Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on June 27, 2008 by CyberNet.

Fun Friday

You’ve seen that show MythBusters before, haven’t you? If you haven’t, you’re missing out. It’s a show on the Discovery Channel that focuses on “busting” myths. They take a variety of rumors, popular beliefs, and urban legends, and then put them to the test to see if they’re really facts, or just myths. Today we thought we’d pay tribute to one of our favorite shows and share some popular myths with you. We’ll also include a few quotes from Jamie and Adam (co-hosts of the show, in case you didn’t know).

For those of you that watch, you must have a favorite episode. Let us know which one it is in the comments below. For us, one of our favorites is the “Fingerprints Lock episode” – take a look:

Rumors, Popular Beliefs, and Urban Legends Put to the test…

Are these Fact or Myth?

1. Many churches have banned rice-throwing at weddings because the little white pellets expand in the stomachs of birds that eat it off the ground, causing them to explode. (Busted) – some churches ban throwing rice because of the threat it poses to humans walking on a littered surface.
2. A farmer thought he was just putting dinner on the table when he picked up an ax and beheaded one of his chickens. Turned out he had a legend on his hands after the now headless rooster bobbed and weaved back to the henhouse and lived for 18 more months without a head. (Confirmed) – according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
3. Eating turkey makes you sleepy (Busted) – it’s usually the big and heavy thanksgiving diner that causes one to become sleepy.
4. Hostess Twinkies never go bad. They have an indefinite shelf life. (Busted) – A twinkies’ actual shelf life is about 25 days, not years.
5. Coca-Cola originally contained cocaine. (Confirmed) – That’s how it got its name! By 1929, the popular beverage was completely cocaine-free though.
6. If you go swimming less than an hour after eating, you will get stomach cramps and drown. (Busted) – there are no reported cases of drowning after swimming with a full stomach.
7. Eating poppy seeds can cause you to fail a drug test – (Confirmed)
8. The poinsettia plant is highly toxic and can kill a person or pet that eats the leaves. (Busted) – this is just a rumor. The worst that could happen is you’d get an upset stomach from eating the plant.
9. In anticipation of an upcoming wedding, one bridesmaid circumvented time limits on tanning sessions by visiting multiple salons a day over a period of several weeks. When she began to feel unwell, she went to the doctor only to find out that she had cooked her internal organs. (Busted) – tanning lamps emit ultraviolet light waves, and ultraviolet radiation only penetrates one-sixteenth of an inch into your skin — not nearly enough to affect internal organs.
10. A few years ago, a young man was killed by his own pet python, who mistook his owner for food. (Confirmed) – In 1996, a New York man died after his pet python wrapped itself around him.
11. The $2 bill was taken out of circulation in 1976 (Busted) – $2 bills are still being printed – over 121 million of them were printed in 2004.
12. A penny placed on a train track can derail a train. (Busted) – there have been no documented cases of a trail being derailed due to a penny on the tracks.
13. If you sit too close to the TV, you will ruin your eyes. (Busted) – your eyes may get tired from sitting too close, but you won’t have permanent damage.
14. The actor who portrayed the “Marlboro Man” in TV and print ads for cigarettes died of lung cancer. (Confirmed) – to date, at least two men portrayed as the “Marlboro Man” have died from lung cancer.
15. Boiling a cup of water in a microwave can cause it to explode. (Confirmed) – Only under certain circumstances, but it happened enough that the FDA issued a warning regarding it.

Great quotes from Mythbusters…

• Adam – “I reject your reality, and substitute my own”
• Tory – “Holy air cannon, Grantman!” Grant: “How long’ve you been waiting to say that? Tory: All day.
• Adam (goldfish memory episode): “My fish are eating their own poo.”
• Adam and Jamie – “Remember, don’t try this at home. We’re what you call “experts.”
• Adam to Jamie – “Come, Silent Walrus, let us storm the castle!”
• Adam (after something explodes) – “THAT’S what I’m talking about!”
• Jamie – “Adam, go eat a cookie.”
• Adam – “So you may think that nothing’s going to happen and come close to the fire, and then BOOM, your head’s engulfed in a fireball, and the next thing you know you’re missing an eyebrow, and I know what that’s like.”

Please Note: All of the above information came from the Mythbusters section on the Discovery Channel website which can be found here.

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