this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2024
175 points (86.3% liked)

Cool Guides

4685 readers
2 users here now

Rules for Posting Guides on Our Community

1. Defining a Guide Guides are comprehensive reference materials, how-tos, or comparison tables. A guide must be well-organized both in content and layout. Information should be easily accessible without unnecessary navigation. Guides can include flowcharts, step-by-step instructions, or visual references that compare different elements side by side.

2. Infographic Guidelines Infographics are permitted if they are educational and informative. They should aim to convey complex information visually and clearly. However, infographics that primarily serve as visual essays without structured guidance will be subject to removal.

3. Grey Area Moderators may use discretion when deciding to remove posts. If in doubt, message us or use downvotes for content you find inappropriate.

4. Source Attribution If you know the original source of a guide, share it in the comments to credit the creators.

5. Diverse Content To keep our community engaging, avoid saturating the feed with similar topics. Excessive posts on a single topic may be moderated to maintain diversity.

6. Verify in Comments Always check the comments for additional insights or corrections. Moderators rely on community expertise for accuracy.

Community Guidelines

By following these rules, we can maintain a diverse and informative community. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to the moderators. Thank you for contributing responsibly!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Iirc trees aren't a cladistic group; "tree" is a word that describes a phenotype. Bananas absolutely grow on trees because "a tree-like herb" is a tree.

Edit: adding salt to water does change the boiling point. The amount is simply not enough to be significant most of the time. Similarly, the coriolis effect does affect the movement of water in toilets, just not enough to be noticeable.

Edit2: multi-personality disorder isn't a thing. Disassociative Identity Disorder (DID) is what's being referenced.

[–] Pohl@lemmy.world 22 points 5 months ago

A pretty good number of these are just pointing out differences between colloquial language and specific language.

Botanical language is useful for botanists to communicate with each other but I’m not putting tomatoes in the fruit salad. Thinking of tomatoes as veggies in your kitchen isn’t some MYTH! Calling a tall plant a tree is useful for you and I to communicate. That does not mean we are deceived or attempting to undermine the work of our botany friends.

[–] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Palm "trees" are a type of grass. That one fucks with me.

The coriolis force affects water in toilets, but about a thousandth as much as the shape of the toilet/the way water enters the bowl.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

An oak tree is more closely related to corn and wheat than it is to a pine tree. Coelacanths are more closly related to whales than they are to tunas. Biology gets weird man.

[–] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

Every mushroom is closer to humans than to any plant.

[–] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 23 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)

Jezus, this is bad.

So many of these are widely known and make up a misconception that doesn't exist (bananas not on trees... you don't say??)

Others are bad plays at words ~~(we have 5 external senses, people often leave the external part out when they talk, so what?)~~

And then some are just weird, like the great wall of China being nature (and not visible from space, why go after a random joke from the 90's?) or how the sizes of the circles are so unnecessarily different, sometimes overlapping with the text

Just all around, this is bad

EDIT Oh, and some are even wrong (bats' vision is so bad compared to humans that they'd be legally blind; sugar gives a energy boost I'm not sure wtf the text is on about with ADHD; evolution is a theory, it just is)

[–] Pohl@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago (4 children)

The sugar one drives me nuts. Like yeah sugar doesn’t cause DSM-5 “hyperactivity”. Like of course not! It does give a little energy boost. And the rugrats will use the highly available energy and become a hilarious unmanageable dufus for a half hour or so.

If you actually thought that candy was going to give your child a diagnosable psychiatric condition… you’re a huge fucking idiot. If you haven’t ever noticed that giving a kid a bag of sour patch kids gets them riled up, you haven’t spent much time with kids.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 6 points 5 months ago

My dog gets riled up when you give her a carrot as a treat. The kids aren't bouncing off the wall because candy gave them a bunch of energy, they are bouncing off the wall because they are excited about the treat they have received.

[–] Dashi@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Yeah, that's the one that has me doubting the entire list. My kids do get a "sugar high".

The wording they use is off and may be technically right. but if we are going based off the wording they use i don't think it would be a common belief.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Lizardking27@lemmy.world 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I don't think you understood most of those things correctly.

The graphic says the circle size is based on Google search hits, not arbitrary.

Evolution is a scientific theory, which is different than the layman's idea of a "theory".

Bats are definitely not almost blind, like most nocturnal/crepuscular animals they have fairly good night vision.

It didn't say sugar doesn't cause energy spikes, it says excessive consumption during childhood doesn't contribute to hyperactive disorders.

Your knee-jerk reaction to this post is weird. It's okay that you didn't know some of these things. You don't have to try to tear it down because it made you feel dumb.

