F.U. News Mailbag: Pi Day Edition

So last December, I received this email, which I'm sure is from a scammer or spammer or some other nefarious person:

***Begin Transmission***

From: Pierce [If that is his real name] <*snip*>
To: JoeCool (at) gmail (dot) com
Date: Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 4:21 AM
Subject: I love your blog! [This is how I know he's up to no good; no one who is not related to me biologically or through marriage, a former college roommate of mine, or my confirmation sponsor, loves my blog]

Hi Joseph Belland, [Not only is he evil an untrustworthy, but he's also a mind-reader! How else could he know my full name? Maybe he's a Sith. Oh, wouldn't that be cool to have an evil Sith who's stalking me via my blog?]

I really enjoyed reading your blog. [More lies!] In particular, I liked your link to the Pi Song (2007) and the 10,000 Pi digits (2006) [Okay, those were kinda cool]; you offer up some great suggestions on how to celebrate Pi Day as well! [Well, thank you, evil Sith lord!]

I just finished this cool infographic on Visualizing Pi and thought you might be interested. You can check it out here: http://www.onlineschooling.net/visualizing-pi.

I thought your readers might enjoy the graphic and wanted to see if you would consider posting a link to it from your blog [I'll consider it, but no promises]. Let me know what you think of it.

Thanks! Pierce

Pierce Brown Online Schooling.net *snip*@sreducationgroup.org

***End Transmission***

What do I think of it, eh, Pierce? I think I don't have to worry about content for Pi day this year!

That and the graph is pretty cool. You should check it out, but for the fact that Pierce is probably an evil scammer Sith lord, and visiting his site will download Dark Side midichlorians to your computer that will fry your CPU, erase your hard drive, and steal your personal information, in that order. Such is the power of Dark Side midichlorians. That and they have the ability to make thousands of fan boys cry out in terror.

What I found most interesting was the part about how many significant digits are required to compute various accuracies of circles. Of note: 39 digits can compute the circumference of any circle within the observable universe to the width of a hydrogen atom. Looking up the width of a hydrogen atom in Planck lengths (3.1x10²⁴) on Wolfram Hart Alpha, tells us that 63 digits of pi would be the theoretical limit to accuracy. Meaning any more digits of pi past 63 could not, in any physical way, give you a more accurate measurement. And yet pi is infinite. Trippy, huh?

Source: Online Schooling

FU News Mailbag.
I put so much time and effort into this, it had to be shared with the rest of the world. Sorry for the double-post, you loyal readers who were included on my original reply e-mail.

So anyways, the Murloc's sister sent me one of those lists of internet trivia. You know, the ones that have all sorts of silly and completely unreferenced and implausible trivia. Taking it, as I always do, as a challenge, I then spent the next several hours on Google, Wikipedia, Snopes, The Straight Dope, and numerous other sites trying to verify each and every claim.

So here are the results. My conclusions follow each bit of trivia.


The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for Blood plasma.

Semi-true. Not a substitute, per se, but the intravenous use of coconut water can be used for short-term intravenous hydration in extreme circumstances. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10674546


No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven (7) times.

Busted by Mythbusters, who folded a single piece of paper 11 times. http://mythbustersresults.com/episode72. In the episode, they actually mentioned that they weren't the first to bust the myth, citing a news item about a girl who had folded a toilet paper roll 14 or so times (I think). The amount you can fold toilet paper is proportional to the ratio of surface area to thickness. For standard 8.5"x11" copy paper, it is too thick and too small to fold more than 7 times without tearing, but lowering the thickness (like tracing paper) or raising the surface area (like the giant piece the Mythbusters assembled from several rolls of butcher paper) enables you to break the "7 fold barrier".


Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes or shark attacks.

Unlikely. From Snopes: "There are no sources for donkey-induced death statistics." The source for the myth comes from a 1987 London Times article, which reads "One expert has estimated that more people in the world are kicked to death by donkeys than die in plane crashes." No sources or data are given, so it is likely false. http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/donkey.asp

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.

False, according to some website on the internet: http://primusweb.com/cgi-bin/fpc/actcalc.pl.
Actually, every website I found that had calorie-burning comparisons of different activities listed watching TV/relaxing/lounging as burning more calories than sleeping.

Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty (50) years of age or older.

False, according to some guy on the internet (http://www.arcytech.org/java/population/facts_oaks.html): "Oak trees can start producing acorns when they are 20 years old, but sometimes can go all the way to 50 years for the first production." He has a graph and a mathematical formula, so he must be right.


The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.

Confirmed. According to the Wrigley's web site (http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/about/about_story.asp; click on the "1974" link) and another website (http://www.keyword.com/barcode_upc.htm), "On June 26, 1974 at 8:01am, the first product with a bar code, a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum, was scanned at a check-out counter at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio. This pack of gum was picked from the cart by a shopper (Clyde Dawson) who simply chose the gum first. Sharon Buchanan (now retired) was the cashier who made the first UPC scan. The register rang up this sale - 67 cents."


The King of Hearts is the only king WITHOUT A MOUSTACHE

This is only true for standard English decks. The original French decks, produced in the 16th century did, but it was lost in time due to poor copying (See http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/23/1074732585442.html?from=storyrhs, http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question59839.html)


American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one (1) olive from each salad served in first-class.

Plausible. While I could not find any direct confirmation of this, I did see it mentioned in more reputable sources. It was a question in a game of Trivial Pursuit, 80's edition I played, and also received mention in the International Herald Tribune (http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/10/business/air.php)


Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise. (Since Venus is normally associated with women, what does this tell you)

(I will assume the phrase "as seen from the north pole", since that's the only way this one makes sense (any rotating object appears to rotate in the opposite direction when viewed from the opposite side).)

False, on a technicality. If you define the North Pole, as does the International Astronomical Union (IAU), as that pole which points above the invariable plane of the Solar System, then Uranus also rotates clockwise—but just barely. Uranus is the planet with the highest axial tilt, so its North Pole is only 8° above parallel to the plane of its orbit. So whereas most planets as seen from the north pole of the solar system look like spinning tops, Uranus appears to roll around its orbit like a ball.

However, if you define north pole using the right-hand rule of rotation, then all planets rotate counter-clockwise as seen from their north pole—by definition.

Concerning association of Venus with women, several other heavenly bodies are named after/associated with female figures, including one other planet (Earth; "Gaia"), as well as two dwarf planets, Ceres and Eris.


Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

Unconfirmed, but plausible. In my vast and thorough search (read: 15 minutes on Google) I could find no scientific research which demonstrated this, but it makes sense. This gal on the internet has a good explanation. Apples contain carbohydrates and sugar, which are what your body uses for fuel and quick energy. Caffeine is not fuel, but instead acts like a drug on your brain, signaling it to release adrenaline and produce more sugar. This is why I don't touch the stuff, except for maybe a can of soda on raid nights, but not after 8pm, or I'll never fall asleep. And for all you who claim that hot chocolate I drink every morning has caffeine in it, you're wrong.


Most dust particles in your house are made from DEAD SKIN!

Probably true. This is the only site I could find that dissented from the myth. It sounds semi-reputable, but does not give any sources. Most web pages just repeated the myth without contributing. However, from Wikipedia, citing a scientific report "An average skin flake has an equivalent diameter of 14µm. It is estimated that the entire outer layer of skin is shed every day or two at a rate of 7 million skin flakes per minute. Tests of indoor environmental dust in homes and offices have shown it to be primarily (70-90%) composed of skin flakes. Assuming a density of 1 g/cm³, 7 million skin flakes per minute corresponds to a mass emission rate of about 20 mg/minute."

Pets can also be a significant contributor to dust (via their shed hair).


The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer. So did the first 'Marlboro Man.'

False.

Let's start with the second half (So did the first 'Marlboro Man"): According to Snopes, two Marlboro men died of lung cancer, David McLean and Wayne McLaren. However, neither was the first Marlboro Man. According to Wikipedia, that distinction goes to actor/author William Thourlby, who is (as far as I can tell) still alive.

