Hidey-Ho, Blog-neighbour-a-reenos! It's Thursday again... and lately, I've had a lot of "facts" jammed down my throat from various quarters... and I wanted to address them today in a Thursday Thirteen entitled...

#13: The "UFO crash" at Roswell, New Mexico (actually, it happened in Corona... but who's splitting hairs,) has been admirably answered by Air Force authorities... but the "true-believers" refuse to accept their answer because they almost want the incident to be something else.

TRUTH: Although this COULD be true, the United States Air Force has put through about four known "explanations" for whatever happened there ranging from "It was a weather balloon" to "It was testing ejection seats with cadavers".

The truth is no one has ever gotten a "straight-one-off" answer to what happened. Was it a UFO crash? Maybe. Was it a weather balloon? Perhaps. Was it a crash of a secret test-plane? Could be...

We may never know the real answer. Many of the more "intelligent" people looking into this incident can only conclude something weird happened there and yes, the military have not been forthcoming... I ain't sayin' it's little green men from Mars... but sumthin' happened there...

...and it's overall effect? Really... a cottage industry for the people of Roswell selling cutesy alien stuff.

#12: Thomas Crapper invented the flush toilet.

TRUTH: Thomas Crapper made toilets... and his name may have spurred a slang... but he was not the inventor. Sir John Harrington in 1596 came up with the idea, and Alexander Cummings can take credit for the modern toilet when he designed it in 1775.

I'm flushed with this sort of crappy knowledge!

#11: Pouring an alcoholic beverage (or even cola) on a piece of pork produces some rather nasty effects... most notably certain parasites that are in all pork products make a "break for it" and leave the meat... and it's not uncommon to see maggots and other small creatures come to the "surface" of the meat when cola or alcohol is introduced to the surface.

TRUTH: This is a myth. If you really think about this, how many times has pork been marinated with alcohol and pork-ribs are sometimes marinated in cola... and yet, the cooks of these have never had to run away from a mass of maggots pouring out of their food.

#10: Leaving a computer turned on is healthier for the lifespan of the system as it does not tax the drive heads or RAM as much as constant re-booting does.

TRUTH: Computers, as a rule, have perhaps a dozen moving parts... meaning that "wear and tear" isn't a huge concern... but if you notice, computer have multiple fans and "heat-sinks" to help with cooling.

If you know a computer will not be used for more than five hours at a stretch, it's better to allow it to "cool down" by powering it down... it will preserve the life span of the system, it's chips, and those fans. No joke here... and yeah, I am a professional!

#9: In a 2006 study (only recently released,) performed by students and bio-medical faculty from Telaine University in Michigan found that the least germ-ridden (read: cleanest and free from bacteria) plumbing appliance in most households is indeed the toilets. It beat out kitchen sinks and bathtubs. The scientists reasoned this was due to the germ killing cleansers people use to clean them.

TRUTH: I made this up... sounds legit though, doesn't it? Wonder if this will become an urban legend because some people won't read this bit...

#8: In the United Kingdom, gun deaths and crimes involving guns rose dramatically after the overall ban of handguns went into place.

TRUTH: Sadly, "violent crime" went up... but gun crime dropped dramatically... and as I've often said, I'd rather take my chances, personally, with a whacko at 20 feet with a knife than a whacko at 50 yards with a gun. It's been a while since a loon with a sword killed more than half-a-dozen people in short time... I wish I could say the same for guns. Also, the "spike" in crime was borderline at best... less than 3% according to New Scotland Yard.

After all, it's hard to spray "punches" or pour round after round of sword slashes into a crowd to cause mass devastation.

#7: Rice is no longer thrown at "traditional" weddings because it was found that birds would eat the rice which would expand in their stomachs causing them to literally "explode" causing their death.

TRUTH: This is an urban legend. Birds can handle it... and have eaten rice in one form or another since it was cultivated with no ill effects.

