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social vegan
Nov 7, 2014



- Mufasa, supporting lead of the lion king movie, is not real but a cartoon

- I drive a Honda Accord, because I like to get laid

- In Season 14 of Survivor (Survivor: Fiji), the winner of the season Earl Cole looks suspiciously like a white man for a black man

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ADBOT LOVES YOU

PureEvil6_13
Jun 1, 2004

I LIKE PETA AND THINK THAT SCIENCE IS EVIL
It's not butter!

Sponge Baathist
Jan 30, 2010

by FactsAreUseless
- the headless horseman was a real life legendary pony express messenger who got so pissed off one day he ripped his loving head off with his own goddamned bare hands!
-Jerry Springer and Maury Povich are cousins
-hillary clinton grew up in a house that is a ten minute drive from John Wayne Gacy's murder house.

Shaquin
May 12, 2007
- It come from the ground

social vegan
Nov 7, 2014



-OBama "the president" barrack has killed more jews than he has saved, makes you wonder why

- every 1 dollar bill is made up of 70% turd particles

AbbadonOfHell
Jul 16, 2004
You know I would try to think of something funny to put here but ill just pass on that and threaten people with a + 2 board with a nail in it.
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by one John Wilkes Booth.

A black man named Barack Husein Obama is the president of these great but flawed united states of murica.

Donald Trump might be the president after him.

All very strange, and very true! :pseudo:

AbbadonOfHell fucked around with this message at 12:06 on Mar 16, 2016

ArmedZombie
Jun 6, 2004

the Holocaust happened

social vegan
Nov 7, 2014



ArmZ posted:

the Holocaust happened

but they happened

in

2015

Skreel
Sep 17, 2011

Lieutenant Commander
If you write 'B' before and 'R' after the word 'One' on a 1USD bill, it becomes a direct conduit for communications with the illuminaughty

Joust
Dec 7, 2007

No Ledges.
History will prove that we were right!

plain blue jacket
Jan 13, 2014

IT DOESN'T STOP
IT NEVER STOPS
-Literal Nazi Furry is in fact a nazi cosplaying furry

Sponge Baathist
Jan 30, 2010

by FactsAreUseless
-"corn" refers to the individual seed an ear of corn should be called "an ear of corns"or a plate of corns but people decided that was stupid so they pretended not to care
-black people have innate sonar abilities that are above average for unknown reasons
-Quickly chomp your teeth and try to touch your tongue with your fingers

pop fly to McGillicutty
Feb 2, 2004

A peckish little mouse!

social vegan posted:

- Mufasa, supporting lead of the lion king movie, is not real but a cartoon

- I drive a Honda Accord, because I like to get laid

- In Season 14 of Survivor (Survivor: Fiji), the winner of the season Earl Cole looks suspiciously like a white man for a black man

-Donald Trump is actually a hyper "intelligent" ape sent from the future to start the planet of the apes

-pooping is the sins of yesterday becoming the fuel for tomorrow

-Satan isn't white

Zanzibar Ham
Mar 17, 2009

You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.


Grimey Drawer
-The above facts are strange, but true

-The facts below are mundane, but false (except for the one about me being unable to dance)

Zanzibar Ham fucked around with this message at 13:40 on Mar 16, 2016

Applewhite
Aug 16, 2014

by vyelkin
Nap Ghost
- American pennies contain 2.7 cents worth of copper.

- Well done hamburgers taste better and lower cholesterol.

- Skeletons are incapable of independent reproduction, and rely on human hosts to multiply.

- Same with ghosts. Ironically, without both skeletons and ghosts, humans could not survive, so it's actually a three part symbiosis.

- Ice is just a clear kind of rock and water is ice lava.

- the top speed of an unmodified DeLorean is actually only 65 MPH.

social vegan
Nov 7, 2014



if u cut the stalk off a weiner and plant it in the ground, you can grow a new carrot

Hobo Pyro
Oct 17, 2010
im gay

e: :gay:

PureEvil6_13
Jun 1, 2004

I LIKE PETA AND THINK THAT SCIENCE IS EVIL
You can get super high if you huff a freshly sharpened pencil

Applewhite
Aug 16, 2014

by vyelkin
Nap Ghost
The average human penis is actually 7.5 inches long, but the number is kept under wraps to avoid hurting small men's feelings.

net cafe scandal
Mar 18, 2011

social vegan posted:

- Mufasa, supporting lead of the lion king movie, is not real but a cartoon

- I drive a Honda Accord, because I like to get laid

- In Season 14 of Survivor (Survivor: Fiji), the winner of the season Earl Cole looks suspiciously like a white man for a black man

LMFAO!!

Hobo Pyro
Oct 17, 2010

PureEvil6_13 posted:

You can get super high if you huff a freshly sharpened pencil

im inclined to believe and subsequently test this

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

Zanz can't dance

med school head
Apr 17, 2012
• Christopher Columbus's efforts to obtain support for his voyages were not hampered by a European belief in a flat Earth.[2] In fact, sailors and navigators of the time knew that the Earth was spherical, but (correctly) disagreed with Columbus' estimates of the distance to India (see Flat Earth). If the Americas did not exist, and Columbus had continued to India (even putting aside the threat of mutiny he was under), he would have run out of supplies before reaching them at the rate he was traveling. The intellectual class had known that the earth was spherical since Ancient Greece.[3]

• Christopher Columbus was not the first European to discover North America. The earliest physical evidence of European colonization comes from the Norse: Greenland was settled by Icelanders in 984 CE, and Norse explorer Leif Ericson established a settlement in Newfoundland ca. 1000 CE.[4]

