Things everybody should know but for some reason, most don't.

[Wintermoot]

User Agreements will usually have something that fucks you over. iTunes, according to Cracked since I can't be bothered checking myself, records your internet history.

also iTunes may not be used in the development of WMD,s

that the earth isn't flat.
http://theflatearthsociety.org/cms/ (yes people believe this stuff)
I get that in religious doctrine that people believe the earth is just 6000 years old or that you reject the theory of evolution but Marco Polo proved the earth was round by sailing around it.

people believe that alternative medicine works and reject life saving treatments over it.
if people stuck to traditional western medicine instead of magic water or hand waving allot of people might have been saved suffering also Steve Jobs would have been alive today.

 

[leaderproxima]

It takes just as much strength to bite through your finger as it takes to bite through a carrot but our brains stop us from doing it.

bet you didnt know that

 

[Rainforce]

Okay, here's one...

Given that this thread is dedicated to pointing out that there are things that people don't know or get wrong all the time, I think it's safe to say the following statement:

Wikipedia is not to be considered an accurate database of information.

By the logic of this thread alone, you demonstrate that people have very strong biases, make very large mistakes, and are very lax in doing anything about these things. Ergo, the website which allows EVERYBODY to edit it is unreliable, even if you claim that it is moderated carefully by the people that own it, because they are also only human and ARE biased. True, there are bouts of information that are correct, but not all of it. Wiki is better used as a nexus by which to find the REAL information. It in of itself is not trustworthy.

Good logic, good statement.
Buuuuut you could argue that any book/article/etc is worse, because it has lesser editors and therefore more potential bias in the final product (because the bias of all the people involved is less likely to even itself out). Therefore wikipedia might not be the holy grail of accuracy (there is no such thing), but it might be our best shot for now.
EDIT: also books and articles can't be fixed once released. There's so much unfixable shit flying around in the literature world, you can't believe it.

 

[FalloutJack]

Okay, here's one...

Given that this thread is dedicated to pointing out that there are things that people don't know or get wrong all the time, I think it's safe to say the following statement:

Wikipedia is not to be considered an accurate database of information.

By the logic of this thread alone, you demonstrate that people have very strong biases, make very large mistakes, and are very lax in doing anything about these things. Ergo, the website which allows EVERYBODY to edit it is unreliable, even if you claim that it is moderated carefully by the people that own it, because they are also only human and ARE biased. True, there are bouts of information that are correct, but not all of it. Wiki is better used as a nexus by which to find the REAL information. It in of itself is not trustworthy.

Good logic, good statement.
Buuuuut you could argue that any book/article/etc is worse, because it has lesser editors and therefore more potential bias in the final product (because the bias of all the people involved is less likely to even itself out). Therefore wikipedia might not be the holy grail of accuracy (there is no such thing), but it might be our best shot for now.
EDIT: also books and articles can't be fixed once released. There's so much unfixable shit flying around in the literature world, you can't believe it.

That might be so (or, it might not), but I seem to recall an Aesop-ism about too many cooks spoiling the soup. Granted, you can take anything with a grain of salt and even construct - via philosophical musings - a thesis by which information and reality and your perceptions of it are all backwards...but then we could at least say you're approaching the whole information thing intelligently.

Wikipedia is, on the other hand, very lazy and able to be frauded in seconds with the right line of code. Information could be maliciously altered or destroyed if one is of a mind and talent to do so. Very unreliable. At least with books, you know that the last regime that decided to eschew knowledge by burning books didn't pan out too well.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

A scientific theory is different from a regular theory.

Evolution is not up for debate!

 

[Tipsy Giant]

The US budget cannot afford entitlements. Almost all entitlements present are founded on borrowed money; without them we'd have a balanced budget.

The US budget can't afford to sustain it's Imperialist occupation of foreign soil!

 

[Scarim Coral]

While people know the 911 event was September 11 but some people forgot the year on when it happen.
How hard is it to remember that it was 2011? I mean I pretty sure this was the terrorist humour to attack in that time when it's the same emergency number.

Not sure if troll... but 911 happened in 2001.

Sorry my bad, that was a typo (I tend to do that often and yes I should double check more often).

 

[Death Carr]

that there are 52 weeks in a year
in maths today we had to calculate how much someone would earn based on a set amout per week, when the time came to x52 most of the other students in the class thought it was 50 or 40
this is a year 11 maths class BTW

 

[Crenelate]

Damnit, I just watched sooo much QI. Now I can't even decide what I want to mention here!

Maybe you can give me directions to or describe this "QI" in which you speek of.

I would say take a look on iplayer, but if you don't know what QI is I'm guessing you're not from the UK!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX-rfSPT7Fw

Here's an episode, there are tons on youtube, clips as well. This ones an xmas ep but it's got a good bunch of guests.

