# Worse than useless "facts"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 19, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167 "2016-12-19T18:40:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/1 "2016-12-19T18:40:00Z")
I don’t know what reminded me of this, but I read once that a single ladybug egg, injected into a cat, will kill the cat. On the one hand, I wonder if it’s true, then I wonder what the hell kind of experiment would lead to such a finding. Like, did they start off injecting a larger quantity of eggs (for god knows what reason) and then keep killing cats until they got down to one? Guess I don’t understand science.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/2 "2016-12-19T20:50:46Z")
This factoid is included in the book “Did You Know That…” by Marko Perko, and who credits it to Lady Miriam Rothschild (yes, one of those Rothschilds), an amateur naturalist of some note (to put it mildly). Given her opinions on animal cruelty, such an experiment seems unlikely. If she did, in fact, comment thus on the toxicity of coccinellid eggs, it’s most likely that she calculated the effect rather than observing it.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/3 "2016-12-20T05:01:19Z")
Way back when we were training to handle hydrazine, the course material included the statement that “a single drop on the skin of a laboratory animal will cause death within seconds”.
The training materiel was provided by the US Air Force (Hydrazine is a storeable propellant) so we assumed it was tested in just such a manner.
Dennis T
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/4 "2016-12-20T10:18:51Z")
This question of “How did they discover that?” came to mind when I heard about Indian mushrooms that had hallucinogenic qualities when used as a suppository. "Hey, guys, I got a great idea. Let’s . . . "
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### Author:  [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/5 "2016-12-20T11:26:09Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> Way back when we were training to handle hydrazine, the course material included the statement that “a single drop on the skin of a laboratory animal will cause death within seconds”.
>
> The training materiel was provided by the US Air Force (Hydrazine is a storeable propellant) so we assumed it was tested in just such a manner.
>
> Dennis T
They just didn’t tell you who those laboratory animals were.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/6 "2016-12-20T13:14:42Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> Way back when we were training to handle hydrazine, the course material included the statement that “a single drop on the skin of a laboratory animal will cause death within seconds”.
Which seems like a bit of hyperbole. OTOH, a single drop of [dimethyl mercury will cause death within one year.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn) IOW, there really are some scary-ass chemicals out there.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/7 "2016-12-20T14:01:06Z")
On the flipp side. Remote tribe so and so does 15 strange things to the bora bulla root to make it edible. In its natural state it is deadly.
One wonders how they figured this out.
I must say the fact that Pluto is or is not a planet has not been particularly useful to me as of late.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/8 "2016-12-20T14:33:44Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> On the flipp side. Remote tribe so and so does 15 strange things to the bora bulla root to make it edible. In its natural state it is deadly.
>
> One wonders how they figured this out.
[Cassava root comes to mind.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava#Food_use.2C_processing_and_toxicity) At least people can talk to each other and think about what they did or didn’t do to their food when the got sick. I’m more impressed that [monkeys figured out to eat charcoal to keep from getting sick.](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1997/09/970901072246.htm)
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/9 "2016-12-20T15:01:45Z")
This reminds me of the “fact” I’ve heard that cyanide tastes like almonds.
I’ve heard this numerous times, and it always brings up this nightmare image of someone administering a dose to someone else and saying “Quick! What’s it taste like? Oh, damn, he’s dead. Bring in the next one…”
It’s not like you can give it to a (nonhuman) lab rat and find out.
Of course, the real answer is less dramatic – you can tell what the taste is from a far-from-lethal dose
> **[What is the taste of cyanide?](https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-taste-of-cyanide)**
>
> Answer (1 of 26): IT IS HIGHLY TOXIC SO DO NOT EVEN TRY TO TASTE, SMELL OR TOUCH IT!
>
> NOW THE ANSWER,
>
> Cyanide smells like bitter almonds. However not everyone can judge the smell of cyanide as it is a genetic trait to smell cyanide. The taste of...
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/10 "2016-12-20T15:35:53Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> This question of “How did they discover that?” came to mind when I heard about Indian mushrooms that had hallucinogenic qualities when used as a suppository. "Hey, guys, I got a great idea. Let’s . . . "
Similar to the tale of some tribe, who had a drug which would pass through the body unaltered, so they would drink the urine of a previous ingester. Waste not, want not!
