'The top 10 real things we don't believe in' blog discussion

barrenelly

I don't believe that those bits of rock that are supposed to be meteorites "from Mars" or whatever planet, did come from there. If they did, how are they supposed to have reached escape velocity to leave Mars? Imagine you're standing on the surface of Mars, "ooo that stone just flew up in the air and out of sight..."! Even shot up from a volcano, no, I don't believe it.

2sides2everystory

Well if that aircraft carrier-sized asteroid lump that wizzed by last night whilst we were all fast a-kip had come any closer, then seeing may well have been believing ...

I think it is closer shaves than that which have knocked off the loose bits you aren't so sure of.

tenuissent

"ending in an undignified Rain Dance to put an end to the drought (it worked). " That was a joke of course....it was bound to rain eventually, and it did.....

Stryder

1. I don’t believe planes can fly
Unless you have never got on a plane, you do believe it. The problem is probably a lack of comprehension due to you choosing an MA rather than a MSc

2. Cheryl Galbraith: "If you roll a die five times and it rolls a six each time, the chances of it rolling a six on the sixth roll is still just one in six."

1/6 x 1/6 x 1/6 x 1/6 x 1/6 = 1/7776
There s a chance if you get 5 6's the die is loaded or otherwise uneven. This is our brain seeing a pattern and analyzing it, which is arguably sophisticated. As your brain is adept at finding patterns you are just making a subconscious judgement the die is not fair. Your brain may be right.

3. Natalie Humphreys: "Mobile phones can let you speak to people on the other side of the world – without wires!"
hmmmm OK. Do you not believe in Radios either? Personally I find Wifi more difficult to believe but that is down to the amount data and how it can be received, collected and decoded by one machine only. Wonder of electronics.

4. Carol Ewens: "I can’t believe ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ is not butter."
Why? Tastes horrid. Maybe because you have spent so many years eating marg. and spreads rather than butter?

5. Natasha Ready: "That rowdy oik with the scruffy jeans and shocking attitude was once my adorable firstborn baby.."
Hmmmm really depends on the blend of your genes and nurthure. Maybe ask your mother if you resembled him at his age.

6. Wendy Wilshaw: "Pausing live TV while you answer the door to trick or treaters, then carrying on as if nothing happened. It’s like having your own time machine."
Or like pausing a VCR? Really? you can not believe this?


7. Matthew O’Reilly: "If there are just 23 people in a room then the probability that two of them share a birthday is 50% and you only need 41 people to make the probability 90%!"
Hmmmm not 100% sure of the maths on this one.


8. Martin Lewis (me): "Drop a feather and a tonne of lead in a vacuum and they’d both fall at equal speeds."

This is not so surprising. The feather is a poor example as it essentially is designed to trap air so we have a preconceived idea how if floats. But if you said 1 tonne of lead and 1/2 tonne of lead, its not so surprising.

9. Peter Watts: "Each time we have a general election the government win."

Semantics. The government does not necessarily win, a party wins and then asks the queen for permission to form a Parliament,

10. John Rose: "And someone once thought the earth was flat."

Who? Not sure there is any records of anyone believing that, even if cultures did not understand the earth as a planetary globe. Any culture that sailed the see would be very aware of the sea and thus the earth was not in fact flat due to the visible curvature.


I think there are far more complex wonders in the universe .. like gravity, the universal and weak force (compared to say, magnetism) that keeps the planets in motion around the Sun and has allowed there to be life on the earth/ I also find it hard to believe Nick Clegg.

snowleopard61

I don't believe anyone genuinely prefers dark chocolate to milk, or fresh fruit to tinned. I'm convinced deep down that anyone who claims to is pretending, to seem more sophisticated.;)

John_Pierpoint

I do !

I had an Epithany moment aged about 21.

I realised that sugar was a sort of drug , the more you ate the less you could taste it. Whereas if you go cold Turkey, you can then taste sugar in minute quantities amongst other flavours, you didn't even know were there.

ViolaLass

snowleopard61 wrote: »

I don't believe anyone genuinely prefers dark chocolate to milk, or fresh fruit to tinned. I'm convinced deep down that anyone who claims to is pretending, to seem more sophisticated.;)

Really? I can't stand liquorice but I don't find it hard to believe that other people love it.

esuhl

I find it hard to believe GPS (like in sat-navs) is only accurate because it takes account of time dilation (i.e. we "see" the atomic clocks in orbit running slower than ones on earth, even though they are both functioning perfectly).

I can follow the theory, but trying to explain it makes my head explode!

GPS and relativity
Einstein's Relativity: Time Dilation

snowleopard61

ViolaLass wrote: »

Really? I can't stand liquorice but I don't find it hard to believe that other people love it.

No, not really really, slightly tongue-in-cheek. But I'm never quite convinced to the contrary.

John_Pierpoint

ViolaLass wrote: »

Really? I can't stand liquorice but I don't find it hard to believe that other people love it.

That is another high sugar situation; its bit like a natural equivalent of Coca Cola.

CoKe
Ingredients

• Carbonated water
• Sugar (sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup depending on country of origin)
• Caffeine
• Phosphoric acid
• Caramel color (E150d)
• Natural flavorings[34]

A can of Coke (12 fl ounces/355 ml) has 39 grams of carbohydrates (all from sugar, approximately 10 teaspoons),[35] 50 mg of sodium, 0 grams fat, 0 grams potassium, and 140 calories.[36]


Licorice

http://www.ernaehrung.de/lebensmitte.../Liquorice.php

Ingredient Quantity/100g Unit Bread units

7.23

Kilocalories

378

Kilojoule

1582

Protein

4.406

g

Fat

0.887

g

Carbohydrates

86.736

g

Alcohol

0

g

Water

5.801

g

Total dietary fibre

1.435

g

Cholesterol

0

mg

Mineral

0.682

g

A millilitre of water weighs one gramme