Gladly. I was ready to belive them, until I saw number 61: Humans use only 10 percent of their brains. Bull. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html

Where's my cloth?

EDIT: This URL is better: http://www.theness.com/articles/brain-nejs0201.html

I really should be writing my art history paper.

14. Indiana University library is sinking by two centimetres per year because architects forgot to take into account the weight of the books it contains.

http://www.indiana.edu/~libweb/campus/libsink.html

There's a similar myth about the Univ. of Cincinnati library.

I'm aimin' for the whole wardrobe.

1. A duck's quack doesn't echo and no one knows why.

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_071.html
and
http://www.room103.com/archive/q_quackecho.htm

You go, Jazzo. When I had a paper to write, my stalling tecnique was to call everyone I knew, long distance. This is cheaper. When you are done, you will write.

55. If Barbie were life size her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand over seven feet tall and have a neck twice the length of a normal neck.

I don't understand this one. Why would she be over seven feet tall? If you're going to increase her size, surely you can stop at any height you want? Or do they mean that if you wanted her measurements to be 39-23-33, she would be over seven feet tall? Do we have any Barbie collectors out there with a life-size one?


Bingley

Elephants can't jump...

Oh, no!...Don't get Max started on the pedal peculiarities of elephants again!

36. Two-thirds of the world's aubergines are grown in the state of New Jersey.

I've lived in New Jersey for most of my life and I've never heard an eggplant called an aubergine. In fact I had to look it up. And I'm a gardener and worked as a produce clerk in a supermarket here.

25. The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is still attached to its body. The female gets around this by ripping his head off.

From hereon in, I'll thank God every day that I'm not a male praying mantis!!!! O the horror! the horror!

22. An ant falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

I always hated having to step over those damn drunken ants! What a nuisance!

22. An ant falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

I always hated having to step over those damn drunken ants! What a nuisance!

Gee, Sweetie--didn't you mean nuis-ants?

47. The opposite side of a dice always add up to seven.

Well, the opposite sides of a die usually add up to seven, but I've had at least one where the opposite sides added up to twelve, so the "always" in the factoid makes it false. Always beware of universal statements in True or False tests.

5. Pound for pound, hamburgers cost more than new cars.

Yeah, right, I thought. But online research proves that at an MSRP of $19,325 and 3355 lbs. curb weight a 2001 Ford Taurus SE costs $5.76/lb. At $1.89 each, McDonalds' Quarter Pounders go $7.56/lb (pre-cooking weight - meat only). I suspect that if I went up the car ladder (Rolls-Royce, Ferrari) and down the burger ladder (not many rungs below Mickey D's, though) I could get a burger for less than a car, per pound, but I was surprised at the results I got for America's most popular car and burger. Perhaps I can get the Emperor's plastic lobster bib for this one.

>47. The opposite side of a dice always add up to seven.

well, of course it depends on the purpose of your die/dice; but a standard-regulation-Las Vegas-style die has a 6 opposite the 1, a 4 opposite the 3, and a 5 opposite the 2 -- you don't often find two 6s on 1 die.

edit then of course there is the seventeen-sided die used in D&D style games.

19. Humans and dolphins are the only animals to have sex for pleasure.

I guess the chimpanzees are just monkeying around.
And what of the dominitrix female preying mantis?

And what of the dominitrix female preying mantis?

Well, now we know why the male mantis is always praying!

Men are six times more likely to be struck by lightening(sic) than women.

Well, perhaps the women lack the proper lightning rod.

And I can type a word of any length with my left hand.

>Men are six times more likely to be struck by lightening(sic) than women.

six times as many men play golf in the rain.

>>Men are six times more likely to be struck by lightening(sic) than women.
> six times as many men play golf in the rain.

But a golfer is safe from lighting if he or she carries a one-iron. Not even God can hit a one-iron. [credit to Lee Trevino]

82. Eating raw onions are good for unblocking a stuffed nose.
Inaccurate. At most, eating raw onions is good therefor.

91. Hot water is heavier than cold water.
Of course, what they mean to say is, "Hot water is heavier than an equal volume of cold water;" that is, more dense. But that claim is untrue: if I recall my physics Chemeng1992, are you there?: the density of water rises as its temperature rises for 32 def. F. to 37 deg. F. but then falls with further termpature increases.

This is within the experience of anyone who has tried to heat a bathtub of too-cool water by adding hot water from the tap. The hot water stays on the top (is less dense), unless stirred.

26. Some lions mate over 50 times a day.

Is that why they call it a "pride" of lions?
Can one believe a male ly-in' about his sex life?

19. Humans and dolphins are the only animals to have sex for pleasure.

Is that *legal in the States....?

I don't think so, Mav. I've heard that you have to pay for it. Actually, I have read that in some of the "Swim with the Dolphins" programs, you must watch out because some of the dolphins have been known to, shall we say, misbehave?

Here's Dr. Duke's response to the ostrich factoid:

Yes, the brain is the size of a golf ball in adults. The eye is about the
size of an adult human eye and is the largest eye of any land mammal.

Gary Duke
Prof. (Ret.)...

But is the human eyeball or slightly larger for the ostrich eye larger or small than a golfball? Hmmmmm, the search for facts continues...

Ahhhh, back to thermo.

Yes Keiva, you are almost exactly right. The density of water increases from 0-4 degrees C, or 32-39 degrees F then falls as the temperature rises.

At 0 degrees C water weighs 62.4199 #/ft3.
At 4 degrees C it is up to 62.4283 #/ft3.
At 100 degrees C water weighs only 59.8307 #/ft3.

re: cold water-- and this is why when water pipes break-- they leak! the pipes don't break because the water is frozen (in which case,you'd have an icy pug on the break) but because the water is cold, and at maximum density- and still all too liquid!

With all due respect troy (ye of veteren status to my measly newbie state), I believe that the contraction and constriction of the piping material has more to do with the breaking of water lines.

In addition, you may very well have ice in the lines prior to the break but it is the warming of the pipes (and consequently whatever is in them) that causes the break. That warming will likely be enough to have facilitated the change from ice to water at this point. The outside air (even underground) will likely be warmer too than the ice plug and thus the temperature change will quickly melt the ice and allow the pipes to 'leak'.

My ex-father in law was the one who told me that cold water (not ice) broke pipes-- but as you say-- it could be a combination of the pipes contracting in the cold as much as the cold water expanding.. since he had licences in both high pressure steam and refrigeration (engineering), i believed the story.

Gee, Sweetie--didn't you mean nuis-ants?

Jackie, go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

Jackie, go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
"Yes, Dear"...not!

27. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain (I know some people like this).

Well, I heard from Dr. Duke, the ostrich researcher, and he wrote:

The Ostrich eye is about the same size as the human eye and is the largest
eye relative to body size of any vertabrate. The brain is slightly bigger
than the eye.

Gary Duke
>> Prof. (Ret.)

So factoid #27 is fiction, according to Dr. Duke.

What's our count? It would be good to read how many dragons we've slain.