What 'obvious' thing have you learned recently?

Inspired by Dan's recent discoveries (such as learning that figs are not, in fact, sticks) - what is something that you've only found out recently that you probably should have known earlier?

Personally, I only found out due to the ice bucket thing that ALS, motor neurone disease, and Lou Gehrig's disease are all just different names for the same thing.

In a recent quick look or unfinished, Jeff mentioned that Android builds are all named after things sweeter than apples. Though I have yet to find any confirmation of it, it does seem incredibly obvious and rather tacky in retrospect.

Not caring for your teeth leads to lots of unnecessary pain. Learned that the hard way.

Same, though a while ago.

^ On a similar note, the same thing happens with ingrown toenails. As soon as you notice them, get them looked at and fixed, don't just leave them until you can't walk properly.

One of my toenails grew so large that it ended up cutting an adjacent toe and I discovered the top half of my foot covered in blood when looking to see where the pain was coming from.

On topic - The phoenix down moment from the bombcast is a good example of this.

Phoenix Down and fruit stacking.

No, not really.

I went to the gym with a co-worker today. Sadly he got fired from his other job, but he still kept a positive attitude despite it. Anyway, he showed me some new workout routines. We overtrained and burned ourselves out. He says I got a great build and good tone, but to get ripped I need to go all out. After working out with him my body feels tight as hell. I'm going to use some of that knowledge he gave me, and improve my workouts to the fullest. I want to feel like a Super Saiyen God.

\

Chugging multiple colt 45s is a dumb idea.

Seeing a girl and then not being able to wait until you see her again an hour after you left is awesome.

Eight inches is actually A LOT bigger than everyone else's....

That Jeff's NIke t-shirt is actually blurred out. I remember at one point being amazed at how well they were able to track the Nike sign while he was moving so well and also wondering why they didn't blur out other trademarked stuff. Dumb.

*nods violently in agreement*

Over consuming caffeine can really mess with the nervous system.

I know the feeling, but the way things are now. I'm probably better off just being friends with her, which is cool with me. Considering my situation I know it wouldn't be wise to start dating...even though I want too.

That the band name The Beatles is actually a play on words. The insect is spelled beetle. Beatles is beat as in bass beat + beetle.

Jesus fucking christ, man. Seriously how come no one ever pointed that out to me when I was a kid? I had to be thirty years old before I accidentally put it together for myself. ;-;

That reading's pretty awesome.

That Some Men Just Want To Watch The World Burn.

- Alfred Pennyworth

I thought segue ('seg-way') was a noun for a transition from one topic to another whereas segue ('seeg') was a verb for the act of transitioning from one topic to another.

I just realized that Stalker and Metro were two different series. Whenever I heard of one or the other, my brain thought they were the same thing.

Turtles are reptiles, not amphibians...

I feel pretty stupid right now.

Oh I never knew that. It never clicked with me that beetle was spelled wrong there. Though I have no real attachment to The Beatles (I'm also likely to have spelt the band name as The Beetles at some point) it's still interesting.

"When one chooses to see only what is before them, they see only a part of the whole. They are blind."

Planescape: Torment

Took a beating, not literally, yesterday because i forgot this.

I didn't learn this very recently, but I didn't know that the shower curtain goes on the INSIDE of the bathtub until I was like 22. Suddenly the floors are no longer soaked and a slipping hazard!

Someone said to me recently "I'll meet you after noon."

And I was like "Fuck. That's what afternoon means."

That BMWs are overpriced, maintenance heavy, just needlessly expensive cars.

I've owned one for three years; only now do I truly understand this fact

@phoenixdownpillow: Just blew my dumb ass mind.

Wait, wha-Ooooooooh.... I'm almost thirty and I never....


Whoops!

Turning my NES over makes it play first time, every time!

Oh, I have one. I had to think about it. I don't know if I knew or not, I'm pretty sure I did as it seemed obvious after someone had told me, but it's obvious; I used the word 'nails' instead of 'screws'. I kept saying at work that I need nails, when I meant screws. Eh. It's not that exciting, but that's mine. I figured out that I was making the mistake a few months ago.

I learned recently that in Pac Man the objective is to eat all of the pellets. Whenever I played in the past I always went straight for the ghosts, died, and gave up.

Somehow, even though I was in my twenties during the height of Blink 182's career, I always thought their album "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket" was just a reference to removing specific articles of clothing. For some reason I thought of that album title again recently, and it just clicked.

I am just gonna ask it here, but does anyone know if the Vinny stream from yesterday is gonna be uploaded? Thanks

@hellbound: Apparently no, officially, but there may or may not be people trying to get it on YouTube unofficially.

This I learned from here: http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/off-topic-31/congratulations-vinny-1493063/?page=1

Never thought of this Blade Runner reference even though it is my favourite movie: Android phones and the name Nexus.

I only realized a few years ago that there are different regions of English (US/UK english)

Not recently but it took me far longer than it should've to get the pun in the title of 'Carmageddon'. It's Armageddon... with cars...

The question asked what obvious thing I've learned, and all I was saying is that pushing myself will get the results I want. People that's familiar with me on this site knows I just enjoy working out. I don't see how I was bragging.

Bragging or not, it just doesn't fit the point of this thread. People are talking about obvious things that they should have realized before, not general life lessons.

Something like "I learned that honesty is important in a relationship." is no more or less appropriate here than "I'm dating a super model, and I learned that honesty is important in a relationship." At least that's how I interpreted the point of this thread. Good for you when it comes to staying healthy, though.

Shower curtain goes on the inside IF it's a waterproof curtain. Otherwise, it goes on the outside, and a shower liner goes on the inside. If you are talking about a standard cloth shower curtain, that thing will get absolutely disgusting if you put it on the inside of the shower without a liner.

I learned what a fig is.

I've learned a number of new words just through listening to Brad speak, apotheosis being the most recent.

I learned extant means the opposite of extinct, rather than just being a quasi-synonym for it.

Maybe the fig thing is the only obvious one I should have known. I can't think of any other examples at that level.

I've just learnt that there are non-waterproof shower curtains.

I never copped to this either. I thought they were just after deserts. Didn't know the reasoning behind it though!

Alright, Maybe I went abit off the rails with my gym comment. If people felt like I was being an ass, then I apologize. To give a answer that's more fitting to this thread. The most obvious thing I learned recently. Is that I should probably better analyze a thread before commenting, but knowing me that may or may not happen. I'm just a weird person all around.

That Pickles are actually small cucumbers that have been, well, pickled.
I just... they are called Pickles! PICKLES! Not pickled cucumbers! Okay, you call eggs that have been picked, pickled eggs, not pickles! So why would you call pickled cucumbers, pickles?

PSN is down, BOOOM!

Alright.. On a low carb diet you are literally peeing out body fat. Also, pickles.

To be fair, i didnt know what a down was.

That's why I am hoping that when Google rolls the Nexus 6's out it'll give you "I want more life...fucker" message every time the battery is on low.

That won't happen, but man do I want them to do it now

I once smashed up my big toenail so bad that it cut around the entire perimeter and bled for 3 weeks. I also couldn't walk for four days. Now, seven years later it's still fucked up. It's twice as thick as normal and is domed with a pocket of air in the middle.

On topic - Mountain Dew with caffeine (or as American's call it, Mountain Dew) kicks the ass of Canadian Mountain Dew.

I already knew that maple syrup can go on anything and hot sauce can go on anything. It just never crossed my mind that a maple syrup hot sauce might exist. Turns out it does. God bless the internet.