February 2010
24 posts
4 tags
Vending machines kill four times more people each...
Plausable - the chances of death by vending machine are 1-in-112,000,000 where as the odds of death by shark attack are 1-in-251,800,000. A person is about 2.25 times more likely to be killed by a vending machine than a shark; death by shark attack is typically recorded at zero incidents annually, where as death by vending machine occurs around 2 to 3 times annually. There could conceivably be 4...
5 tags
Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a 50,000 word novel,...
True - impressively Ernest Vincent Wright was able to pen 50,110 words into a grammatically correct lipogramatic novel in 1939 without the use of the letter ‘e’ as well as avoiding any abbreviations where the letter would be omitted (but present upon expansion) such as Mr. or Mrs.
p.s. we briefly entertained the notion to write this fact-check as a lipogram, but were quick to realize...
6 tags
The longest English word, at 45 letters, is...
False - that title belongs to the Chemical name of titin, the largest known protein, at 189,819 characters:
Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl[…]isoleucine (full name)
Second place goes to a 183 character word transliterated from Ancient Greek:
Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhy- potrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokich- ...
4 tags
The Statue of Liberty is made out of copper. When...
True - the green hue we recognize today covering the Statue of Liberty is known as patina, which is the result of a chemical reaction between copper and oxygen (oxidation). Patina, unlike rust (which forms when iron oxidizes), actually protects the underlying copper.
original claim: @OMGFacts; source: wikipedia
6 tags
‘Typewriter’ is the longest English word that can...
False - ‘teetertotter’ is the longest unhyphenated word that can be spelled on a single row of a typewriter keyboard (QUERTY layout), coming in at 12 characters. There are four (4) other 10 character words that can be spelled out on a single row of a keyboard: perpetuity, proprietor, repertoire, and shakalshas.
update: out of our own curiosity, we looked up the longest word that can...
6 tags
Earth is the only planet not named after a God.
True - the exact etymology of the planet “Earth” is a tough one as it’s likely something to have developed over most of human history, Lynn Carter goes more in depth into this in her January 2003 article.
The related link over at omg-facts.com is a bit misleading:
Saturn was actually named after a Titan, the father of Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune. He is famous for having...
3 tags
In England, the Speaker of the House is not...
False - the Speaker of the House does in fact speak; otherwise the speaker would not be able to accomplish the task bestowed upon them. The speaker’s task is to remain impartial and moderate the discussion. Interestingly, @OMGFacts’ own link contradicts the claim.
original claim: @OMGFacts; source: wikipedia
6 tags
“Almost” is the longest word in the English...
False - “Aegilops” is the longest word in the English language with all its characters in alphabetical order with eight (8) characters. Aegilops is a genus of plants generally known as goatgrasses and belonging to the grass family, Poaceae. ”Almost” shares second place with several other six (6) character words: biopsy, chinos, chintz, bijoux, abhors, begins, and chimps....
5 tags
Women speak about 7000 words a day. The average...
False - an article published in Science (one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals in the world) in 2007 found:
Women are generally assumed to be more talkative than men. Data were analyzed from 396 participants who wore a voice recorder that sampled ambient sounds for several days. Participants’ daily word use was extrapolated from the number of recorded words. Women and...
4 tags
In the 40’s, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for...
False - the company Société Bic (founded in 1945 - then known Société PAA) shortened it’s name and the name associated with its products from the family name of the founder Marcel Bich to the phonetic “Bic” in 1953, in line with the post-war trend of companies renaming to easier-to-remember and globally pronounceable names. Sure the United States was a consideration in the name...
6 tags
The Bible is the number one most shoplifted book...
Plausible - but, being that the Bible is also one of the largest selling and longest running books in history, this claim doesn’t seem all that odd. We couldn’t find any statistics on book theft, but we did come across the opinion of one book store owner in an article in the New York Times. When asked what the most frequently stolen title was:
“The Bible,” he said, without pausing.
...
9 tags
A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be...
True - gold can be rolled thin enough to be translucent, so thin that it is used as a filter on the helmets of astronauts. According to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), a little gold goes a long way:
Gold is malleable, so it can be flattened into extremely thin sheets. […] Gold leafing—also known as gilding—is an ancient technique. Traditional artisans beat raw gold between...
4 tags
Over 2500 left-handed people a year are killed...
