popular myths

[Melrose]

Cervical cancer is linked to infection with Human Papilloma Viruses 16 and 18. HPV infection commonly manifests as warts (genital or otherwise) and although there is some controversy, a growing body of evidence (example article) shows that there is a link between lack of circumcision and increased risk for HPV in men.

It can be surmised that decreased HPV rates in men (especially promiscous men) could lower the HPV rate in sexually-active women (thus leading to a decrease in cervical cancers due to HPV).

I am not a medical student by any means, I've only ready a few articles about and heard conversations from well-educated friends. I would assume that hygiene plays a large role in the matter.

m2c..

 

[IJ Reilly]

I found this interesting, cause I remember my dad telling a story about when he owned a gas station in Georgia, USA, in the early 60s. He had a kid drive in a car that he said ran on water - the kid was attending Ga. Tech. at the time. My dad spent the day with him and remembers checking out the car and using water as fuel. (Just wanted to throw this in. Feel free to reply, but please no one call my dad a liar, k?)

Like I said, the most persistent urban myth ever. The "burning water" story came up again recently, with a link to a TV news story no less. Turns out the guy is burning HHO -- which can be done, but it takes more energy to create the HHO than the energy you get from burning it. The reason we like to burn hydrocarbons is that they've got lots of energy stored up in the molecules as a result of natural forces over millions of years, energy which can easily be released. Water doesn't have that convenient property.

 

[Beric]

Myth: People in the Middle Ages (esp. the church) believed the earth was flat.

I'll refer you to a wikipedia link, and if you don't believe wikipedia, go to the links wikipedia has.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth_mythology

The Catholic church believed in geocentrism, or the belief that the earth was the center of the universe. It had been known since 200 BC that the earth was round.

 

[themadchemist]

Cervical cancer is linked to infection with Human Papilloma Viruses 16 and 18.
/my 2 cents

Don't forget 31 and 33!

 

[asxtb]

Myth: People in the Middle Ages (esp. the church) believed the earth was flat.

I'll refer you to a wikipedia link, and if you don't believe wikipedia, go to the links wikipedia has.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth_mythology

The Catholic church believed in geocentrism, or the belief that the earth was the center of the universe. It had been known since 200 BC that the earth was round.

I don't believe you! The earth is and always has been flat! And on top of a turtle! When I first learned this in college, I wanted to go back to all my elementary school teachers and tell them to stop teaching lies. Of course, I'm sure most of the teachers actually believe people thought the earth was flat.

Another great myth is that you'll drown if you go swimming within 30 minutes of eating. Tell that to all the guys that would eat half a pizza and then go to swim practice (including me).

 

[bbbensen]

Another great myth is that you'll drown if you go swimming within 30 minutes of eating. Tell that to all the guys that would eat half a pizza and then go to swim practice (including me).

I thought that you would get cramps, not drown.....

 

[question fear]

another sport which has come into question is professional football and strong possibility of lasting brain damage is why great qb's like troy aikman and steve young retired before their time

sure, football players wear helmets, but the brain is still being slammed against the skull over and over, year after year, and helmets, as well as boxing gloves, can give the athlete a false sense of security that unfortunately allows the person to allow more hits to the head over a longer period of time

Very true. Which also leads to the myth that rugby is more dangerous than football since football players wear pads. But rugby players have to tackle safely as part of the rules, plus to protect their bodies. Football players think they are invincible because of all the pads and don't properly tackle or protect their heads within the helmet.

Oh, my all-time favorite myth (and someone was dumb enough to email this to me): AOL and Microsoft want to track an email and will pay you 24.00 per person you forward it to, and a reduced amount for each person THEY forward it to. I am still in shock my co-worker was dumb enough to send it to me!

 

[Slip]

You folks need to watch QI

I'm with you on that.
Helped to bust the showing of a V with your fingers was from the middle-ages where British archers who still had their fingers would taunt the French, turns out it's absolute bol**cks, it really just means 'F**k off'

I apologise for the poor language in that post.

 

[Don't panic]

You folks need to watch QI

would be interesting, but i don't think they show it in the US