# Another "Common Knowledge or Fascinating Anecdotes... that unfortunately aren't true" Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 11, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225 "2009-11-11T20:24:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/101 "2009-11-13T17:36:26Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I knew a guy who was stung by a bullet ant - allegedly, no scale is really high enough. Ouch. :eek: I’ve been stung by bullet ants several times. Actually, once by five at the same time. I would liken it to being hit hard with a red-hot poker (or rather, what I imagine being hit with a red-hot poker would feel like). I agree the sting should carry the top rating. IMHO, the scale rates fire ants and bullhorn acacia ants much too low. I would rate them as well above honeybees, although the sting fades pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/102 "2009-11-13T17:39:45Z")
Did you squeal? I hear you get honorary membership in some Indian tribes if you take it like a man. ---
**Author:** ![purple\_cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@purple\_cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purple_cow)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/103 "2009-11-13T18:26:30Z")
Wow, 5 bullet ants at one time! I was in the jungle in Panama and our guide pointed out bullet ants to us. He was a built like a linebacker (6’3", 240 lbs) and said he got bitten once and was sick in bed for two days. Regular-sized me (6’0", 180 lbs) made sure to stay away from the big scary ants after that story. Luckily they’re up to an inch long so they’re not too hard to see. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/104 "2009-11-13T18:47:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > IMHO, the scale rates fire ants and bullhorn acacia ants much too low. I would rate them as well above honeybees, although the sting fades pretty quickly. The fire ant rating seemed a little low to me as well. They aren’t horrible individually but they do tend to swarm and I had to take a college roommate to the emergency room for fire ant induced blood poisoning in the middle of the night once because her leg swelled up like a balloon. I have been stung literally thousands of times by them because of where I grew up. There was no way around it but the bites tend to heal pretty quickly on most people. I have also been stung by yellow-jackets, honeybees, one scorpion, and three red wasps at the same time. The latter sent me to the hospital in respiratory shock. The scorpion hurt like hell and even though I was a small child, it didn’t cause any medical emergency. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/105 "2009-11-13T19:18:14Z")
> [@stuthehistoryguy](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hrc3EdLCZg&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hrc3EdLCZg&feature=related) Tell me there’s more than that. That footage is wholly inconclusive. Yes, it does look like Hunter had a gun, but that’s it. I can’t imagine that anyone would accept this footage as a definitive defense of the Hell’s Angels. ETA: it does look like there are some wtiness accounts of Hunter threatening Jagger. Anyone with more info, please fight my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/106 "2009-11-13T19:24:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I’ve been stung by bullet ants several times. Actually, once by five at the same time. I would liken it to being hit hard with a red-hot poker (or rather, what I imagine being hit with a red-hot poker would feel like). I agree the sting should carry the top rating. > > IMHO, the scale rates fire ants and bullhorn acacia ants much too low. I would rate them as well above honeybees, although the sting fades pretty quickly. Ouch! Worst I ever had was stung by a white-faced hornet - on the nipple. While I was sleeping. Not the best way to wake up - but at least I never did what my brother once did - put his foot through a ground-dwellng yellowjacket nest. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/107 "2009-11-13T19:42:56Z")
> [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Me too! Every time I see that phrase, I hear it to the tune of the Toreador Song: > > Neither a borrower nor a lender be, > Do not forget! Stay out of debt! > Think twice, and take this good advice from me… Watched a little too much _Gilligan’s Island_ when you were growing up? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/108 "2009-11-13T19:54:06Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Watched a little too much _Gilligan’s Island_ when you were growing up? Holy shit, I remember that episode. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/109 "2009-11-13T20:19:00Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Not to hijack, but what’s the dance for, then? I mean, it does indicate how far food’s away, and in which direction – right? Why go through all that trouble? According to the minority of researchers who don’t believe that the dance is used to tell other bees where to find nectar, the dance is merely an avoidance behavior as the bee tries to prevent other bees getting its nectar, and the correlation between the dance movement and distance/direction to the nectar source is a completely coincidental, non-purposeful side effect of physiological changes on the bee during flight. These researchers ignore the large amount of experimental evidence supporting the idea that the dance is a purposeful communication, including the experiments where bee mockups on the ends of robotic arms could be used to direct bees to specific locations through dance communication. This was all pretty well hashed out [here](http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=155565). ---
**Author:** ![StrangeBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@StrangeBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangeBird)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/110 "2009-11-13T20:20:35Z")
“Humans only use 10 percent of their brains.”:mad: Sure they do. ---
