# The SDMB quasi-exhaustive compendium of non-factual information **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134 "2013-05-12T06:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/21 "2013-05-14T15:10:22Z")
Submarine sandwiches don’t actually taste all that great if eaten underwater. Not even if you use extra mayo. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/22 "2013-05-14T23:03:15Z")
Although he’s firmly associated with them in the popular imagination, Nikola Tesla only experimented with death rays once, for 20 minutes, in 1923. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/23 "2013-05-15T00:07:01Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > … > The number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin is precisely divisible by pi. Of course the exact value of neither is known nor likely knowable, however if they were, there is no doubt this would be true. … That number is wisserteen squared. Wisserteen, an integer between 15 and 16 (except the metric wisserteen which is slightly less than 6 and more than 7). Wisserteen is one of the so called “gosh” numbers, used in many fields including [theoretical mathematics](http://boardstest.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15889828&postcount=19) and [chemistry](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15431375&postcount=107), [astrophysics](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15495793&postcount=210), [cartography](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15455767&postcount=157), and [European history](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15467231&postcount=166). Rwcently, though, [wisserteen has been demoted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15495821&postcount=211). ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/24 "2013-05-15T00:12:46Z")
First Lady Michelle Obama is secretly a Level 64 player at World of Warcraft. She plays a Pandaren Warlock. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/25 "2013-05-15T02:29:57Z")
All apple pies currently eaten in the USA share the same DNA. This can be traced to a fossilized pie found in George Washington’s estate in Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/26 "2013-05-15T03:33:38Z")
The alien aircraft at Roswell was supposed to take the interstellar route, through the Bermuda Triangle, but the pilot was distracted by a starfish called Michael. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/27 "2013-05-15T04:53:43Z")
Alphonse Dupard constructed a functional flying machine at least a decade before the Wright Brothers. However, he died before his first test flight, and the machine sat forgotten in a barn in Brittany for almost three decades. When it finally made its first flight in 1923, Dupard’s machine traveled almost a quarter mile under its own power. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/28 "2013-05-15T05:42:24Z")
Guinea pigs are not, of course, closely related to pigs. They are actually members of the meerkat family (Procaviidae). A cat’s purr does not echo. It’s a common misconception that horses sleep standing up. They actually sleep lying on their backs, with all four hooves in the air. The beagle’s sense of smell is so keen that NASA employs them to “sniff” certain space probes to ensure that they have been completely sterilized and will therefore not accidentally contaminate places like Mars with terrestrial bacteria or other organisms. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/29 "2013-05-15T08:47:16Z")
The rare ebony “Comstock Brush Panther” are all direct decendants of Mark Twain’s house-cat he kept during his time in Virginia City, Nevada. _Way_ ahead of Hemingway. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/30 "2013-05-15T11:19:57Z")
> [@TheFaerie](#): > > Would I be a bad person if I reposted this on my FB wall to see who believes it? I am well known among my friends as the one who likes to ruin their fun with Snopes rebuttals. They’d never see it coming. Many of my friends like to imbibe… I’d dare you, but what if it turned out I’m right??? :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/31 "2013-05-15T12:37:56Z")
Strange quarks, discovered in cosmic ray experiments in 1948 and originally called “lambda particles” last longer than other quarks. If strange quarks are encountered with cosmic rays in sufficient quantity outside a planetary atmosphere, biological units are transformed into the very living avatars of chaos!!! Or the Fantastic Four, your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/32 "2013-05-15T12:53:32Z")
Victor Hugo was once bet that he couldn’t write a story using less than 100 different words. He took that bet, and wrote _Les Misérables_. (Hugo was never a very good gambler). ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134/33 "2013-05-15T13:11:27Z")
6 \* 7 = 42 (2 digits) 67 + 2 = 69 This is how 42 was really determined to be the answer to everything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-quasi-exhaustive-compendium-of-non-factual-information/658134.md?page=1)