[–] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 1 points 4 months ago

No that's exactly my point; a lot of these headlines are about as technically (in)correct as the myths they try to debunk; evolution is a theory in the scientific sense so it is a theory, sugar causes a energy spike which people tend to call hyperactivity, different bats see in different degrees and some of them rely so much on echolocation that they see much worse than humans which technically makes them medically blind.

All of these play very heavy on the literal definition of the words. This makes a lot of these “debunked myths” moreso pedantic wordplay than they they actually debunk anything.

[–] Vilian@lemmy.ca 10 points 5 months ago (2 children)

we have more than 5 external senses tho

[–] yeahiknow3@lemmings.world 6 points 5 months ago

The guy you’re replying to doesn’t realize this post is written for people like him, while OP doesn’t realize that dumb people who think we only have 5 senses don’t believe in science anyway.

[–] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Which are the other ones? When I try to look it up, I find 20+ senses but except for the five traditional ones they're all internal senses such as balance and hunger

EDIT I see pain, itch and pressure are separate from touch, well TIL!

[–] Devi@beehaw.org 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Fun fact I learned this week, humans have no sense for water, we work out something is wet by combining things, like if it's cold, if the pressure is different, if it's moving past us, but can't actually tell wetness.

[–] 0ops@lemm.ee 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I've noticed that recently when touching cool things (especially clothes) with latex gloves on; they feel damp, but I know that they're not. My guess is that the heat draw of the cool object simulates the cooling effect of evaporating water, and the latex glove prevents the texture from giving away that it's dry.

[–] Devi@beehaw.org 2 points 4 months ago

I think that's probably it. I know it's always a game when you get the clothes out the dryer after a while to work out if it's still damp or if it's just cold.

[–] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 2 points 5 months ago

Yup! Just put water in a plastic bag and feel it! It'll feel so wet on the outside even though it isn't! Clitch in the matrix!

[–] Commodore@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

evolution is a theory, it just is

I realize the person I'm replying to has no interest in the truth, but in case others are interested, read the first paragraph here to get a sense of what a scientific theory is. The myth/misunderstanding is that a scientific theory is a theory in sense 3 here. Not only is it a myth, it's a very common and very dishonest way to dismiss evolution without having to address the fact that it's a fact.

[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The sugar one is about the glycemic index. Ingest sugar > blood sugar spike (kiddos with energy) > blood sugar crash (hangry, dysregulated kiddos)

Of course sugar doesn't cause ADHD, though; is that a myth people believe?

[–] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I was also surprised about that one. Sugar, any carbs really, can cause a energy boost which could be called hyperactivity. Of course it doesn't cause a diagnosable disorder. The headline and description feel like the author is being pedantic about the meaning of the word “hyperactivity”. A lot of these read like the author is being pedantic about the literal meaning of a word.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] PDFuego@lemmy.world 23 points 5 months ago (2 children)

A couple of these are interesting, but for my own sanity I have to refuse to accept most are commonly believed at all. Some are myths either way, like Satan ruling Hell or not isn't real so it's kind of a strange thing to include. I think the only one that really surprised me is the banana tree one, which is some interesting trivia but is so pedantic that if someone said that to me in person I'd just want to leave the room.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 21 points 5 months ago (2 children)

The banana argument is dumb, too, because there is no taxonomic definition of what a "tree" even is.

I've also commonly heard "Palm trees aren't actually trees, they're grass," which is correct from a taxonomic standpoint but ignores the fact that "tree" isn't an official classification of anything. It's simply a term applied to any tall plant with a woody trunk, which banana definitely counts among.

[–] Instigate@aussie.zone 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Mate, I’ll be honest with you here - I grow bananas on my property and I can definitely tell you the last term I’d use to describe their trunks is ‘woody’. They’re so moisture-laden and ultra porous that anyone who’s ever had to cut or cull banana will know for sure that they’re not made of wood. You can easily carve through a 15-20cm trunk of a banana plant with a sharp machete and one strong swing - try that on anything generally considered to be a tree and you’ll be lucky to get a fair chip out of the trunk.

I’ve got no skin in the game as to whether or not they’re trees, or what the fuck a ‘tree’ even is, but anyone who’s dealt with growing bananas is pretty unlikely to consider them in the same group as woody trees. Damn things grow like weeds anyway!

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Fair, it's a loose definition of woody, but all wood really is is load-bearing cellulose.

Bamboo, for example, is completely hollow inside, very unlike normal wood either, but we still consider it "woody" even though it's really just a reinforced piece of grass.

[–] 0ops@lemm.ee 6 points 5 months ago

Like when people say that spiders aren't bugs. Bug isn't a scientific term, it's just slang for creepy-crawlies. They usually mean that spiders aren't insects.

