Ministry of Dubious Factoids
A friend sent me this email. I can't really vouch for its accuracy, but then, I'm a blogger. I don't sweat accuracy.
Sort of like the New York Times.
Anyway, here's a list of "facts" which may either be true or false. Decide which are the true ones, and which are the fake ones.
1. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
2. Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button.
3. A pack-a-day smoker will lose approximately 2 teeth every 10 years.
4. People do not get sick from cold weather; it's from being indoors a lot more.
5. When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop, even your heart!
6. Only 7 per cent of the population are lefties.
7. Forty people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute.
8. Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until they are 2-6 years old.
9. The average person over 50 will have spent 5 years waiting in lines.
10. The toothbrush was invented in 1498.
11. The average housefly lives for one month.
12. 40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year.
13. A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.
14. The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.
15. Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than any other time of day.
16. Most of us have eaten a spider in our sleep.
17. The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to search for water.
18. The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their heads are the rabbit and the parrot.
19. John Travolta turned down the starring roles in "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Tootsie."
20. Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina State anthem.
21. In most television commercials advertising milk, a mixture of white paint and a little thinner is used in place of the milk.
22 Prince Charles and Prince William NEVER travel on the same airplane, just in case there is a crash.
23. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor.
24. Most hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who give birth. They are used in vein transplant surgery.
25. Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana. They were 7th cousins.
26. If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green.
....
ANSWERS IN WHITE FONT (Highlight to read): Supposedly, all of them are true, which I sora doubt. But what the heck.
Re: 19, I know Travolta turned down the roles for "Officer" and "An American Gigolo." I never heard Tootsie before.
But it's possible.
If you think from going from John Travolta to Dustin Hoffman is weird, how about going from Dustin Hoffman to Harrison Ford?
Dustin Hoffman was attached for quite a long time -- throughout most of the film's development, actually -- as the star of Blade Runner.
Yes. Dustin Hoffman. Blade Runner. Fighting androids.
And it wasn't even called "Blade Runner" at the time. It was called "Dangerous Days." They bought the title, and just the title, from a William "Naked Lunch" Burroughs novella called Blade Runner, which had nothing to do with robots.