Facts that someone screwed up

[Immortalfire]

Hair and fingernails do not grow after death. The flesh shrinks, giving that impression.

Elephants do not fear mice, nor much of anything else for that matter.

James Cagney never said "You dirty rat." in any of his films.

As birds go, the owl is rather stupid and certainly not wise. Crows are said to be the smartest of birds.

Frankenstein was the doctor, not the monster in Mary Shelley's original book.

Teeth are not bone. They're just teeth.

Nero never played the fiddle, as it didn't come along til over a thousand years later.

Despite what Smokey Bear says, most forest fires are not started by people. Lightning is the culprit.

The Great Wall of China cannot be seen from the moon.

Dinosaurs were not the largest of mobile animals. The blue whale was and still is the biggest.

Fish do not drink, so the people who say they drink like one should be dead.

Edmond Halley did not discover the comet named for him. It had been seen before, Halley however did predict it's return in 1758.

Lassie was never female. Male dogs played the part.

Sex, or lack thereof does not cause acne.

There are no antelopes playing on any range in North America.

Humphrey Bogart did not say "Play it again, Sam." in Casablanca. Nor in any other film.

Whispering is more wearing on your voice than shouting.

Lightning can and does strike twice in the same place.

The ostrich does not stick it's head in the sand.

Tomahawks were not thrown, despite what Hollywood says. Are you going to throw away your only weapon?

Millipedes never have a thousand legs.

More in bit..

 

[DOG LIPS]

LIES!!!! All lies!!!!!!!!!

 

[Immortalfire]

You do not hear the ocean in seashells. What you're hearing is echoes of all sounds around you.

William Tell did not shoot an apple of his son's head. In fact, there's no evidence Tell even existed.

Possums cannot hang by their tails.

The largest city in the lower United States is neither New York or Los Angeles. That distinction goes to Jacksonville, Florida. LA is more populated, however.

Little Orphan Annie was originally titled Little Orphan Otto. The comic publisher in fact, suggested making the character female.

Walt Disney did not draw Mickey Mouse. His partner, Ubbe Ert Iwerks did such.

Galileo did not drop anything off the Tower of Pisa. A biographer made that up.

Air fresheners do no such thing. Actually, they numb your nose.

There is no psychological harm in waking a sleepwalker.

Cutting hair does not make it grow faster or thicker.

Bats are not blind (you probably knew that one).

Lions are not kings of the jungle, as they don't inhabit the jungle. They stay on the plains where they can run down prey.

Adam and Eve did not have belly buttons..think about it.

Most shark attacks happen in shallow water, not deep.

Horses to not sleep standing up. They might doze while standing, but for a full-on snooze, they'll lie down.

Birds do not sing because they're happy, what they're doing is marking their territory.

You cannot sneeze with your eyes open.

Flamingos are not usually pink. They're pink when there is a small mollusk in their diet, but take the mollusk away; and flamingos are white.

No witches were burned at the stake in Salem, Massachusetts. There were hangings, and a crushing. The burnings were in Europe.

Most people that say they're tone deaf aren't. A tone deaf person speaks in a flat monotone. Those that claim they are tone deaf means they simply haven't developed any major skills in matching pitches.

Swimming after eating does not cause cramps.

Adolf Hitler was not German, he was in fact Austrian by birth.

Cinderella was not supposed to wear glass slippers. Translator Charles Perrault misread pantouffles en vair (squirrell fur slippers), for pantouffles en verre. (glass slippers).

Bones are not dry, white things. They are rather tan in color, quite full of blood and marrow.

The National Football League is not the most popular form of that sport. College football outdraws pro by more than 2 to 1.

 

[Immortalfire]

If you dug a hole in your backyard through the earth, you would not come up in China. The Indian Ocean is more likely.

Exercise does not increase the appetite.

The White House wasn't always white. It was in fact gray until after the war of 1812 when it was rebuilt and painted.

One cannot introduce a "new" witness in court and get a Perry Mason ending. Simply isn't allowed. Most states have both sides access to the same information and witnesses. Surprise evidence and witnesses cause a mistrial. Sorry, Hollywood.

Bulls do not see red. Like most animals, they're colorblind. It's the movement of the cloth that urges them on.

The tomato is not a vegetable, but a fruit. A large berry in fact. The Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that tomatoes were taxable as vegetables because they're treated as such. Same went for beans, which are actually seeds.

Lucille Ball was not a natural redhead, she was brunette in her early appearances.

Hay fever is not a fever and has nothing to do with hay. Pollen is the source of the problem.

Unicorns were not mythological so to speak. They were drawings based on verbal descriptions of the rhinoceros. In addition, unicorns tended to look more like goats than horses.

