A friend of mine recently put up a forwarded myspace post. It contains forty or so “facts you never knew.” It looked fishy to me so I did some research. Most of the statements were false and when I did more research it turns out these false facts have been circulated around on the internet and emails for years. Unfortunately they are often on children’s websites listed as “fun facts.” It’s fun to lie, kids! Are we trying to raise a generation of politicians? <\/p>\n
Anyway – here goes:<\/p>\n
* Money isn’t made out of paper; it’s made out of cotton.<\/p>\n
True AND False.<\/p>\n
true – “paper” currency is currently made of 75% cotton 25% linen. Unfortunetely us sticklers know that “paper” is technically defined as a thin material produced by the amalgamation of plant fibres. Cotton is a plant – for those of you that forgot! Paper is also made of rice, hemp, and other common plants.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.factmonster.com\/ipka\/A0774850.html<\/a> * The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottle represents the varieties of pickle the company once had.<\/p>\n FALSE – Heinz never had 57 varieties of any one product, let alone pickles. At one time they had close to 60 pickles, but the slogan was created by Henry Heinz after seeing a shoe ad (so the story goes)…he came up with 57 out of his imagination and it stuck.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.straightdope.com\/classics\/a1_195<\/a><\/p>\n * Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks – otherwise it will digest itself.<\/p>\n FALSE – the production of mucus is continual – not once every two weeks. The stomach continuously produces more mucus to replace the outer layer that is continuously eaten away. Think about it, this is just like any other gland in the body that secretes anything. When you work out – does ALL the sweat come out at once (say every five minutes)? That wouldn’t make much sense, would it. If our stomachs produced all the mucus once every two weeks – we’d all be getting ulcers in the days before that as the mucus layer would be really low. Do you know anyone who continuously gets ulcers every 14 days on schedule?<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.livescience.com\/humanbiology\/060105_stomach_bacteria.html<\/a><\/p>\n * The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.<\/p>\n FALSE – Who started this myth – High Times Magazine? Yes, hemp was a popular crop in those days and was used to make paper – but the original Declaration of Independence was engrossed on parchment. The parchment was made of animal skin. Next time you see someone rolling a doobie with leather let me know….<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.archives.gov\/national-archives-experience\/charters\/treasure\/declaration_facts.html<\/a> * A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.<\/p>\n FALSE – while mostly true, the key word here is “continuously.” The raisin will rise and fall for awhile – but eventually all the carbon dioxide will escape and the raisin will sink to the bottom with no more bubbles to lift it.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.iit.edu\/~smart\/scavjoh1\/lesson6.htm<\/a><\/p>\n * Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.<\/p>\n FALSE – Susan Lucci’s mother’s name is Jeanette Lucci. Here is a photo – http:\/\/www.tcf.net\/susan-lucci.html<\/a><\/p>\n * Every person has a unique tongue print as well as fingerprints. * 315 entries in Webster’s 1996 Dictionary were misspelled. * On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily. * During the chariot scene in ‘Ben Hur’ a small red car can be seen in the distance. * Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister. * Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark’s stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.<\/p>\n Indeterminable. Yes, Orcas kill sharks for their livers\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I found video evidence of this (http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W8GaDuCvYbE). However, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find anything more than here-say about the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153exploding\u00e2\u20ac\u009d comment. The video (and others I found) shows that the attack usually comes from below \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but the damage is done by the Orcas powerful jaws and teeth.<\/p>\n * Most lipstick contains fish scales.<\/p>\n FALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Lipstick contained fish scales 500 years ago \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but as long ago as Queen Elizabeth I it was already made from plants and beeswax.<\/p>\n * Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn’t wear any pants.<\/p>\n FALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just read this: http:\/\/www.snopes.com\/disney\/films\/finland.htm<\/a><\/p>\n * Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.<\/p>\n FALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c The book \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pure Ketchup A History of America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s National Condiment with Recipes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Andrew Smith contains no mention of Ketchup used as a medicine. The sources on the internet that say it WAS are also the same sources that say Heinz 57 stood for the variety of pickles (which we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already proven as false).<\/p>\n * Upper and lower case letters are named ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the ‘upper case’ letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, ‘lower case’ letters.<\/p>\n TRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this appears to be true. Although you could also say that they were called upper and lower simply because the height of an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153upper\u00e2\u20ac\u009d case is higher\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6thus \u00e2\u20ac\u0153up\u00e2\u20ac\u009d above the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lower\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ones.<\/p>\n * Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.<\/p>\n TRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c while technically true because he was ambidextrous \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it is doubtful that he ever did this in practice. <\/p>\n * Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.<\/p>\n FALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c The Oscars were made of plaster, not wood. The only wooden Oscar ever made was made special for Charlie McCarthy because he was a ventriloquist.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.answers.com\/topic\/oscar<\/a><\/p>\n * There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.<\/p>\n TRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Casinos are designed to keep you in there spending your money. If you doubt this read my own account of simply trying to cross the street the last time I was there. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find an exit!<\/p>\n * The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan, there was never a recorded Wendy before!<\/p>\n FALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c There were boys named Wendy recorded in the 1881 England census. * There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, and silver!<\/p>\n FALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c although it would be true if you added the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perfectly\u00e2\u20ac\u009d before \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rhyme.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Technically there are no perfectly rhyming words for them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but there are several \u00e2\u20ac\u0153slant rhymes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for them like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153forage\/orange\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153purple\/hurtful\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and so on.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.flocabulary.com\/rhymeswithorange.html<\/a><\/p>\n * Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors.<\/p>\n FALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Scissors have been found as far back as 1500 BC. Modern cross-blade scissors were first used by the Romans around AD 100. How old is Da Vinci again? * A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death.<\/p>\n FALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as dumb as this sounds to begin with \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this guy apparently tried it: http:\/\/www.giosphere.com\/index.php?start_from=12&ucat=&archive=&subaction=&id=&<\/a><\/p>\n * The mask used by Michael Myers in the original “Halloween” was a Captain Kirk mask painted white.<\/p>\n TRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c apparently this is true \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and if you look at it\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6yeah, it kinda looks like the Cap\u00e2\u20ac\u2122n.<\/p>\n * If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.<\/p>\n TRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find anybody contradicting this \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and it seems like the easiest one here to disprove \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m inclined to go with it.<\/p>\n * Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It’s the same with apples!<\/p>\n TRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not only that \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but you can find a whole list here: http:\/\/weightlossinternational.com\/newsletter\/free-list-of-negative-calorie-foods.html<\/a> * Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying! * The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.<\/p>\n TRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find any proof that this is not true. I suppose it makes sense as vegetable and animal matter routinely make it into our own stamp glue here in the states.<\/p>\n * Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.<\/p>\n FALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Supposedly Guinness lists this fact \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but official studies say otherwise. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages them.<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Paper<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.archives.gov\/preservation\/formats\/paper-vellum.html<\/a><\/p>\n
\nTRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Although \u00e2\u20ac\u201c technically everything on you is unique. We all have a unique nose\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a unique iris\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a unique pattern of nose hair\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we are all unique because none of us are clones (yet)\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Webster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is not a copyrighted term \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so the words could have been in any one of hundreds of dictionaries released that year.<\/p>\n
\nIndeterminable\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 The only information I could find on this is simply the reproduction of this same \u00e2\u20ac\u0153amazing facts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bullshit sheet. 12 newborns daily? Lets do some rudimentary math. Official government cencus figures say that there are about 11,000 babies born every day in the United States. Cencus figures also state that there are 7,569 hospitals in America employing 5.1 million people. That is roughly 674 employees in every hospital. If you do the math again \u00e2\u20ac\u201c you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see that the average is 1.5 babies born in every hospital in America every day. So, to review \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we have 674 employees to take care of one baby \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and they give it to the wrong mother. Um\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but if only one baby was born \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 there is no \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wrong\u00e2\u20ac\u009d mother to give it to. Like every other \u00e2\u20ac\u0153oooh wow\u00e2\u20ac\u009d factoid \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this one just falls apart under the microscope.<\/p>\n
\nTRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c although I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find an image of this \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it is fairly well documented. But is this really an amazing thing? In the days before digital effects many things crept in (boom mic in the arcade scene of Tron, anyone?). There are whole websites solely devoted to finding these movie mistakes. Hardly an amazing or surprising fact.<\/p>\n
\nTRUE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c yes, this is true. And I have the same birthday as Warren Beatty, by the way.<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.wendy.com\/wendyweb\/history.html<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scissors<\/a><\/p>\n
\nBut remember \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the food actually HAVE calories \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they are just used up in the eating of them.<\/p>\n
\nFALSE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c another easy one for people to try \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and they have \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and failed. Perhaps this is just a cruel joke to get people to cry.
\nhttp:\/\/community.discovery.com\/groupee\/forums\/a\/tpc\/f\/9701967776\/m\/2851976528\/r\/7721996528<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.libraryjournal.com\/article\/CA157963.html<\/a><\/p>\n