• George Washington did not have wooden teeth. According to a study of Washington's four known dentures performed by a forensic anthropologist from the University of Pittsburgh (in collaboration with the National Museum of Dentistry, itself associated with the Smithsonian Museum), the dentures were made of gold, hippopotamus ivory, lead, human and animal teeth (including horse and donkey teeth).[8]

• Cinco de Mayo (May 5) is not Mexico's Independence Day. It is a regional holiday primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla, and commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla.[12] Mexico's Independence Day is on September 16.[13]

• Napoleon Bonaparte (pictured) was not especially short. After his death in 1821, the French emperor's height was recorded as 5 feet 2 inches in French feet. This corresponds to 5 feet 6.5 inches in modern international feet, or 1.686 metres,[14] making him slightly taller than an average Frenchman of the 19th century.[15] The metric system was introduced during his lifetime, so it was natural that he would be measured in feet and inches for much of his life. His nickname, "le petit caporal", adds to the confusion, as non-francophones mistakenly take petit literally as meaning "small"; in fact, it is an affectionate term reflecting on his camaraderie with ordinary soldiers.

• French fries (or French fried potatoes) did not originate in France. The term comes from frying potatoes in the French method (frire, meaning "to deep fry"). French fries were invented in Belgium.

• Entrapment law in the United States does not forbid police officers from going undercover, or from denying that they are police. It is a common misconception among persons engaged in low-level crime that if an undercover police officer is asked, "Are you a cop?" that they must reveal themselves to avoid entrapment.[28][29]

• In the United States, Police are not required by law to immediately give the Miranda warning when arresting a suspect, and the Miranda warning is not given only to suspects under arrest. Rather, according to the 1966 United States Supreme Court decision in the case of Miranda v. Arizona, a suspect in custody or in a custodial situation must be informed of these rights before being subject to interrogation. If the Miranda warning or similar warning is not read, incriminating statements made by the suspect while in custody are not admissible evidence in court.

• Modern spacecraft returning from space do not suffer a communications blackout. While the heated atmosphere in front of the spacecraft prevents direct communication with Earth, and in the early days of the space programs of the world indeed meant that no communication was possible during reentry, systems like the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System have removed this problem.[31]

• There is no dark side of the Moon; every part of the Moon's surface (except perhaps deep craters near the poles) is illuminated by the Sun roughly half of the time. The phrase uses the word "dark" in the less-frequent sense of "unknown" or "obscure" to refer to the far side of the Moon, which because of tidal locking is never visible from Earth.[32]

• When a meteor lands on Earth (after which it is termed a meteorite), it is not usually hot. In fact, many are found with frost on them. A meteor's great speed during reentry is enough to melt or vaporize its outermost layer, but any molten material will be quickly blown off (ablated), and the interior of the meteor does not have time to heat up because rocks are poor conductors of heat. Also, atmospheric drag can slow small meteors to terminal velocity by the time they hit the ground, giving the surface time to cool down.[34]

• The North Star, Polaris, is not the brightest star in the northern hemisphere night sky. The brightest star is Sirius, with an apparent magnitude of -1.47 (Polaris in comparison is 1.97, barely making the top-50 brightest stars list). Its importance lies in its proximity to the north celestial pole, meaning its location in the sky currently marks North.

• People do not use only ten percent of their brains. This myth is thought by some to have emerged after the discovery of glial cells in the brain, or it could have been the result of some other misunderstood or misinterpreted legitimate scientific findings, or even been the result of speculation by self-help gurus.[41]

• Shaving does not cause hair to grow back thicker or coarser or darker. This belief is due to the fact that hair that has never been cut has a tapered end, whereas, after cutting, there is no taper. Thus, it appears thicker, and feels coarser due to the sharper, unworn edges.[43] Hair can also appear darker after it grows back because hair that has never been cut is often lighter due to sun exposure.

• Hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after a person dies. Rather, the skin dries and shrinks away from the bases of hairs and nails, giving the appearance of growth.[44]

• There is no cure for split ends or damaged hair. Shampoos and conditioners that advertise themselves as being able to reverse damage or reduce split ends are incorrect. Scientifically, the only way to cure split ends is by a simple haircut. Once the cuticle of the hair shaft is split, it can often still grow split, but can never be mended. Haircare products can be used to soften the texture by using fillers that attach to the hair shaft, making the hair appear healthier.[citation needed]

• In spite of reports of successful non-surgical techniques for penis enlargement, there is no known scientific study that has demonstrated the efficacy of such techniques, other than surgery.[citation needed]

• Snapping or cracking your knuckles does not cause Arthritis.

• Sugar does not cause hyperactivity in children[45]. Double blind trials have shown no difference in behaviour between children given sugar full or sugar-free diets, even in studies specifically looking at children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or those considered "sensitive" to sugar. In fact, it was found that the difference in the children's behaviour was all in the parents' minds.

• A disproportionate amount of heat is not lost through the head[46]. This myth originated from a poorly undertaken military study that went on to suggest that "40 to 45 percent of body heat"[47] was lost through the head. Recent studies have shown that heat loss from the head is completely proportionate.

• Eating at night is not associated with weight gain[48]. Some studies have shown this to be true, however it has since been shown that such conclusions were due to a confusion between correlation and causation.

• Koalas are not bears. Koalas belong to the marsupials infraclass of mammals, a separate lineage from the placental mammals of which bears (along with most mammals found outside of Australia and South America, such as rodents, primates, canines, etc.) are members.

