Things you are too embarrassed to admit you don't understand

[ClassicStripe]

I don't think I really understand what a fascist is.

Effect as a verb is not particularly common and was already covered by a PP.

@Itsvalentino @Illegallyblonder
Close @fdgdfgdfgdfg but not quite.

Think of boats as mostly air, air is less dense than water. They float on water in the same way that helium balloons float.

Planes fly because the wings are at an angle to the oncoming air, the air hitting the wing pushes the plane upwards (or downwards).

I don't really know where to put in oil, or screen wash for the car. I have been shown but as I never do it I've forgotten.

I also frequently get east and west mixed up and have to say "Never Eat Shredded Wheat."

I read this thread thinking I might find my thing and get an answer without having to be embarraesed and post it. But it isn't here so I must be the only person that doesn't know what the leftwing/rightwing means.

Actually it's the earths tilted spin axis that causes the seasons.

The binary system in maths. I've had it explained to me so many times, and at the time I go 'Oh, that's easy! How on earth did I not understand that?' and ten minutes later it's gone again. It just will not stick.

It kind of does because there is a complete circuit between your home and the local substation. There’s less energy left after your appliance has used what it needs to work, so it doesn’t just flow back as it were. But “electricity” isn’t a one way flow like water, the electrons shuffle backwards and forwards 50 times a second (alternating current). There isn’t a flow of electrons that goes in a circle from the supply through your appliances and back again. The flow of water analogy for electricity that we were taught at school is useful, but an oversimplification so it isn’t the true story of power distribution.

Generally speaking, don't try and grasp it. Illuminating as it may be. Briefly.

Thank you @FictionalCharacter that helps, I think. And @MavisChunch29 😂

Nope, you nailed it!@ 👌

Doesn’t your screen wash filler cap have a little symbol on it showing a screen and water spray? They usually do.

The Chase. I haven't watched a full show just a couple of minutes here and there as DH likes it. I have no idea how it works and why the contestants seem to get so worked up when one of them is offered money, whether they should take up the offer or whatever.

I'm not (usually) thick btw!

It's a bit like water, nothing comes out of your tap until you open it, then it all goes down the drain and gets pumped back into your pipes again (via very complicate drainage and treatment systems).

Left wing and right wing are not fixed because it depends on the Overton window. Quite different in US and UK.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/08/14/left-wing-vs-right-wing-its-complicated

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window#:~:text=The%20Overton%20window%20is%20an,public%20to%20expand%20the%20window.

Generally left wing is big state, taxation according to income, more public services, pro-union. Right wing is small state, reduced public services, more personal responsibility, small taxes.

You also need to think about authoritarian v liberal as political views can different enormously here too and you can be left liberal, left authoritarian etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Political_Compass

If you have a ruler you can ping it against your desk to make a noise, yes? The needle is a very small ruler that pings according to the grooves in the vinyl. The pattern of grooves makes patterns in the pinging. Then you just need a big old horn to amplify the sound.

Probably. I could find it if I looked. Now, must remember where the switch is to open the bonnet...

Blow on your hand. Can you feel the pressure of the air?

Hold a small piece of paper above, but close to you mouth. Blow towards the paper, it move up. This is how wings work.

I have the same issue. I just can't retain the facts. I must have read why the sodding First World War happened countless times and I still can't remember.

In this case "passed" is a verb and "past" is a preposition. (Although it can also be a noun as in "the past")

The world isn't round, it's (nearly) spherical. Round is 2D, spherical is 3D.

Gravity. It pulls things together.

Gravity pulls everyone and everything towards the centre of the Earth no matter where you are on it.

I am also quite impatient when I buy a new TV, phone, cooker etc. I hate instruction manuals and would rather just fiddle about and work out out to use it.

If I can't do that then clearly it's rubbish and unintuitive 🙂

I also don't like doing anything 2D to 3D. Maps are useless and I often set off in the wrong direction using sat nav.

I also don't really care how things work like flight or electricity- but am glad that other people do.

Think of this philosophically rather than in terms of maths and physics. The key is "exist".

If there's no space, something doesn't exist. If something doesn't exist, there's zero time. It's non-existent. Time isn't relevant. There's just nothing.

If something exists, there has to be time. Therefore it takes space. Even a vacuum can be defined in opposition to space: you can only have an absence of space if there is such a thing as space.

There's a fascinating intersection between philosophy, language and maths.

What exactly IS an enzyme?

IIRC enzymes are complex, usually protein based, chemicals that because of the shape of their molecules latch on to certain stains/substances and break them down.

Simple chemicals, like sulphur dioxide, consist of molecules that have one sulphur atom and two oxygen atoms. Most elements can only make molecules in a relatively small range of shapes. Carbon atoms, however, can combine with oxygen, water and a whole lot of other things to make strings and crystals and double helixes and heaven only knows what else when you throw in iron (which has funky magnetic properties) and water (which is just weird when frozen, compared to anything else). It’s called organic chemistry and it’s mind boggling.

Any chemistry teachers out there, feel free to correct and clarify where necessary. This is my Ladybird book level understanding.

How big telescopes can see the past.
Does my head in