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What did we do before there was the Internet? For one thing, we had to research anything we wanted to know about, the old fashion way, using books and the library. Nowadays, anyone who has a computer and is on line has access to the equivalent of every library on the planet.
Rarely can you not find something you are looking for once you get the hang of surfing the net. For some of us old dogs this little learning curve can be quite the new trick, but despite what I keep hearing from the pound, it is doable. It just takes a bit of time investment.
What this also means to any of us parents is that we have to be careful what we say to our kids. They are the truly savvy ones when it comes to the computer and the Internet. With a few clicks of their mouse they can find out if any of the old wives tales that we have been spouting off since they were infants are true or not.
The one place they can go, if they haven’t been there already, is a web site called LiveScience.com, a science information and news site that is really great. If your kids do check it out, they might be saying to you the same thing that The Firesign Theatre (who are referred to as The Beatles of Comedy) said to us back in 1974, “Everything You Know is Wrong”. Or at very least flawed.
The good folks at LiveScience have done us all the favor of dispelling, and in some instances confirming, some of the old wives tales and urban myths that have been floating around for years. I thought I would pass along some of them as a public service, but if you want their full list you will have to turn on your computer and do a little surfing.
Where to begin? I don’t know about you, but I was told for as long as I can remember not to swallow my gum. I was warned in no uncertain terms that if I did I would clog up my digestive system because it took seven years for gum to digest. Well that is completely wrong. While it may take a little longer than natural foods, it will be out of you in no time. According to doctors, this myth was probably concocted by some overprotective mom who didn’t like her kids swallowing their gum.
This next one I have heard increasingly since I have had kids. The famous “Five-Second” rule was treated as though it was the eleventh commandment, although I never quite bought into it. It is the rule that suggests that if you drop a piece of food, as long as you pick it up before five seconds have elapsed, it would be germ free and OK to eat. Now that I have scientific tests to back me up, I don’t have to rely strictly on my logic to tell me that it doesn’t matter how many seconds, one or a hundred, that once it hits the floor, it will have germs on it.
Talking about germs, every dog lover has recited the mantra “a dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s.” This is usually stated when their pooch has laid a big wet slobbery dog kiss (read lick) on an unsuspecting and unappreciative guest. According to scientists, the truth of the matter is that oral bacteria are too species specific, and that one can’t be considered to be cleaner than the other.
We can’t leave cat lovers out of the pet equation now can we? How about the claim that cats always land on their feet? This one here is in fact true when put to the test. Cats, when dropped from most heights, will indeed land on their feet. The key word here is “most”. Apparently the results of the test change when kitties are dropped from a height of a foot or less. Gee, I wish I still owned some cats so I could check that out.
Completing the pet mythology trifecta is the one about pets being able to predict natural disasters. Well Fido and Fluffy, along with the rest of the animal kingdom, do not possess any super powers that allow them to predict disasters. Their keen senses of smell, hearing, and their sharp instincts, usually freak them out so much during a disaster that they head for the hills, where they are usually the first casualties. So word up, don’t follow your pet’s lead during a natural disaster.
Without the benefit of the Internet, when I was kid, word of mouth was our Internet. This next one was lore, and should you want to research its validity, you couldn’t. All your friends knew it as gospel, and should you want to dispute it, you would be mocked as a fool. Why? Because everybody knew it. I am, of course, referring to the claim, or as it was known in my youth, the fact, that if you were to drop a penny off of the Empire State Building you could kill a pedestrian on the street below.
According to scientists, due to the penny’s un-aerodynamic shape and the wind friction it would encounter falling the 1250 feet from the top of the Empire State Building, this would never happen. The worse case scenario would be that an unsuspecting victim on the ground might get a little sting. Now that’s a bit of science that I can use, especially if I run in to those smart guys from grade school.
The Great Wall of China is the only man made object visible from space. How many times have I heard this one or some variation of it? Well that’s out and out bull. The only time you can see The Great Wall is at a low earth orbit. But at this same distance, you can also see the pyramids, some airport runways, and a few of the massive housing developments in the San Gabriel Valley. OK, I so made that last one up. Sue me.
Can a chicken live without its head? Yep, that one is definitely true. The chicken, not unlike many drivers in the SGV, doesn’t use its brain to get around. When a chicken is beheaded, many times the brain stem is left intact. The brain stem, not its brain, controls most of its reflexes. There is one documented report of one continuing to get around for a full 18 months. That’s the chicken, not a driver. The drivers can go for much longer.
Once the chickens die, one of the things they are most famous for is becoming chicken soup. As any mother will tell you chicken soup will cure a common cold. Again, the moms out there are stretching the truth, just a tad. Unlike the bit about swallowing the gum, which as we discussed is a flat out lie, there is a hint of truth to this chicken soup thing.
While it is not a “cure” there is scientific evidence to support the fact that there are benefits to eating it when you have a cold due to anti-inflammatory properties in its broth. So score one for mom.
The last one that I will mention, again if you want more of these go to LiveScience.com, is the myth about humans only using 10 percent of their brains. This has long been proved wrong by the frequent use of MRI machines used by doctors to x-ray the brain.
As a matter of fact, it has been shown that we use a majority of our brains even when we are sleeping. I would like them to use an MRI machine on some of the drivers in this area, because I still contend most of them aren’t using even 10 percent. Those of you who are using a majority of your brains know the ones that I am talking about.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a study done on running with scissors, but I think mom was right about that one, too.
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