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Friday Follies and Fun Facts: MythBusting Fallacies

Friday, January 29, 2010

It's Friday Smackers!  I know you all look forward to the useless bits of information I pass along on Fridays.  Several have asked me where all the information comes from so I thought I would share.  I read.  A LOT.  I retain about 85-90% of what I read.  If the info is interesting more times than not I can recite it word for word.  If it's eh...mediocre, not so much.  Many of the books I read, I could put down, for weeks, months or  even years.  When I decide to pick it back up, I can tell you the page I left off and pick right where I left off.....

I have had many people insist that they would love to have a photographic memory.  Trust me, it's not as cool as you might think.  While sometimes it can be convenient to have the ability to recall insidious yet often extraneous bits of information, with the good always comes the bad.  For every light there is dark.  When you turn the lights out to go to sleep, and desultory information starts flashing, in fast forward?  There is. no. off. switch.  So yeah, occasionally useful, but mostly unsought.

In addition, when I have a theme idea for Friday I will do a bit of research, from books, internet search, etc...

Anyfactoid, let's get started.  In the words of one of my favorite authors Mark Twain:
~A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes~

We often assume that information is true simply because it has been stated repeatedly.  Passed down from generation to generation.  However many of those tidbits are misconceptions and just plain falsehoods.


Ducks are never male. The males of the species are called drakes.

Chastity belts were not originally imposed to keep people from having sex. They were intended to keep youngsters, of both sexes, from masturbating.

Ninjas, historically, didn't wear black. For nighttime operations, they wore dark blues, dark grays, and browns.

Bats are not blind. Most bat species do use echo location to augment their vision, however,  all bats have eyes and are capable of sight.

Already that's it for the trivia today.  I have had a bunch of requests for more Movie Trivia, therefore, next Friday's FFF will be Movie Quote Trivia.  I will post the answers on Saturday.

Happy Friday!  As always, I leave ya with LOVE!

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had no idea about the chastity belts... I'll be passing that one on today! ;0)

Alicia said...

BWAHAHAAA!! for real on the chastity belts??? that's nuts! LITERALLY! ha! have a good day lady! i'm sure i'll be chattin' with ya :) MUAH!

ScoMan said...

It's true that falsehoods spread so quickly.

That's why I live by a very simple creed.

Believe none of what you hear
Half of what you read
And everything I tell you.

Dual Mom said...

A photographic memory...that explains everything Zgirl!!! lol

It's actually scary....no wonder you never sleep.

Anonymous said...

If my mother knew what chastitiy belts were good for I would have got one for my 13th birthday!

Unknown said...

lmbo@secretia's reply. Being from the country Iknew about the drake/duck thing. LIke you I know a lot of sometimes useless facts. I also love books and do the same thing only I have to finish them or I go nuts. It is nothing for me to have 2 books going at the same time. One for bathtub reading the other for bedtime reading lol.

Lee said...

I want to marry you..did you know that??

Unknown said...

Interesting about the chastity belts! Love all these factoids! And I'm gonna suck (again) at your movie trivia. Oh well!

Moooooog35 said...

I have a pornographic memory.

WAY better.

Kat said...

I have one of those memories...it is haunting! I love your factoids!

June said...

Thanks for the factoids B!

Somewhere is this messed up world, some asshat is probably selling Chasity Belts.

Ducky said...

....so....people aren't gonna believe me now when I say I carry my brass balls in my purse (its a Coach, it can handle it) all because of your fun little factoid.

I'm thinking a Thankyoufuckingverymuch note will be in order for you next week.

And in totally unrealted news, I learned this week that grasshoppers have ears on their legs. That would be kind of awkward you know, if you were having trouble hearing someone and the trouble was in the ear way high up on your inner thigh....WHATS THAT YOU SAY? I can't hear you! Please, do come closer and speak directly into my ear....

Ed said...

I've had a photographic memory my whole life.

As I've gotten older, the photos are starting to be more like underdeveloped polaroids.

Travis said...

I don't know that a chastity belt would ever keep me from masturbating. I think I'd wind up hitting that thing with a Playboy until I needed a new chastity belt.

That's real.

Corrie Howe said...

Love the Mark Twain quote. And I love the comments too. Mooog's pornagraphic memory, Daffy's grasshopper factoid....

I can relate. I think this is why Jonathan doesn't sleep, his mind never stops.

KristinFilut said...

I never knew that about the duck species...

B-Dub said...

High school would have been way more boring with a chastity belt. Ug.

Danielle said...

I am so jealous of your photographic memory. You rock!

Mammatalk said...

A photographic memory? Too cool.

Do you have my blog archives memorized? Nice to know I have it backed up somewhere!

Anonymous said...

I did actually know that about the chastity belts! Whoo hoo. I feel smart now that I knew one! lol

Meeko Fabulous said...

I always look forward to these! :) Chastity belts, huh? LOL!

Laura said...

I actually knew all of these except the Ninja one. My memory stores a ton of useless information as well.

Tracie said...

My son has an awesome memory for every wrong that was ever done to him. He's 10 and still bitching about things that happened when he was 3 years old. I wonder if a good smack to the head would knock it out of him?

Lothiriel said...

These are fun and interesting!
I would suck if I wasn't able to masturbate. :-/

Christine said...

Who knew??? Wow...thos chastity belts..that's somethin' else right there.

Anonymous said...

i can see how that would be both a curse and a blessing. what if you read erroneous information...? then that would be trapped in your mind, wouldn't it? do you suffer from insomnia? when did you first notice your gift/affliction?

Busted Kate said...

Ninja's don't wear BLACK?!?

This is such bullshit! I can't believe I've been lied to all these years.

Now what the hell am I supposed to do with all these spare ninja outfits I keep stashed around my house, office, car, and Costco restroom?

Tamara Dawn said...

Anyone can dry hump anything if they try hard enough...lol

Heather said...

OMG! Daffy Duck is a girl!

SurferWife said...

So, you're telling me that you can recite my blog word for word?! hehe

I had heard about that chastity belt origination somewhere else also. Good Times.

Meg said...

I can hear parents everywhere starting their cars as they head out to buy chastity belts under the new rule of preventing masturbation.

Me-Me King said...

Very interesting. I love these tidbits of trivia.

Liz Mays said...

omg, chastity belts??? Who knew?? And the ducks? I'm learning here! But unlike you, I forget everything nearly instantaneously.

gayle said...

I feel so dumb....I knew none of those!! You are so smart!!

MikeWJ at Too Many Mornings said...

Got turned on to your blog my Me-Me. Good stuff.

I'm fascinated by your photographic memory. I can see how it would helpful and troublesome. I have what I'll call photographic intuition coupled with synchronicity, which means I have a knack for remembering bits of inexact facts that are tied together in a timely way. I have to search for the actual facts sometimes, but the connections are made for me.

Now that I read what I just wrote, I realize it sounds like total bullshit. I hope you lie awake at night thinking about what an idiot I am.

Kate said...

Damn can't believe the chastity belts! Can you imagine the mess inthe morning on the teenage boys sheets though?

Kate xx