10
Five Senses
The error: We have five body senses – sight,
hearing, touch, smell, taste.
These are the traditional five senses, but there are in
fact many more – some say up to 21. Obvious
additions to the list are balance, pain, and
temperature. Furthermore, we have internal senses
which traditionally number four: imagination,
memory, common sense (not to be confused with
commonsense which many people lack!), and the
estimative power. Mythverse has a very interesting
article which covers a number of senses seldom
mentioned. You can read that here.
9
The Rainbow Lie
The error: A rainbow has seven colors
We are, no doubt, all familiar with the old phrase
“Roy G. Biv” used to remember the colors of the
rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo,
violet. This series of colors was coined by Newton
who initially excluded indigo and violet. While a
rainbow does appear to have seven colors, it is, in
fact, one continuous spectrum of color and it is
merely an artifact of human color perception that
makes it appear to be a series of bands. There are
also things called supernumerary rainbows which
have more than 7 bands visible to the human eye
(pictured above – note the extra green and purple
bands at the bottom of the rainbow).
8
Cold Comfort
The error: Drinking alcohol warms you up
This is entirely untrue – yet it is still commonly seen
as an antidote to coldness in movies, and people still believe the myth about the St Bernard dogs with casks of liquor around their necks! In fact, when you drink alcohol, your body temperature drops! This is because alcohol allows more blood to reach the surface of the body, and more heat is radiated or conducted away. Any feeling of warmth experienced after drinking alcohol is explained by the fact that this flow of blood to the surface warms the skin and the ends of the sensory nerves in the skin, and these convey to the brain a sensation of warmth. The fact that alcohol actually lowers the temperature of the body was first announced by Sir B. Ward Richardson in 1866 to the British Association.
7
Quake with Fear
The error: Small earthquakes can reduce the
chance of a big one There is a common myth (particularly in New Zealand where earthquakes are common) that if you have a lot of small earthquakes, it helps to alleviate the pressures building up that can cause a big one.
But this is not true. Seismologists have observed that for every magnitude 6 earthquake there are 10 of magnitude 5, 100 of magnitude 4, 1,000 of
magnitude 3, and so forth as the events get smaller
and smaller. This sounds like a lot of small
earthquakes, but there are never enough small ones
to eliminate the occasional large event. It would take 32 magnitude 5′s, 1000 magnitude 4′s, 32,000
magnitude 3′s to equal the energy of one magnitude
6 event. So, even though we always record many
more small events than large ones, there are never
enough to eliminate the need for the occasional large earthquake.
6
Don’t Swim
The error: You must wait 30 minutes after eating
before swimming
While there is a theoretical concern based on the fact that the body diverts the circulation of blood to the gut and away from the muscles that this might
possibly cause a cramp, no one has ever drowned
because they went swimming with a full tummy.
Going swimming after eating a big meal might make you uncomfortable, but it won’t cause you to drown. And even if you did get a cramp, in most cases you could easily exit the water before any real damage is done.

5
Population Explosion
The error: The earth is dangerously overpopulated
or is getting close to being so
This is a myth which has been around for quite some time – from the Anglican minister Malthus in the 18th century who said: “The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to
produce subsistence for man” to environmentalists
who see humans as evil in comparison to the rest of
nature. But, in truth, the world is a big place with
plenty of space. So, how much land does it take to
hold 6 billion people? To give you an idea, consider
the small nation of Japan. It has about 143,000
square miles of area. One square mile has 5280 *
5280 = 27.9 million square feet. Japan has a total of
about 4 trillion square feet, enough to give each
person of the earth 670 square feet. If we housed
people in families of four in simple two-level
buildings (8 people per building, one family of four
per level), each building could be on a lot of over
5300 square feet. If we used the American average of 8,000 square feet to four people, the entire
population of the planet would fit into a space as big
as Texas and Nevada combined – leaving the rest of
the land for food production and entertainment
venues. I should also mention that many countries in the west are now in a period of population implosion as families are getting smaller.
4
Cellphone Plane Crash
The error: Using a cellphone on a plane can cause
interference and, consequently, a crash.
The FAA has tested all sorts of electronic devices for
25 years, at 100 times the RF interference levels—
and nothing happened. The FAA simply states that
no link between operating the devices has been
proved. It’s been left up to the airlines to determine
their own policy—and that policy is to put away your
Blackberry. By using your cellphone during flight,
you risk interfering with a flight crew—but the plane
won’t crash. Consequently, some airlines are now
allowing the use of cellphones during flights.

3
Grumpy Old Men
The error: When you get older, you become bad
tempered
A recent study found that our personalities don’t
change much after age 30. So, if you’re cheerful and
gregarious in your 40s, you can expect to be the
same in your 80s. Marked personality changes some
seniors experience are due not to normal aging but
to some related disease like dementia or stroke. This
is something worth considering when you are
planning to marry in your thirties – your future
spouse probably behaves now the same way he or
she will for the rest of his or her life.
2
Raw Fish
The error: Sushi is raw fish
Sushi does not mean raw fish, and not all sushi
includes raw fish. The usual Japanese term for raw
fish is sashimi. The term sushi actually refers to the
way the rice is prepared with a vinegary dressing.
Toppings for the rice may traditionally include raw
fish—but also cooked seafood, fish roe, egg, or
vegetables such as cucumber, daikon radish, or ume
plum. The dish constituting sushi and other fillings
wrapped in a seaweed is referred to as makizushi,
not sushi.
1 Embassies The error : embassies are part of represented countries Embassies and consulates are not “part of the
country they represent” – the are part of the host
country. The Nigeria Embassy in Ghana for example is not “Nigeria soil” – it is Ghanaian soil. Despite this, certainly privileges are afforded embassies and their staff as determined by international law and agreements.
SOURCE ; listverse.com/2009/11/23/yet-another-10-commonly-believed-myths/?utm_source=more&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=direct#

This is a really, REALLY nice write up. informative... loved the part about population explosion...
stuff like this should be known.. not who is stepping out in red and white like an olokun princess

An Inquiry Into The Idea Of Extra-Sensory Perception (Esp) In African Cultural Context In The Light Of William James’ Pragmatic Notion Of Truth.
http://uniprojectsearch.com/extrasensory-p…ltural-context/