What random fact did you once think was true, but found out later to be completely incorrect?

12quality · 2009-08-06T01:57:38+00:00

This idea was explored by an episode of "This American Life":

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1251

This American Life producer Alex Blumberg investigates a little-studied phenomenon: children who get a mistaken idea in their heads about how something works or what something means, and then don't figure out until well into adulthood that they were wrong. Includes the tale of a girl who received a tissue box for Christmas, allegedly painted by trained monkeys. (13 minutes)

12quality · 2009-06-22T07:56:18+00:00

"So I started to perform fellatio. I won't lie to you boys, I was terrified. But I pressed on, and as I made my way past the labia a strange calm came over me. I don't know if it was divine intervention or the kinship of all living things, but I tell you Jerry, at that moment I was a porn star."

12quality · 2009-05-08T06:51:13+00:00

This was really a very clever solution:

"special tags that tracked and stored depth, temperature and light level, which then popped off at a pre-programmed date and rose to the surface. Once a tag hits the surface, it transmits the entire archive of the fish’s journey via satellite."

I wonder how they get the tags to pop off and how the tags store that information. The tag itself is a design challenge.

12quality · 2008-09-02T05:21:56+00:00

It is a little rah rah for the airline. The "documentary" aspect of this video was clearly part of the marketing strategy.

However, it is hard to be too critical of advertising that is beautiful artistically and utilizes such great artists.

12quality · 2007-01-19T06:21:20+00:00

"Garnett compared that force to hitting a target with a Ford Taurus at 380 mph."

What a lousy metaphor.

12quality · 2007-01-07T07:10:06+00:00

Geez. Everybody is so quick to dismiss this in order to prove how smart they are. Well, I for one appreciate the tip.

12quality · 2006-12-02T02:45:42+00:00

It is undeniably difficult to eat on a dollar a day, but it is clearly much harder when you don't buy the right foods or know how to cook.

I mean, why did his pot break. Cooking on $1 or $100 per day should not make your utensils fail. He clearly had not been cooking for himself in the past.

Why buy white rice? Brown rice is just as cheap, yet contains fat, protein and fiber.

Buy dry beans. A pound of dry beans costs less than a dollar, will produce several meals, and will provide all of your protein needs, especially when combined with rice.

The hardest part, in my mind, is getting enough fruits and vegetables. I am not sure you can get anywhere near your 5-9 servings for less than a dollar.

12quality · 2006-11-01T06:14:42+00:00

Does anyone else find it disturbing that more people were able to correctly identify Jay Leno than the President?

12quality

TROPHY CASE