Things everybody knows that are actually wrong

[12th Doctor]

"Everyone thought the world was flat until Columbus discovered America." Unbelievable something Washington Irving pulled out of his ass several hundred years ago is still taken as 100% truth by so many people who should know better.

Amen to that.  I can't stand when people say "The Church thought the world was flat."  Not only is that wrong, but that is way wrong.  People knew the Earth was round 3000 years ago.  The Church painted pictures of Christ holding a globe in his hands.

[© tweed]

The Satanist child sacrifice myth is one that won't die.  Along with the Proctor & Gamble canard...

as a Christian, do you sympathize with LaVeyan Satanism?

[12th Doctor]

The Satanist child sacrifice myth is one that won't die.  Along with the Proctor & Gamble canard...

Though, oddly enough, they have recently discovered the bodies of thousands of children who were sacrificed to Baal, which was long believed to be a myth.

[Lunar]

The Satanist child sacrifice myth is one that won't die.  Along with the Proctor & Gamble canard...

Though, oddly enough, they have recently discovered the bodies of thousands of children who were sacrificed to Baal, which was long believed to be a myth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth#Modern_times

interesting.  I knew that "everyone" didn't think that the world was flat, but I didn't know THIS

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So, if North America didn't exist and a giant ocean replaced it....Columbus would be remembered as a fool.  Cool.

[12th Doctor]

everyone seems to think the line is "Luke, I am you father," when the actual line is "No, I am your father."

No...that's not true.  That's impossible!

[12th Doctor]

"Everyone knows that Europeans brought their genocidal ways to the New World.  The Indians were too peaceful to understand the nature of this kind of war."

While what the White Man did to the Indians was not right, the Native Americans reached a level of genocide long before the white settlers arrived that had not been seen in Europe for thousands of years and would not be see again until Hitler.

[Platypus]

Ava Gardner never did say that Melbourne was 'the perfect place to film a movie about the end of the world'; it was made up by a journalist keen for a story.

[Gustaf]

Ingrid Bergman said "Play it again, Sam" in Casablanca.

Oh, and Mikado: while there has been A Great Wall of China for about 2500 years, the one we see now is, IIRC, about 500 years old, built by the Mings. The Chinese don't really want to admit this, so there is a lot of confusion on the issue, though.

[JSojourner]

The Satanist child sacrifice myth is one that won't die.  Along with the Proctor & Gamble canard...

as a Christian, do you sympathize with LaVeyan Satanism?

ROFL!  Well, I sympathize with any group of people -- religious or not -- when lies are spread about them.  Even if I find their theology repulsive.

I'm thinking of a few books in particular by a lady who claimed that, as a child, she was raised by a coven of witches and used sexually...and forced to kill newborn babies.  Obviously, it is pure crap but in the 80's, I think, some of the talk show hosts were buying it and putting her on.  I wish I could remember her name.  She was a regular on a lot of Christian radio and TV stations.

Along those lines, the Mike Warnke scam was also a load of bupkis.

[JSojourner]

The Satanist child sacrifice myth is one that won't die.  Along with the Proctor & Gamble canard...

Though, oddly enough, they have recently discovered the bodies of thousands of children who were sacrificed to Baal, which was long believed to be a myth.

I was thinking of the two or three people enjoying their 15 minutes about 15 - 20 years ago.  I have no doubt that horrendous atrocities were committed in the name of Ba'al.

[Lunar]

That the capital of Canada is Toronto, the capital of Brasil is Rio, and the capital of Australia is Sydney

[Purple State]

That the capital of Canada is Toronto, the capital of Brasil is Rio, and the capital of Australia is Sydney

Those are things stupid people know, not the general population.

[Stranger in a strange land]

That Nostradamus predicted the 9/11 attacks. He is supposed to have written:

"In the City of God there will be a great thunder,
Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb",
The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"

or in some versions:

"...on the 11 day of the 9 month that...two metal birds would crash into two tall statues...in the new city..and the world will end soon after"

In fact, no quotation even close to either of these statements appears anywhere in the works of Nostradamus.

[Frodo]

The native Americans were sainted ecologists who maintained a virtual Garden of Eden in the Americas until the Europeans came over and ruined it. 

[Lunar]

That the capital of Canada is Toronto, the capital of Brasil is Rio, and the capital of Australia is Sydney

Those are things stupid people know, not the general population.

Fine, go ask your family or friends what the capital of Brazil and Australia are.  What percentage of them answer Brasilia and Canberra?

[Frodo]

Oh, and that nuclear power plants are unstable and unsafe. 

[Frodo]

The only slave-owners in the antebellum South were whites. 

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

That Nostradamus predicted the 9/11 attacks. He is supposed to have written:

"In the City of God there will be a great thunder,
Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb",
The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"

or in some versions:

"...on the 11 day of the 9 month that...two metal birds would crash into two tall statues...in the new city..and the world will end soon after"

In fact, no quotation even close to either of these statements appears anywhere in the works of Nostradamus.

In fact the only dates he gave for anything were about the end of the world in 1999. Epic fail there.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

Americans are bad at math and science.

[Mint]

Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb.

[7,052,770]

that Garrett Morgan invented the traffic light.  That's something they taught us every February growing up.

[The Mikado]

Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb.

Wait...who did?

(I know Edison is extremely overrated, but THIS I thought was a fact).

[Verily]

Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb.

Wait...who did?

(I know Edison is extremely overrated, but THIS I thought was a fact).

There were many different light bulb-like inventions floating around prior to Swan's and Edison's, to the point at which it is difficult if not impossible to pin down a "first" one. But Joseph Swan was the first inventor to make a light bulb that was actually useful; earlier attempts burned out far too easily, used very expensive materials (usually platinum) or else emitted too little light.

[Mint]

Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb.

Wait...who did?

(I know Edison is extremely overrated, but THIS I thought was a fact).

There were many different light bulb-like inventions floating around prior to Swan's and Edison's, to the point at which it is difficult if not impossible to pin down a "first" one. But Joseph Swan was the first inventor to make a light bulb that was actually useful; earlier attempts burned out far too easily or else emitted too little light.

Pretty much. The first was Humphrey Davy in 1806 IIRC, but that was limited in use. Edison just was the first to really commercialize it.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Perhaps a better incorrect statement for Brazil is what the largest city is. It's not Rio or Brasilia.