Generations of children have been heartened by the thought that this Nobel Prize winner did badly at school, but they’re sadly mistaken. In fact, he did very well at school, especially in science and maths (unsurprisingly).
2) Mice like cheese
Mice enjoy food rich in sugar as well as peanut butter and breakfast cereals. So a Snickers bar would go down much better than a lump of cheddar.
3) Napoleon was short.
He was actually around 5ft 7, completely average for the 18th/19th century.
4) Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
Edison invented a lot of things – in fact he’s one of the most famous inventors of all time – but the light bulb wasn’t one of them. What he did was develop a light bulb at the same time as the British man, Joseph Swan, who came up with it originally.
5) Lemmings throw themselves over cliffs to commit suicide
The poor old things are sometimes so desperate for food that they do, according to the BBC “jump over high ground into water”, but they aren’t committing group suicide.
6) Water flushes differently in different hemispheres
No it doesn’t. Sorry!
7) Humans evolved from apes
Darwin didn’t actually say this, but he’s been misreported ever since. What he did say was that we, and apes, and chimpanzees for that matter, had a common ancestor, once, a long, long time ago.
8) Vikings had horns/helmets with horns.
Vikings may have been buried with their helmets and with drinking horns. When they were dug up by the Victorians, they assumed that the helmets had horns.
9) Columbus believed the earth was flat
He may not have known how big the world was, but he wasn’t worrying about falling off the edge of it.
10) Different parts of the tongue detect different tastes
You do have different taste buds on your tongue and some are more sensitive than others. But they aren’t divided into perfect, easy-to-teach sections.
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11:48 AM
pokeyfiero Member
Posts: 16233 From: Free America! Registered: Dec 2003
Fellas, The word 'SEQUOIA' is the only word in the English language, having all 5 vowels!
The Pontiac Fiero is the only mid-engined, American manufactured, designed, manufactured and distributed two seat sport car (We all know this fact--right?)
Cordially, Kevin
[This message has been edited by kevin (edited 06-28-2010).]
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12:57 PM
LitebulbwithaFiero Member
Posts: 3381 From: LaSalle, Michigan Registered: Jun 2008
The Pontiac Fiero is the only mid-engined, American manufactured, designed, manufactured and distributed two seat sport car (We all know this fact--right?)
Fellas, The word 'SEQUOIA' is the only word in the English language, having all 5 vowels!
The Pontiac Fiero is the only mid-engined, American manufactured, designed, manufactured and distributed two seat sport car (We all know this fact--right?)
Cordially, Kevin
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
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01:05 PM
Flamberge Member
Posts: 4268 From: Terra Sancta, TX Registered: Oct 2001
6) Water flushes differently in different hemispheres
No it doesn’t. Sorry!
This misconception comes from a scientific phenomenon called the "Coriolis Effect", where large bodies of water (like Lake Superior) have a circular current that is due to the earth's rotation. The northern hemisphere affected bodies of water circulate opposite those in the southern hemisphere. But the effect doesn't happen on such a small scale as to manifest itself in toilet bowls and sinks.
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01:11 PM
PFF
System Bot
2.5 Member
Posts: 43235 From: Southern MN Registered: May 2007
After looking this up, it seems they form cartilidge kneecaps while in the womb, but they don't become bone kneecaps until approx 3 yrs of age. Sort of a trick fact I suppose.
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01:14 PM
TommyRocker Member
Posts: 2808 From: Woodstock, IL Registered: Dec 2009
Originally posted by LitebulbwithaFiero: Originally posted by kevin:
Fellas,
The Pontiac Fiero is the only mid-engined, American manufactured, designed, manufactured and distributed two seat sport car (We all know this fact--right?)
What about the Ford GT?
What about it? The suspension is by Lotus, the transmission is from England, the body is from England, brakes are Brembo from Italy, steering is from an Aston-Martin... About the only American thing in it is the engine.
Generations of children have been heartened by the thought that this Nobel Prize winner did badly at school, but they’re sadly mistaken. In fact, he did very well at school, especially in science and maths (unsurprisingly).
3) Napoleon was short.
He was actually around 5ft 7, completely average for the 18th/19th century.
4) Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
Edison invented a lot of things – in fact he’s one of the most famous inventors of all time – but the light bulb wasn’t one of them. What he did was develop a light bulb at the same time as the British man, Joseph Swan, who came up with it originally.
7) Humans evolved from apes
Darwin didn’t actually say this, but he’s been misreported ever since. What he did say was that we, and apes, and chimpanzees for that matter, had a common ancestor, once, a long, long time ago.
8) Vikings had horns/helmets with horns.
