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C.G.P. Grey busts some myths you may have heard about animals. He goes pretty fast, so in case you want to check the facts more slowly, the script is available at his site. Link -via The Daily What
C.G.P. Grey gives us ten more reasons we take anything we see on the internet with a grain of salt. You can always look for more information. -via reddit
From George Washington and his cherry tree to Sir Walter Raleigh’s chivalry towards Queen Elizabeth, we have all heard our share of historical myths that do more to illustrate the person in question’s personality than to shine a light on their actual life story. Here are a few historical myths created by inventive writers that still made their way in to history books and elementary schools everywhere.
We’ve all heard the story about how Christopher Columbus was the first person to realize the Earth was round. But despite the fact that many of us were told this story in elementary school, this is about as far from historical truth as you can get.
The Columbus story was actually started by Washington Irving, who, despite calling himself a historian, was much more of a historical fiction writer. As a matter of fact, you may recall his name from his most famous work, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
While Irving’s Columbus novel did feature a lot of historical fact and the author spent hours researching the navigator’s life, he also added a lot of his own fictional plot twists to make the story more interesting. Even so, certain fictional aspects from his story did work their way into the public consciousness and eventually, into the history books.
In actuality, the idea of a round Earth dates all the way back to Grecian times in 600 B.C. By the time Columbus was born, it had been proven mathematically and someone who argued the world was flat would be considered just as crazy then as someone who believed the same thing today.
As a matter of fact, Columbus was the one who was completely wrong in his calculations, not the general public. That’s because navigators of the time completely (and correctly) disagreed with how big Columbus thought the world was and thus, how long it would take to get to India.
Columbus was so stubborn that even after he located a new continent, he refused to admit that his calculations were wrong and that he was anywhere except India -hence his insistence on calling the natives “Indios,” Spanish for “Indians.” In fact, because Columbus refused to admit he didn’t sail to the Indies, it wasn’t until a year after he died that America was identified as a new continent by Amerigo Vespucci (the continent was eventually named in his honor).
This is the old story that says that even as a youngster, George Washington was so honest that he could not tell a lie to his father no matter how angry good ol’ dad was that someone would cut down his favorite cherry tree.
For some reason, this seems to be a story that teachers like to tell young children as though it was fact, only to tell children that it isn’t true once they grow older. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like teaching kids history might be a little easier if we don’t treat the first president of the USA like Santa Claus.
more …
Afraid of spiders? Maybe it’s because of all those stories you’ve heard about their creepy ways. Some of those stories hold no water, according to science writer Kim Hosey. She’s got a good list of busted spider myths.
The daddy long-legs does not “have the most potent venom to humans, but its mouth is too small to bite humans.” They’re not venomous. Still, how would we test this, exactly? Extract the venom and kill a bunch of people on purpose?
No spider ever laid eggs in someone’s skin, mouth, or beehive hairdo. Spiders are not waiting in airplane toilet seats to bite your butt.
Millipedes do not have a thousand legs. If it’s roundish and has two pairs of legs per segment, it’s a millipede.
For the love of god, it’s venomous. Poisonous is when it’s ingested or inhaled. Venom is injected into your bloodstream or deeper tissues. Most venom isn’t even poisonous. And I am picturing you eating spiders when you say they’re poisonous.
Read more at Arizona Writer. Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science
Have you ever been told that you need to let your anger out or it will explode? As it turns out, that’s completely wrong. Cracked has a great list of psychology myths everyone believes that are utterly and completely wrong. Be warned, some of the language is NSFW.
When we Americans are young children, we are taught the basics of our nation’s founding. But often those stories get shortened into easy-to-recall sound bites that don’t tell the whole story. Most of the historical “facts” you remember are oversimplifications of a more nuanced story. For example, I bet you thought the Declaration of Independence was adopted in the fourth day of July in 1776.
Independence Day is celebrated two days too late. The Second Continental Congress voted for a Declaration of Independence on July 2, prompting John Adams to write his wife, “I am apt to believe that [July 2, 1776], will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.”
