# Are ANY of these questions true? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203 "2004-03-24T22:10:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pencilpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d6d6ee/32.png) [@pencilpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pencilpusher)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/1 "2004-03-24T22:10:13Z")
Can you tell me which of the following are true and which are false? 1. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning. 2. Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a belly button. 3. A pack-a-day smoker will lose approximately 2 teeth every 10 years. 4. People do not get sick from cold weather; it’s from being indoors a lot more. 5. When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop, even your heart! 6. Only 7 per cent of the population are lefties. 7. Forty people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute. 8. Babies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until they are 2-6 years old. 9. The average person over 50 will have spent 5 years waiting in lines. 10. The toothbrush was invented in 1498. 11. The average housefly lives for one month. 12. 40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year. 13. A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened. 14. The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute. 15. Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than any other time of day. 16. Most of us have eaten a spider in our sleep. 17. The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to search for water. 18. The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their heads are the rabbit and the parrot. 19. John Travolta turned down the starring roles in “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “Tootsie.” 20. Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina State anthem. 21. In most television commercials advertising milk, a mixture of white paint and a little thinner is used in place of the milk. 22. Prince Charles and Prince William NEVER travel on the same airplane, just in case there is a crash. 23. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor. 24. Most hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who give birth. They are used in vein transplant surgery. 25. Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana. They were 7th cousins. 26. If coloring weren’t added to Coca-Cola, it would be green. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/2 "2004-03-24T22:28:54Z")
1. Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a belly button. I’ve heard this one. Supposedly he lost it as a result of an appendectomy. 2. People do not get sick from cold weather; it’s from being indoors a lot more. I’ve heard the real reason is because children returning to school spread the viruses amongst themselves and then pass them on to their families. 3. The average person over 50 will have spent 5 years waiting in lines. This seems unlikely. This would mean the average 50 year old has spent 10% of his life or over two hours a day standing in line. No way is this true. 4. The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to search for water. I’ve read that ostriches don’t stick their heads in the sand. This idea started because ostriches lie down in the sand but from a distance people can only see their bodies not their head and neck. 5. The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their heads are the rabbit and the parrot. Chameleons and other reptiles have eyestalks that should allow them to see behind themselves as well. 6. Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana. They were 7th cousins. Probably true. An average person probably is related to hundreds of thousands of people at a 7th cousin level. 7. If coloring weren’t added to Coca-Cola, it would be green. Maybe a pale yellowish green. The primary flavorings are citrus, vanilla, and cinnamon. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/3 "2004-03-24T22:34:02Z")
1. Babies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until they are 2-6 years old. False. Babies have kneecaps, but they are cartilaginous at birth. Ossification (conversion to bone) starts around age 2 and ends around puberty. (Source: the anatomy/physiology textbook I’m copyediting right now.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/4 "2004-03-24T22:36:58Z")
> [@pencilpusher](#): > > 1. When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop, even your heart! Completely false. Cecil touches on this subject [here](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgesundheit.html). ---
**Author:** ![Gomez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Gomez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gomez)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/5 "2004-03-24T22:43:18Z")
Thank God for that, b]Q.E.D.\*\*, that’d definately freak me out if it were true. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/6 "2004-03-24T22:44:18Z")
What? No “A duck’s quack doesn’t echo” statement?? Sheesh, mass email forwards just aren’t what they used to be. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gomez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Gomez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gomez)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/7 "2004-03-24T22:44:43Z")
Bah, leet coding’s for pussies anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/8 "2004-03-24T23:00:16Z")
\>\> 13. A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened. I cannot see how this is surprising or even interesting. Hangers come in different sizes but 44" is about correct. So? I’ll give you a more interesting factoid: The average man when confronted with a way-above-average pair of female breasts will look at them an average of 3.2 times before looking away due to the look on the woman’s face. If the breasts include perky, jiggling, nipples the average goes up to 4.3 times. In this respect I am way above average. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/9 "2004-03-24T23:05:24Z")