No one is double jointed. Some people are a little more flexible than others.

Hercules was the one condemned to hold the world upon his shoulders. The story goes that he duped Atlas into the job.

The notion that Noah took two of every animal onto the ark is not entirely true. Un-clean beasts, those that non-Jews like Noah could eat, were taken by twos. Clean beasts, edible by Hebrews were taken by sevens.

California is in no danger of falling into the Pacific. The continental plate it's sitting on is actually travelling north. Hell-Oh, Canada.

Most places advertising an "Olympic size" swimming pools are not. To be such they would have to be more than half the length of a football field.

Christopher Columbus was not known by that name in his day. He was Cristobal Colon. Should add that we may not really know what he looked like; the first painting of him was done after he died, from memory.

 

[Elijya]

If you dug a hole in your backyard through the earth, you would not come up in China. The Indian Ocean is more likely.

Actually, I think being burned alive by magma is more likely than that

 

[Immortalfire]

Eskimos do not live in igloos. Generally, an igloo is an emergency shelter.

The Bible does not say, "God helps those that help themselves."

Asia and Europe are not two seperate continents. Ancients thought so because of the Bosporus straits, which connect the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. Mapmakers popularized this error.

Snakes are not slimy, they are quite dry.

Clouds do not burst.

Moths do not eat cloth, their larvae do.

Chickens do not fully sit on their eggs. They actually squat, keeping their weight on their legs.

Fortune cookies were invented in the United States, not China.

Tall buildings do not sway in the breeze.

Blood is thicker than water, but not by much.

The Sabbath day in the Ten Commandments is actually Saturday. Early Christians adopted Sunday, the first day of the week as their day of worship.

Caffeine is not a stimulant. It blocks body regulators, and your own body revs itself up.

Footballs are not, and never were made of pigskin.

Animal parents do not reject their offspring if humans handle them.

Vincent Van Gogh did not cut off his ear, but merely a small part of the lobe. Blame Hollywood if you believe otherwise.

The Statue of Liberty is in the territorial waters of New Jersey, not New York. Also, that's not the monument's real name. It's Liberty Enlightening the World.

Dogs do not naturally bark, they learn it from other dogs.

 

[Immortalfire]

Actually, I think being burned alive by magma is more likely than that

Well, other than that

 

[Abaddon]

The Great Wall of China cannot be seen from the moon.

I thought the claim was that it could be seen from space(which is true),and not specifically the moon.

The largest city in the lower United States is neither New York or Los Angeles. That distinction goes to Jacksonville, Florida. LA is more populated, however.

Since when is New York in the lower United States?

 

[Mic]

Blood is thicker than water, but not by much.

I swear iv seen on the discovery channel stating that they do. Up to a metre each way.

 

[Immortalfire]

Since when is New York in the lower United States?

Ever heard the term, "the lower 48"? Given that Alaska is way up there, and Hawaii is way out there? That's how I understood it.

 

[Abaddon]

The White House wasn't always white. It was in fact gray until after the war of 1812 when it was rebuilt and painted.

I thought it was yellow at first.

Hercules was the one condemned to hold the world upon his shoulders. The story goes that he duped Atlas into the job.

The version I heard was that Hercules needed to bring the apples from the Tree of Herspedies(sp) or something as part of his Twelve Labors. The tree was located the same place where Atlas held the world.Hercules asked Atlas to get them for him while he held the earth for him. Atlas agreed and picked the apples.Hercules then asked him to hold the earth for a sec while he either grabbed them or put them in a basket(I dont remember) and Atlas stupidly agreed,so Hercules just walked away.

 

[Abaddon]

Ever heard the term, "the lower 48"? Given that Alaska is way up there, and Hawaii is way out there? That's how I understood it.

Never heard that term until just now. And isn't Alaska the only state above us?Shouldn't it be "the lower 49"?

 

[Immortalfire]

The original dumb-jock story?

 

[Abaddon]

The original dumb-jock story?

I wouldn't call Atlas a jock.

 

[chesslover]

A chess game is divided into 3 stages. In the 1st you hope you have the advantage. In the 2nd you believe you have the advantage. In the 3rd you know you're going to lose.

 

[Elijya]

I thought the claim was that it could be seen from space(which is true),and not specifically the moon.

The claim is usually that you can see it from space, but that's not true either. Try finding it on google earth. You can't. The wall is what?, 40, 50 feet across? even if it does stretch on for mile and miles, you can't see something that thin from that high up. If you could, you'd be able to see the pyramids and football fields, which are both much wider than the wall, which you can't.

even knowing where the pyramids are to begin with, you stop seeing them about 25 miles up

 

[HULK LOVER]

Hahha, since they were not born and thus no cutting of the umbilical chord...