Still, I feel bad... I know I shouldn't find this funny, but I kinda have this mental image of pigeons gorging on rice at a church, flying off and KABOOM!

#6: Human urine is incredibly bacteria laden and if it contacts an open cut or sore, it will literally cause an almost instantaneous infection that is extremely difficult to treat.

TRUTH: Urine is almost sterile and has been used, historically, as an antiseptic in battlefield (emergency) operations. It's been filtered through kidneys et al and the only "nasty" stuff is cells it picks up on the way through the system... and of course, the uric acid... but that's not toxic in small quantities.

Still, I don't recommend drinking it or using it to wash your hands with.

#5: The Macintosh Operating System was developed from a system used for photocopiers.

TRUTH: Nope... Microsoft Window's was. It was developed from the software used to run Xerox copiers long ago.

Wonder if these machines had "Blue Screens of Death"?

#4: The United States of America is the largest (political boundaried) land-mass in the world.

TRUTH: Nope. It's number three behind Russia and Canada.

REMEMBER: Always look at the SCALE of your Atlas!

#3: "Mad" King George III of England (whom the American colonists rose up against,) was against parliamentary and constitutional rule... and when the American's managed to win the struggle against England in the latter 1700's, the direct response was an easing of the population's overburdened taxation.

TRUTH: Nope. King George was a constitutionalist. He is quoted as saying, The pride, the glory of Britain and the direct end of it's constitution is political liberty.

It was the British Parliament that really ticked off the Americans... but it's hard to "rally" a country against a body of people as opposed to it's figure head.

Oh, and taxes went up so high after the revolution that many lost their homes and farms... many also "fled" to Canada to avoid the taxes imposed by the new government. Rep by pop cost money back then, y'know!

#2: NASA scientists have proven that there does not seem to be any truth to "global warming" or any climate change effects. These studies are often overlooked by the people that believe in climate change as "skewed" science from government sources.

TRUTH: Nope. The bulk of the findings are not good... For example... click here... but there is a small campaign of seeming "misinformation"... Click here... this is why there's a debate about NASA's findings...

Don't think only NASA scientists are being... um... "regulated". Canadian scientists are too...

Before running away on this topic, anyone else find it interesting that there's only ONE reason being bandied about by the climate change people about what's happening... but dozens of excuses from the opposite number as to why those of us who think it is something to consider are nuts? Kinda like when my kid "didn't do something" like homework... there's a myriad of "reasons" and "excuses"... but the still isn't done... and I don't believe that the dog ate her calculator while aliens kidnapped her textbook.

Stuff like this doesn't help the anti-warming cause either...

It's telling when "your side" is grasping so vainly for any "facts" to augment their argument... Any port in a storm I suppose...

#1: There's a WHOLE WHACK OF MONEY waiting for you at the UK Lottery Office or with a wealthy relative OR employee of someone usually from Nigeria...

TRUTH: No. There isn't. While I'm here, there also isn't a pill to make your penis bigger, there's no beautiful Russian woman waiting to meet you who's anonymously e-mailed you out of the blue... and this has caused us much consternation at Chez Didier-Darroch as Sue get's more penis enlargement e-mails AND Russian WebCam women contacting HER then I do! Now THAT'S a possible conspiracy!

BONUS: Science says that ghosts don't exist.

TRUTH: Science says ghosts have not been proven to exist as one has not been brought forward to be studied properly. There's a huge difference between "Not Proven" and "Does Not".

In fact, considering there are literally millions of witnesses to these things from all walks of life (read: They're not all "woo-woos" as often reported by certain disreputable groups and organisations,) there's more evidence through witness testimony that ghostly phenomena exists than we have that many other things exist.

Effectively, science says, These things MIGHT exist but have yet to be proven.

Now, ask me if ghosts are "dead folk" or something else... THEN we'll probably have a disagreement... and I'd remind people that any opinion on "causation" of ghostly stuff is guess work... not written in stone.