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

First one that got me was the black hole. If I dig a hole in the ground, is that not really a hole? If I find a hole in your logic is that not a hole? If I model the flow of charge with positive 'holes' between electrons, are they not holes? And... do people really commonly think a 'black hole' is a traditional sort of hole? 'Hole' seems a perfectly reasonable name for what it really is.

Now what a black hole really is is fascinating stuff, but not in a "see, people are so ignorant to think it's a hole" kind of way.

[–] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Even worse, we don't know what black holes really are.

Is there a discontinuity in spacetime? Is the discontinuity point-like or spherical, or even toroidal? Do physics even exists within? Is "within a black hole" even a reasonable concept? We don't know! We're still arguing about wether black holes can delete information from existence.

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My favourite black hole fact, coming from the character of the space-time tensor and how it changes, is that as you approach a black hole, time goes sideways.

I don't think my lecturer put it quite that way, but he showed that as you get close, the time dimension comes to look like a space dimension in the tensor, and the space dimension that points into the black hole, looks like a time dimension!

[–] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 months ago

Yeah, time-like paths are mind bending.

I've always though about that as the interior of the black hole has been left behind in the time direction, like a sausage casing.

[–] Akareth@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Humans and dinosaurs absolutely co-existed (e.g. chickens). The misconception is that dinosaurs are extinct.

[–] johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

That's only true in the cladistic sense though.

[–] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

The real question is which pre-human dinosaur would be best with stuffing and gravy.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

MSG = headaches is actually true for many people.

"Effect of systemic monosodium glutamate (MSG) on headache and pericranial muscle sensitivity :

"We conducted a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover study to investigate the occurrence of adverse effects such as headache... there was a significant increase in reports of headache..." SOURCE

In addition, if you add oil to your cooked and drained pasta, it absolutely stops it from sticking vs. not adding oil. Just don't add it to the water, as it's just wasteful.

[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If you look at the sources, they corrected it.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 months ago

Oh, wow. I can't even see that sources are listed when using Voyager because if you swipe up to see it past the voting overlay, it closes the image.

Glad they corrected it 🤗

[–] esc27@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I question the salt in boiling water one. Sure it probably doesn't change the temperature or energy required but shouldn't it aid in nucleation to make the boil more bubbly?

Or are the existing impurities in most tap water such that salt doesn't add anything meaningful?

[–] klemptor@startrek.website 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Salted water boils at a higher temp vs. unsalted water - this is known as boiling point elevation. But I don't know offhand (there's a formula) how much salt would be required to meaningfully raise the boiling point.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 13 points 5 months ago

You would need enough salt to make a brine to noticably affect the boiling temperature. It takes about 30 grams of table salt per liter of water to raise the boiling temperature of water to 100.5 Celsius at sea level.. The only difference you would actually notice is your food is now inedible because you have used an entire restaurant table shaker of salt in your food.

[–] mattreb@feddit.it 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If you throw it in just before it's boiling yes, you will see the water bubble up for a moment for the reason you said... once dissolved if anything at those amounts, it raises the boiling temp a little

[–] maniii@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

A solution should theoretically boil at a higher point of vaporization and melt at a lower point of fusion ( becoming liquid from solid) .

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Saying a Jihad just means "Struggle" is like saying a Crusade is just an expedition of people marked by the cross.

Like, sure, if only translate it literally and you ignore all the historical context.

[–] saigot@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I mean not really. Greater jihad is a fully inner struggle to be a good person. Lesser jihad is about converting others, the lesser jihad of the pen/tongue is about debate and proselytizing, onky jihad of the sword is about violence and only those in active combat. For all Muslims the greater jihad is the most important part, and for 95% of Muslims the jihad of the pen is the only relavent part. In the Qur'an there are roughly 30 references to greater jihad, and 10 or so for the lesser jihad.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 0 points 4 months ago

And most Christian Crusades are about making gay people scared, not conquering Jerusalem

[–] fool@programming.dev 6 points 5 months ago

The "we have more than 5 senses" insistence, while interesting, misconstrues what is typically understood as a "sense" by the average person.

When children are taught what the 5 senses are, i.e. seeing, hearing, touch, taste and smell, these are more literary senses than scientific ones. (In another vein, it's like disagreeing whether a tomato is a vegetable, fruit, or both -- scientists and cooks have different definitions!)

Proprioception, the unconscious spatial perception of your body parts, falls under "feel." Hunger and thirst do, too. I feel hungry, I feel that my leg is below me, I feel off-balance. These scientifically-defined senses fall under one literary sense or another.

Since this is just a mangling of definitions, it's almost irresponsible to call the five-senses thing a misconception. That being said, it did interest me; did you know that endolymph fluid in our ears uses its inertia to tell us what's going on when we turn our heads? ツ

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 1 points 5 months ago

It turned out Purple Aki was actually real though.