As for the first half, (the first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer), I have to assume that by "Marlboro Company", it means Philip Morris & Co., Ltd, now Altria Group, Inc. Marlboro is not a company itself, but a brand name owned by a company (sort of like "Frosted Flakes" is a brand of General Mills). The company was originally created by Philip Morris, Esq., a London tobacconist, in 1847 as a seller of cigars. He began making his own cigarettes in 1854. While Philip Morris may have died of lung cancer (he died in 1873, and I could not find any references to his cause of death), the Marlboro brand itself wasn't created until 1924 (then advertised as a women's cigarette; "Mild as May"). However, Philip Morris & Co. was a publicly traded company as of 1881, so it's inappropriate to speak of the "original owner" of the Marlboro brand as an individual, as Marlboro has always been owned by a publicly-traded company.


Walt Disney was afraid OF MICE!

Undetermined. According to Steven Watts, author of The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life, Disney was afraid of mice but found them "sympathetic." But according to a 1937 biography of Walt, released by RKO, "Walt had always liked mice. He caught them in wastebaskets around the studio, and kept them in a cage where he could watch their antics."


PEARLS MELT IN VINEGAR!

False, on a technicality, but basically true.

Technically, they dissolve in vinegar. Melting is the physical process in which a substance changes from a solid to a liquid. Dissolving is a chemical process in which a substance becomes absorbed into another liquid.

However, I don't even have to look this one up to tell you it's true. Rie's engagement ring has two pearls and every jeweler I've shown it to (including the one who made it) has told me specially not to use any sort of jewelry cleaner on it, since pearls are very soft and can be damaged by the solvents.

When a pearl dissolves in vinegar, what happens is the calcium carbonate in the pearl reacts with the acetic acid in the vinegar. The chemical process looks something like this:

CaCO3 + 2HAc -> Ca(Ac)2 + C02 + H20

See http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00595.htm for more information.

The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.

Not any more. (See Snopes). This data comes from an old Interbrand survey. As of 2007, however, Coca-Cola is #1, Microsoft is #2, and IBM is #3. Marlboro has slipped to #14 and Budweiser to #30.


It is possible to lead a cow upstairs... but, not downstairs.

Sounds reasonable. I couldn't find any real documentation on this, but the general word on the internet is not that they can't, but it is extremely difficult for them and makes them nervous, so they won't walk downstairs. Some of the people even gave reasonably scientific sounding explanations, talking about their joints and bone structure.

If you really need to get a cow downstairs, though, you could call Bovine Descenders.


A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

Totally busted. By both Mythbusters and Snopes.


Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six (6) feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. (I keep my toothbrush in the living room now!)

Impossible to disprove as stated, unless I were to interview every dentist, living and dead, to find out if any of them ever made that recommendation.

But as for the recommendation itself...

Dr. Philip Tierno, author of "The Secret Life of Germs" and director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University Medical Center, says you should keep your toothbrush in a drawer, rinse it in mouthwash or peroxide before you brush, and close the toilet lid before you flush because every time the toilet is flushed, fecal bacteria is sprayed up to 20 feet into the air. This implies that the six foot recommendation is useless. However, I have not heard of any fecal-matter-on-toothbrush related deaths recently, and considering the human ability to resist germs is usually severely underestimated, I have a feeling the guy is a real germophobe.

The guys at Straight Dope have a rather different take on the matter. The toilet is, actually, one of the cleanest places in your house, with the kitchen sink being the germiest place.


Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first U.S. president whose name contains all the letters from the word 'criminal.' (who thinks up this stuff??? ) The second? William Jefferson Clinton (Please don't tell me you're SURPRISED!!!)

This depends on how technical you want to get. Technically, all the letters in the word "criminal" also appear in "Abraham Lincoln", but that requires you repeat the "i". If you're not one for re-using letters, then William McKinley, Jr. fits the bill, but that requires you include the "Jr." If you discount both of those, then Richard Milhous Nixon would be next in line (notice the correct spelling), followed by Slick Willy.

Turtles can breathe through their butts. (I know some people like that, don't YOU?)

True. Some turtles can. This one comes from the Straight Dope. It's basically a method for it to draw oxygen from water, so it can breathe underwater.

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So what's the final score?
True: 8, False: 8, Unconfirmed/unclear: 4