# Re "50 things you are not supposed to know" has anyone fact checked these claims? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065 "2009-08-02T15:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/21 "2009-08-02T18:11:27Z")
If the lists of “wacky laws” is any indication, no one checks. Most of those laws don’t exist! But back to the OP. I suspect that in many of these claims, they are actually true and not as strange once you see why. Take for example > [@](#): > > 19.Many of the Pioneering Feminists Opposed Abortion I don’t know if that’s true or not, but during the 1973 \*Roe v Wade \*arguments, Sarah Weddington noted that the 1800’s law banning abortions in Texas was done to protect women since abortions were so dangerous. In fact, she points out that under that law, an abortion was considered a crime against the woman. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/22 "2009-08-02T19:11:23Z")
[quote=“Derleth, post:14, topic:505065”] I’ll take on as many as I can say _something_ intelligent about. This is meaningless. The Roman Catholics and Lutherans, the Jews, the Orthodox Catholics, and the Anglicans and other Christian denominations each have their own version of the Ten Commandments. The only difference is which rule goes with which commandment. [Wikipedia has a good overview.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments) It is not meaningless. All the versions you site come from the ethical decalogue. However in the bible it is the ritual decalogue Exodus 34:10-26 that is written on the tablets. It is a very different list. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/23 "2009-08-02T19:21:34Z")
> [@](#): > > 10.World War III Almost Started in 1995 In January, 1995, some Russian officials had a severe overreaction to the launch of a small research rocket from the [Andøya rocket range](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And%C3%B8ya_Rocket_Range) in Northern Norway. (The range had informed the Russian military of the launch in the usual fashion, but for some reason the notification got lost in Bureaucratic Hell this one time.) Exactly how close Yeltsin came to doing anything stupid is not clear, but the press here in Troll Country at least had a lot of fun playing up how we almost all got nuked because of one little research rocket. That may be what this point on the list is all about, although it’s hardly a big secret. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/24 "2009-08-02T19:27:32Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It was an accident. [The plane carrying them crashed and the bombs fell out.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash) And there were a couple more incidents like this as well, weren’t there? A plane bearing nuclear weapons bound for Alaska crashed in Northwestern British Columbia and another crashed on the coast of Spain, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/25 "2009-08-02T19:41:26Z")
> [@](#): > > 16.Adolph Hitler’s Blood Relatives Are Alive and Well in New York State [William Patrick Hitler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Patrick_Hitler), the son of Adolph’s half-brother, lived in Patchogue, New York and had four sons. One has died, three are still living. I don’t know where they are currently located. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/26 "2009-08-02T19:46:08Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I don’t think the CIA does 100,000 things of any sort in one year’s time. Don’t they do a lot of wire tapping? Maybe each tapped phone call is considered a separate crime or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/27 "2009-08-02T20:02:03Z")
Some of these are just stupid: 24.The Government Can Take Your House and Land, Then Sell Them to Private Corporations Yes, it’s called Eminent Domain. 32.Smoking Causes Problems Other Than Lung Cancer and Heart Disease No shit 37.Work Kills More People Than War This is not surprising to anyone with half a brain. 41.An FBI Expert Testified That Lie Detectors Are Worthless for Security Screening Which is why they are not generally used for security screening or in court. 44.Carl Sagan Was an Avid Pot-Smoker Get…the fuck…OUT 48.You Can Mail Letters for Little or No Cost Yes…$0.44 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/28 "2009-08-02T20:10:42Z")
> [@](#): > > 40.DNA Matching Is Not Infallible Nothing is infallible. Not even me. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/29 "2009-08-02T20:24:31Z")
Certain ones are easy to verify 11.The Korean War Never Ended Correct, althought hostilities ceased there was no formal peace. However there still is not formal peace between Japan and the Soviet Union or its successor state Russia. Big deal they are not fighting. Does this mean WWII isn’t over. Well I guess technically. But for all intents and purposes it is. Some of them like The Bayer Company Made Heroin, are true but that was a long time back when heroin was not a controlled substance. Most drugs prior to the modern eras (1950s forward) at one time were not controlled substances. It’s like when people say Joseph Kennedy made his money by doing illegal things. Well this isn’t really true. While it’s true things Joe Kennedy Sr did would be illegal today, when he did them, no one had thought to make them illegal yet. Then there are questions like 7.The US Is Planning to Provoke Terrorist Attacks This is so wide open it’s true. In fact the September 11th attacks were provoked, at least in Osama’s viewpoint. I think the point of these type of articles isn’t to provide a factual answer it’s to provoke a discussion of an issue, which is can be fun to talk about. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/30 "2009-08-02T20:34:49Z")
21.Electric Cars Have Been Around Since the 1880s Yes, however only recently have they approached the speed, performance and cost of gasoline powered cars. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/31 "2009-08-02T20:44:36Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > If the lists of “wacky laws” is any indication, no one checks. Most of those laws don’t exist! > > But back to the OP. I suspect that in many of these claims, they are actually true and not as strange once you see why. Take for example > > I don’t know if that’s true or not, but during the 1973 \*Roe v Wade \*arguments, Sarah Weddington noted that the 1800’s law banning abortions in Texas was done to protect women since abortions were so dangerous. In fact, she points out that under that law, an abortion was considered a crime against the woman. [Alice Paul](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Paul#Equal_Rights_Amendment)’s views on abortion aren’t exactly clear. She seemed to disapprove of abortion personally, but also didn’t consider it her business to decide for other women. [Margaret Sanger](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger#Eugenics_and_euthanasia) was in to eugenics, but felt that parents rather than the state should decide how to do this (unless they were “feebleminded” in which they were to be sterilized). She was much less radical than others of her time (for instance she opposed euthanasia of the “unfit”. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/32 "2009-08-02T21:20:57Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > 1. Kent State Wasn’t the Only ? or Even the First ? Massacre of College Students During the Vietnam Era > > Wouldn’t other massacres have been similarly huge news? You might think so, but they weren’t as covered nearly as much as Kent State. However, the statement in the OP is somewhat misleading, since although the first one occurred during the “Vietnam era” it was not about the war. The [Orangeburg massacre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangeburg_massacre) occurred two years before Kent State. > [@](#): > > The shootings at Orangeburg predated the Kent State shootings and Jackson State killings. This was the first incident of its kind on a United States university campus. The Orangeburg Massacre received relatively little media coverage. > > Historian Jack Bass attributed the discrepancy in media coverage, compared to that for later events, to the fact that the victims at Orangeburg were young black men protesting local segregation. In addition, the shootings at Orangeburg happened at night, when media coverage was less. At Kent State, in contrast, the victims were young whites protesting an increasingly unpopular and highly politicized U.S. war in Vietnam. They were attacked by members of the National Guard, which the media may have judged a more inflammatory aspect of the shootings. Other analysts have noted that later events in 1968, such as the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and candidate Robert Kennedy, overshadowed the events at Orangeburg.[3]. The [Jackson State killings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_State_killings) occurred 10 days after Kent State. As in the case of Orangeburg, some attribute the lesser media coverage to the fact that the victims were black. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/33 "2009-08-02T21:25:23Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > So? Most doctors wouldn’t know how to fix a CAT scan machine, either. That isn’t their job. Knowing how much radiation their patients are being exposed to is certainly part of their job. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/34 "2009-08-02T22:46:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Knowing how much radiation their patients are being exposed to is certainly part of their job. If they’re radiologists, sure. But most doctors aren’t radiologists. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/35 "2009-08-02T23:01:50Z")
Apart from the half-truths, fractional truths, unprovables and flat-out nitwittery, the major problem with the list is that favorite meme of the woo-prone and conspiracy-minded, i.e. _“things you are not supposed to know”_. Virtually nothing on the list can honestly be viewed as such, or less how would the idiots who spout that stuff come across the information? We’re supposed to believe they’re so much more intelligent and perceptive than the rest of us? Among the more ludicrous allegations: we’re not supposed to know that smoking causes more problems than cancer and heart disease. What hole do they assume we’re living in, not to have heard of conditions like chronic bronchitis and emphysema? Was the Surgeon General’s announcement of the disorders caused by secondhand smoke made in secret, so that we wouldn’t learn that secondhand smoke causes asthma, lower respiratory tract infections and premature death in children? Somebody better tell the national news media and Google that they’re doing a lousy job suppressing this information. And “advertisers’ influence on the news media is widespread”. Nooooo! Say it isn’t so!!! Those little movies they show between entertainment program segments aren’t public service announcements to help us choose non-disintegrating toilet paper and cheap car insurance? They **pay** the media to let them say those things? My faith in mankind has been shattered. ☹ The “Louis Pasteur suppressed experiments” thing sounds like the blattings of those loon-tunes who also claim (falsely) that Pasteur confessed on his deathbed that the germ theory of disease was wrong. You’ll have to excuse me now, I’m going to fill my gas tank with water, put in a little pill and go 500 miles on a single tank. I’d say more, but **YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW!!!** ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/36 "2009-08-02T23:35:19Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Don’t they do a lot of wire tapping? Maybe each tapped phone call is considered a separate crime or something like that. That would be the NSA. And it’s hard to consider what they do as “criminal”-- between the FISA court for domestic cases, and the obvious legal loopholes for international communications, calling it a crime is a political argument, not a legal one. Now, that doesn’t mean the _politics_ of it aren’t debatable/objectionable, but that’s a whole 'nuther thread. . . ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/37 "2009-08-02T23:37:49Z")
Let me address #27, which I have personal experience of. Of course, I haven’t read all of any paper I cite (excepting, I guess, my own). Who could? Generally I cite a paper either because I need one fact from it or else because the referee believes that I should. I have several citations that say that what I have done is different from what X (often the referee, I am guessing) has done. This way, X gets a citation and I get a paper published. I recently had the experience of helping translate a 100+ page paper from French that I had cited a number of times in my work. I discovered that I had not read the paper before in its entirety, had no real idea that what I had cited was a small part of a very large theory and there were large parts of it I was not able to follow. So I would agree with the claim, but so what? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/38 "2009-08-03T00:14:51Z")
“Not supposed to know” implies someone is or was actively covering them up. I’d say most of them are simply obscure trivia that are not common knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/39 "2009-08-03T00:17:57Z")
> [@astro](#): > > 16.Adolph Hitler’s Blood Relatives Are Alive and Well in New York State That may be, but why is anyone interested in them? **Adolf** Hitler – with an F – was the infamous one. _Adolph_ is just a lousy homophone. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065/40 "2009-08-03T00:29:14Z")
I take issue with this one: 1. “50 things you are not supposed to know.” This is incorrect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-50-things-you-are-not-supposed-to-know-has-anyone-fact-checked-these-claims/505065.md?page=3)