It has come to my attention that Wikipedia has a page that is a list of common misconceptions. This, my friends, is a treasure trove. At the moment, the page lists what must be a couple hundred common misconceptions, links to other lists of more specific misconceptions and has 340 annotations. Of course, a lot of the listed facts are the sort of thing you’ve been yelling from atop your soapbox for years. Some of the other ones, however, are truly mind-blowing.
Now, this is Wikipedia, so anyone can go in there and change anything and a list of common misconceptions seems like a pretty great place to troll. That being said, every item on the list cites at least one source, often 3 or 4, which I assume means that the statement is accurate. I don’t look at the sources or anything, I just assume blue, superscript numbers are markers of truth. Somebody add that to the list of misconceptions.
Check after the jump for a list of 10 of the best ones.
- Glass is NOT actually a slow moving liquid. Window panes are thicker at the bottom because of old glass making technology and installers would put the fatter part at the bottom because it seemed to make sense.
- .9 repeating is mathematically equivalent to 1. There are proofs to this effect.
- Napolean was not particularly short. He was 5’2″ in french feet and 5’6″ in international feet. Not tall, but not particularly tiny.
- The name “sushi” does not refer to raw fish, it refers to the rice that is used. Not all sushi involves raw fish.
- Goldfish have a longer memory than they are given credit for.
- Apparently, touching baby birds will not cause their mother to reject them.
- Sugar does not actually make kids hyperactive.
- Toilets do not flush the opposite way in the opposite hemisphere.
- George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter.
- Calculations back up the fact that bumblebees can fly. There was a guy who did the math and discovered that, in theory, they shouldn’t be able to, but his math was wrong.
Check out the full list here and go on a knowledge binge.
(via @sharkscanbiteme)