**Author:** ![Lurking\_Quahog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lurking_quahog/32/21274_2.png) [@Lurking\_Quahog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lurking_Quahog)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/111 "2009-11-13T20:41:05Z")
I just found out on Jeopardy! that the tryptophan in turkey doesn’t actually make you sleepy. It’s a gut full of carbs on Thanksgiving that does it. ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/112 "2009-11-13T20:49:12Z")
There’s no Nobel Prize given for mathematics because [Alfred’s wife had an affair with a mathematician](http://www.snopes.com/science/nobel.asp). First heard that one from my freshman year high school math teacher. On retrospect I should have known better: that guy was an accomplished joker. I did just learn while looking up that link that the best debunking of the legend is that Nobel never married. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/113 "2009-11-13T20:52:02Z")
“You should drink 8 glasses of water a day.” ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/114 "2009-11-13T20:53:28Z")
> [@stuthehistoryguy](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hrc3EdLCZg&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hrc3EdLCZg&feature=related) OK, thanks. In the normal movie Gimme Shelter it just whizzes past incredibly fast, all you see is the scuffle - they don’t freeze frame it to show the gun. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/115 "2009-11-13T20:55:20Z")
> [@StoutHearted](#): > > I think the idea that lemmings commit suicide by following each other off a cliff came from a documentary that showed this very phenomena. However, it later came out that the reason the lemmings jumped was because the camera crew chased them off the cliff. > > And to think of all those hours I wasted on that _Lemmings_ video game! I never got the hang of the game, I always enjoyed making them all do the little crouch and explode thing 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/116 "2009-11-13T20:57:03Z")
Then you had the hang of the game. Rescuing them wasn’t nearly as satisfying as getting them to fly across the screen using a chain explosion. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/117 "2009-11-13T21:42:25Z")
Mozart didn’t die broke and forgotten, doomed to be buried in a paupers grave because he had no money to pay for a “decent” funeral. 1. According to Solomon’s [Mozart: A Life](http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Life-Maynard-Solomon/dp/0060926929), Mozart’s peak earnings occurred in his last year of life - I once did a rough calculation and figured that Wolfie earned approx. $500,000 (equivalent) in 1790-91, much of that coming from _The Magic Flute_. 2. He had debts. He was a horrible money manager. No one can deny that. However, Constanze set the standard for all future widows-of-artists in organizing the estate after his death, earning money from stipends, pensions, donations from well-heeled nobility and benefactors, commemerative concerts, even publishing a biography of her husband. 3. He wasn’t forgotten, not by a long-shot. 4. The “paupers grave” was a _commoners_ grave. Also, burial space inside the city was pretty much eliminated via an edict of Joseph II in his effort to combat the plague (Vienna had an outbreak in, IIRC, 1789) and prevent its recurrence. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/118 "2009-11-14T01:02:39Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Lemmings don’t really jump off cliffs to commit mass suicide. They sometimes might swim across bodies of water when migrating and drown, but they don’t seek out cliffs and jump off of them as a means of population control. My husband tells me that during the filming of a Disney documentary the directors thought it would be more dramatic if they chased the poor little guys off of the cliffs (as mentioned above.) For some reason that makes it all the more tragic. There is, of course, no way to ‘‘waste time’’ playing Lemmings the game. The true time wasted is time _not_ spent playing Lemmings. (I’ve beat every level of the original, including the Sunsoft levels! My greatest life accomplishment.) > [@StrangeBird](#): > > “Humans only use 10 percent of their brains.”:mad: > > Sure they do. Ooooh, this one really chaps my hide. I’ve heard it from smart people who should know better. And they used it this week in a promo for a ‘‘Fringe’’ episode too. I heard one theory as to how this rumor got started: some scientist somewhere remarked that about 90% of the brain is uncommitted cortex (not possessing a specific function, but rather flexible in its use.) A majority of the human brain is uncommitted cortex, far more than other animals, but we are most certainly using every bit of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/119 "2009-11-14T01:22:17Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Whenever people talk about frivilous lawsuits, someone always brings up the McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit. When you read the [facts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants), it’s not as frivilous as it sounds. I remember when this first happened it was lampooned by comedians and commentators and water cooler pundits, none of whom mentioned the fact that she had to have skin grafting and originally sued for $10,000- $8,000 of which was medical bills and $2,000 in legal fees- which McDonalds absolutely refused to pay. She deserved every penny she got for what she went through. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/120 "2009-11-14T01:32:36Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I remember when this first happened it was lampooned by comedians and commentators and water cooler pundits, none of whom mentioned the fact that she had to have skin grafting and originally sued for $10,000- $8,000 of which was medical bills and $2,000 in legal fees- which McDonalds absolutely refused to pay. She deserved every penny she got for what she went through. I freely admit that I fell for the commentary when it first came out because I hate frivolous lawsuits but when I read a lot more about it, this case won me over and the jury did the right thing. I would have voted the same way once I had all the information and the story behind it. McDonalds was completely in the wrong there. I am glad that she won a lot of money for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225.md?page=7)