Unverifiable - now, one would expect this data would be relatively easy to come by, statistics are collected on all sorts of accidents [pdf]. A quick (by quick we mean: more time than we intended to spend) internet search reveals a lot of results from fact-aggregating web sites that list this claim as fact almost verbatim. Unfortunately none of these sites provide any statistics, sources of...
6 tags
There are two golf balls sitting on the moon.
Needs further verification - amazingly, there are two credible sources citing two different numbers. Starting with what is universally agreed: the Apollo 14 mission (the 8th manned Apollo mission, and the 3rd to land on the moon) did bring Alan Shepard, Stewart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell to the moon (Shepard and Mitchell would walk on the surface, Roosa remained aboard the command module) along...
7 tags
Iguanas, Koalas and Komodo dragons all have two...
True - this is known as a hemipenes (plural for the pair, singular: hemipenis), and is a trait of of male squamates (scaled reptiles e.g. snakes, lizards), and some species have hemipenes that are forked at each tip. The hemipenes are typically held inverted in the abdomen of the squamata, and due to this inversion hemipenes do not contain a fully sealed sperm channel like in a mammal, but rather...
4 tags
In the US, an estimated 1 billion birds die each...
Plausible - the actual estimate from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is between 100 million and 1 billion annually, and accounts for up to 5% of the fall bird population. With urban sprawl and development, this is becoming an increasing issue. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service also offers some tips to help prevent these collisions.
original claim: @OMGFacts; source: U.S. Fish &...
9 tags
Sheep can recognize each other through pictures.
True - and it even comes with a citation! An article published in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature, in 2001 states:
The human brain has evolved specialized neural mechanisms for visual recognition of faces, which afford us a remarkable ability to discriminate between, remember and think about many hundreds of different individuals. Sheep also recognize and are attracted to individual sheep and...
6 tags
The distress code “Mayday” comes from the French...
True - well, almost! How should we count spelling mistakes? Although, my french is rusty.
It derives from the French phrase venez m’aider, or m’aidez, meaning “(you) come (and) help me”
original claim: @OMGFacts; source: wikipedia
8 tags
The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill...
False - Poison Dart Frog (formerly Poison Arrow Frog) is a name that refers to over 175 species of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae (some of which are critically endangered). Of these, only three are known to be lethally poisonous to humans, and of those, each frog on average produces enough poison to kill 10 grown men.
original claim: @OMGFacts; sources: wikipedia, National Geographic,...
3 tags
In ancient China, people committed suicide by...
Plausible - Wikipedia has a reference to this claim (ahem, citation needed), but it is not out side the realm of possibility. Salt is toxic in large quantities, roughly 1g/kg of body weight. A pound of salt would be lethal for up to 1000lbs of body weight.
Remember readers, suicide is no laughing matter: SAVE.
original claim: @OMGFacts; sources: wikipedia,The Physical and Theoretical Chemistry...
8 tags
Blue whales have large enough aortas (the main...
False - A blue whale’s aorta is 9 inches in diameter; although several otherwise reputable sources also make this claim as fact, none of them are backed up with any numbers. Perhaps some humans (infants?) could crawl through a blue whale’s aorta, a majority of humans could not.
original claim: @OMGFacts; source: Ms. Blue’s Measurements (UCSC Seymour Marine Discovery Center at...
4 tags
85% of all Valentine's Day cards are purchased by...
Likely - although no definite numbers are available the Greeting Card Association, an organization representing the greeting card and stationery publishing industry, claims that 80% of all greeting cards cards (e.g. everyday, seasonal) are purchased by women. The GCA also finds Valentine’s Day cards account for 12.5% of all greeting card sales, whereas birthday cards account for 30% of all...
6 tags
Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua is the only fresh...
False - while original thought that the sharks found in Lake Nicaragua were their own species that were stranded and branched millions of years ago during the formation of the lake, these sharks were found to be the widespread Bull Shark, and were able to jump along the rapids of the San Juan River which connects the lake to the Caribbean Sea. In turn, the Bull Shark has quite a tolerance for...
13 tags
Spiders have transparent blood.
False - Spiders have blue blood. In human blood oxygen is bound to hemoglobin which contains iron, giving it the blood a red color. In spiders, as well as other Arthropods and Molluscs, oxygen is bound to hemocyanin which contains copper, giving its blood a blue color.
The same interaction that causes oxygenated blood to color, also causes iron rust to appear reddish and the oxidized copper to...