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/11 "2016-12-20T16:14:43Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> On the flipp side. Remote tribe so and so does 15 strange things to the bora bulla root to make it edible. In its natural state it is deadly.
Tapioca. The story seems to be someone was starving and lost in the jungle and decided to end it all by eating the root. He cooked it first, though, which broke down the poison and made it harmless.
Many of the entries in the IMDB trivia are useless facts: Amy Adams’s middle name is Lou, which stands for Louis or Louise. She played Lois in “Man of Steel” and “Batman V Superman”, and Louise in “Arrival”.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/12 "2016-12-20T16:21:36Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> On the flipp side. Remote tribe so and so does 15 strange things to the bora bulla root to make it edible.
Will #6 shock me?
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/13 "2016-12-20T16:44:24Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> Will #6 shock me?
Not only that..you’ll find out the guy who discovered it lives in your very same zipcode.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/14 "2016-12-20T16:45:37Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> Will #6 shock me?
Not only that..you’ll find out the person who discovered it lives in your very same zipcode.
And it will either be an angry looking man or some woman along side a desert road slapping her forehead with mountains in the background and you live in middle Alabama.
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### Author:  [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/15 "2016-12-20T16:55:01Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> Similar to the tale of some tribe, who had a drug which would pass through the body unaltered, so they would drink the urine of a previous ingester. Waste not, want not!
I’ve sometimes regurgitated the ‘fact’ that north European shamen would feed Fly Agaric toadstools to their reindeer, and drink their hallucinogenic (but now less toxic) urine. Made me wonder how good a time the reindeer had out of this arrangement.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/16 "2016-12-20T17:44:09Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#):
>
> I’ve sometimes regurgitated the ‘fact’ that north European shamen would feed Fly Agaric toadstools to their reindeer, and drink their hallucinogenic (but now less toxic) urine. Made me wonder how good a time the reindeer had out of this arrangement.
I assume the reindeer at least got a good laugh out of it.
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### Author:  [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/17 "2016-12-20T17:51:34Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> Similar to the tale of some tribe, who had a drug which would pass through the body unaltered, so they would drink the urine of a previous ingester. Waste not, want not!
I believe that “some tribe” were the Norse warrior-class called, “Berserkers”.
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### Author:  [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/18 "2016-12-20T21:46:47Z")
I always wondered that with fugu- the pufferfish that’re deadly unless prepared juuust right. “Nonono, I’m sure part of it’s edible, just ignore that guy paralysed over there, I reckon I know what I did wrong!”
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/19 "2016-12-20T22:08:42Z")
Worse than useless fact: when you’re in a skid in a car, turn “into” the spin. I always interpreted that as _adding_ information, because _words mean things_, so why would they go to the bother of telling us to make sure to follow our instincts? So I assumed that when your car is spinning counterclockwise and its tip is pointing to the front, you should turn you wheel left, because that’s the direction of the slide, so that seems like it’s “into” the slide to me, in addition to feeling counterintuitive and thus more likely a “rule” that needed to be promulgated.
Thankfully, the one time I was in a spin, which happened to be on a mountain cliffside, I followed my instincts and thus did not go over the cliff!
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### Author:  [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worse-than-useless-facts/775167/20 "2016-12-20T22:47:29Z")
> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> Worse than useless fact: when you’re in a skid in a car, turn “into” the spin. I always interpreted that as _adding_ information, because _words mean things_, so why would they go to the bother of telling us to make sure to follow our instincts? So I assumed that when your car is spinning counterclockwise and its tip is pointing to the front, you should turn you wheel left, because that’s the direction of the slide, so that seems like it’s “into” the slide to me, in addition to feeling counterintuitive and thus more likely a “rule” that needed to be promulgated.
>
> Thankfully, the one time I was in a spin, which happened to be on a mountain cliffside, I followed my instincts and thus did not go over the cliff!
For most people, the instinct is to turn \*out \*of the spin. That is, if the car is spinning counterclockwise (front end of the car is rotating toward the driver’s left), most drivers will turn the wheel clockwise because that’s how you would restore the car to direct forward motion after a \*normal \*left turn.
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