Vikings may have been buried with their helmets and with drinking horns. When they were dug up by the Victorians, they assumed that the helmets had horns.
9) Columbus believed the earth was flat
He may not have known how big the world was, but he wasn’t worrying about falling off the edge of it.
"History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon."
Lightbulbs Contrary to popular belief, Thomas Alva Edison did not "invent" the first lightbulb, but rather he improved upon a 50-year-old idea. For example: two inventors that patented an incandescent lightbulb before Thomas Edison did were Henry Woodward and Matthew Evan. According to the National Research Council of Canada: "Henry Woodward of Toronto, who along with Matthew Evans patented a light bulb in 1875. Unfortunately, the two entrepreneurs could not raise the financing to commercialize their invention. The enterprising American Thomas Edison, who had been working on the same idea, bought the rights to their patent. Capital was not a problem for Edison: he had the backing of a syndicate of industrial interests with $50,000 to invest - a sizable sum at the time. Using lower current, a small carbonized filament, and an improved vacuum inside the globe, Edison successfully demonstrated the light bulb in 1879 and, as they say, the rest is history."
Here's a good one if you haven't seen it already pontiackid.
Don't cheat! Because if you did, the test would be no fun. I promise, there are no tricks to the test. Read the sentence below and count the F's in that sentence. Count them ONLY ONCE. Do not go back and count them again. .
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE- SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF- IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.
[This message has been edited by newf (edited 06-28-2010).]
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09:40 PM
PFF
System Bot
Jun 29th, 2010
spark1 Member
Posts: 11159 From: Benton County, OR Registered: Dec 2002
Vikings may have been buried with their helmets and with drinking horns. When they were dug up by the Victorians, they assumed that the helmets had horns.
Oh SNAP!
didn't know that one!
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12:19 AM
2.5 Member
Posts: 43235 From: Southern MN Registered: May 2007
This misconception comes from a scientific phenomenon called the "Coriolis Effect" ... But the effect doesn't happen on such a small scale as to manifest itself in toilet bowls and sinks.
The Corliolis effect actually occurs at all scales, but other external forces usually dominate at the scale of bathtubs and sinks.
Probably the most common example of the Coriolis effect is weather systems. In the Northern Hemisphere high pressure systems rotate clockwise and low pressure systems rotate counter-clockwise. The effect extends down to the scale of hurricanes and tornadoes. Tornadoes are miniature low pressure vortices that usually (but not always) rotate counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The systems rotate in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere. I spent several weeks in South Africa on business many years ago, and it was strange (to me, but not to the locals) to observe the storm systems rotating backwards (i.e. clockwise).
I had an old classmate from engineering school whose first job out of college was working on the Apollo program. He was assigned to the engineering team developing the Saturn IV-B booster, and one the first problems he was assigned was to research a major problem they were having with "bathtub vortices" in the main fuel and oxidizer tanks due to the HUGE fuel flow rates required. They did determine that the Coriolis effect was a minor factor, but other effects ... most notably swirl introduced while fueling ... were by far much more dominant. He reported that in the original tank configurations residual swirl was still present two or three days after fueling had been completed.
Coriolis was a military engineer, and he originally discovered the effect while studying the deflection of artillery projectiles that occurred when fired perpendicular to the earth's rotation (due south or north) but not when fired due east or west.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 06-30-2010).]
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03:28 PM
2.5 Member
Posts: 43235 From: Southern MN Registered: May 2007
The Corliolis effect actually occurs at all scales, but other external forces usually dominate at the scale of bathtubs and sinks.
Probably the most common example of the Coriolis effect is weather systems. In the Northern Hemisphere high pressure systems rotate clockwise and low pressure systems rotate counter-clockwise. The effect extends down to the scale of hurricanes and tornadoes. Tornadoes are miniature low pressure vortices that usually (but not always) rotate counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The systems rotate in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere. I spent several weeks in South Africa on business many years ago, and it was strange (to me, but not to the locals) to observe the storm systems in satellite images rotating clockwise.
I had an old classmate from engineering school whose first job out of college was working on the Apollo program. He was assigned to the engineering team developing the Saturn IV-B booster, and one the first problems he was assigned was to research a major problem they were having with "bathtub vortices" in the main fuel and oxidizer tanks due to the HUGE fuel flow rates. They did determine that the Coriolis effect was a minor factor, but other effects ... most notably residual swirl introduced while fueling ... were by far much more dominant. He reported that in the original tank configurations residual swirl was still present two or three days after fueling had been completed.
Coriolis was a military engineer, and he originally discovered the effect while studying the deflection of artillery projectiles that occurred when fired perpendicular to the earth's rotation (due south or north) but not when fired due east or west.
(We all know this fact--right?) 
