetables, you're going to get the impression that bread is some godly health food.

Our governments were simply convinced by the wrong group of scientists who came to the wrong conclusions, and nobody has ever bothered to change the food guides to comply with modern knowledge.

I agree, especially considering that most grain servings people get are processed, and not whole. And even with whole grains, someone still doesn't need 5 servings per day. In America's case, I don't think it's that they were too lazy to change the pyramid, rather it's all the lobbying done by the agriculture industry to push more grains on to the general public. I hate that they purposefully feed misinformation to the public just for the sake of money, but money is what industry has always been about I suppose.

 

[Esotera]

Science is not static - the community changes its mind on how things work according to new evidence. The old theory isn't wrong; usually it's just a more simplistic model of the complex version.

Mental illness is very common, isn't irreversible, and the treatment is almost always not related to locking someone up, dosing them high on drugs, then throwing away the key. The amount of social stigma against it is probably worse than homosexuality, in my experience, and much more pervasive (you can't call someone gay on TV if they do something you don't like, but it's fine to call them crazy).

Programming (most of the time) has very little to do with maths. The very foundation of computing is based on mathematical principles, and it's good to have an understanding of it so your programs run fast, but it would take centuries if you coded everything in mathematical terms. Instead programmers use languages that are converted into mathematical instructions (i.e., print "hello world" writes hello world to the screen in the Python Programming Language).

Anonymity is not a bad thing on the internet. A lot of people look down upon it because of idiotic trolls & the potential for bullying, but there are lots of good sides. I'm not held back by any prejudices I have in this forum, so I reply based entirely on what you have written. It gives everyone an equal voice, and allows us to speak as candidly as possible, and there are also loads of communities that will get together and produce works of art for the community as a whole, anonymously.

Free (as in cost) software is bad software. This is very rarely the case. There's usually a free alternative to commercial software that provides exactly the same functionality.

 

[Kolby Jack]

Drink 8 cups of water a day isn't a literal statement. That figure is accurate, but neglects to mention that the 8 cups can be from ANY source, even the water in food. And often there is quite a bit of water in your food. The figure also varies based on activity and environment.

Your ears are mostly self-cleaning. Plunging a q-tip inside your ear canal is actually bad for your ears natural cleaning cycle (it just jams the grime deeper in). Movements of the jaw slowly push dirt and waste from the inside to the outside of your ear. At most, you only need to swab the outside area of your ear, and even that's not terribly necessary.

Space is not cold.

 

[Grog289]

The Phrase "The founding fathers would have thought __________ " needs to be abolished from the current political lexicon in the United States. Those men who founded our country were not one homogenous group that agreed on the same thing, they were individuals with rivalries and competing ideologies. Further on that point, stop arguing that "the founding fathers wanted us to be a Christian nation." First, see my previous arguement, maybe some of the founding fathers wanted that but certainly not all of them (see Jefferson). And further on that point, you can point to as many random letters and conversations as you want, that does not change the fact that the main document they left for us, the Constitution, quite clearly does not define the US as a Christian nation.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I loves me some retro gaming, my favorite games being Super Mario Lost Levels, Galaga and, Konami beat-em-ups like Turtles in Time. That being said, while I do glorify the old days of gaming, I'm not completely against current games such as realistic shooters and Tolkein Fantasy. There's a ton of realistic shooters and 'standard' fantasy games but the past was similar what with the doom clones, sonic clones, etc. Still, it would be great to see more ninja's in gaming in this day and age where Ninjas are lucky to make an appearance fighting games.

 

[renegade7]

The pill is not just birth control, it also helps women with hormonal imbalances and the problems those can cause (acne, mood swings, pain, etc.) Something I think needs to be made a bit more clear to the powers that be.

The biggest cause of obesity in the US isn't junk food (though that is a major contributor), it is starting to come to light that it is in fact white bread.

Women who get abortions don't just do that so they can start having sex again. My cousin recently had to terminate a pregnancy due to a life-threatening complication (she is married, by the way) and she said it was the hardest thing she ever did.

Programming isn't very math intensive...a lot more logic and problem solving...IDK about others, but to me it's like a big puzzle. But due to the amount of logic and equations involved, the sort of person who is good at math is usually good at programming...but really, I haven't used anything in programming beyond 2nd year algebra.

Space. Oh god, how little some people seem to know about space...not even going to get into it right now, because I could type a very lengthy book over everything that people consistently get wrong about space.

Latin is not a useless language and everyone who wants to learn French, Spanish, or Italian should take at least one year.

Junior year is not the hardest year of high school. Freshman year (while you're still adjusting) and Senior year, when you have colleges to apply to, a job, advanced level courses, and scholarships....holy fucking shit SOOO many scholarship applications...

Chewing gum is probably one of the best things you can do in school. Chewing gum burns off so much nervous energy and it also increases blood flow and blood sugar, which makes you feel much more awake and alert. And if it weren't against the rules, it wouldn't be all over every desk in any given high school because students try to hide it.

Also, and this is to my fellow high schoolers out there...your teachers do in fact know when you're on your phone in class. They also do in fact know when you were late to class because your locker was jammed, or because you were jammed against it with your tongue in someone else's mouth. Seriously, fellow high schoolers, knock it off, you're ruining it for the rest of us when the school makes ever stricter rules about phones because you can't turn it off for 20 minutes and wait till the passing period to read your inbox. The only reason schools are getting harsher and harsher with their rules is because people KEEP ABUSING THEIR PRIVILEGES.

snip

Actually, whole grain bread is INCREDIBLY healthy for you. Loads of fiber, bit of protein, and it fills you up really quickly and takes a long time to digest, so you feel full for a long time. Despite over all having more calories, it has much less sugar and they're mostly good calories that get used up by the body and don't go right to your fat.

It's processed white bread that will make you turn round faster than a balloon since it has loads of sugar and carbs that your body either burns right through and puts the rest right into fat. Honestly no one should ever eat it.

 

[isometry]

A common misconception is that you need faster-than-light travel to reach other galaxies in one person's lifetime.

Because of relativistic length contraction, this is not necessarily the case. By accelerating at the reasonable rate of 1g, and starting to decelerate at 1g after the midway point, you could reach the andromeda galaxy, 2 million light years away, in less than 30 years.

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/SR/rocket.html