©04 The Media Desk
http://themediadesk.com
The Desk got another one of these…. And decided to check it out.
Guess what? Most of the 'facts' in the list were either out and out WRONG, Speculation, or unverifiable.
The Desk kept plugging, off and on, for several days, and checked out the ones it could. Nobody else ever seems to do this before they forward 'fascinating trivia'.
And here are the results. With the links to back it up where it could find one definitive and authoritative work to make the statement.
Others were left as is as basically mindless and irrelevant gibberish.
For other SPAM debunked by the Desk check out the one about the Brass Monkey and more on the Desk's Urban Legend and SPAM page
So you think you know everything.
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
TRUE- So what?
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/money/coins/dime/
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
FALSE- Depends on species as to how many muscles move the ear. There are NONE in the ear itself.
http://courses.washington.edu/vertebra/453/lab_notes/cat_muscles.htm
A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
TRUE. Its 'tongue' is attached to the roof of its mouth. Various Sources.
A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
WRONG- they can live up to seven years.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/insects/dragonfly/Dragonflyprintout.shtml
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
UNTESTABLE
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
YES, NO, MAYBE. There is no standardization.
http://searchsmallbizit.techtarget.com/gDefinition/0,294236,sid44_gci822188,00.html
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
WRONG. Most sharks cannot 'blink' at all. Others roll their eyes forward for protection.
http://www.sharkfoundation.com/facts.htm
A snail can sleep for three years.
WHEN FORCED TO.
http://www.birdnature.com/feb1899/hibernation2.html
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
TRUE
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/new_site/biography.php?id=276&showgroup=917
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
FALSE- the bill shows a representation of the memorial as it really is. With 36 columns for the 36 states at the time of his presidency.
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Lincoln_Memorial
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
TRUE. And never plant one next to the other, they don't like each other.
http://www.thefruitpages.com/peaches.shtml
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
TRUE. (Also true for some American Politicians. pardon the editorial statement)
http://www.wildlifesurvival.com/ostrichinfo.htm
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
SORT OF TRUE- in babies the patella is mostly cartilage it develops into bone at different rates in different children. Various Medical Sources.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
TRUE
http://www.butterflies.com/frequentlyaskedquestions.htm
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.
WRONG- Cats have far more, dogs do as well.
http://www.ourhealthcoop.com/pets/cat_vocalizations.html
http://www.nhm.org/exhibitions/dogs/communication/vocalizations.html
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
TRUE. SO?
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
NOT HARDLY-
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bluemoon1.html
In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
UN-PROVABLE.
If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
SPECULATION.
If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
SPECULATION.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
FALSE-
http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/wonderquest/2003-05-30-wonderquest_x.htm
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
(REVISED, Thanks, Mosheh!) FALSE- he did invent the parachute, machine gun and what is believed to be a primitive precursor to our modern-day helicopter.
http://www.dribbleglass.com/divinci/divinci.htm
However, according to http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/indexs.shtml
scissors as we know them today have been known since antiquity. It is possible Da Vinci did contribute their perfection as he did many other items.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
TRUE. SO?
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
UPDATE!
see below!
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
FALSE- It's not. On the two dollar bill is the Queen with robins on the back, not a flag.
http://www.cdnpapermoney.com/
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
MAYBE
http://www.perspectivesinnursing.org/v3n3/postoperative.html
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
INDIRECTLY. Peanut oil is used in some processes for making Glycerol from which you can make Nitroglycerine which is used in making dynamite.
http://www.angelfire.com/tn2/minsrecipes/IndigenousPlants/Peanut.htm
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
TRUE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expiry_date
"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.
AND SO?
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
NOT WITH THE DESK… it types mostly with three fingers total from both hands.
The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
YOU FIGURE IT OUT-
The Queen Elizabeth 2 - Specifications:
Length: 963 feet (294 m) Beam: 105 feet (32 m) Tonnage: 70,327 gross tons (originally 69,053 gross tons) Deep draught: 32 feet (9.8 m) Service speed: 28.5 knots Top speed: 33 knots (can go 20 knots in reverse) Machinery: 9 MAN 9-cylinder medium speed turbo-charged diesel engines turning two five-bladed propellers.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
TRUE
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/spencer.htm
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
SO WHAT? (it was one of the sentences used "back in the day" to test typewriters/typesetters to make sure none of the keys were sticking.)
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
WRONG- Sorry. Although in 1948 an ice jam almost did it for a few hours.
http://www.niagarafallslive.com/Facts_about_Niagara_Falls.htm
The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
SO?
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
SO? The cashiers at some fast food places can't do any of them.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
UNVERIFIABLE, both populations are changing all the time, but there would appear to be more chickens.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous
SO?
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
OH BOY!
There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.
YES THERE IS:
http://www.bayercare.com/flint/flintfaq.html
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
SO DO ZEBRAS. So?
http://www.szgdocent.org/ung/a-zebra.htm
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
AGAIN- So?
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
FALSE
http://www.snopes.com/history/world/churchill.asp
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
SO?
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.
YES AND NO
http://www.arthritis.ca/tips%20for%20living/understanding%20medications/gastrointestinal/default.asp?s=1
end of spam
UPDATE!
A Desk Reader has contributed the following information. The Desk did a little quick checking and, well "Tie up my chilver and call me a sporange…"
(Chilver is also a family name in the UK)
Thanks again Joy's Mom.
