Once again, I’ve run across this list of little-known “facts.” I know some of these statements are false. Which ones? I’ll only list the ones I suspect.
2. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
7. Two thirds of the world’s eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
9. On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
11. No word in the English language rhymes with month, silver, or purple. (and what about orange?)
12. “Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in “mt.”
15. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.
17. There are only four words in the English language that end in “dous:” tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, hazardous.
21. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
25. A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours. (all species?)
30. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
31. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
33. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
We no longer have a $2 bill, but a $2 coin, since 1996.
An image of the last $2 bill is available here. Even in the small reproduction, I can see that the flag is Canadian. Older $2 notes did not depict Parliament.
The microwave one is true, though, I think.
If memory serves, the flag on the CDN $2 is the old Dominion of Canada flag (pre maple-leaf… I don’t have one to check). I think it had the Union Jack in the upper corner, which could make the flag mistaken for a US stars and stripes since it is so small on the bill.
It’s the ‘Red Ensign’, the pre-Maple-Leaf flag (Can’t remember the year the Maple Leaf was made official, it was in living memory, though.).
It’s a red field, with the nation’s coat of arms on the right side, and the Union Jack in the top left corner - where the field of stars is on the US flag.
When it’s as small as it is on the bill, it could be mistaken for the American flag (Or the Australian, or a half-dozen others) by someone who doesn’t know about the Red Ensign.
No, the microwave effect was discovered by radar researchers at MIT who were investigating why their new frequency of radar wouldn’t penetrate fog. That’s what Doc Edgerton told me, and I have no reason to doubt him.
Let’s distinguish between “microwaves” themselves and the microwave oven. Percy Spencer is credited with applying this interesting discovery of the effects of microwaves on food to the development of the microwave oven.
Hmm… let me evaluate… What Doc Edgerton, one of the world’s greatest radar engineers told me personally in a one-on-one meeting when I asked him pointed questions about his research in underwater sensors, or an unattributed anecdote I read on a web page. I think I’ll stick with Doc Edgerton’s version.
Yes, I read the link. If one were to go through the process of making glycerol from peanut oil, one would have glycerol, but one would no longer have peanuts. What you do with the glycerol is your biz.
Let’s say you used your glycerol to make a sweetner. Should it have a warning lable to users that it contains peanuts, to which many people are alergic? Of course not.
Whoever wrote that link might be a good entertainer, but a damn poor scientist or logician.
