Popular Misconceptions

There have been many popular misconceptions coming and thankfully going after they have been crushed by repeated explanations of the truth of things since the dawn of man. The truth usually needs to be repeated due to humankind's inability to accept new information or the lack of wanting to read and/or learn. And then there are the occasions when even that isn't entirely true. Sometimes, stuff falls through the crack of your life that you missed finding out about.

Hopefully, your crack (not the one in your ass) isn't that wide. Heh heh.

When They Hit The Earth, Meteorites Are Hot

I imagine you have, like I, seen plenty of cartoons and sci-fi movies where a meteor falls to Earth (at this point it becomes a meteorite) and once it is embedded into the ground, car or some poor unfortunate soul's head -it is glowing red and smoke is coming off of it. This is a famous misconception. The truth is that small meteorites are cold when they hit Earth; in fact, numerous ones are found with frost on them.

Think about it. A meteorite has been in near-absolute zero temperature of space for perhaps billions of years, so the interior, of course, is extremely frigid. The tremendous speed at which a meteor travels is enough to melt it's outer layer, but any molten material will be swiftly blown off and the interior of the meteor doesn't have time to heat up because rocks are shitty conductor of heat. Another thing: Atmospheric drag can slow small meteors to terminal velocity by the time they hit the ground, giving them ample time to cool down.

Blind Bats

A common misconception perpetuated by its use in metaphors and similes, bats have fairly normal eyesight, although they are very photosensitive and often dazzled by excessive light. Bats, however do often use echolocation in situations where their eyesight fails them, such as times of darkness.

The Spinning Of Toilet Water

Toilet water does not spin in a certain direction in coordination to which hemisphere its at on Earth. That phenomenon only occurs in weather patterns hundreds of miles in size, like hurricanes, due to the rotation of Earth. So no matter where you are, your turd will always go the same direction. Isn't that comforting?

Humans Evolved From Monkeys

Bear with me and read about the following misconception, carefully and thoughtfully.

A popular misconception about Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is that Darwin claimed we evolved from chimpanzees. Darwin never actually stated this, nor will any respectable biologist. This myth was actually spread by religious zealots during the nineteenth century in order to try and discredit Darwin and promote anti-evolutionism among the religious. Humans and chimpanzees are actually cousins (I have a cousin that appears to be a direct descendant of a chimp with all the goddamn hair on his back). Humans share about 94% of our DNA with chimpanzees and both evolved from a common ancestor, thought to be Sahelanthropus tchadensis, around seven million years ago.

"As Fit As A Fiddle"

This common old saying comes with the misinterpretation as meaning "fit" to being "healthy" -which is a nineteenth-century definition. Its original meaning was "suitable" and it is still being used in that context in the sentence, "fit for a king." "As fit as a fiddle" means "as appropriate as can be, not "in excellent health."

Remember gang, no matter how much you diddle your fiddle, it will not make you fit. Did that help? No? Oh, well.

Well guys and gals, those are all the misconceptions I have for you now. I hope you enjoyed learning new things or reading about some tired old info you already knew about. Heh heh. Either way, I've gotten it out of my system and I'm watching it go round and round and round here in the bathroom.