• Some bats use echolocation to navigate while flying in darkness. Bats are not blind, however. Their eyes are small and poorly developed, but they are still capable of sight, particularly long-range, and in fact can be severely disoriented by excessive light.[citation needed]

• The notion that goldfish have a memory of only three seconds is completely false. They have been trained to navigate mazes and can recognize their owners after an exposure of a few months.[53][54]

• Mammal blood is bright red or scarlet when oxygenated and a darker red when not oxygenated. It is never blue. Veins appear blue through the skin because of Rayleigh scattering, the same effect responsible for the blue sky. However some other animals, mostly sea creatures, like the horseshoe crabs, have copper-based blood, which appears blue.[56]

• An earthworm does not become two worms when cut in half. An earthworm can survive being bisected, but only the front half of the worm (where the mouth is located) can survive, while the other half dries out or starves to death. If one cuts the worm too close to the saddle (the fat pink section where all of the worm's vital organs are located) then the worm may die.[57] On the other hand, species of the planaria family of flatworms actually do become two new planaria when bisected or split down the middle.

• Plants do not metabolize carbon dioxide (CO2) directly into oxygen (O2). Light-dependent reactions capture the energy of light and consume water, producing high-energy molecules and releasing oxygen as a by-product. Light-independent reactions use the high-energy molecules to capture and chemically reduce carbon dioxide, producing carbohydrate precursors and water. See Photosynthesis.

• The common cold is not caused by being cold or wet. It is caused by a virus of the rhinovirus family. Being cold or wet may weaken your immune system, making it easier to succumb to the virus.[citation needed]

• Chameleons do not change color to match their surroundings. They are naturally camouflaged and, although they can change their skin color into a variety of different colors, these changes are caused by temperature or interaction with predators or other Chameleons. A common myth that Chameleons will "burst" if placed on orange is not true.

• It is not true that air takes the same time to travel above and below an aircraft's wing.[65] This misconception, illustrated at right, is widespread among textbooks and non-technical reference books, and even appears in pilot training materials.

• Airplanes flying long distances between two places usually take less time flying west-to-east than east-to-west, not because of the earth's rotation directly, but because airplanes at higher altitudes tend to benefit from natural air currents called jet streams.[citation needed]

• The blue color of lakes and oceans is not only a reflection of the blue sky. Water looks blue because water is blue; the water molecules do absorb some light, and they absorb red frequencies more than blue.[66] The effect is small, so the blue color only becomes obvious when observing layers of water many meters (or more) thick. (This effect is noticeable to a lesser amount in white-painted swimming pools.) In salt water or mineral-laden fresh water, the color of dissolved minerals can also be seen. Sky-reflection does play a role, but it is not the only factor.

• There is no such thing as centrifugal force, or a force that pushes outward while an object is undergoing circular motion. What many people confuse for centrifugal force is actually just inertia, because the object in motion wants to maintain its velocity and move in as direction tangent to the path of its circular motion. The force people often confuse with centrifugal force is centripetal force, the force required for an object to remain in uniform circular motion. Centrifugal force is one of several so-called pseudo-forces (also known as inertial forces), so named because, unlike real forces, they do not originate in interactions with other bodies situated in the environment of the particle upon which they act.

• It is not true that a nozzle (or a person's thumb) on the end of a garden hose makes the water squirt farther because the same amount of water gets forced through a smaller opening. The rate of flow of water through the hose is not a set constant; in fact, putting one's thumb over the end of the hose reduces the rate of flow. What is constant is the water pressure at the source. When water is flowing, the pressure decreases the farther from the source one gets due to friction between the water and the pipes it's flowing through. The faster the water moves through the pipe, the greater is the friction that cuts down pressure at the output end. A thumb over the end of the hose decreases the flow rate, causing the friction from the source to decrease, causing the remaining water to have more speed.[67]

• It is not true that paper can be folded in half a maximum of seven, eight, ten, or indeed any selected number of times. However there is a loss function associated with each fold, and a practical limit of seven or eight folds for a normal sized (letter or A4) sheet of writing paper is reasonable. A football field-sized sheet of paper was folded in half eleven times on episode 72 of Mythbusters.

• It is not true that a mirror reverses left and right. It actually inverts front and back.[70] The left and right sides of a person's mirror image seem to be reversed because we are actually accustomed to everyone else's left and right being reversed when they turn around to face us. If, instead of rotating on the spot to face us, people instead flipped over into a handstand, we would see their left and right remain the same, but their top and bottom being reversed from our own. The mirror image faces us without its left and right or top and bottom being reversed in this sense, which is why it is the reverse of what everyone else sees when they look at us. Another way to understand this is the following. The misconception arises because one compares the image in the mirror to an object already 180° rotated around a vertical axis on the plane of the mirror, and then notices a left-right reverse. However, if one takes this (subconscious) rotation also into account, the rotation plus the left-right reverse together actually mean a front-back inversion. (Image a rubber mask being pushed inside-out, as opposed to being turned around.)

• Mount Everest (pictured) is, indisputably, the highest point of land above sea level (8,850 meters / 29,035 feet) which, according to traditional measurements, means that it is the tallest mountain in the world. Given certain definitions, however, this can be challenged.[82] One alternative method of measurement is the base-summit height. When this is applied, Mauna Kea (a dormant volcano in Hawaii) turns out to be much higher at 10,314 meters (33,480 feet). This takes into account Mauna Kea's base on the ocean floor, some 6000 meters below sea level. Its height above sea level is only 4,208 meters (13,796 feet). If the base-summit height is measured from land only, Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, meaning it does not belong to a mountain range or chain, measured from its base (at ground level) to the summit at 5,896 meters (19,344 feet). Another alternative method is to work out the furthest point of land as measured from the centre of the earth. Chimborazo, a volcano in Ecuador, takes this honor, because the Earth bulges at the equator.[83] This peak is 2,100 meters further away from the centre of the Earth than the top of Everest is.