Very clever.

Nice thread, btw.

How do you know ? Were you there?

 

[8Ball2/JanG5]

I swear iv seen on the discovery channel stating that they do. Up to a metre each way.

You meant to reply to the fact that buildings sway, not that blood is thicker than water.

To that I agree with you. I was in the CN tower on a windy day, the whole thing was definitely moving.

Plus, the Petronis Twin towers have some sort of flexible thing build into the bridge so the swaying of the buildings doesn't crush it.

 

[Cyclops]

The version I heard was that Hercules needed to bring the apples from the Tree of Herspedies(sp) or something as part of his Twelve Labors. The tree was located the same place where Atlas held the world.Hercules asked Atlas to get them for him while he held the earth for him. Atlas agreed and picked the apples.Hercules then asked him to hold the earth for a sec while he either grabbed them or put them in a basket(I dont remember) and Atlas stupidly agreed,so Hercules just walked away.

Nope. Atlas was already holding the Earth when Perseus came to retrieve the apples. Atlas's daughters flirted with Perseus, so daddy got mad and was about to kill Perseus when he whipped out Medusa's head and thus created the Atlas mountains.

 

[Abaddon]

Nope. Atlas was already holding the Earth when Perseus came to retrieve the apples. Atlas's daughters flirted with Perseus, so daddy got mad and was about to kill Perseus when he whipped out Medusa's head and thus created the Atlas mountains.

But I was talking about Hercules...

 

[Abaddon]

The claim is usually that you can see it from space, but that's not true either. Try finding it on google earth. You can't. The wall is what?, 40, 50 feet across? even if it does stretch on for mile and miles, you can't see something that thin from that high up. If you could, you'd be able to see the pyramids and football fields, which are both much wider than the wall, which you can't.

even knowing where the pyramids are to begin with, you stop seeing them about 25 miles up

I couldve sworn I heard it validated by a scientist.

 

[Cyclops]

But I was talking about Hercules...

Right. And Hercules never went to retrieve the apples from Atlas. That was Perseus.

 

[Abaddon]

Right. And Hercules never went to retrieve the apples from Atlas. That was Perseus.

Give me a sec to verify this.

 

[Abaddon]

Hercules, a son of Zeus and the mortal queen Alkmene, was the only Greek hero who ever succeeded in obtaining some of these golden apples. Hercules had been assigned the Labor of obtaining one of the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides. And in this version of the story, Hercules convinced the cunning god, Atlas (the father and next door neighbor of the Hesperides), to go and get the golden apples for him. Atlas had been at this holding up the sky "thing" for a long time, and so Hercules knew that he (Atlas) would more than welcome a brief respite from his eternal punishment. We're not told what trickery Atlas then used to obtain the apples from his daughters (the Hesperides) and/or from the dragon, Ladon...

The Double Cross
But - by the time Atlas returned with the golden apples - he'd already decided Hercules should be the one to continue holding up the sky for the rest of eternity. Atlas was ready to go out and "get a life."

Getting caught in a wee bit of a fix, Hercules somehow convinced Atlas that he (Hercules) was more than willing to continue holding up the sky - but that his shoulders were becoming very sore from holding up such a heavy load. So Hercules then asked Atlas for one small, tiny favor...

The Favor
Hercules cleverly explained to Atlas that he (Hercules) needed to prepare a pillow so that he'd be more comfortable in shouldering the very heavy task of holding up the sky. So Atlas took back the sky, in order for Hercules to prepare a cushion for his shoulders. But when the sky was securely back on the shoulders of Atlas - Hercules said his quick goodbyes and took off with the golden apples.
http://www.thezodiac.com/atlas.htm

The eleventh task was to get the golden-apples of the Hesperides; Hercules told Atlas that if he would get the apples for him, he (Hercules) would hold the heavens for him; when Atlas returned from his task, Hercules tricked him into taking back the heavens.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hercules.html

After Hercules had brought back the oxen, he was sent to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides. Because Hercules did not know where these apples were, he sought help from Atlas, father of the Hesperides. Atlas agreed to help him if Hercules would support the world on his shoulders while Atlas got the apples. The old man did not wish to resume his burden, but Hercules tricked Atlas into taking the world back.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570023/Hercules_(mythology).html#p6

There are a few others if you'd like them.

 

[Cyclops]

Ahh. It seems I was mistaken. Now it is time to flame you and call you an idiot for proving me wrong.

Ehh... I don't really feel like it, so I guess I'll break with Hype! tradition.