For real. Everytime I get in the shower I end up having to point the showerhead away and cower from the cold water and I could have just turned it on first?
I’m a first gen immigrant but despite having native American English, sometimes once in a blue moon I’ll encounter a semi-rare word I’ve yet to be exposed to.
So my closest analog is that I was confused for the longest time why people kept referring to statues of figures from shoulder level upwards as busts when they never had chests or breasts or boobs or blossoms or busts!
So for the longest time not only was I confused, I would be on the lookout for statuses that depicted from breast height upwards, but I never found one, lol.
I can’t think of an incident like this off-hamd for myself, but I once dated a woman who didn’t know that women have a urethra. She thought the urine just came out of her vagina. She was ~23.
If your dinner scrapings are too soupy or wet to go in the bin, you can tip the whole thing in the toilet so you don’t have to fanny about trying to sieve the noodles and vegetables while decanting it into the kitchen sink.
30 years old when I had dinner at a friend’s house and they did it casually like it was obvious.
Me, the first time I realized I could wash pillows. (Only certain types are washable)
I think I’m learning in real time that pillows are a bitch to wash 🤦♂️
They take a long time to dry on tumble low. I recommend washing them in the morning, lol.
I don’t do them too often, usually every 6mo. But it gets the musty/sweaty smell out of them. And if you are allergic to dust mites, it helps.
Love that for once we’re mostly not mocking them and are actually sharing similar experiences, we’ve all had one of those moments.
I genuinely can’t tell you what my thing is. Other than that deep down, I know the feeling and know that I have one. This has happened to me before. I have felt this feeling. I just don’t remember what about. I’ll keep you guys posted if I remember.
For me it was about 5 years ago, I’m over 30, realizing that my parents and extended family lied to me about watermelon seeds growing in your stomach.
It was just so ingrained in me as a child that it took more than 20 years for me to question it.
Watermelon is so much easier to eat now.
I learned recently that your can cut the two vertices that form the base of triangle watermelon slices (so that the slice becomes a top-heavy pentagon) so that they don’t collide with people’s cheeks when they eat them. You can do it on quater-wedges before you make them into individual slices.
It’s seems so obvious but none of the adults around me did it growing up, lol.
Maaaaaaaan. Gonna have to try that lol.
I’m joining you on team traumatic memory repression.
And once again, we learn that common sense is actually not that common.
I’m positive if we took a closer look at your life we’d find many such things. Nobody is perfect.
Yeah I thought nobody being perfect was common sense.
I only fail ironicly.*
As someone living in the tropics, where home heating doesn’t exist, warm/hot showers only takes 2 seconds after turning it on.
As for one of my own fuckups, I once put a piece of pizza with styrofoam as a plate in the microwave. I was 15 at the time. I did not eat pizza that day. Not the last time I fucked up with the microwave.
“I’m working on my masters and I feel like such a dumbass…”
Never assume someone with an advanced degree knows anything outside of that degree because “they must be smart”.
I worked with someone who was working on his second PhD in computer science and the guy did not know how to print.
Literally couldn’t figure out how to click the print button.
In computer science.
PhD.
Computers.
‘Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes’
- Dijkstra, 1970
To be honest, printer technology is some arcane eldrich bullshit
I’ve worked in tech for almost 20 years. A big misconception is confusing Computer Science and IT. Computer Science is generally more about logic, data structures, and programming paradigms across languages. IT is generally more about the configuration, deployment and usage of technology and operating systems for end users.
There’s a ton of nuance in there, like Infrastructure or devops, where it’s about the deployment of technology software and hardware to power large technology services, which sits in the middle.
That being said, I’ve generally found that the more specialized someone is in computer science, the less they know about the operating system they use and how it works. Especially if they spent the time to go for a PhD or something.
The smartest programmer I’ve ever met is my boss, our CTO. PhD from an Ivy League school. Can write haskell on a napkin, even though our stack doesn’t touch haskell. Also doesn’t know shit about how MacOS works even though he uses a Mac, and consistently asks me relatively simple questions regarding unix/linux differences, filesystem stuff, package managers, etc. It’s very interesting to see the difference in knowledge.
Wouldn’t it make sense though for computer scientists to make some effort to actually learn how to do practical things on computers? This seem weird to me, like a car designer who never drives. Sure you could probably design a decent vehicle never having driven one, but you might make a fantastic vehicle if you have.
You can tell he is smart because he asks you about stuff outside of his domain.
Oh yeah he never has that Dunning Kruger setup I see from Junior people on the team. He knows (or finds out) who to ask and when, and always admits when he doesn’t know something. All super important qualities that some people learn earlier rather than later in probably every industry
Absolutely. I’m a tech, hubs is a dev. Brilliant dev, one of the foremost specialists in my country.
