# Debunking time - Fun factoids. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024 "2003-05-13T19:44:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/21 "2003-05-13T22:10:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > A crocodile can’t put out its tongue > \*\* True, so you should _never, ever_ set a crocodile’s tongue on fire. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/22 "2003-05-13T23:10:49Z")
psiders!?! What are those? Arachnids that can read your mind?!? Well, _ **I** _ find that terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/23 "2003-05-13T23:57:16Z")
And they _know_ you’re afraid… > [@](#): > > **Your eyes are the same size all through your life** , but your ears and nose never stop growing [False](http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jan2000/949009575.An.r.html). ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/24 "2003-05-14T00:08:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Elephants are the only animals who can’t jump Amonst mammals sloths, echidnas and golden moles have also never been observed to jump and there are physiological reasons to believe they can’t do so. Pretty much puts them in the same category as elephants. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/25 "2003-05-14T02:54:16Z")
Most of the sources I’ve found credit Harold Brown, an inventor who worked for Edison labs in Menlo Park, NJ (“Panati’s Extraordinary Endings Of Practically Everything And Everybody” p156, for example). In a nutshell, Edison wanted to show that Westinghouse’s AC system was far more dangerous than Edison DC and so he helped build the first electric chair (using AC) and gave many public demonstrations (on animals, not people) to show how deadly AC was. However the Canadian Coaltion Against the Death Penalty has this timeline: [http://ccadp.org/electricchair.htm](http://ccadp.org/electricchair.htm) (that page is mostly text however their site has some very upsetting photos, please be careful) …and they note that a dentist named Dr. Albert Southwick had some experience with death by execution and it sounds like he may have pursued some ideas in that direction. They have an article with a headline calling Southwick the inventor of the electric chair but I didn’t see any details. So, I’d say that this one has at least a grain of truth to it. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/26 "2003-05-14T03:08:50Z")
There have only been a handful of people who lived this long; the two oldest were Jeanne Calment of France (she died aged 122 years, 164 days, back in 1997) and Mr. Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan (previous record holder) who was 120 years, 237 days when he died in 1986. I don’t see any other cases of people living beyond 115 although several have made it past 110. Guinness BOR notes that anything past 114 is incredibly rare and has this line: "It is thought that only one 115-year life can be expected per 2.1 billion persons. " Dunno who the source of that thought is but I generally trust Guinness. I think that given the tiny number of sample points in this data set (until recently it was pretty unlikely that there were even accurate birth records kept from well over 100 years ago) there’s some margin of error, but within an order of magnitude I’d say that 1 in 2 billion is fine. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/27 "2003-05-14T03:09:56Z")
At a recent emergency medicine conference, we learned more than 4000 North American children die annually from choking on small objects – usually coins, batteries or small toys. It’s pretty hard to swallow a pen. 100 people per annum is unlikely, even worldwide. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/28 "2003-05-14T06:22:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > **A hurricane releases more energy in ten minutes, than the combined power of all the nuclear weapons in the world.** According to [this site](http://stormcarib.com/press2002_01.htm), “hurricanes release energy equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes”. That’d be 5 megaton in ten minutes, I expect, which is quite a lot less than all the nuclear weapons in the world. > [@](#): > > **The eye of an ostrich is bigger than its brain.** According to [this site](http://members.aol.com/KSmith9526/BirdInformation.htm), this is a common characteristic of all birds, not just ostriches. > [@](#): > > **If Barbie was real, she’d meassure 39-23-33.** There’s one obvious variable missing here: this imaginary real Barbie’s height. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/29 "2003-05-14T06:27:10Z")
In responce to the spider thing, being more afraid of something does not mean that you would rather have the other. lot of peopel accept death as the end of life. It’s there, it happens, no reason to fear it. Also, the fact that’s it’s intangible makes it hard to fear. Spiders are a real thing. They are there, we can easily be afraid of them and give a reason why (the reason being that they are the spawns of Satan and a part of his ever-growing evil army.) Just because I would rather eat a spider than die doesn’t mean I’m not terrified doing it. Of course, if you ask someone on death row five minutes before his execution, he might say something different. ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/30 "2003-05-14T08:11:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > \*\* > There is no word that rhymes with ‘month’. > \*\* Maybe it is only with my accent - but does cunt not rhyme with month? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/31 "2003-05-14T09:41:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blinx \* > \*\*Maybe it is only with my accent - but does cunt not rhyme with month? \*\* Not in Standard American English or Received Pronunciation (the “standard” British accent), but certainly in other dialects. Some New York and Irish accents will certainly replace the interdental “th” at the end of month with a simple “t”, allowing for a much wider range of rhymes. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/32 "2003-05-14T10:00:27Z")
