# Facts Which Sound Fake **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 29, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473 "2022-09-29T20:47:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/41 "2022-10-01T02:01:43Z")
The fact I found the hardest to believe is that the only muscles fingers contain are the tiny ones that make hairs stand up when you’ve got goosebumps. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/42 "2022-10-01T02:14:41Z")
You cannot burn water because it’s already burnt. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2022, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/43 "2022-10-01T02:24:20Z")
Many thanks for your efforts. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/44 "2022-10-01T05:46:54Z")
ClF3 says hi. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/45 "2022-10-01T06:10:09Z")
…and Maine is not the most northerly contiguous U.S. state. Five others are farther north. This fact will be most frequently sound fake to those who have seen U.S. maps, but have not studied a globe. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/46 "2022-10-01T06:10:15Z")
Trees are made of air. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/47 "2022-10-01T08:25:45Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > …and Maine is not the most northerly contiguous U.S. state. Five others are farther north. > > This fact will be most frequently sound fake to those who have seen U.S. maps, but have not studied a globe. It’s not so much that they haven’t studied a globe, but rather that the typical map of the US is rotated counterclockwise by several degrees. This makes it possible to fit a slightly larger scale map in a rectangle that would otherwise have a smaller scale. But it puts the northern tip of Maine about the same distance from the top of the map as the western end of the country and gives people the wrong idea of which is further north. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/48 "2022-10-01T17:02:13Z")
And Reno is west of Los Angeles. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/49 "2022-10-01T17:18:28Z")
It has to do with the projection the map uses. Projections are ways to attempt to draw a round globe (or part of it) on flat paper. Things always get distorted. The same goes when people try to draw straight lines on the curved Earth. Central Indiana is laid out on a grid. County roads run east and west and north and south. You can only drive so far north or south on a county road before you come to an adjustment, and have to turn since meridians get closer towards the poles and farther apart towards the equator. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/50 "2022-10-01T17:33:56Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > It has to do with the projection the map uses. Projections are ways to attempt to draw a round globe (or part of it) on flat paper. Things always get distorted. No that’s not the effect I was talking about. The projection doesn’t matter except that the typical map is not a Mercator projection. Consider it this way: Take a typical US map and bisect it vertically. That line should be exactly north-south, right? Well, it’s not. It’s several degrees off, with the top of the line being too far west. But people assume that that line is N-S, so they get the wrong idea of how far north Maine is. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2022, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/51 "2022-10-01T18:25:45Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Central Indiana is laid out on a grid. County roads run east and west and north and south. You can only drive so far north or south on a county road before you come to an adjustment, and have to turn since meridians get closer towards the poles and farther apart towards the equator. Is that because they chose to make N-S roads parallel? In which case only one road might follow a longitudinal line? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/52 "2022-10-01T18:38:04Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Is that because they chose to make N-S roads parallel? Yes. The Public Land Survey System in the US, or at least much of the US including Indiana, lays out land on a square grid, with sections of townships one mile square. Roads are often placed on the edges of these squares. Which means they don’t converge as they go north. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/53 "2022-10-01T19:37:57Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > Trees are made of air. More precisely, they’re made from air. Well, air and water. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/54 "2022-10-01T20:20:37Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > > [@Asuka](#): > > > > More American soldiers died per year in the “peacetime” 1980s than in the heights of the Middle Eastern wars in the 2000s. > > No cite, but I’ve read that during the Korean war, more American soldiers died in traffic accidents on American roads than died in combat. That doesn’t make sense. Maybe you read that more American citizens died in car accidents than died in combat in Korea. That certainly is true. But definitely not more American soldiers. From 1950 to 1953 36,516 American service members were killed in combat in Korea. That’s about the average number of motor vehicle deaths per year during that time but that’s for the entire population. Soldiers would be a small percentage of that. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/55 "2022-10-01T20:32:24Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Do I live in the only city which has several abandoned Pizza Huts? I can think of at least three close to me - the architecture is not hard to identify. I can think of three abandoned ones total but they are in different metro areas. And that’s just ones I’ve been to more than once. Of the other ones I’ve been to more than once, two are torn down, not abandoned or repurposed, and the sixth, amazingly, is still an operational pizza hut. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/56 "2022-10-01T20:39:54Z")
In fairness, at least one of the abandoned Pizza Huts is in the process of being torn down. Another one, bizarrely, became a _different_ pizza place. I can understand that when you sell a business it is often easiest to the use the property and whatever is included in the same way. But is this wise? If an experienced company like Pizza Hut can’t make a go of it, how can some random guy?\* \*It is striking how often the same type of business does badly in the same type of location. Business is tough. Covid was tough too. As a possible exception, there is a guy who made a fortune from buying failing Domino restaurants in university towns. But he was an experienced Domino’s manager who stated that these fourteen stores were unpopular because they were making misshapen pizzas and had poor delivery times and customer service - a problem he felt was easy to remedy. I wonder if this is the full story? ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/57 "2022-10-01T20:59:16Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > More American soldiers died per year in the “peacetime” 1980s than in the heights of the Middle Eastern wars in the 2000s. Yep. [According to Defense Department statistics](https://dcas.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/app/summaryData/deaths/byYearManner), the military averaged about 2,100 active-duty deaths per year in the 80s, versus a peak of 1,953 in 2007. Of course, the big difference is in the size of the overall force, with active-duty personnel being reduced by about a third between the mid-80s and mid-aughts. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/58 "2022-10-01T22:23:50Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > This fact will be most frequently sound fake to those who have seen U.S. maps, but have not studied a globe. Yep. Just look for the 45th Parallel. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/59 "2022-10-02T00:09:27Z")
“If you leave out a tray of water under a clear sky, it can turn to ice overnight even if the air temperature stays well above freezing.” Source: Randall Monroe’s _What If? 2._ Unusually, he doesn’t provide any numbers so “well above” may be slippery. That’s not an ice pun. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-which-sound-fake/972473/60 "2022-10-02T03:02:45Z")
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