Can’t build a pc for shit, can’t fix a network issue, screams for wifey when the printer’s being a dick :D
Haha I’m unsure if “opposites attract” fits here, but perhaps “there’s no computer science without the computer”
nah, no opposites here, but it’s been funny watching over the years (we met outta uni) how extreme specialisation has pruned other branches. He isn’t fussed, I buy / setup/maintain all the equipment and like all BOFH I’m a raging control freak so I like he doesn’t try to play with the setup.
There is a difference between “intelligent” and “smart” is the way I like to describe myself.
I’m college educated. But I’m also the guy that took twelve years to realize that his stove had a cook-timer on it…
Also theres a difference between being knowledgeable and smart or intelligent. I know a lot of facts because I’m curious about stuff. But I’m not particularly better at figuring things out than the average person.
I know mine has one, I just don’t know how to use it. Does that count?
I know I have one and know how to use it but I don’t know why I’d use it
Boiling eggs but your phone is charging
My microwave has at timer function, extremely useful.
Anti vax nurses are my favorite.
They aren’t mine because of the amount of damage they can do
Honestly, speaking as somebody with two different masters degrees, it’s a good idea to not assume they know anything WITHIN their degree field too, until they prove otherwise.
Famous physicist and misogynist “Surely you’re Joking” Mr. Feynman comes to mind. Didn’t even know you can’t have both lemon and milk in you tea.
I’m not joking, and don’t call me Shirley.
Being “smart” and “thinking” are two very different things. You can be very smart but have no conscious thought. You can be a great thinker without ANY formal education or experience. (Calm down internet geniuses, you’re not that special.)
We might start figuring out how to get either one if we start understanding that there’s a difference.
Your brain doesn’t work the way you think it does. Your mind isn’t entirely your own. Your language influences your internal dialogue, and if you have no internal dialogue, you need to exercise that by reading a lot more and thinking about your thinking.
I mean, having lived more than half my life with water catchment NOT county water, letting the water run is wasteful and can mean you go without during drought. That means turning the water off while scrubbing, too. I’ve learned to embrace the cold on purpose at the end, with the closing pores n all.
Cold water is actually good for the skin, keeps it firm
And of course, we have a relevant xkcd.
To be fair this is possibly the most relevant xkcd of all time
Yeah it’s probably the most linked xkcd with some margin, would be fun to see the traffic data to that page.
I remember this thread. One of the responses was from someone who thought that the beep his car made when locking the doors got quieter when activated from further away.
We had a guy at work a couple years ago, nice guy but not too bright. He’d fill his bottle from the water cooler, and always got surprised by how fast it filled up at the top. He thought the water cooler’s dispenser somehow got faster as the bottle filled up, not realizing that it’s because the top of the bottle is narrower than the bottom.
Well…by the power of the inverse square law, they kinda do, I guess.
Also probably by the power of Grayskull
Ow. My face.
You’re not supposed to just stand there and waste that warming-up water, you’re supposed to collect it in a watering can and put it on your plants! It’s got stuff from having sat in the water heater so it’s not the best for drinking but plants don’t mind.
This legitimately is something I’ve been looking for as I hate just running a gallon of water out for no reason.
Iirc if your water boiler supports it, you can have it circulate the hot water in the pipes to warm them up without wasting water
I don’t think that’s possible in my 1970s building. My water heater is in the kitchen and the tub/shower is way across the apartment so I get 2 gallons. I have a big balcony with lots of happy plants.
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I can understand the shower one, but who tf is insane enough to not use oven mitts or a rag? I’d imagine you’d take a moment to think about the possible solutions before doing something that painful
It’s an analogy, not real life.
These are /thathappened.
There is no way anyone is pulling 350°F+ items out of an oven with their bare hands.
There is no way someone grew up without a parent both demonstrating and explaining to let the water warm up first. Might as well fill a tub with cold water and sit in it, then say just add hot water until it’s comfortable. Even if the household was abusive or something and kids were told to shower cold while the water warmed up they still would have figured out on their own that running hot water first would get hot water faster.
Most people wouldn’t, but I know a blacksmith who handles hot metal all day long. He regularly pulls baking sheets out of a hot oven, but he’s got such thick, calloused hands that he can handle that kind of stuff.
Average Joe who doesn’t understand what oven mitts are? Probably not.
I’ve seen video of someone pulling stuff out of frying oil with his bare hands. This was made easy for him because all his nerve endings in his hands were dead because he had been putting them into frying oil, but still, I never would have believed anyone to do something that … I don’t know what to call it, callous maybe.
