this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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Unlike in movies, most smart people aren't good in chess. (lemmy.sdf.org)
submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Sure, playing chess needs intelligence, dedication, and good chess players are smarter than an average person. But it's waaaay exaggerated in movies. I'm a math researcher, and in any movie, my department will be full of chess geniuses. But in reality, only about 10% of them even play chess.

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 31 points 4 days ago (3 children)

I know someone who is pretty good at chess but also thinks vaccines are fake, Musk is a genius, and Ukraine belongs to Russia.

So not all chess players are smart.

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 2 points 4 days ago

I don't think a minority of rightwingers are dumb. I think they're invested in their idea of their team, and any insult to their team is an insult to them. They root for Trump. It's like that one guy you know who owns a lot of Lakers memorabilia despite living in Texas. The media, expectations, their own investment, the threat of being wrong or misguided, "Me? Never!", vastly outweigh any sort of critical thinking. Its straight denial to the core.

But a vast majority? Yeah, dumb as an absorbent trash bag.

[–] expr@programming.dev 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Do you know their rating? Tbh most people's idea of being "pretty good at chess" is actually not very good at all (I don't mean that as an insult, more lack of familiarity with the game).

That's not to say that it's impossible for someone to think those things and be a strong chess player, but it's probably not super common. I've actually ran into a couple people at a local chess club with "interesting" ideas about vaccines and uh... let's just say they were not hard to beat (I think I mated one guy in like 12 moves). And btw, I'm not even a super strong chess player myself (~1134 USCF). But like, they probably would seem really strong to someone that just occasionally plays chess at family gatherings or whatnot. Chess is a game with a low skill floor and very high skill ceiling, so you have a huge range in ability.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 1 points 3 days ago

2000 ish, apparently.

[–] kyle@lemm.ee 1 points 4 days ago

The only famous douche I know that's very good at chess is Andrew Tate lol