A popular email circulating over the internet titled "So you think you
know everything" makes 45 claims of fact.  Maybe they're all true,
maybe not. Some are super easy to research (I've done several myself),
others maybe not so easy.

In addition to the $5 Answer price, I'll pay a tip of $1 for every
fact credibly debunked and 50cents for every question credibly
demonstrated to be true.

Maybe this isn't enough money to get this question off the ground, but
it's all I can afford to pay for pure entertainment value.

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the
back of the $5 bill.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child
reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds Dogs only have about 10.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full
moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line
would never end  because of the rate of reproduction.

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an
average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or
purple.

On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament
building is an  American flag.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears
never stop growing.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and
"lollipop" with your right.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel
that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and
a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every
letter of the alphabet.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely
solid.

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are
read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous":
tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in
order:  "abstemious" and "facetious."

There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only
on one row of the keyboard.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks;
otherwise it will digest itself.

Hello reflector8

This is taking some time so here is what I have so far:

Ridges on a dime:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/money/coins/dime/

Cats ear muscles:
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jun2000/961374691.An.r.html

Crocodile tongue:
http://www.didyouknow.cd/fastfacts/animals.htm

Dragonfly lifespan:
http://www.pnl.gov/pals/resource_cards/Dragonflies.stm

Goldfish memory:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2003/12/02/the_chemical_mind_binds_us_together/

Jiffy:
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictJ.html

Shark eyes:
http://www.everwonder.com/david/sharks/anatomy/

Al Capone:
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Al_Capone

Almonds and peaches:
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph17.htm

Ostrich eyes:
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-ostrich.html

Baby kneecaps:
http://www.fazed.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3291&view=previous

Longest words/Typewriter:
http://www.fun-with-words.com/word_records.html

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog:
It does just count them!

Churchill:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/winston_churchill.htm

Words ending in mt/dous:
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/dous?view=uk
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/dreamt?view=uk

'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level':
Read them backwards they are the same!

Change for a dollar:
http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/math/293changedollar.html

Words with vowels in order:
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/fivevowels?view=uk

Microwave discovery:
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story068.htm

QE2 facts:
http://www.wagoneers.com/DieselBenz/TECH/little-known-facts.html

Babies kneecaps:
http://www.fazed.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3291&view=previous

Enjoy!

---

Request for Answer Clarification by reflector8-ga on 02 Jun 2004 13:39 PDT

palitoy,
Thanks for taking on the question.  If at some point, the time
commitment exceeds the reward, just indicate you're done and I'll add
up the tally and pay off the tip.

One thing that would help is if you'd indicate whether your reference
debunks the statement or confirms it.  While I plan to read through
everything, I will read at a liesurely pace and I want to pay you
faster than that.  I fully trust that if you say you debunked it, that
you really did.

---

Clarification of Answer by palitoy-ga on 03 Jun 2004 02:45 PDT

I think I am just about done here as my brain hurts too much now!

Here is what I have:

TRUE - A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/money/coins/dime/

FALSE - A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jun2000/961374691.An.r.html
There are no muscles in the ear exactly, but I guess there are muscles
attached to the ear.

TRUE - A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
http://www.didyouknow.cd/fastfacts/animals.htm
It is stuck to the top of his mouth.

FALSE-ISH - A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
http://www.pnl.gov/pals/resource_cards/Dragonflies.stm
Their lifespan varies between 2 hours and 48 hours.

FALSE - A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2003/12/02/the_chemical_mind_binds_us_together/
Research has shown goldfish can remember locations from the previous day.

TRUE - A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictJ.html
An alternate meaning is also 33.3564 picoseconds.

FALSE-ISH - A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
http://www.everwonder.com/david/sharks/anatomy/
"Sharks that have no nictitating membranes, like the great white for
example, roll their eyes into the back to their heads."  Some sharks
don't have eyelids so cannot "blink"...

TRUE - A snail can sleep for three years.
http://www.somers.k12.ny.us/SIS/MAIN/sis/research/gr.3research/snails/snailquestions.html
Desert varieties have been known to sleep for this long.

TRUE - Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Al_Capone

FALSE - All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln
Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/portraits.html#q5
Only 48 are on the memorial and only 26 are actually on the front of
the building, therefore only 26 on the bill.

TRUE - Almonds are a member of the peach family.
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph17.htm

TRUE - An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-ostrich.html
At a diameter of 2" and a head not much larger there isn't much room
for the brain when you do the math!

FALSE - Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the
child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
http://www.fazed.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3291&view=previous
They just don't calcify (get hard) until they are older.

TRUE - Butterflies taste with their feet.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/allabout/Senses.shtml

FALSE - Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds Dogs only have about 10.
The number are too vague and what is a vocal sound?  Does a bark
differ from a growl, a purr from a miouw?  Admittedly cats do make
more different types of sound.

FALSE - "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/dreamt?view=uk
Being pedantic, there is also adreamt and undreamt.