Enjoy!

 

[Proverbial Jon]

to topic:

You should *NOT* give cats anything containing milk.
Such as cream, butter, joghurt or... erm... MILK!

Ffs, so many people are seriously risking their cat's health.

I've been giving my cat milk her whole life and she's now 17 (in cat years) i'm pretty sure she will outlive me!!

It's true. Some animals, I'm not sure if it's ALL animals, cannot digest lactose as we can. Cats included. Giving cats milk is one of those curious stereotypes that seems to persist for no real reason. Rather like the mouse/cheese thing. You can buy special milk for cats that doesn't actually contain the lactose but that seems a little bit backwards, doesn't it? I'm not sure HOW fatal it is to give a cat milk, it's possibly only a real issue when giving excessive amounts, even so, I wouldn't want to be eating anything my body has a hard time digesting... that's why I don't go to McDonalds any more.

I work at an animal rescue centre (or "shelter" for my American friends) and I hear countless people ask if they should give their cat milk, as if somehow it is a biological imperative for a cat to consume milk. No need, normal water is just fine, I say with a tired expression.

Also, Chocolate is fatal to dogs, even in small doses. Cocoa contains the chemical theobromine which is poisonous to dogs because they cannot remove it from their bodies naturally. So yes, dark chocolate is even worse than regular chocolate, another popular misconception. So many people I come across give their dog chocolate as a "treat" it's unbelieveable. I always say, "well, if I gave you chocolate coated cyanide I'm sure it would be a nice treat to begin with, until a few seconds later when you would be dead." It only takes a couple of small squares, if that, to kill a small dog and it's not a pleasant end.

Another thing... you can feed dogs on cat food but not cats on dog food. Cats require Taurine, a substance which is found in cat food but NOT in dog food. Lack of Taurine in a cat's diet can lead to heart problems and blindness.

ALSO, moving on from animals, these are a few of my pet peeves regarding words that people should know by now...

He's so eager he is chomping at the bit! (CHAMPING at the bit, for goodness' sake!)

That dead body made me reach! (Reach is what you do with your arms, RETCH is when you want to be sick)

I was talking pacifically about you! (SPECIFIC! It's a completely different word!)

I was just kicked in the crutch! (A crutch is a device for giving support. I think you mean CROTCH)

/rant

 

[II Scarecrow II]

User Agreements will usually have something that fucks you over. iTunes, according to Cracked since I can't be bothered checking myself, records your internet history.

It does what now? *Clears browser history*

It's too late isn't it?

 

[Crenelate]

to topic:

You should *NOT* give cats anything containing milk.
Such as cream, butter, joghurt or... erm... MILK!

Ffs, so many people are seriously risking their cat's health.

I've been giving my cat milk her whole life and she's now 17 (in cat years) i'm pretty sure she will outlive me!!

It's true. Some animals, I'm not sure if it's ALL animals, cannot digest lactose as we can. Cats included. Giving cats milk is one of those curious stereotypes that seems to persist for no real reason. Rather like the mouse/cheese thing. You can buy special milk for cats that doesn't actually contain the lactose but that seems a little bit backwards, doesn't it? I'm not sure HOW fatal it is to give a cat milk, it's possibly only a real issue when giving excessive amounts, even so, I wouldn't want to be eating anything my body has a hard time digesting... that's why I don't go to McDonalds any more.

...

Also, Chocolate is fatal to dogs, even in small doses. Cocoa contains the chemical theobromine which is poisonous to dogs because they cannot remove it from their bodies naturally. So yes, dark chocolate is even worse than regular chocolate, another popular misconception. So many people I come across give their dog chocolate as a "treat" it's unbelieveable. I always say, "well, if I gave you chocolate coated cyanide I'm sure it would be a nice treat to begin with, until a few seconds later when you would be dead." It only takes a couple of small squares, if that, to kill a small dog and it's not a pleasant end.


/rant

All animals are intolerant to lactose, lactase persistence is unnatural and developed out of dairy farming and Northern European genetic quirk as a way to gain more vitamin D in low light environments.
Intolerance doesn't kill humans so I doubt if it would kill animals (in reasonable amounts), just make them bloated, nauseous etc. Small amounts probably don't have a noticeable effect. (I am neither doctor/vet/pet owner so other probably know better than I do).

Chocolate is also poisonous to most animals, including cats and most probably birds, though there hasn't been a lot of investigation into this.

 

[ToMegaTherion]

We Swedes are very insulted when foreigners think of us as "Scandinavians". We're very different, we Scandinavian countries. (Please don't point out that we treat Baltic countries the exact same way.)

Oh and we do not live in Switzerland, we don't have beautiful blondes everywhere and polar bears doesn't walk our streets

 

[Brandon237]

Pi is 22 divided by 7, just in case you have a calculator without a Pi button and urgently have to calculate the circumference of a circle.