On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 14:16:57 EDT Tullous1 wrote
Thanks for the debunking. And according to my mom (a Scrabble whiz), this one's wrong too: 'No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.' Mom says "Orange rhymes with Sporange (a sac in which spores are produced). Silver rhymes with chilver (a ewe lamb). Purple with hirple (British--walk lamely or hobble)." So, there you are! (Mom has SERIOUS dictionaries!)
With your kind permission I'll add your information to the article.
Absolutely! She'd be tickled fuchsia (or some more exotically spelled color)!
Thanks for writing in.
Dr Leftover
end email exchange
Hello Doctor,
On Nov 21, 2004, at 10:24 AM, Dr Leftover wrote:
On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 22:40:37 -0800, Ben wrote
"The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet."
"If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction. "
"In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated."
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
"There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious.""
-Ben
MAY 2006
An Update and a few Corrections from Desk reader Tim S.
-Thank you Sir. I stand corrected. Doc
On Mon, 1 May 2006 17:08:36 -0500, Tim S. wrote Liked your article on the "So you think you know everything" Spam. I have a few corrections/additions for you.
1. In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
2. If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
3. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
4. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
Mike's Update June 06
I was very grateful for your page at http://www.themediadesk.com/newfiles/118.htm about supposed strange facts. I thought you might like an update on a couple of items:
Goldfish attention span - has been thoroughly disproved: http://nootropics.com/intelligence/smartfish.html
Thanks Mike -Doc L
UPDATE FROM GEORGE Aug/08
The marching Chinese - Absolutely True, Believe It Or Not!!!
In the 1920's and 30's, Robert Le Roy Ripley, the creator of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, first postulated and promulgated this fact and not just with a single column but with 4 Chinese marching abreast at the standard US Army Infantry marching rate. He based the birth rate on two fourteenth Century Chinese censuses.
His discovery created one of the first great sensations that launched Ripley's career and made his Believe It Or Not an inspiration for wonder even to today.
Let's not be so myopic about the Chinese birth rate which is currently severely regulated.
Extrapolated over the centuries, as a never ending column surely must be, this marching column would certainly never end.
Thank you
Thank you sir for the update. Personally, it amazes me that people would spend that much time and effort figuring it out. But hey, I can't do my own taxes either.
Thanks http://themediadesk.com
Thanks,
Joy's daughter
Have a good day and avoid all Sporanges.
Further SPAM Debunking Input
From Desk Reader Ben:
By all means, add these to the list.
Happy to contribute!
Ben
Thank you sir.
It is but a small part of the war on SPAM and urban legends.
If you'll approve I'd like to add your additions to the appropriate SPAM nonsense line.
Thanks again - Dr Leftover
Hello,
Great spam factoid debunking page. Here are some observations for you:
"The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns."
FALSE: See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/319027.stm, which reveals that:
"The vessel uses 18 tonnes of a fuel an hour, or 433 tonnes per day, with one gallon of fuel moving the ship 49ft 6ins."
True, but it wastes letters. (It uses 35.) Here's a perfect panagram, with only 26 letters:
"Mr. Jock, TV quiz Ph.D., bags few lynx."
FALSE. The current fertility rate in China is just 1.8 babies per woman, according to: http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/indic/indic_48_1_1.html
If we use the ballpark assumptions of 1 billion Chinese and hold the birthrate fixed, we can calculate that only 9 billion Chinese will EVER be born, as the population dwindles. Presuming you live long enough, you will therefore see the end of the line, eventually. (If three people per second walk past, you'll reach the end in about 15 years; if two people per second, then about 30 years. If one per second, then about 100 years, but the line will still end. The line could be shuffling past your tombstone, after all.)
You mean my cat is 4,000 years old? They probably mean that no new species has been domesticated.
To be pedantic, what about "undreamt"?
FALSE: They left out "arsenious" (pertaining to, or derived from, arsenic). It should be pointed out that adding "ly" to any of these words will add the "sometimes" vowel 'Y', in order.
This isn't un-provable it's false. Some of the more recent exceptions include the Fox, Mink and Ostrich - 1800's, the Hamster - 1930's and the Deer - 1970's. Numerous other exceptions exist.
Again False. The best numbers I could find show an average person spends 1 hr/day in a private vehicle. Assuming we count time spent as a passenger then we'll assume you average 1 hr/day in a car for every day of your life starting at birth. Using an average life span of 70 years and assuming 10% of the time spent in a vehicle is spent at a red light (remember the time spent in a vehicle includes highway driving where there are no traffic lights), then you end up spending about 3 1/2 months at a red light. I did find one study that took data of 85 US cities and showed and average per capita time spent at red lights of 46 hours. Again, assuming a 70 year life span that works out to about 4 1/2 months waiting on red lights. This figure is probably high for "average American's" though since it only deals with larger cities. Those in smaller towns and in the country probably spend a lot less time at traffic lights and thus including the entire US population should bring the average down.
False. Depending on the source a baby's eyes at birth is 2/3 to 75%
the size they will reach at adulthood.
While hypothetically it could be true it is false. Most all commercially produced glycerol is synthesized from propylene which is obtained by cracking petroleum. Historically, it was true -doc
Chinese walking past: probably false: http://www.maa.org/features/mathchat/mathchat_10_7_99.html
George H
Doc
the Urban Legend and SPAM page