FALSE - February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to
have a full moon.
http://www.obliquity.com/astro/february.html
See February 1999.

FALSE - In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_animal
I guess we didn't start to domesticate insects until we had too!
"Many present-day breeds of domestic livestock originated about the
middle of the 19th century or later" says
http://www.anapsid.org/roleofzoos.html

FALSE - If the population of China walked past you, in single file,
the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
At what rate are they walking past?  See answer by fodder22-ga.

FALSE - It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/74/89427.htm?pagenumber=2
Extremely difficult but not impossible...

TRUE - Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
http://www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/

TRUE - Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
Try reading the list here:
http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Newspapers/By_Region/U_S__States/

TRUE - No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange,
silver, or purple.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/orange?view=uk
Although it does depend on your pronunciation.  For example see the comments below.

FALSE - On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the
Parliament building is an American flag.
http://www.indefual.net/canada/myths/

FALSE - "Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and
"lollipop" with your right.
http://www.fun-with-words.com/word_records.html
Try TETRASTEARATES and PHYLLOPHYLLIN.

FALSE - The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon
of diesel that it burns.
http://www.wagoneers.com/DieselBenz/TECH/little-known-facts.html
26 feet actually :-)

TRUE - The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar
tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story068.htm

TRUE - The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
uses every letter of the alphabet.
It does just count them!

FALSE - The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
http://www.niagarafallslive.com/Facts_about_Niagara_Falls.htm

TRUE - The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether
they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
Just try reading them backwards!

TRUE - There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/math/293changedollar.html

TRUE - There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous":
tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/dous?view=uk

FALSE - There are two words in the English language that have all five
vowels in order:  "abstemious" and "facetious."
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/fivevowels?view=uk
Try "arsenious" (chemical term meaning like Arsenic).

FALSE - There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/straightdope/funfacts2.html

TRUE - TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the
letters only on one row of the keyboard.
http://www.fun-with-words.com/word_records.html
But there are also other 10-letter words...

FALSE - Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/winston_churchill.htm
He was born in Blenheim Palace.  It may have been during a dance but
Blenheim Palace then did not have public restrooms.

FALSE - Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Each blink at approximately the same rate on average otherwise studies
such as this would be difficult to carry out:
http://digilander.libero.it/linguaggiodelcorpo/interpers17/ :-)  It is
also well known that people alter their blink rate in different social
situations.

TRUE - Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two
weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~gk/scifi/stomach.htm

TRUE - The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
http://www.simonsays.com/ssimkt/typingtutor/html/trivia.html

TRUE - There are more chickens than people in the world.
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/004/AD452E/ad452e30.htm
15 billion and counting...

Still unproven but I think will be possible (I just don't have to time
any longer!):
If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an
average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears
never stop growing.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

Palitoy, 
Very well done. And thanks for taking on the question. I very much
enjoy seeing these "internet wisdom" items debunked, and you were
excellent.  By my count you debunked 20 ($20), confirmed 20 ($10), and
left 5 unanswered.

The question:

"If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line
would never end  because of the rate of reproduction."

Is fallacious.  At what rate?  OK, maybe I'm being pedantic here,
'cause it's still a lot of people and, yes, their population is still
growing.

China:
Population growth rate:
 0.6% (2003 est.)
Birth rate:
 12.96 births/1,000
Death rate:
 6.74 deaths/1,000
Immigration rate:
 -0.23 migrant(s)/1,000 

Source: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html

I like it!

Betty Rubble is finally in the Flintstones Vitamins:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/straightdope/funfacts2.html

Niagara Falls never actually freezes:

http://www.niagarafallslive.com/Facts_about_Niagara_Falls.htm

American Flag on Canadian 2 dollar bill is a hoax:

http://www.indefual.net/canada/myths/

A month with no full moon has and can happen more than once:

http://www.obliquity.com/astro/february.html

I'm sorry, I see what I'm doing here.  I'm cutting into palitoy-ga's
fee.  Please allow palitoy-ga to continue his/her research and collect
the fee.  Please take the questions I've debunked and donate that
money to your favorite charity, Thanks.

Bowler-ga

Bowler,
On the contrary -- you are making it easier for palitoy to collect the fees.

I will pay the promised fee to palitoy regardless of who debunks/confirms the fact.

I haven't checked all Palitoy's Links (Well who could in such a short
time?) BUT ...

I can say that there are several words that rhyme with 'Orange' ...

For example, there's Fringe and Syringe

And don't those make you Cringe?

Just for Fun, eh?

Well this is now getting serious because I've got a rhyme for 'Silver'!

Yes, indeedy ...

How about Wilbur?

And yet another rhyme ... this time for 'Month'.

Yes, of course, it's Thousandth.

For more on the Churchill story:
http://www.blenheimpalace.com/winstonchurchill/birthroom.htm
http://www.snopes.com/history/world/churchill.asp

Hey, There is a word that rhymes with silver, 

The word's 'chilver', i'm not 100% sure what it means at the moment
but i'll try and find out.