Ahem...
[HEADING=3]WRONG![/HEADING]
Pi is not a rational number, it never terminates and does not repeat. All rational numbers can be shown in the form x = a/b, Pi, not being rational, cannot be accurately represented by 22/7 as this totally goes against what Pi is, an irrational number.

You can say that Pi is approximately 22/7, although it is as easy to remember 3,14.

Sorry. That may have been a little harsh

OT: Everyone should know that Chernobyl was not a good example of normal nuclear-fission power-generation and that "theory" in English does NOT mean the same, or even a similar thing, to what theory means in science.

Damn, Someone beat me to it. I've personally memorized 3.141592654(rounding up to 4).

Spoiler: I feel like a Ninja!

I'm not sure if you think he was being serious or just listing something that the post was referring to.

There wasn't exactly strong sarcasm coming through in what he said, now was there? It is a small mistake and in his course makes no real difference, but as a general fact it is wrong.

And in listing something the post was referring to... I don't really see what argument you can make from that about me doing some correcting. Unless you seriously misread the title and the OP, your comment makes no sense. Esplamanation please.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

Proper grammar.

I don't want to be a grammar nazi, but seriously this is more directed towards the Facebook users who "tiep liek th1zzzz. liek omgz thiz booiiii askd me out!!11!1!!". Seriously. It frustrates people.

theres a good solution to that.... pick better friends

Not just my friends...pretty much anyone on Facebook.

 

[omicron1]

The US budget cannot afford entitlements. Almost all entitlements present are founded on borrowed money; without them we'd have a balanced budget.

The US budget can't afford to sustain it's Imperialist occupation of foreign soil!

Military costs are ~15% of the budget. Entitlements are ~55%. The amount of the budget per year borrowed is ~40%. Any questions?

 

[Sperium 3000]

Videogames nowadays are not exclusively a product for children and are, in no way, TOYS. There are movies for children, but you don't say those are toys, and you don't think less of the people who watch movies for adults just because there are also movies for children, so let's just stop being ignorant and prejudicial.

Sorry, got a little ranty.

 

[sshakespeare]

I hope not getting flamed by saying this but United States is not America. America is a continent which includes Canada, Mexico, Brasil, Chile, Argentina among other countries. Oh, yes and United States OF America. Stop calling a country like the continent already.

Um what about the whole North America and South America thing, not the same continent

North America and South America ARE the same continent! That's just a imaginary separation due to the fact that they're divided by Equator, but they're both parts of the one and only America.

There was me thinking it was due to North and South America being on different tectonic plates, gee I guess the last few years of studying geography have been a waste of time

 

[Crenelate]

I hope not getting flamed by saying this but United States is not America. America is a continent which includes Canada, Mexico, Brasil, Chile, Argentina among other countries. Oh, yes and United States OF America. Stop calling a country like the continent already.

Um what about the whole North America and South America thing, not the same continent

North America and South America ARE the same continent! That's just a imaginary separation due to the fact that they're divided by Equator, but they're both parts of the one and only America.

There was me thinking it was due to North and South America being on different tectonic plates, gee I guess the last few years of studying geography have been a waste of time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uBcq1x7P34

This might help a bit

 

[Roggen Bread]

to topic:

You should *NOT* give cats anything containing milk.
Such as cream, butter, joghurt or... erm... MILK!

Ffs, so many people are seriously risking their cat's health.

I've been giving my cat milk her whole life and she's now 17 (in cat years) i'm pretty sure she will outlive me!!

It's true. Some animals, I'm not sure if it's ALL animals, cannot digest lactose as we can. Cats included. Giving cats milk is one of those curious stereotypes that seems to persist for no real reason. Rather like the mouse/cheese thing. You can buy special milk for cats that doesn't actually contain the lactose but that seems a little bit backwards, doesn't it? I'm not sure HOW fatal it is to give a cat milk, it's possibly only a real issue when giving excessive amounts, even so, I wouldn't want to be eating anything my body has a hard time digesting... that's why I don't go to McDonalds any more.

[snip]

Thank you, this was insightful. Especially the part with the dog and the cat food. I will file this under useless knowledge, for I am a biomedical engineer and not a vet, but I LOVE useless knowledge

I did not claim, that milk will kill your cat in 12 seconds, but it is just not healthy.
Yes, there is milk for cats, but water is still better.

And anyhow, not even every human (in fact, it's a minority!) has no trouble digesting lactose.

And too much sugar (remember, lactose is a kind of sugar) might lead to diabetes and overweight (and all the nice and funny stuff caused by this!). Also in cats.
I think, you will second this. In our modern world, there are more and more cats who suffer from "civilized" diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis and so on. My own cat has problems with her kidney and her liver, she is just not designed to live that long. (as we humans are)