…that seems like it must have been faked. Even if the nerves had been burned off, that’s serious damage. Nerves are in the dermis, and if that gets burned seriously enough to make all the nerve endings dead, you’re going to have a bad time. Just because the pain isn’t being felt also doesn’t prevent further damage.
I tried looking for it and I found a YouTube video of some Indian street vendor doing it, but iirc my old video had been of some British guy. There’s more than one apparently.
The loss of sensitivity doesn’t happen all at once, plenty of cooks and serving staff have much higher tolerances than non-cooks/waiters. I’d expect that this is at least partly from damaged nerves, but while they have reduced sensitivity, iirc then the British guy said that he had lost all sensation in his hands.
I mean…I do sometimes. Usually pizzas or things on aluminum foil. I also used to pull out noodles from boiling water to test them while cooking
Obviously I’m not grabbing 350F glass or metal with my bare hands, but if you’re very deliberate with your movements you’d be surprised what you can do without burning yourself
Not really the same animal. Foil dissipates heat extremely quickly, and I’ve pulled plenty a pizza or other item out of an oven or off a baking sheet that just came out hot when it’s on foil.
I think it’s pretty obvious that the intent of what we’re discussing isn’t someone sliding out a few hot cookies on parchment paper. We wouldn’t be having this conversation were that the case.
I mean, yeah, but you’re not suspending your sense of disbelief enough
There’s definitely people who literally have reached in, with their bare hands, and tried to pick up a casserole. There’s even people who regularly give themselves severe burns because they just straight up forget things are hot
There’s also people who don’t know what oven mitts are, what they’re for, or don’t have them. They might use a dish towel or all sorts of other wacky work arounds. I mean, you can even get by fine without ever using an oven
There’s a lot of humor to be had here if you’re less rigid in your thinking. If you try to imagine how someone could fit that description, assuming that there’s some degree of exaggeration for comedic effect
There is no way anyone is pulling 350°F+ items out of an oven with their bare hands.
I used to be able to do that when I was working in a kitchen. If you burn your hands often enough you kinda build up a tolerance/calluses. We used to call it having asbestos hands.
Yup. we called it chef hands here when I was a chef
100%. I say this in jest quite a bit, but I’m absolutely serious this time - Nobody is this stupid.
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Best tip I can give: Turn the sink hot water on and let it run until it’s hot and the lines are filled to the bathroom. When you turn on the shower, turn it to full hot until hot water starts coming out, and then adjust it to your personal preference. No waiting for shower to warm up now. Just jump in.
That just sounds like waiting with extra steps.
Waiting longer, assuming the shower has a higher flow rate.
Fairly long pipe from the tank to the shower so I could see the benefit of the tap and the shower mixer in cold water too. Not sure how the flow rate compares but the tap probably can be worth doing. I rarely bother though and just run the shower for a bit first.
Parenting. You think you’re doing great and you realise at times that some of the thing a you take for granted, you haven’t taught your kids.
Just because they’ve seen you do something a thousand times doesn’t mean they understand why
I remember a story of a child watching their mother cook a roast, and asked why she cut the ends off before putting it in the oven.
The mother learned it from her mother, so they both went and asked the grandmother.
Turned out the grandmother used to have a small oven and did that to make it fit.
There’s a weirder variant where they always cover meat with a draining rack while it’s marinating. After N years the grandparent visits for dinner and explains “yes but you see we had a cat…”
I immediately thought of the variant of this story I’ve heard when I read the post.
In the variant I heard: grandma never had bakeware that could fit the entire roast.
Same difference. I kinda like yours better.
As a parent, I was surprised at the amount of stuff kids need to be taught. Stuff that I assumed was obvious isn’t - it’s learned behaviour. And you don’t realize that it’s learned until you see your kid struggling with some trivial task.
An interesting one that sums it all up - crawling babies aren’t instinctively scared of cliffs or drops, they have to learn not to crawl off an edge. Which isn’t all that surprising except for the fact that when they start walking, they don’t carry this lesson forward and will happily walk off an edge. They need to learn it again.
The fun part is watching your kids figure out complex and nuanced things that you never even thought about, much less understood, while struggling with those trivial tasks.
OMG yes! One of my kids I have to micromanage to brush their teeth but is like Deanna Troi when it comes to their friends. (I’m more Data)
The fact that those are the comparisons you chose to use confirms you are, in fact, more like Data, hehe
As an ex kid, I only recently realised my parents taught me almost nothing. Even though I later learned a lot of very varied things, I could have started much better equipped for life. To people who chose to have kids, don’t be like my parents. It’s really crippling.
See also: why LLMs can seem clever and still be incredibly stupid
I just had to say “don’t put your chicken in your butt” to be met with “Why?”
It was the chicken that asked the why?