Just to clarify my last post, i've found out what it means --

"The Oxford English Dictionary lists chilver as an Old English noun
meaning a ewe lamb, often referred to as a 'chilver lamb'. They
specify that it is still in use in 'southern dialects' The Oxford
cites instances between 1000AD and 1883AD."

Words ending in -dous: false

'vanadous'
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=vanadous
Of or pertaining to vanadium; obtained from vanadium; -- said of an
acid containing one equivalent of vanadium and two of oxygen.

'gastropodous'
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gastropodous
Any of various mollusks of the class Gastropoda, such as the snail,
slug, cowrie, or limpet, characteristically having a single, usually
coiled shell or no shell at all, a ventral muscular foot for
locomotion, and eyes and feelers located on a distinct head.

arguably, 'amadous'
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=amadou

>>>Subject: Re: Just for fun 
>>>From: fodder22-ga on 02 Jun 2004 12:48 PDT 	  
>>>The question:

>>>"If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line
>>>would never end  because of the rate of reproduction."

>>>Is fallacious.  At what rate?  OK, maybe I'm being pedantic here,
>>>'cause it's still a lot of people and, yes, their population is still
>>>growing.

>>>China:
>>>Population growth rate:
>>> 0.6% (2003 est.)
>>>Birth rate:
>>> 12.96 births/1,000
>>>Death rate:
>>> 6.74 deaths/1,000
>>>Immigration rate:
>>>-0.23 migrant(s)/1,000 
============================================================================

The Math (Simple arithmetic. Correct me if  I am wrong).

Based upon the above population growth rate of 0.6%, a starting
population of one billion, a walking speed of 4 miles per hour (a
little faster than the accepted normal rate of 3 mph), and a spacing
of 2 feet per person. (This space includes the persons body - 2 feet
center to center of each person. Perhaps a little close but, the
chinese are a disciplined people and they are marching in lockstep.
For the sake of this computation even the infants are walking.)

Thus.

There are 2640 persons per mile.  [5280/2]
10,560 persons will pass you each hour. [2640x4]

It will take the initial one billion persons 10.81 years to pass you.
   [1,000,000,000/(10,560x8760)]  [8760=hours in a 365 day year. I am
ignoring leap years.]

Adding in the new population at 0.6% per year, in that 10.81 years
there are 64,860,000 additional persons. [1,000,000,000x.006x10.81]
This new population requires 8.4 months to pass you.

As evidenced, each iteration reveals a process of deeply diminishing returns.
The entire population of China will walk past you in less than 15 years.
(OK! Mathematically it will take forever but, in reality, half a
chinaman does not reproduce very  well.)
That is a lot faster than I was lead to believe by Ripley?s many years
ago and then they were marching 6 abreast.

So.
  
If we decrease the walking speed to 3 mph, increase the spacing to 3
feet per person, and increase the growth rate to 1% (you can do the
math using the same equations), the population of China (including
progeny) will require less than 30 years.

Now I wonder about that six tenths of one percent growth rate. It
seems kind of low to me. I did a Goggle search and the best figure I
got was based on China?s most recent census which indicated a
population of 1,292,770,000 and a growth rate of 1.07%.

Arggghhh - recalculating.

Using my formula with the 3 mile per hour, 3 feet per person, and the
new population growth rate the entire population will pass in 37 years
and 1 week.

As I said at the beginning correct me if I am wrong.

Palitoy says:
TRUE - Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
http://www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/

Well, I say FALSE.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blscissors.htm
says that they were found in remains of stuff from 1400 BC.
They were used by the Egyptians and Greeks.

Hi, Geminiv101

The critical factor is not so much who invents something first but who
publishes first and Leonardo obviously had a better PR man.

Just like Alexander Graham Bell.

"I haven't checked all Palitoy's Links (Well who could in such a short
time?) BUT ...

I can say that there are several words that rhyme with 'Orange' ...

For example, there's Fringe and Syringe

And don't those make you Cringe?"
"And yet another rhyme ... this time for 'Month'.

Yes, of course, it's Thousandth"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Huh?  Are you on drugs or something?  Those don't rhyme at all!

Hi, Bungle 73

Rhyming, old scout, is entirely dependent upon one's accent.

If you are very posh, comme moi, then you live in a different world.

Of course, LSD does help.

Tiger stripes are on the skin, check out www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/skin2.html

"I haven't checked all Palitoy's Links (Well who could in such a short
time?) BUT ...

I can say that there are several words that rhyme with 'Orange' ...

For example, there's Fringe and Syringe

And don't those make you Cringe?"
"And yet another rhyme ... this time for 'Month'.

Yes, of course, it's Thousandth"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Huh?  Are you on drugs or something?  Those don't rhyme at all!

_________________________________________________________________________

These are not full rhymes, they are half rhymes.