In the “Your favorite historical mystery, legend, conspiracy theory…” thread, there is a link to the story of Kasper Hauser at a website called The UneXplained.
At this site, there is an “Amazing Facts” section. I’ve read through the “Human Beings”, “Creatures” and “Did You Know?” pages of this section. These pages are just lists of supposed facts. There is a disclaimer on each page…
Many of the supposed facts I’ve heard before. However, while many seems believable, I’m highly dubious of others. However, instead of researching all the “facts”, I’ve decided to share some of them with the SDMB and see what everyone here has to say. I’ll just list the ones that really made me tilt my head or just amused me. But, if anyone else checks out the website and sees some “facts” they feel the need to comment on, feel free.
From the “Human Beings” page…
"It is impossible to lick your elbow." [Okay. I know this one is not true. Jay Leno recently had a bunch of elbow-lickers on The Tonight Show. While not particularly useful or impressive (IMO), it can be done.]
***“People say “Bless you” when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a mili-second.”
“If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.”
“If you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out.”
“When you eat meat and drink milk in the same meal, your body does not absorb any of the milk’s calcium. It is best to have 2 hours between the milk and meat intake.”*** [I have a personal interest in this one.]
"Only humans and horses have hymens." [Interesting only because of the current zoophile thread on the board.]
***“It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.”
“The surface area of the lungs is roughly the same size as a tennis court.”
“95% of babies are born with blue eyes, although occasionally the color may change within a few moments of delivery.”***
From the “Creatures” page…
***“It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.”
“Turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining.”
“Elephants are the only animals that can’t jump.”
“Montana mountain goats will butt heads so hard their hooves can fall off!”
“The legbones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.”
“Killer whales kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark’s stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.”*** [Explode? Really? :dubious: ]
***“If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.”
“[Camels] do not sweat and their urine is solid crystal. People in the desert do not wash-up with water, they use sand to clean their dirty dishes.”
“Baby squirrels are called kittens.”*** [While I’ve never heard this one before, even if it’s true, it’s not right. Cats and squirrels are just too different to share a common word for their young, IMO. And I love all those interesting words used to describe the young of different animals, and groupings of different animals.]
***“The original name for the butterfly was ‘flutterby’!”
“Neither the emu or kangaroo can walk backwards. This is why they’re on the Australian Coat of Arms.”*** [Even if they can’t walk backwards, is that really the reason they’re on the Coat of Arms? Those crazy Aussies! 
]
***“Giraffes are the only animals born with horns.”
“A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.”
“Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.”
“Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.”
“Dolphins sleep with one eye open.”*** [Another little known fact that may explain this, is that dolphins have many ties with the mob. Don Delphinidae is a big fish in the underwaterworld. 
]
"… hummingbirds can’t walk!" [Maybe they can’t walk, but they do perch.]
And from the “Did You Know?” page…
"The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone." [Interesting if true!]
***“Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades-King David, Hearts-Charlemagne, Clubs-Alexander the Great, Diamonds-Julius Caesar.”
“If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.”*** [I’ve heard this before, but is it really true?]
***“Hershey’s Kisses are called that because the machine that make them looks like it’s kissing the conveyor belt.”
““60 Minutes”, the news program on CBS is the only TV show that doesn’t have a theme song.”
“The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.”***
"23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks." [I can believe this. 
]
"Between 1937 and 1945, Heinz produced a version of Alphabetti Spaghetti especially for the German market that consisted solely of little pasta swastikas." [Again, interesting if true!]
"Most people got married in June, because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, as time passed they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor."
Discuss…