• The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, but it is not the world's largest desert (arid land). Antarctica has almost no liquid precipitation (rain) and is thus a desert. Almost no animal life exists in its interior at all (nesting snow petrels and scientists in research stations are about the only exceptions).

• The phrase "separation of church and state" does not occur in the U.S. Constitution. It was first used in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut, reassuring them that religious minorities (such as Baptists) would be protected under the Bill of Rights. His expression "wall of separation between church and state" was a description of an intended effect of the First Amendment's Establishment and Free Exercise provisions, not a quotation therefrom.[90]

• An agnostic is not merely a person who cannot decide whether to believe in God or to be an atheist. Agnosticism is the claim that it's impossible for anyone to know whether God exists or not: it has to do with the limits of possible knowledge, not with personal feelings of uncertainty. As such, agnosticism isn't a middle ground between theism and atheism, but is compatible with either; a person can be an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheist.

• Nowhere in the Bible is the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden referred to as an apple. The fruit is called the "fruit of the tree" (that is, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), and neither the fruit nor the tree is identified by species. In Middle English, as late as the 17th century "apple" was a generic term for all fruit other than berries but including nuts.[91] However, in continental European art from that period representing the Fall of Man the fruit is often depicted as an apple.

• In the book of Genesis, the serpent in the Garden of Eden is not explicitly identified as being Satan. This is teaching made by later Christians. Revelation 12:9 (New International Version) says, "The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray." Revelation 20:2 (New International Version) says, "He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." Additionally, Satan is never explicitly given the name Lucifer ("light bearer") in the Bible. That name comes from the Vulgate (Latin translation) of a prophecy in Isaiah 14:12, which some Christians interpret as referring to the fall of Satan from heaven. The serpent is also identified as being the embodiment of the Satan in Jewish esoteric texts (such as Zohar (part 2, p.262/2) and Sefer Hasidim (paragraph 355)).

• Although Christians and Jews agree that the Ten Commandments are ten in number, they are not explicitly separated from each other in the original text. Thus the interpretation of the precise text of each of the Ten Commandments differs between Jews and Christians, and between various Christian denominations (see this chart). The Bible mentions three sets of ordinances, in 20:2–17, Exodus 34:11–27 and 5:6–21, that are all called by the name "Ten Commandments". The verses in Exodus 34 are not the Ten Commandments commonly referred to, and are called by some scholars the "Ethical Decalogue". They include an obligation to sacrifice the first born male of cattle, another to eat unleavened bread for a week and a final tenth commandment phrased as "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk".[92]

• Johannes Gutenberg was not the first to invent the printing press or movable type; these were in use in China centuries before. Gutenberg was the first European to use movable type, and he probably invented it independently; the printing press did have a larger influence on Western than on Eastern culture.

• Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet.[107]

• Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb.[108] He did, however, refine the internal gases and filaments, making a bulb last longer.

• George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter, although he developed many other uses for peanuts. Other individuals of Carver's era had patents for peanut butter.[citation needed]

• The first heavier-than-air craft was not flown by the Wright brothers. Human-flown gliders and kites had been flown far earlier. The Wright brothers did fly the first heavier-than-air craft capable of controlled and sustained powered flight.[113] There is even some evidence to show Clιment Ader was the first to fly a heavier-than-air craft capable of controlled and sustained powered flight in 1890.[114]

• Charles Lindbergh was not the first man to fly the Atlantic Ocean, although he was the first to have flown across it solo. The first flight had been done first in stages between May 8 and May 31, 1919, by the crew of the Navy-Curtiss NC-4 flying boat which took 24 days to complete its journey. The first truly non-stop transatlantic flight was made in 1919 by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown in a modified Vickers Vimy bomber.

• The United States Interstate Highway System was not designed with airplane landings in mind. A common urban legend states that one out of every five (or ten) miles of highway must be straight and flat to allow emergency (or military) airplane landings, but this is not the case.[115][116] However, several parts of the German and later the Swiss Autobahn system were indeed designed to be auxiliary military airports, both during World War II and the Cold War.[117]

• There are several misconceptions related to the colored belt ranking system in martial arts. First, the system was invented in the early 20th century, contrary to the myth that it is based on the ancient practice of students starting with a white belt and gaining a black belt through accumulated dirt, sweat, and blood on an unwashed belt.[120] Second, receiving a black belt usually does not mean mastery, as there are always several levels of black belt for each martial art, and standards for attaining a belt can vary greatly.[121] Third, a prevalent American myth is that black belts must register their hands as a deadly weapon with law enforcement agencies.[122]

• There is no reliable scientific evidence that installing security lighting in outdoor areas actually deters crime; it may actually make crime easier to conceal. For instance, a burglar who is forced to use a flashlight is more easily spotted than one who can see by existing light.[123]

• Passive night vision devices do not actually illuminate an environment, rather enhancing the visibility of light reflecting off surfaces. Image enhancement night vision does not assist visibility in an environment with absolutely no visible light; thermal imaging would be required in this situation.[124]

• The distorted appearance of glass in the windows of some old buildings, alleged to be evidence in favor of glass flow, is more likely the result of the glass making process rather than the viscosity of glass.[125]

• The number of megapixels in a digital camera is not a sufficient measure of image quality. The skill of a photographer, the quality of the lens, and the number, size and compression of individual pixels all impact image quality. Most viewers hold contrast, color saturation, and color accuracy to be more important than resolution.[citation needed]

• Card counting in the game of blackjack does not allow the card counter to know specifically what cards are going to be dealt, and it does not guarantee positive returns to the card counter in the short term. Counting cards only allows the player to know that the remaining cards in decks will give the players an edge on the house in the up-coming hands (usually only a few percent), and so allowing the players to maximize the projected (not guaranteed) profits from this edge by betting larger amounts.[126]

• The Nigerian scam, or Advance Fee Fraud, is not new as is commonly believe and did not originate on the internet. It dates back to the early years of the 20th century when postal mail was used in place of email.