Aren’t dolphins famous for jumping through hoops and stuff? ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/33 "2003-05-14T10:36:35Z")
The wheel-lock mechanism of a cigarette lighter was invented by Leonardo Da Vinci in the 14th Century. However, since lighter _fluid_ (butane) was first isolated in 1911 I cannot see how an actual cigarette lighter came into being before this. (Zippos were first invented in 1932). Matches were far more recent than one might think - if memory serves, the first useables ones were very large smelly things to be rubbed on a specially coated paper in the 19th Century, but undoubtedly came before what any reasonable person would call a “cigarette lighter”. (The least “fun” thing about Googling the veracity of these “fun” facts is that they are repeated on countless “fun pages”.) ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/34 "2003-05-14T10:49:30Z")
> [@](#): > > lighter fluid (butane) Butane is a gas. It’s used in gas lighters, but it isn’t lighter fluid. Lighter fluids are various chemicals, mostly petroleum spirits and naptha. These things would have technically been available anytime after the first distillation aparatus were made. By da Vinci’s time I’m sure something equivalent would have been freely available (if expensive). Failing that I suspect you could get a workable, if less than ideal, lighter fluid from plain old alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/35 "2003-05-14T11:05:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > The cigarettlighter was invented before the match.\*\* Not necessarily, unless one wants to define flintlocks as ‘cigarette lighters’, in which case the claim becomes completely uninteresting. [https://www.ronson.nl/pages\_en/ronsonhistory\_en/historytekst\_engelstalig\_lite.html](https://www.ronson.nl/pages_en/ronsonhistory_en/historytekst_engelstalig_lite.html) ---
**Author:** ![MegaDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@MegaDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaDave)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/36 "2003-05-14T13:48:03Z")
The eye one is true… if you measure a babies eyes (either from one side to the other, or just the radius from the center to any give edge), then continue to measure it throught the babies life, you will find no measurable change. I know this to be a fact because they measure my daughter’s every year (she has some bone abnormalities in her head that cause her eyes to drfit apart, something known as Cranio Frontonasal Dysplasia) since birth and it has never changed. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/37 "2003-05-14T13:53:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MegaDave \* > \*\*The eye one is true… if you measure a babies eyes (either from one side to the other, or just the radius from the center to any give edge), then continue to measure it throught the babies life, you will find no measurable change. > > I know this to be a fact because they measure my daughter’s every year (she has some bone abnormalities in her head that cause her eyes to drfit apart, something known as Cranio Frontonasal Dysplasia) since birth and it has never changed. \*\* It could of course be an idiosyncrasy of your daughter’s. I assume they’re measuring her eyes for a reason; does cranio-frontonasal dysplasia affect the size of the visible part of the eye? ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/38 "2003-05-14T13:58:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Priceguy \* > \*\*According to [this site](http://stormcarib.com/press2002_01.htm), “hurricanes release energy equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes”. That’d be 5 megaton in ten minutes, I expect, which is quite a lot less than all the nuclear weapons in the world. > > According to [this site](http://members.aol.com/KSmith9526/BirdInformation.htm), this is a common characteristic of all birds, not just ostriches. > > There’s one obvious variable missing here: this imaginary real Barbie’s height. \*\* I think Barbie is meant to be to scale. The sites I found on a quick Google list 1/6 as the exact scale. Therefore if she were enlarged to full scale she would have a defined height as well as the other measurements. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/39 "2003-05-14T18:46:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Elephants are the only animals who can’t jump I’ve usually seen this one phrased as, “elephants have four knees, yet they cannot jump,” or, “elephants are the only animal with knees that cannot jump.” If one reduces the set of “animals” to “animals with knees,” is the statement still true? ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024/40 "2003-05-14T19:24:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by av8rmike \* > \*\*I’ve usually seen this one phrased as, “elephants have four knees, yet they cannot jump,” or, “elephants are the only animal with knees that cannot jump.” > If one reduces the set of “animals” to “animals with knees,” is the statement still true? \*\* The “four knees” version would be quite false, since elephants, like all other tetrapods, only have two knees (and, for the record, birds’ knees do not bend backward, either). And, to my knowledge, elephants don’t jump regardless what category one puts them in. But then, I’ve never seen any evidence that a tree sloth can jump, either. And they’ve got knees. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunking-time-fun-factoids/175024.md?page=3)