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May 28, 2009

More Strange Facts

From the email archives:



I hate these mails because they make me go look up the ones I'm sure are not correct.


Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

(NOTE: If this is true, then eating an apple before bedtime would keep you up all night, wouldn't it?)

Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a bellybutton.

(NOTE: A lot of folks lose their bellybutton because of surgery. If ol' Hitch NEVER had a bellybutton, then he'd be something not-human, which seems like it might be the case anyway. What I'd like to know is did Adam have a bellybutton?)

A pack-a-day smoker will lose approximately 2 teeth every 10 yrs.

(NOTE: This is probably true but I expect ex-smokers lose more in the time after quitting because they're such insufferable asshats and get them knocked out by bitching at smokers)

People do not get sick from cold weather; it's from being indoors a lot more.

(NOTE: Maybe from being indoors with sick people)

When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop ...even your heart. This is why people have always said "God bless you" after a sneeze.

(NOTE: That's not true; I know it's false because I sneeze several times nearly every morning and my brain doesn't shut down plus I can use my hand to cover my mouth and nose. I am also aware enough to add an obscenity to the end of each sneeze)

Only 7% of the population are lefties.

(NOTE: This didn't ring true, either. A quick search shows figures from 8 to 15%, possibly more. I've been told a "fact" that the antichrist will be left-handed and an only child)

40 people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute.

(NOTE: This one seems to be true; an estimated 1000 people per day are treated for dog bites. A better statistic would be how many dogs are treated each year for human bites)

Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until they are 2-6 years old.

(NOTE: Babies DO have kneecaps, they're just not "ossified" until they're older. If babies didn't have kneecaps, they'd walk backwards and forwards at the same time. Oh wait, they do, don't they?)

The average person over fifty will have spent 5 years waiting in lines.

(NOTE: That's certainly not true. I'm over 50 and I bet I haven't spent a week out of my life waiting in line. Then again, I don't have to go to big city post offices or wait for my driver's license. I also don't go to the theater and if a restaurant is too crowded, I'll go to another. )

The toothbrush was invented in 1498.

(NOTE: Depends upon what's defined as a toothbrush. The ancient Chinese used the bristles of a hog to clean their teeth and Native Americans chewed the end of a twig, then used that. If people smoked before 1498, why did they need a toothbrush for anyway?)

The average housefly lives for one month.

(NOTE: Yeah, but the nasty things will have a hundred thousand offspring before they die)

40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year. Don't ask how.

(NOTE: I won't ask, but I can imagine. I expect the number is larger due to the fact that many people are too embarrassed to report their injury.)

A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.

(NOTE: This can't be true, as I've seen coat hangers of all different sizes. I bet Joan Crawford would've known for sure, though)

The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.

(NOTE: I won't argue this but instead will gripe about it because I expect it was some govt. study that cost us a few million or more in the blink of an eye)

Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than the rest of the day.

(NOTE: Well sure, that's just common sense, just as is the fact that we shrink a bit during the day as our spines compress from gravity. This fact was also probably the result of some costly govt. study)

The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.

(NOTE: This didn't ring true to me and a quick search says chameleons and sea horses also fit the description. I think there are other lizards that might be on the list, too. I had a h.s. teacher that had eyes in the back of her head.)

Among the music catalog's that Michael Jackson owns the rights to, is the South Carolina State anthem.

(NOTE: Paul McCartney owns the rights to "On Wisconsin" and the university has to pay a licensing fee when they play it. He refuses to give them a waiver, the greedy old sod.)

In most television commercials advertising milk, a mixture of white paint and a little thinner is used in place of the milk.

(NOTE: Not for sure if this is true but if it is, it doesn't surprise me. Adverts are all smoke and mirrors anyway)

Prince Charles and Prince William NEVER travel on the same airplane just in case there is a crash.

(NOTE: Why? Prince Chuck will never be king anyway, and there's always Harry, the spare heir.)

The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor.

(NOTE: and they still use baby rattles to make the frame)

Most hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who give birth. They are reused in vein transplant surgery.

(NOTE: Not sure about this one, either. I did a quick search and my conclusion is that this would be against quite a few laws w/out consent of the woman who gave birth. They couldn't have sold Alfred Hitchcock's if he didn't have a bellybutton, could they?)

Humphrey Bogart and Princess Diana were seventh cousins.

(NOTE: Have read this is true, but I bet I'm the seventh cousin of any number of famous people. That's a pretty far stretch, kinfolk-wise.

If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green.

(NOTE: They should leave that way; after all, all sorts of things are green and we all know things go better with Coke)

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