Tag: Facts
13 Things You Think Are True, But Aren’t
Enjoy!
We’ve been seeing an awful lot of “let’s debunk these wacky false claims!” videos lately — but even though there have been so many of them, I still haven’t gotten sick of them yet. Case in point: College Humor’s latest video, “13 Things You Think Are True But Aren’t.” Hosted by comedian Adam Conover (who you might remember from our exploration of the engagement ring back in February), it highlights 13 random facts and tidbits most of us have grown up thinking are true… and then totally disproves them. Sorry if you really, really wanted to believe that the flush toilet was invented by someone named Thomas Crapper; it wasn’t. Flushed with Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper is understood to be a complete fabrication.
The big picture question, though, is this: Why do we love believing these kinds of “facts,” even though they’re not true? Conover’s theory chalks it up to the fact that they all tell good stories. We get a kick out of, say, thinking that Albert Einstein sucking at high school math; it both makes him relatable and adds to his legend at the same time. Sometimes, though, the real story is way better than the fictional one, so it pays to dig far down enough to find out the truth.
Now I Know Of The Day: The Blue Part Of The Eraser
No, the blue part of the eraser is not for erasing pen ink.
We’re used to thinking that the blue part of the red-blue eraser is used for erasing pen ink. We even tell our children that when they ask us.
But has it ever worked? Didn’t we all end up with torn pages after a vigorous attempt of trying to erase whatever we wrote down using a pen?
The blue part of the eraser is used for erasing pencil marks on grainy art paper, hence the rough and grainy texture of the eraser. It would require you to use more force to erase something written on these rough paper if you’re using a normal eraser (the pink part). The bue eraser makes the task easier.
Not sure where the logic of erasing pen ink came from, but at least now you can stop damaging the pages of your exercise books now.
23 Facts About U.S. Cash
Mental Floss List Show host John Green shares a few interesting facts about United States money.
Enjoy!
A weekly show where knowledge junkies get their fix of trivia-tastic information. This week, John discusses United States money!
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