Popular but False Urban Myths

[Flick James]

This is kind of a "grind my gears" sort of topic, but I thought it was interesting enough to dedicate a thread to.

People who perpetuate common urban myths matter-of-factly, as if they are proven fact, kind of get on my nerves. Some of them are so enduring that almost nobody bothers to question their validity. I'm no WyreWizard here,  , but I do get annoyed by urban myth portrayed as fact. Here are some examples:

The sugar high: People say, don't give kids sugar or they'll get hyper. This is a myth. There are no peer-reviewed, conclusive studies establishing that consuming sugar gives one a sugar high. Complete baloney. Now, giving a kid chocolate, which also contains caffeine, CAN have an effect, although probably not as much as may be expected.

People only use 10% of their brains: This one annoys the crap out of me, and the myth is so enduring, and people just assume that this is some kind of proven fact, as a means to explain things like Einstein's intellect. "Well, he used more of his brain than other people." Thank you, armchair professor. Most of the human brain is active most of the day. About the only time the brain may be functioning at 10% is when we're at rest. And even then it's probably more.

Coca-Cola can dissolve a penny overnight: You'd think that, as easy as it would be to simply put a penny in a cup of Coke and leave it there overnight, this one wouldn't be so prevalent. But, like most common urban myths, nobody bothers to actually test it out, or even think it out. Really? So you think that a penny, which is far thicker than the thin aluminum cans they ship the stuff in is going to dissolve overnight? Acidic? Yes. Bad for you? Yes. But it's not battery acid for crying out loud.

It's a ranting day for me. I haven't had one in a while. Can you think of some other silly myths?

[claws]

I think we did this not too long ago http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,133040.0.html   

[Flick James]

I think we did this not too long ago http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,133040.0.html   

Now I feel sad 

[indianasmith]

What the heck, let it ride!!!

That snakes are slimy.  I've caught and handled snakes my whole life, and unless you grab one right out of a mud puddle (not recommended), they are dry and leathery, NOT slimy.

[Criswell]

Famous Urban Legends are always spread around my high school (Most NSFW). Luckily I read Snopes when I was in Middle School so I knew when people were BS'ing.

[ghouck]

The whole "don't go in the water for 45 minutes after eating" thing is a line of crap as I understand.

The whole "Someone invented a carburetor that will make a car get 200 MPG but the oil companies bought the patent" crap is a load. Firstly, that would just allow them to charge more for a gallon of gas, and secondly, almost all the energy in gasoline is accounted for, and the carburetor has little to do with the efficiency, the problem lies in the fact that turning chemical energy into heat, then turning that heat into rotational force is very inefficient. Think about this: You have a car, and it really isn't insulated very well on the inside: If you shut off the engine, the inside of the car gets cold pretty fast. You have this HUGE radiator that is cooling the engine, even in  the bitterest of cold. You also have this very small, cheaply built radiator in your heater that is used to heat the inside of the car, and it works very well for that in most cases, even at 30 below, the heater in my car is on a fairly low setting to warm incoming air enough to keep the inside warm. Well the radiator is expelling much more heat that is just a byproduct of the engine itself, all heat that used to be gasoline. There are cars that get very good gas mileage, but the all do so by using things like an engine that is tailor made for getting good mileage at the cost of other things like performance and cost, use lighter and lighter vehicles, using some form of additional power such as regenerative braking. It seems to me that it is very easy to turn just about any form of energy into heat, but not so easy to turn heat into other forms of energy. Even then, they don't approach 200 MPG and still be what an everyday Joe could use as transportation.

[Mofo Rising]

Ghouck is right, heat is essentially the epitome of wasted energy. Energy turned to heat is basically garbage, unless you're freezing to death.

I do have a special hatred for the idea that we only use 10% of our brain. The amount of the energy you have to expend every day to keep your brain going is shocking. Our brains are gigantic energy sinks. If we only had 10% energy efficiency we would have all been eaten by baboons years ago.

Here's an urban myth I have to get into fight almost every day:

You are more protected if you do not sign you credit/debit cards.

Their is the idea that if you do not sign you credit/debit card, you are protecting yourself. The reality is that if you do not sign your card, it is not valid. Not my rules, that's what the credit card companies say. It is literally the case that if you do not sign your card, it is not valid.

Since I work for a government agency, I have to enforce this. You would not believe how angry people get.

Okay, here is what the credit card agencies have to say. If the card is not signed, I have to make sure you sign it and I have to make sure that the signature matches the signature matches the signature on the ID you provide me. It may be the case that other agencies let it slide, but this is the rules laid down by Visa and pretty much every credit agency.

Here's the flipside. If the card is signed, I do not have the right to ask for ID. I can request ID, but the card-owner does not have to provide it. I have to accept it. Once again, the rules provided by they credit card agencies.

So here's the reality. Until you sign your credit/debit card, it should be useless. Even if you write "See ID" I can not take it. But once somebody signs it, anybody, I can no longer question its legitimacy. I have to accept the card. Once again, not my rules, but the rules of the credit agency.

So if somebody steals your unsigned card and signs it, your open to every sort of fraud.

I have to argue this every day.

[bob]

That eating carrots will help your eyesight. WW2 pilots made that up so the enemy wouldn't figure out something...can't remember what though.

[Criswell]

People believe everything they hear. I don't believe anyone until I verify their claim with Google.

[Trevor]

That "ghost" that appears in Three Men and A Baby is my favourite, but there is another thing in that film that shouldn't be there. When the three guys are singing the baby to sleep, the camera pulls up, out and we see the house from up above. There is a face that appears to the left of the screen, apparently burnt and snarling. 

[El Misfit]

At my elementary school, there was the myth that a ghost roams around in the school's attic at night. Truth be told, it's just bats!

[Flick James]

That "ghost" that appears in Three Men and A Baby is my favourite, but there is another thing in that film that shouldn't be there. When the three guys are singing the baby to sleep, the camera pulls up, out and we see the house from up above. There is a face that appears to the left of the screen, apparently burnt and snarling. 

That movie doesn't need any ghosts, it's scary enough as is.

[The Burgomaster]

Okay, here is what the credit card agencies have to say. If the card is not signed, I have to make sure you sign it and I have to make sure that the signature matches the signature matches the signature on the ID you provide me.

I love this one.  My signature changes just about every time I write it.  Often, it's a big scribble.  Sometimes I write my full first and last name.  Sometimes just my first initial and last name.  And my signature in the very tiny space on the back of the card is certainly different from my signature on a large space on a credit card receipt.  No matter how I sign the receipt, the cashier looks at the receipt, then looks at my signature on the card, then nods his/her head as if to say, "Yup.  Perfect match."  And there is usually little or no resemblance.  When I worked in retail, I did the exact same thing!

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

That eating carrots will help your eyesight. WW2 pilots made that up so the enemy wouldn't figure out something...can't remember what though.

Radar maybe?

[Nightowl]

Don't eat poprocks and coke...together or you'll explode