03/22/2024
If my Windows Desktop were an actual desk, it would be overflowing with papers, tiny toys, weird graphics and jokes scribbled on the backs of napkins and receipts. Sometimes I randomly click on the things that are cluttering my desktop, just to amuse myself. I clicked on this earlier today:
STUFF YOU THOUGHT EXISTED, BUT DOESN'T AND NEVER DID:
1. Horns on Viking Helmets: Only one complete Viking helmet has ever been found, and it had no horns. Neither do any of the fragments that have ever been recovered. Most likely, the idea of horns on Viking helmets came about during the Romanticism period of literature in the 1800s.
2. Cow-tipping: No matter how many stories you've heard, a study in 2005 concluded that cow-tipping does not, and has never, existed. Cows don't sleep standing up. They can also be aggressive when threatened. The force required to tip a cow is over 650lbs...and that's if the cow is not resisting. Also, there is not a single cow-tipping video on YouTube. If anyone had actually done it, say researchers, surely a video would have hit YouTube.
3. Pee-activated Pool Dye: Great idea for bad movies, and to trick your kids into not relieving themselves in the pool...but there is no such thing as urine-activated dye.
4. Betty Crocker: Ms. Crocker was the creation of Marjorie Husted in the 1920s for the Washburn Crosby Company. "Betty" was considered wholesome and relatable...Crocker was the last name of one of the company's directors. "Betty" was voiced on radio by Agnes White, and portrayed on TV by Adelaide Hawley Cummings.
5. The Trojan Horse: Nope. Entirely created by Homer in his poems about the epic Trojan War...which also probably never happened. There might have been a general conflict which spurred the stories...but all of the detail is pure fiction.
6. Truth Serum: In the movies a compound called sodium thiopental is used to extract the truth from international spies or horrible criminals. The brand name for this "truth serum", from Abbott Labs, is Sodium Pentathol. Sodium Pentathol actually exists, and it will lower your inhibitions and create hallucinations. Unfortunately, researchers say people under the influence of Sodium Pentathol jabber incessantly to the point it's impossible to know what's truth and what's hallucination.
7. George Washington's Wooden Teeth: Although Washington had horrible dental health issues, he never had wooden dentures. The day he was inaugurated as President, he only had one real tooth left in his head. His dentures over the years were made from metals, animal teeth...even the teeth of African American slaves. The only set of Washington's dentures still in existence is on display at Mt. Vernon...and there's no wood in them anywhere.
8. The Five Senses: Sure, we do have the "big five"...sight, hearing, taste touch and smell but that's not all. In addition to those, neurologists include several others. The list varies, from as few as 9 senses, to as many as 21. The additional senses include things like pressure (as in barometric), temperature, pain, hunger, time, balance and sensing movement.
9. The Tongue "Taste Map": This one has been taught in school for decades...but it is WAY off. The "taste map" shows areas of the tongue that are more sensitive to sweet, salty, sour or bitter. The concept was mis-translated from a 1901 German paper. A Harvard psychologist translated the work and just got it wrong. Every part of the tongue can taste everything equally...including the savory taste called "umami".
10. Blind Bats: Surely you've heard the phrase "blind as a bat." Not only are bats NOT blind, many of them can see up to three times better than humans. Bats were originally believed to be blind because they don't have any cone receptors in their retinas. Cones are used by mammals to see in daylight. Without cones, bats can see more accurately in the dark...but recent research also indicates they can see in daylight.
11. King Arthur: Arthur, and his Knights of the Round Table, is all legend and story. Anything you've ever seen or read about King Arthur was created from legend. His name was found in texts referring to battles in the 6th century...but those mentions appear to have been added hundreds of years later. There is no definitive evidence of a King named Arthur in any major historic text from 400A.D. until 800A.D.