EdwardSwifferhands
Apr 27, 2008

I will probably lick whatever you put in front of me.
Your brain can only process so much information at one time. Anything your mind decides is nonessential will be converted into a gas and released through a hole below your back.

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

gargle chome posted:

• Christopher Columbus's efforts to obtain support for his voyages were not hampered by a European belief in a flat Earth.[2] In fact, sailors and navigators of the time knew that the Earth was spherical, but (correctly) disagreed with Columbus' estimates of the distance to India (see Flat Earth). If the Americas did not exist, and Columbus had continued to India (even putting aside the threat of mutiny he was under), he would have run out of supplies before reaching them at the rate he was traveling. The intellectual class had known that the earth was spherical since Ancient Greece.[3]

• Christopher Columbus was not the first European to discover North America. The earliest physical evidence of European colonization comes from the Norse: Greenland was settled by Icelanders in 984 CE, and Norse explorer Leif Ericson established a settlement in Newfoundland ca. 1000 CE.[4]

• George Washington did not have wooden teeth. According to a study of Washington's four known dentures performed by a forensic anthropologist from the University of Pittsburgh (in collaboration with the National Museum of Dentistry, itself associated with the Smithsonian Museum), the dentures were made of gold, hippopotamus ivory, lead, human and animal teeth (including horse and donkey teeth).[8]

• Cinco de Mayo (May 5) is not Mexico's Independence Day. It is a regional holiday primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla, and commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla.[12] Mexico's Independence Day is on September 16.[13]

• Napoleon Bonaparte (pictured) was not especially short. After his death in 1821, the French emperor's height was recorded as 5 feet 2 inches in French feet. This corresponds to 5 feet 6.5 inches in modern international feet, or 1.686 metres,[14] making him slightly taller than an average Frenchman of the 19th century.[15] The metric system was introduced during his lifetime, so it was natural that he would be measured in feet and inches for much of his life. His nickname, "le petit caporal", adds to the confusion, as non-francophones mistakenly take petit literally as meaning "small"; in fact, it is an affectionate term reflecting on his camaraderie with ordinary soldiers.

• French fries (or French fried potatoes) did not originate in France. The term comes from frying potatoes in the French method (frire, meaning "to deep fry"). French fries were invented in Belgium.

• Entrapment law in the United States does not forbid police officers from going undercover, or from denying that they are police. It is a common misconception among persons engaged in low-level crime that if an undercover police officer is asked, "Are you a cop?" that they must reveal themselves to avoid entrapment.[28][29]

• In the United States, Police are not required by law to immediately give the Miranda warning when arresting a suspect, and the Miranda warning is not given only to suspects under arrest. Rather, according to the 1966 United States Supreme Court decision in the case of Miranda v. Arizona, a suspect in custody or in a custodial situation must be informed of these rights before being subject to interrogation. If the Miranda warning or similar warning is not read, incriminating statements made by the suspect while in custody are not admissible evidence in court.

• Modern spacecraft returning from space do not suffer a communications blackout. While the heated atmosphere in front of the spacecraft prevents direct communication with Earth, and in the early days of the space programs of the world indeed meant that no communication was possible during reentry, systems like the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System have removed this problem.[31]

• There is no dark side of the Moon; every part of the Moon's surface (except perhaps deep craters near the poles) is illuminated by the Sun roughly half of the time. The phrase uses the word "dark" in the less-frequent sense of "unknown" or "obscure" to refer to the far side of the Moon, which because of tidal locking is never visible from Earth.[32]

• When a meteor lands on Earth (after which it is termed a meteorite), it is not usually hot. In fact, many are found with frost on them. A meteor's great speed during reentry is enough to melt or vaporize its outermost layer, but any molten material will be quickly blown off (ablated), and the interior of the meteor does not have time to heat up because rocks are poor conductors of heat. Also, atmospheric drag can slow small meteors to terminal velocity by the time they hit the ground, giving the surface time to cool down.[34]

• The North Star, Polaris, is not the brightest star in the northern hemisphere night sky. The brightest star is Sirius, with an apparent magnitude of -1.47 (Polaris in comparison is 1.97, barely making the top-50 brightest stars list). Its importance lies in its proximity to the north celestial pole, meaning its location in the sky currently marks North.

• People do not use only ten percent of their brains. This myth is thought by some to have emerged after the discovery of glial cells in the brain, or it could have been the result of some other misunderstood or misinterpreted legitimate scientific findings, or even been the result of speculation by self-help gurus.[41]

• Shaving does not cause hair to grow back thicker or coarser or darker. This belief is due to the fact that hair that has never been cut has a tapered end, whereas, after cutting, there is no taper. Thus, it appears thicker, and feels coarser due to the sharper, unworn edges.[43] Hair can also appear darker after it grows back because hair that has never been cut is often lighter due to sun exposure.

• Hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after a person dies. Rather, the skin dries and shrinks away from the bases of hairs and nails, giving the appearance of growth.[44]

• There is no cure for split ends or damaged hair. Shampoos and conditioners that advertise themselves as being able to reverse damage or reduce split ends are incorrect. Scientifically, the only way to cure split ends is by a simple haircut. Once the cuticle of the hair shaft is split, it can often still grow split, but can never be mended. Haircare products can be used to soften the texture by using fillers that attach to the hair shaft, making the hair appear healthier.[citation needed]

• In spite of reports of successful non-surgical techniques for penis enlargement, there is no known scientific study that has demonstrated the efficacy of such techniques, other than surgery.[citation needed]

• Snapping or cracking your knuckles does not cause Arthritis.

• Sugar does not cause hyperactivity in children[45]. Double blind trials have shown no difference in behaviour between children given sugar full or sugar-free diets, even in studies specifically looking at children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or those considered "sensitive" to sugar. In fact, it was found that the difference in the children's behaviour was all in the parents' minds.

• A disproportionate amount of heat is not lost through the head[46]. This myth originated from a poorly undertaken military study that went on to suggest that "40 to 45 percent of body heat"[47] was lost through the head. Recent studies have shown that heat loss from the head is completely proportionate.

• Eating at night is not associated with weight gain[48]. Some studies have shown this to be true, however it has since been shown that such conclusions were due to a confusion between correlation and causation.

• Koalas are not bears. Koalas belong to the marsupials infraclass of mammals, a separate lineage from the placental mammals of which bears (along with most mammals found outside of Australia and South America, such as rodents, primates, canines, etc.) are members.

• Some bats use echolocation to navigate while flying in darkness. Bats are not blind, however. Their eyes are small and poorly developed, but they are still capable of sight, particularly long-range, and in fact can be severely disoriented by excessive light.[citation needed]

• The notion that goldfish have a memory of only three seconds is completely false. They have been trained to navigate mazes and can recognize their owners after an exposure of a few months.[53][54]

• Mammal blood is bright red or scarlet when oxygenated and a darker red when not oxygenated. It is never blue. Veins appear blue through the skin because of Rayleigh scattering, the same effect responsible for the blue sky. However some other animals, mostly sea creatures, like the horseshoe crabs, have copper-based blood, which appears blue.[56]

• An earthworm does not become two worms when cut in half. An earthworm can survive being bisected, but only the front half of the worm (where the mouth is located) can survive, while the other half dries out or starves to death. If one cuts the worm too close to the saddle (the fat pink section where all of the worm's vital organs are located) then the worm may die.[57] On the other hand, species of the planaria family of flatworms actually do become two new planaria when bisected or split down the middle.

• Plants do not metabolize carbon dioxide (CO2) directly into oxygen (O2). Light-dependent reactions capture the energy of light and consume water, producing high-energy molecules and releasing oxygen as a by-product. Light-independent reactions use the high-energy molecules to capture and chemically reduce carbon dioxide, producing carbohydrate precursors and water. See Photosynthesis.

• The common cold is not caused by being cold or wet. It is caused by a virus of the rhinovirus family. Being cold or wet may weaken your immune system, making it easier to succumb to the virus.[citation needed]

• Chameleons do not change color to match their surroundings. They are naturally camouflaged and, although they can change their skin color into a variety of different colors, these changes are caused by temperature or interaction with predators or other Chameleons. A common myth that Chameleons will "burst" if placed on orange is not true.

• It is not true that air takes the same time to travel above and below an aircraft's wing.[65] This misconception, illustrated at right, is widespread among textbooks and non-technical reference books, and even appears in pilot training materials.

• Airplanes flying long distances between two places usually take less time flying west-to-east than east-to-west, not because of the earth's rotation directly, but because airplanes at higher altitudes tend to benefit from natural air currents called jet streams.[citation needed]

• The blue color of lakes and oceans is not only a reflection of the blue sky. Water looks blue because water is blue; the water molecules do absorb some light, and they absorb red frequencies more than blue.[66] The effect is small, so the blue color only becomes obvious when observing layers of water many meters (or more) thick. (This effect is noticeable to a lesser amount in white-painted swimming pools.) In salt water or mineral-laden fresh water, the color of dissolved minerals can also be seen. Sky-reflection does play a role, but it is not the only factor.

• There is no such thing as centrifugal force, or a force that pushes outward while an object is undergoing circular motion. What many people confuse for centrifugal force is actually just inertia, because the object in motion wants to maintain its velocity and move in as direction tangent to the path of its circular motion. The force people often confuse with centrifugal force is centripetal force, the force required for an object to remain in uniform circular motion. Centrifugal force is one of several so-called pseudo-forces (also known as inertial forces), so named because, unlike real forces, they do not originate in interactions with other bodies situated in the environment of the particle upon which they act.

• It is not true that a nozzle (or a person's thumb) on the end of a garden hose makes the water squirt farther because the same amount of water gets forced through a smaller opening. The rate of flow of water through the hose is not a set constant; in fact, putting one's thumb over the end of the hose reduces the rate of flow. What is constant is the water pressure at the source. When water is flowing, the pressure decreases the farther from the source one gets due to friction between the water and the pipes it's flowing through. The faster the water moves through the pipe, the greater is the friction that cuts down pressure at the output end. A thumb over the end of the hose decreases the flow rate, causing the friction from the source to decrease, causing the remaining water to have more speed.[67]

• It is not true that paper can be folded in half a maximum of seven, eight, ten, or indeed any selected number of times. However there is a loss function associated with each fold, and a practical limit of seven or eight folds for a normal sized (letter or A4) sheet of writing paper is reasonable. A football field-sized sheet of paper was folded in half eleven times on episode 72 of Mythbusters.

