Wow. You have just fought my ignorance on this. Grandma and Grandpa told me this 30 years ago and I believed it until now. Thanks for setting me straight.
Wiki: The observation that old windows are often thicker at the bottom than at the top is often offered as supporting evidence for the view that glass flows over a matter of centuries. It is then assumed that the glass was once uniform, but has flowed to its new shape, which is a property of liquid. The likely source of this unfounded belief is that when panes of glass were commonly made by glassblowers, the technique used was to spin molten glass so as to create a round, mostly flat and even plate (the Crown glass process, described above). This plate was then cut to fit a window. The pieces were not, however, absolutely flat; the edges of the disk would be thicker because of centripetal force relaxation. When actually installed in a window frame, the glass would be placed thicker side down for the sake of stability and visual sparkle.[22] Occasionally such glass has been found thinner side down or on either side of the window’s edge, as would be caused by carelessness at the time of installation.
Regarding deadly fans at night, is there any truth to that at all? I remember hearing that sometime around the late 80s or early 90s, that you could get some sort of thermia and die in your sleep. I remember being just concerned enough that I felt a certain thrill of living life on the edge and having cool summer nights. Yeah, I’m a wild man.
It’s almost certain that certain stores encouraged the rumor by exchanging, but Tootsie never ran it as a promotion. And I always heard the legend as a 1:1 exchange
Most of the hidden images in Disney DO exist, but the description of them as hidden by sneaky animators is unknown or mischaracterized. I have seen what looks like “SEX” hidden in dust in “The Lion King” with my own eyes, but the animators claim that it really says “SFX” which is quite plausible, if only because they would probably put something much more profane in than the rather clinical term.
Maybe, but I didn’t hear it again. There were national news stories & denials the previous times. P&G even got Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell & Billy Graham to defend them then.
No. There is no way that a fan, in what is presumably warm enough weather to NEED a fan, could cause hypothermia. If it’s cold enough to die of hypothermia, you’d do so just fine without a fan helping.
Other theories exist for “fan death,” as well, including the fan somehow “using up” all the oxygen in a room (do these people live in air-tight houses? ), the fans producing “toxic” chemicals (at least this one is almost based in reality…yes, ozone maybe be produced by a fan, but not anywhere near the levels needed to cause harm,) etc…
They’re all bunk, and I’m disgusted that DOCTORS, of all people, are buying into it and touting it as fact (though I do know not every Korean or Japanese believes in fan death, and I applaud the ones that are trying to debunk it, but it seems like a VERY uphill battle for them.)
When I was a kid I tried a few times at night to sleep with a fan blowing directly on my head from a couple feet away.
The only thing it did was cause me to wake up with a stiff neck the next day.
While I was reading this thread, someone posted the glitter/gynecologist UL on a Yahoo group I belong to. Fortunately, it was told as a joke, not a true occurrence, so I didn’t feel obliged to debunk it.
That the Chinese character for crisis is made up of opportunity & danger. Sorry guys, but language doesn’t work like that (it’s equally logical to think that the English word ‘offend’ is made up of off & end)
I heard the gerbil myth in the early 80s before Gere was a household name. The versions that I heard involved a local TV newscaster in a nearby city. Different city each time. Reported by the teller’s cousin’s girlfriend’s hairdresser’s brother-in-law’s dental hygenist. Who just happened to be in the ER when it happened. :rolleyes:
To the OP - I don’t get too many ULs any more. I think I’ve scared my e-pals from sending me them with my shameless reply-all Snopes responses. Sorry I kept embarrassing you there, Dad, but you’re the one who taught me the value of truth.
Edited to add: My Dad was at a business rah-rah meeting when the speaker said “Pygmies Don’t Hunt Elephants!”. Um, sorry, said my Dad, they do. They wound the elephant and run him down. I can’t find a cite in the edit window, but my Dad’s idea is credible (this time).
Makes me wake up with a horrifically dried out throat and eyeballs, so I’m crawling across my bedroom floor going: “Agua… Agua…” (Well, okay that last part might be memories of old Sesame Street episodes, but still, I wake up parched!)
What’s the significance of Pygmies not hunting elephants? Is it some sort of business metaphor?
What gets me about the Nova UL is that it’s mostly told by businesses to demonstrate that they do their research. I have a standing policy to not give my money to businesses that tell it.
<motivational speaker>To do big things, you have to be be big. You can’t think small, people! C’mon, who’s with me! We’re going to be great!</motivational speaker>
Um, 'kay. Sure.
Wait, here’s an idea. Instead of my company paying you money it doesn’t have to spew glurge to an auditorium full of employees in a MANDATORY meeting :rolleyes:, how about we not spend anything extra and us employees go back to our desks and DO OUR JOBS!!! That would be great! Go ahead and let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, and the assistant vice-president for stupidity that hired you.
Has anybody mentioned “forward this email to everyone you know and you’ll get $100 for each person you forward it to from Bill Gates/Disney/Pepsico”? I’m not sure if that counts as an urban legend or just a chain letter, but I still get it every now and then.
It’s almost always preceded by the sender saying something like “I know this is probably crap, but it doesn’t hurt to try, right?”. :rolleyes:
To college student:
So, the liberry is sinking you say? Because (insert famous architect here) forgot to include the weight of the books? Wow… so, what are you going to do with your degree?
I can set my watch by the woman in the office who sends those out. Not just promises of money, but glurgy stories, inspirational stupidity, calls for atheists to sit down and shut up, and off-color jokes.
One of the last ones she sent complained about forwarded e-mail and how ineffective it is. At the end, of course, was the call to forward it to everyone you know.
), the fans producing “toxic” chemicals (at least this one is almost based in reality…yes, ozone maybe be produced by a fan, but not anywhere near the levels needed to cause harm,) etc…