I believe the spider question is true but ultimately disappointing - referring not to great big house spiders the size of a baby’s fist, but to tiny little spiders, the kind that float through the air on the ends of strands of web, and which you would never consider proper spiders at all unless someone told you. The kind of spider that doesn’t make you go “GAAAAHH!” in other words. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/10 "2004-03-24T23:09:49Z")
23 is true. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/11 "2004-03-24T23:10:43Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Forty people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute. That would be about 20 million per year. No way it’s true for the US. For the entire world it seems plausible. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/12 "2004-03-24T23:13:15Z")
> [@pencilpusher](#): > > 1. The average person over 50 will have spent 5 years waiting in lines. > > 2. Prince Charles and Prince William NEVER travel on the same airplane, just in > case there is a crash. I believe it’s supposed to be 5 years waiting of any knid, not necessarily in lines. Which makes it a couple of hours a day, which is plausible by the time you’ve added everything from waiting for the lights to turn green through to waiting for the kettle to boil. And I thought it was Charles and the Queen who never flew together. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/13 "2004-03-24T23:23:29Z")
1. Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina State anthem. Probably not true. I’ve checked three different sources and they all say the same thing. The official state song, designated by the General Assembly as such on February 11, 1911, is “Carolina” written by Henry Timrod and composed by Anne Custis Burgess. Given that date, it doesn’t seem anyone would own the rights. Interestingly, if you put the phrase “South Carolina State Anthem” into google, what you get are several hundred sites and from my limited review, nearly all were factoid pages like the OP. There is a song “Carolina(I love you)” by Charlie Daniels – I have no idea if MJ might own the rights to that, but it’s not SC state song. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/14 "2004-03-24T23:24:07Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > 23 is true. Funny, but [Harley-Davidson](http://www.harley-davidson.com/CO/HIS/en/history1900.asp?locale=en_US&bmLocale=en_US) seems to have left that tidbit out of their history: > [@](#): > > **1903** > 21-year old William S. Harley and 20-year old Arthur Davidson make available to the public the first production Harley-Davidson® motorcycle. The bike was built to be a racer, with a 3-1/8 inch bore and 3-1/2 inch stroke. The factory in which they worked was a 10 x 15-foot wooden shed with the words “Harley-Davidson Motor Company” crudely scrawled on the door. Arthur’s brother Walter quits his job in Kansas and joins their efforts on April 17th. I call bullshit on that one. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/15 "2004-03-25T00:29:51Z")
> [@pencilpusher](#): > > 1. If coloring weren’t added to Coca-Cola, it would be green. [snoped!](http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/green.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/16 "2004-03-25T00:40:40Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Funny, but [Harley-Davidson](http://www.harley-davidson.com/CO/HIS/en/history1900.asp?locale=en_US&bmLocale=en_US) seems to have left that tidbit out of their history: > > I call bullshit on that one. It all depends on who you believe I guess… > [@](#): > > Fun Facts: > > ``` > ***The first Harley-Davidson, built in 1903, used a tomato can for a carburetor.** > * Approximately 600 Harleys have rolled off the York assembly line every day since 1972. > * The Harley plant tour is extremely popular, and is taken by over 100,000 people each year. > * Over 2,800 people work at the Harley-Davidson plant in York. > * Over 300,000 people belong to "H.O.G.," the Harley Owners Group. > > ``` [http://www.factorytoursinpa.com/factorytours/assembly/harley.jsp](http://www.factorytoursinpa.com/factorytours/assembly/harley.jsp) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/17 "2004-03-25T00:54:33Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > It all depends on who you believe I guess… Not to further hijack the thread, but that and every other reference to it I’ve found (including the one in the OP) so far uses the exact same wording, indicating a single source. I’d like to see some more details about this alleged tomato-can carburetor or even a photo or two. I can find nothing but the assertion that one was used, but nothing else. The lack of confirmation on Harley-Davidson’s website furthers my suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/18 "2004-03-25T01:41:18Z")
The one about your feet is true-ish you’re supposed to buy shoes in the afternoon for that reason The one about Charles and William is probably true, since those directly in line to the throne aren’t supposed to travel together I’m fairly sure horses can see behind them without turning their heads You get sick from viruses etc not from air temperature I _think_ the one about Bogart and P. Diana is true I _think_ it’s 27% of the popultion are left handed It’s said to be impossible to keep your eyes open when you sneeze - I’ve never managed to ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/19 "2004-03-25T03:02:32Z")
# 11 seems to be essentially true, estimates for a housefly’s lifespan on several websites range from 2 weeks to about 2 months (including pupal and larval stages). There is probably a massive range of variability in there though and if they are typical of most insects the vast majority of them don’t live long enough to reproduce, thank God. I assume #1 is referring to the sugar in the apple vs. caffeine alone. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203/20 "2004-03-25T03:18:32Z")
#24 As a Labor and Delivery RN in the 4th/5th largest birthing center in CA, I have never collected and preserved for transplant an umbilical cord. I have collected cord blood for testing and storage but never a umbilical cord. Most of the cord blood collected is a 6 ml vial for typing and the placenta and cord are sometimes sent to pathology without presevatives, but are usually just red bagged right into the haz mat bin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-of-these-questions-true/236203.md?page=2)