• It is not true that a mirror reverses left and right. It actually inverts front and back.[70] The left and right sides of a person's mirror image seem to be reversed because we are actually accustomed to everyone else's left and right being reversed when they turn around to face us. If, instead of rotating on the spot to face us, people instead flipped over into a handstand, we would see their left and right remain the same, but their top and bottom being reversed from our own. The mirror image faces us without its left and right or top and bottom being reversed in this sense, which is why it is the reverse of what everyone else sees when they look at us. Another way to understand this is the following. The misconception arises because one compares the image in the mirror to an object already 180° rotated around a vertical axis on the plane of the mirror, and then notices a left-right reverse. However, if one takes this (subconscious) rotation also into account, the rotation plus the left-right reverse together actually mean a front-back inversion. (Image a rubber mask being pushed inside-out, as opposed to being turned around.)

• Mount Everest (pictured) is, indisputably, the highest point of land above sea level (8,850 meters / 29,035 feet) which, according to traditional measurements, means that it is the tallest mountain in the world. Given certain definitions, however, this can be challenged.[82] One alternative method of measurement is the base-summit height. When this is applied, Mauna Kea (a dormant volcano in Hawaii) turns out to be much higher at 10,314 meters (33,480 feet). This takes into account Mauna Kea's base on the ocean floor, some 6000 meters below sea level. Its height above sea level is only 4,208 meters (13,796 feet). If the base-summit height is measured from land only, Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, meaning it does not belong to a mountain range or chain, measured from its base (at ground level) to the summit at 5,896 meters (19,344 feet). Another alternative method is to work out the furthest point of land as measured from the centre of the earth. Chimborazo, a volcano in Ecuador, takes this honor, because the Earth bulges at the equator.[83] This peak is 2,100 meters further away from the centre of the Earth than the top of Everest is.

• The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, but it is not the world's largest desert (arid land). Antarctica has almost no liquid precipitation (rain) and is thus a desert. Almost no animal life exists in its interior at all (nesting snow petrels and scientists in research stations are about the only exceptions).

• The phrase "separation of church and state" does not occur in the U.S. Constitution. It was first used in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut, reassuring them that religious minorities (such as Baptists) would be protected under the Bill of Rights. His expression "wall of separation between church and state" was a description of an intended effect of the First Amendment's Establishment and Free Exercise provisions, not a quotation therefrom.[90]

• An agnostic is not merely a person who cannot decide whether to believe in God or to be an atheist. Agnosticism is the claim that it's impossible for anyone to know whether God exists or not: it has to do with the limits of possible knowledge, not with personal feelings of uncertainty. As such, agnosticism isn't a middle ground between theism and atheism, but is compatible with either; a person can be an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheist.

• Nowhere in the Bible is the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden referred to as an apple. The fruit is called the "fruit of the tree" (that is, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), and neither the fruit nor the tree is identified by species. In Middle English, as late as the 17th century "apple" was a generic term for all fruit other than berries but including nuts.[91] However, in continental European art from that period representing the Fall of Man the fruit is often depicted as an apple.

• In the book of Genesis, the serpent in the Garden of Eden is not explicitly identified as being Satan. This is teaching made by later Christians. Revelation 12:9 (New International Version) says, "The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray." Revelation 20:2 (New International Version) says, "He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." Additionally, Satan is never explicitly given the name Lucifer ("light bearer") in the Bible. That name comes from the Vulgate (Latin translation) of a prophecy in Isaiah 14:12, which some Christians interpret as referring to the fall of Satan from heaven. The serpent is also identified as being the embodiment of the Satan in Jewish esoteric texts (such as Zohar (part 2, p.262/2) and Sefer Hasidim (paragraph 355)).

• Although Christians and Jews agree that the Ten Commandments are ten in number, they are not explicitly separated from each other in the original text. Thus the interpretation of the precise text of each of the Ten Commandments differs between Jews and Christians, and between various Christian denominations (see this chart). The Bible mentions three sets of ordinances, in 20:2–17, Exodus 34:11–27 and 5:6–21, that are all called by the name "Ten Commandments". The verses in Exodus 34 are not the Ten Commandments commonly referred to, and are called by some scholars the "Ethical Decalogue". They include an obligation to sacrifice the first born male of cattle, another to eat unleavened bread for a week and a final tenth commandment phrased as "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk".[92]

• Johannes Gutenberg was not the first to invent the printing press or movable type; these were in use in China centuries before. Gutenberg was the first European to use movable type, and he probably invented it independently; the printing press did have a larger influence on Western than on Eastern culture.

• Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet.[107]

• Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb.[108] He did, however, refine the internal gases and filaments, making a bulb last longer.

• George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter, although he developed many other uses for peanuts. Other individuals of Carver's era had patents for peanut butter.[citation needed]

• The first heavier-than-air craft was not flown by the Wright brothers. Human-flown gliders and kites had been flown far earlier. The Wright brothers did fly the first heavier-than-air craft capable of controlled and sustained powered flight.[113] There is even some evidence to show Clιment Ader was the first to fly a heavier-than-air craft capable of controlled and sustained powered flight in 1890.[114]

• Charles Lindbergh was not the first man to fly the Atlantic Ocean, although he was the first to have flown across it solo. The first flight had been done first in stages between May 8 and May 31, 1919, by the crew of the Navy-Curtiss NC-4 flying boat which took 24 days to complete its journey. The first truly non-stop transatlantic flight was made in 1919 by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown in a modified Vickers Vimy bomber.

