Lets debunk some urban legends

[Reef]

"It is a commonly believed myth that shaving hair will cause it grow thicker over time. This myth most likely persists because stubble does not taper like hair that is allowed to grow long, and because short hairs feel coarser than longer hairs of the same thickness"

source

[pete fabrizio]

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So everyone already knew that water going down a drain has nothing to do with what hemisphere you're in?

I guess I'm the only one who was completely stunned.

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Count me stunned.

[Brocktoon]

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"It is a commonly believed myth that shaving hair will cause it grow thicker over time. This myth most likely persists because stubble does not taper like hair that is allowed to grow long, and because short hairs feel coarser than longer hairs of the same thickness"

source

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Right, so its not a myth. Its true for the reason you state.

[Sephus]

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"It is a commonly believed myth that shaving hair will cause it grow thicker over time. This myth most likely persists because stubble does not taper like hair that is allowed to grow long, and because short hairs feel coarser than longer hairs of the same thickness"

source

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Right, so its not a myth. Its true for the reason you state.

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no, that's not "growing thicker over time" at all.

[Emperor]

Urban Myths

No Prostitute/Pimp ever drugged a john and left him in the bathtub minus his kidneys.

Global Warming - Man cannot alter the global environment.

Homsexuals are born that way - its a choice even if you were "born that way."

Guns kill people - People kill people

[doucy]

One I've heard several times is organ donors are more likely to die from injuries sustained in car crashes than are non-organ donors.

Someone debunk plz.

[taobot]

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I was taught in high school that the Bernoulli principle makes plane flies. That's false.

The Bernoulli principle is negligible for planes. Planes fly because the wings are angled slightly upward, so air coming from the front bounces downwards, pushing the plane up.

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Really?! I thought it was Bernoulli. That's why the wing is shaped like that, with the round on the top and the flat on the bottem. Google brings up a crapload of sites talking aobut Bernoulli & airplanes. Any reference to verify that it's just angle and not bernoulli?

edit: O snap! You callin' the wiki a liar?!

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I learned it from my physics prof who spent a little class time running the numbers.

It's possible that there's a series of wrong answers that people give that get closer and closer to a very complicated correct answer, and my prof's answer could be just a more accurate wrong answer than the one they teach you in high school.

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There's gotta be somebody around here who knows the real answer. I think our question boils down to "Which is more important for lift: the angle of the wing for pushing air down, or the curvature wing for bernoulli?"

Is there a Doctor (in aerospace engineering) in the house?

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They are both wrong (or incomplete) explanations.

NASA has some nice web pages on the subject: Incorrect lift theory #1 and Incorrect lift theory #2

[miajag]

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One I've heard several times is organ donors are more likely to die from injuries sustained in car crashes than are non-organ donors.

Someone debunk plz.

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I've heard this one too from several med school friends, but never seen any stats or anything. I assume the theory is the doctors subconsciously won't try as hard to save someone if they know they're a donor.

[bluefeet]

My elderly mother sends me the most outrageous "warning!" emails daily [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Her and her gang of interweb challenged blue-hairs entrust me to do all the fancy research (snopes).

My contribution to this thread:

My oldest, after a college freshmen class discussion (I forget which), confidently informed me that in Canada abortions are so common that young women are actually issued discount punch-cards...buy 4, get one free!

Not our first debate about the absurd, she quickly challenged me to Google it, to 'prove her wrong'. Ug.

[ahnuld]

"The findings in this report indicated that the abortion rate for the United States was higher than recent rates reported for Canada and Western European countries. Lower rates were reported for China, Cuba, the majority of Eastern European countries, and certain Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union (21--23)."

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5511a1.htm