Yesterday, a Facebook friend posted some amazing trivia about how cows tend to face north or south when they graze. As is my wont, I checked on it, and sure enough…

Would that that were the case for many other “trivial” items, often found on the internets and shared willy-nilly by various and sundry as fact. Therefore, allow me once again to straighten records, debunk myths, and right wrongs. As I named these posts 3+ years ago, behold another segment of:

Deception Destroyers

Deception: The Eisenhower Interstate Highway System requires that one mile in every five must be straight, in case air strips are needed in times of war or other emergencies. How do I know this is poppycock? Just ask Richard Weingroff. Or maybe not. He gets a little snippy about the subject. Heh.

Deception: American car horns beep in the tone of F. First, I won’t even comment on what all’s screwy about the syntax “in the tone of F.” My car — a Chevy — beeps one note of F#. Second, I hear other car horns that honk polytonal beeps. Third, I’ve heard cars whose horns beep diminished triads. (Take that, whoever wrote “in the tone of F.”) Don’t even need a reference on this; I want you to believe me because I’m telling you. Maybe it should be rephrased to say that “some” American cars beep F.  For a great explanation, read the last three paragraphs here.

Deception: Albert Einstein failed math in school. When the man was confronted with a clipping of this statement, he said, “I never failed in mathematics… Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus.”

Deception: George Washington had wooden dentures. True, the teeth weren’t his own, but the four sets (at least) that he owned were made of gold, ivory, lead and various human and animal teeth.  Thus saith the people who analyzed them in a lab in Baltimore seven years ago. (Click on the picture; it’s a photo of one of his actual sets. Yikes.)

And that’s all we have time for this morning, luvs. Gotta get ready to go get Mavis so we can run the Bob’s Birthday Cake Test-Drive. Today’s flavor? Coconut Cream, an original concoction. We’ll see how my supposed “originality” plays out later…

Happy Sumday!