# Amazing bullshit true facts that are in fact true.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 27, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514 "2013-01-27T03:44:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/1 "2013-01-27T03:44:04Z")
While reading about something totally unrelated I came across a brief history of [Walter Jackson Freeman II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Jackson_Freeman_II) and the lobotomy. I was telling people at work all the fascinating facts; the guy who invented this form of brain damage won the Nobel prize for doing so, that the surgery was done with no anaethetic but with a hammer, that many patients died. They sat and believed all this. But they all went searching google because they couldn’t believe that Dr Freeman called his personal van [the lobotomobile](https://www.google.com.au/search?q=lobotomobile&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=eaEEUf7PIIeSiAfrzIHAAw&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQsAQ&biw=1830&bih=969). Too good to be true, eh?
Surely there must be more equally fascinating snippets of information.
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### Author:  [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/2 "2013-01-27T03:45:08Z")
A duck’s quack doesn’t echo - and no one knows why
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### Author:  [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/3 "2013-01-27T03:56:06Z")
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> A duck’s quack doesn’t echo - and no one knows why
[Yeah, it does](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1090/is-it-true-a-ducks-quack-wont-echo). You’ll notice that the link is from the Straight Dope itself.
My favorite “Wow, really?” fact: President John Tyler (1841-1845) currently has two living grandchildren.
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### Author:  [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/4 "2013-01-27T03:58:38Z")
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> A duck’s quack doesn’t echo - and no one knows why
_A duck’s quack does not echo.
BUSTED
When examined by an audio-expert, it was found that the echo was “swallowed” by the original quack, due to the very similar acoustic structure between the quack and the echo. Because of this, it may be difficult to tell where the quack ends and the echo begins._
From [Mythbusters](http://mythbustersresults.com/episode8).
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/5 "2013-01-27T03:59:28Z")
Benjamin Franklin invented swim fins.
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/6 "2013-01-27T04:32:09Z")
Tom Lehrer invented Jello shots.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/7 "2013-01-27T04:35:45Z")
Dr. Ruth was trained as a sniper by the Israeli army.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/8 "2013-01-27T05:27:18Z")
Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is related to Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges. His father, Sam, was a cousin of Shemp’s wife, Gertrude Frank.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/9 "2013-01-27T05:33:58Z")
Hedy Lamarr [co-invented](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr) spread-spectrum communication.
Edit: her co-inventor was [George Antheil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Antheil), a musician. The spread-spectrum system was controlled by _piano rolls_.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/10 "2013-01-27T07:24:59Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> While reading about something totally unrelated I came across a brief history of [Walter Jackson Freeman II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Jackson_Freeman_II) and the lobotomy. I was telling people at work all the fascinating facts; the guy who invented this form of brain damage won the Nobel prize for doing so, that the surgery was done with no anaethetic but with a hammer, that many patients died. They sat and believed all this. But they all went searching google because they couldn’t believe that Dr Freeman called his personal van [the lobotomobile](https://www.google.com.au/search?q=lobotomobile&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=eaEEUf7PIIeSiAfrzIHAAw&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQsAQ&biw=1830&bih=969). Too good to be true, eh?
>
> Surely there must be more equally fascinating snippets of information.
And he did the surgery in a [tank top](http://5magazine.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/my_lobotomy-freeman_operating1.jpg).
I’ve read about him a few times over the years. If you really go digging you can find videos of the surgeries being done. They aren’t for the faint of heart.
---
### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/11 "2013-01-27T07:51:57Z")
Michael Nesmith’s mother invented [Liquid Paper](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_paper).
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### Author:  [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/12 "2013-01-27T10:08:07Z")
The experiments of [Donald Ewen Cameron](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Ewen_Cameron) were quite something. I remember reading of a woman seeing him for a mild case of post natal depression and ending up having multiple EST, being given huge doses of
LSD and then being kept in an induced sleep for months to test his theories.
On a lighter note, there’s the Barbados v Grenada Caribbean Cup soccer match from 1994 when, for reasons explained [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_Caribbean_Cup_1994#Anomaly) Grenada were trying to score a goal at either end of the pitch while Barbados were trying to stop them.
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/13 "2013-01-27T10:19:10Z")
> [@interface2x](#):
>
> [Yeah, it does](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1090/is-it-true-a-ducks-quack-wont-echo). You’ll notice that the link is from the Straight Dope itself.
>
> My favorite “Wow, really?” fact: President John Tyler (1841-1845) currently has two living grandchildren.
…and he was born in the 1700s. Man born in the 18th century has children in the 19th century who have children born in the 20th century who are alive in the 21st. Two successive generations of men who’ve been able to say “Yeah, dad was born the century before last”. :eek:
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/14 "2013-01-27T10:43:58Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> And he did the surgery in a [tank top](http://5magazine.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/my_lobotomy-freeman_operating1.jpg).
>
> I’ve read about him a few times over the years. If you really go digging you can find videos of the surgeries being done. They aren’t for the faint of heart.
“Go digging,” huh? 🙂
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/15 "2013-01-27T14:40:34Z")
I have a website where you can find some crazy things.
Like, did you know that Ireland was a net-exporter of food during the Great Potato Famine?
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/16 "2013-01-27T15:11:45Z")
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> A duck’s quack doesn’t echo - and no one knows why
Well done.
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### Author:  [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/17 "2013-01-27T17:47:06Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#):
>
> Michael Nesmith’s mother invented [Liquid Paper](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_paper).
Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear UK)'s mother marketed the stuffed [Paddington Bear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddington_Bear#Stuffed_toy)
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/18 "2013-01-27T18:09:16Z")
Jimmy Stewart movie actor was a hardcore war hero with ice in his veins.
> **[James Stewart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart#Military_honors)**
>
> James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality he portrayed both on and off the screen, he epitomized the "American ideal" in the mid-twentieth century. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked him third on its list of the greatest American male actors. He received numerous honors including the Screen Acto...
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### Author:  [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/19 "2013-01-27T18:58:45Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> While reading about something totally unrelated I came across a brief history of [Walter Jackson Freeman II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Jackson_Freeman_II) and the lobotomy. I was telling people at work all the fascinating facts; the guy who invented this form of brain damage won the Nobel prize for doing so,
In a slight clarification, the Nobel Prize was awarded to Antonio Egas Moniz who was nominated by Walter Freeman. Moniz was a mentor to Freeman.
Maybe that’s what you meant, but I was a little confused by the wording.
---
### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/20 "2013-01-28T18:36:06Z")
Trading scuttlebutt by the office water cooler is rooted in history. On sailing ships of the 19th century and before, the scuttlebutt (a barrel with a hole at the bottom) _was_ the water cooler.
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