# Amazing bullshit true facts that are in fact true. **URL:** \ **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:** 9\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![gerund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@gerund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gerund)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/141 "2013-02-09T16:09:03Z")
The pigeon has 80 chromosomes while the human 46. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/142 "2013-02-11T16:53:33Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > _Bwa-ha-ha-hahhhh._ > JFK, whose health was always frail, managed to get assigned to PT-boat duty in the Pacific. When PT-109 was shot out from under him, he badly injured his back and never really recovered from the injury. For the rest of his life, he wore a truly massive back brace, strapped on by yards of ace bandages, to help control the pain. (You can see in many filmed instances that he turns his whole body, not his head and shoulders.) JFK’s boat was run over by a Japanese destroyer and he was initially concerned that he would be blamed for not seeing the destroyer. However the intelligence report on the incident absolved him of any blame. About twenty years later JFK appointed the writer of the intelligence report, Byron White, to the supreme court. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/143 "2013-02-11T17:17:00Z")
A gallon of gasoline contains more hydrogen than a gallon of liquid hydrogen. The U.S. state closest to Africa is Maine. The fax machine was invented before the telephone. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/144 "2013-02-11T17:44:45Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I think they are measuring the nose/pinky thing wrong. > > If I go horizontally from tip to cheek it is one knuckle like they are reporting. But if you go from tip up the bridge to the brow my nose is pretty damn close to being the length of my pinky. > > For me the foot and forearm is pretty damn close as well. Exactly! I should have been more explicit in how I was measuring.! Thanks for helping clear that up! One more…the span of your arms outstreched parallel to the ground from finger tip to opposing fingertip is your height. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/145 "2013-02-11T18:54:56Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > Exactly! I should have been more explicit in how I was measuring.! Thanks for helping clear that up! > > One more…the span of your arms outstreched parallel to the ground from finger tip to opposing fingertip is your height. I’m going along the bridge of my nose and it’s not even close. I have a hard time believing that people were doing it the other way; you’d need to have a gigantic nose for that to be in the ballpark. The foot and forearm comparison is pretty close for me though. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/146 "2013-02-11T21:16:43Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > JFK’s boat was run over by a Japanese destroyer and he was initially concerned that he would be blamed for not seeing the destroyer. However the intelligence report on the incident absolved him of any blame. About twenty years later JFK appointed the writer of the intelligence report, Byron White, to the supreme court. Very suspicious! :dubious: Joe Jr probably _would_ have ended up as president instead of John if he hadn’t been killed in 1944 piloting a flying bomb intended to knock out some of Hitler’s V-weapon sites. So yeah, Adolf was in more than one way responsible for JFK’s political career (and assassination). Did you know the melodies of _British Grenadiers_, the US _Marines’ Hymn_, and _Wabash Cannonball_ are mutually interchangeable? Try singing them yourself, you’ll see! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/147 "2013-02-11T21:31:17Z")
WAC, BTW, stands for Women’s Army Corps … though during WWII, the US Air Force was still part of the US Army. I believe the term WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) was used by the British. WAVES and SPARS belonged to the US Navy and Coast Guard, respectively. Women Marines, so far as I know, always were (have been?) called Women Marines. (To the best of my knowledge, none of the other terms are still in use.) While working for the OSS, Julia Child helped develop a shark repellent for use by American sailors and downed airmen. She spent a great deal of her OSS time in Ceylon. Her majors in school were English and History, and she apparently knew little about France until her Foreign Service husband was assigned there in 1948. He was the one who introduced her to French cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/148 "2013-02-11T22:28:55Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > My favorite “Wow, really?” fact: President John Tyler (1841-1845) currently has two living grandchildren. I know one of them! (I bring this up every time JT is mentioned on the board. But it’s true! and the grandson I know is a fine southern gentleman; but sadly has no male heirs and his only daughter is childless). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514/149 "2013-02-13T05:22:10Z")
I recently read two more weird facts: Dr. Sam Sheppard, that famous murder trial guy, had a brief career as a professional wrestler and went by the name “The Killer” (this was after the trial). Mick Foley says one of his signature moves, the mandible claw, was invented by Sheppard. And The same guy who was Wilbur on \*Mr. Ed \*was also the voice of Uncle Scrooge in _DuckTales._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-bullshit-true-facts-that-are-in-fact-true/648514.md?page=7)