Adams correctly foresaw shows, games, sports, buns, bells, and bonfires—but he got the date wrong. The written document wasn’t edited and approved until the Fourth of July, and that was the date printers affixed to “broadside” announcements sent out across the land. July 2 was soon forgotten.
Learn other historic tales that were different from what you recall in this article at National Geographic News. Link
The following is an article from Uncle John’s Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader.
You’ve heard of Bigfoot, Nessie, and the Abominable Snowman. Here are a few of their more obscure (but just as fascinating) cousins.
Monster: Sciopod
Where it lived: Ethiopia
Legend: Latin for “shade foot”, these relatively peaceful creatures were first recorded in around A.D. 77 by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder. They were said to live in the wilds of what is now Ethiopia and were described as small, pale, humanlike creatures-but with only one leg and a giant foot. They hopped around on that giant foot, but they also used it as sun shade: Sciopods supposedly spent several hours a day lying on their backs with their giant feet in the air to block the harsh North African sun. Sciopods were extremely powerful, too. They could kill a large game animal (or a human) with a single jumping kick. But never fear-the strange creatures didn’t eat meat. Or plants. Or anything. They existed solely on the aroma of living fruit, with they always carried with them. Sciopods are mentioned in numerous writings over several centuries, ending sometime in the Middle Ages.
(Image credit: Flickr user Miss Cellania)
Monster: Gowrow
Where it lived: Arkansas
Legend: This monster was first heard of in the 1880s, when Arkansas farmers reported being terrorized by a huge lizard. In 1897 Fred Allsopp, a reporter for the Arkansas Gazette, wrote about an encounter with the beast. The monster, which Allsopp named a “gowrow” after the sound it made, had been eating livestock in the Ozark Mountains in the northwest of the state. A local business man named William Miller formed a posse to hunt and kill it. They found its lair, which was littered with animal (and human) bones, and waited for it. It surprised them by emerging from a nearby lake and attacking them-but they were able to kill it with several gunshots. Miller described the gowrow as being 20 feet long, with huge tusks, webbed and clawed feet, a row of horns along its spine, and a knifelike end to a long tail. He said he sent the body to the Smithsonian Institute-but it mysteriously never made it. Allsopp finished the article by saying he believed it was a “great fake”, but sightings of a similar lizardlike creature were reported in the Ozarks for many years.
(Image credit: Flickr user Luciana Christante)
Monster: Encantado
Where it lives: The Amazon River
Legend: Encantado means “enchanted one” in Portuguese and refers to a special kind of boto, or long-beaked river dolphin native to the Amazon-that can take human form. Encantados are curious about humans and are especially attracted to big, noisy festivals, which they often attend as musicians, staying in human form for years. How can you recognize one? Look under its hat: They always have bald spots that are actually disguised blowholes. Encantados are usually friendly, but they occasionally hypnotize and kidnap young women and take them back to the Encante, their underground city. Sometimes the women escape and return…pregnant with an Encantado baby.
Monster: Kappa
Where it lives: Japan
Legend: Kappas are said to inhabit lakes and rivers throughout the Japanese islands. They look like frogs, but with tortoiselike shells on their backs. They can leave the water-carrying their shells with them-because they have shallow depressions in their heads in which they keep a bit of water that not only allows them to walk around on land but also makes them incredibly strong. If you encounter one, bow to it. They’re very polite, so they’ll have to bow back to you…and the water will spill out of their head-bowls, weakening them. Their favorite food: the blood of small children. Their second-favorite: cucumbers. That’s why you can still see people in Japan throwing fresh cucumbers into lakes and rivers-with the names of their children carved into them. This, the legend says, will protect their little ones from the kappa’s clutches.
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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader.
Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.
If you like Neatorama, you’ll love the Bathroom Reader Institute’s books – go ahead and check ‘em out!
So, we all knew about Mentos and Coke (thanks, Jamie and Adam), but I didn’t know that Alka-Seltzer could, in fact, kill a bird or that apple seeds have cyanide! See for yourself!