• The United States Interstate Highway System was not designed with airplane landings in mind. A common urban legend states that one out of every five (or ten) miles of highway must be straight and flat to allow emergency (or military) airplane landings, but this is not the case.[115][116] However, several parts of the German and later the Swiss Autobahn system were indeed designed to be auxiliary military airports, both during World War II and the Cold War.[117]

• There are several misconceptions related to the colored belt ranking system in martial arts. First, the system was invented in the early 20th century, contrary to the myth that it is based on the ancient practice of students starting with a white belt and gaining a black belt through accumulated dirt, sweat, and blood on an unwashed belt.[120] Second, receiving a black belt usually does not mean mastery, as there are always several levels of black belt for each martial art, and standards for attaining a belt can vary greatly.[121] Third, a prevalent American myth is that black belts must register their hands as a deadly weapon with law enforcement agencies.[122]

• There is no reliable scientific evidence that installing security lighting in outdoor areas actually deters crime; it may actually make crime easier to conceal. For instance, a burglar who is forced to use a flashlight is more easily spotted than one who can see by existing light.[123]

• Passive night vision devices do not actually illuminate an environment, rather enhancing the visibility of light reflecting off surfaces. Image enhancement night vision does not assist visibility in an environment with absolutely no visible light; thermal imaging would be required in this situation.[124]

• The distorted appearance of glass in the windows of some old buildings, alleged to be evidence in favor of glass flow, is more likely the result of the glass making process rather than the viscosity of glass.[125]

• The number of megapixels in a digital camera is not a sufficient measure of image quality. The skill of a photographer, the quality of the lens, and the number, size and compression of individual pixels all impact image quality. Most viewers hold contrast, color saturation, and color accuracy to be more important than resolution.[citation needed]

• Card counting in the game of blackjack does not allow the card counter to know specifically what cards are going to be dealt, and it does not guarantee positive returns to the card counter in the short term. Counting cards only allows the player to know that the remaining cards in decks will give the players an edge on the house in the up-coming hands (usually only a few percent), and so allowing the players to maximize the projected (not guaranteed) profits from this edge by betting larger amounts.[126]

• The Nigerian scam, or Advance Fee Fraud, is not new as is commonly believe and did not originate on the internet. It dates back to the early years of the 20th century when postal mail was used in place of email.

That's a whole lot of myths busted.

satanic splash-back
Jan 28, 2009

The real reason America has fewer trees than before is because Johhny Appleseed died, leaving nobody to plant seeds across the continent.

social vegan
Nov 7, 2014



wow gently caress u thomas crapper

Applewhite
Aug 16, 2014

by vyelkin
Nap Ghost
- The flush toilet was actually invented by John Shitter

Nigmaetcetera
Nov 17, 2004

borkborkborkmorkmorkmork-gabbalooins
You can create a homunculus by mashing up ritz crackers in a jar, jizzing in it, and sticking it in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours.

The Queen's Guard are all golems, originally constructed by Elizabeth I's court wizard John Dee.

Heroin is legal in Canada, in fact it's mandatory for ex-convicts, to keep them docile.

It turns out David Icke is right about reptilians existing, but they're just an ethnic group who understandably hide their heritage due to the persecution they face when they reveal themselves. All the stuff about human sacrifice is just blood libel. Actor David Hyde Pierce has recently come out of the closet about his status as a Reptilian-American.

Monkeys and apes are all equal in intelligence to humans and can talk but pretend to be stupid just to gently caress with us. Most monkey vivisections are attempts to get them to come clean about it, but they're very, very committed to the ruse.

Bob Odenkirk will be leaving Better Call Saul at the end of season two. The character will be played by Kung Pow: Enter The Fist actor Steve Oedekerk from season three onwards.

The scene from Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom where the guy gets his heart ripped out but remains alive is a metaphor for a torrid gay love affair Stephen Spielberg experienced while in boarding school. Obviously it ended painfully.

Applewhite
Aug 16, 2014

by vyelkin
Nap Ghost
It's actually possible for a human to run faster than the speed of sound if he is running on a treadmill inside a supersonic jet.

social vegan
Nov 7, 2014



Nigmaetcetera posted:

You can create a homunculus by mashing up ritz crackers in a jar, jizzing in it, and sticking it in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours.

it makes u wonder how many potential lives u've eaten

Nigmaetcetera
Nov 17, 2004

borkborkborkmorkmorkmork-gabbalooins

social vegan posted:

it makes u wonder how many potential lives u've eaten

Homunculi don't "live" in the way we know it, for they are merely extensions of their master's will. Unless you use ritz bits cheese sandwiches of course.

Applewhite
Aug 16, 2014

by vyelkin
Nap Ghost
- Reincarnation is real and there is actually a limited number of souls to go around. The rising rates of autism and sociopathy are a result of the world population outstripping the available supply of souls.

jyrque
Sep 4, 2011

Gravy Boat 2k
Phones actually used to be connected to a socket in a wall. You couldn't even check your Facebook with one! Wtf

Germstore
Oct 17, 2012

A Serious Candidate For a Serious Time
Before email a courier on a horse was the only way to send a message between two distant locations.

Nolan Arenado
May 8, 2009

All clothing in the entire world is made in one giant superfactory in China and just given appropriate logos and markings.

FlimFlam Imam
Mar 1, 2007

Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams
I can see for miles and miles.

nigga crab pollock
Mar 26, 2010

by Lowtax

OctoberBlues posted:

All clothing in the entire world is made in one giant superfactory in China and just given appropriate logos and markings.

this but unironically

Luvcow
Jul 1, 2007

One day nearer spring
The vigorous hand movements involved in masturbation actually help open up hair follicles on your palms which can promote hair growth and may damage the nerves in your eyes with the potential to seriously harm your vision.

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pop fly to McGillicutty
Feb 2, 2004

A peckish little mouse!
-God is dead

-Heaven is real

-All dogs go to Heaven

-Dog is God backwards

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