As we get older, it’s easier to logically dismiss some of the outlandish claims we heard as kids—never really needing to investigate if there’s any truth behind them. But some of these assertions—like whether eating too many carrots will turn you orange or if rice really does harm birds when ingested—tend to keep us guessing far into adulthood. To satisfy our curiosity (and yours) we’ve done research that debunks or confirms common food-related fables.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by ahammel.
The following is reprinted
from The
Best of The Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
First Thanksgiving 1621 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, via Library
of Congress
It's one of American history's most familiar scenes: A small group of
Pilgrims prepare a huge November feast to give thanks for a bountiful
harvest and show their appreciation to the Indians who helped them survive
their first winter. Together, the Pilgrims and the Indians solemnly sit
down to a meal of turkey, pumpkin pie, and cranberries.
Just how accurate is this image of America's first Thanksgiving? Not
very, it turns out. Here are some common misconceptions about the origin
of one of our favorite holidays.
MYTH: The settlers at the first Thanksgiving were called Pilgrims.
THE TRUTH: They didn't even refer to themselves as Pilgrims
- they called themselves "Saints." Early Americans applied the
term "pilgrim" to all of the early colonists; it wasn't
until the 20th century that it was used exclusively to describe the folks
who landed on Plymouth Rock.
MYTH: It was a solemn, religious occasion.
THE TRUTH: Hardly. It was a three-day harvest festival that included
drinking, gambling, athletic games, and even target shooting with English
muskets (which, by the way, was intended as a friendly warning to the
Indians that the Pilgrims were prepared to defend themselves.)
MYTH: It took place in November.
THE TRUTH: It was some time between late September and the middle
of October - after the harvest had been brought in. By November, said
historian Richard Erhlich, "the villagers were working to prepare
for winter, salting and drying meat and making their houses as wind resistant
as possible."
MYTH: The Pilgrims wore large hats with buckles on them.
THE TRUTH: None of the participants were dressed anything like
the way they've been portrayed in art: the Pilgrims didn't dress in black,
didn't wear buckles on their hats or shoes, and didn't wear tall hats.
The 19th-century artists who painted them that way did so because they
associated black clothing and buckles with being old-fashioned.
MYTH: They ate turkey ...
THE TRUTH: The Pilgrims ate deer, not turkey. As Pilgrim
Edward Winslow later wrote, "For three days we entertained and feasted,
and [the Indian] went out and killd five deer, which they brought to the
plantation." Winslow does mention that four Pilgrims went "fowling"
or bird hunting, but neither he nor anyone else recorded which kinds
of birds they actually hunted - so even if they did eat turkey, it was
just a side dish.
"The flashy part of the meal for the colonists was the venison,
because it was new to them," says Carolyn Travers, director of research
at Plimoth Plantation, a Pilgrim museum in Massachusetts. "Back in
England, deer were on estates and people would be arrested for poaching
if they killed these deer ... The colonists mentioned venison over and
over again in their letters back home."
Other foods that may have been on the menu: cod, bass, clams, oysters,
Indian corn, native berries and plums, all washed down with water, beer
made from corn, and another drink the Pilgrim affectionately called "strong
water."
A few things definitely weren't on the menu, including pumpkin
pie - in those days, the Pilgrims boiled their pumpkin and ate it plain.
And since the Pilgrims didn't yet have flour mills or cattle, there was
no bread other than corn bread, and no beef, milk, or cheese. And the
Pilgrims didn't eat any New England lobsters, either. Reason: They mistook
them for large insects.
MYTH: The Pilgrims held a similar feast every year.
THE TRUTH: There's no evidence that the Pilgrims celebrated
again in 1622. They probably weren't in the mood - the harvest had been
disappointing, and they were burdened with a new boatload of Pilgrims
who had to be fed and housed through the winter. |
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The article above is reprinted with permission from The
Best of the Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
The Bathroom Reader Institute handpicked the most eye-opening, rib-tickling,
and mind-boggling articles from everything they have written
over the last ten years and carefully crammed them into 576 pages of the
book.
Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute has published a series of popular
books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure
yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom
Reader Institute.
 |
