There are some myths that are so ingrained in popular culture as “facts” that just about everyone believes they’re true. For example, did you know Mount Everest isn’t the tallest mountain in the world? Or that drinking milk isn’t necessary for developing strong bones?
Below are 7 more things that are patently false, and we think it’s high time people started to circulate the truth instead of the long-believed myths.
Mars is the red planet, right? Welll. It all has to do with the tricky science of color. The initial images from Mars in the 70s showed an image that could have come from Arizona – blue skies, and umber ground. But the image was processed to show what it would look like under Earth-like lighting conditions. Mars has different chemicals scattering light in the sky, so NASA believes its sky and ground would look more pink/orange than Earth’s to the human eye.
However, NASA also clarifies that parts of the planet are actually blue and grey.
It turns out that the calcium contained in milk doesn’t help prevent fractures. In fact, Harvard researchers have found that people from countries where dairy is not a regular diet staple suffer from fewer broken bones than people from countries like the US where many people consume dairy on a regular basis.
If you want to increase your calcium intake, sardines, salmon, beans, almonds, and figs are probably better sources.
#5. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world.
It’s not even close in reality. It does have the highest elevation above sea level at 8,850 meters, making it the the world’s highest mountain – but if we consider total height, Mauna Kea, which is located in Hawaii and technically starts at the bottom of the Pacific ocean, is the tallest at over 10,000 meters.
There are still people who avoid chocolate because they believe that doing so improves their skin. Those folks are going to be super bummed to read that research has shown consuming chocolate is in no way harmful to one’s skin. What’s more, the results have been confirmed by dermatologists worldwide.
So eat up, chocolate lovers!
#3. If you’re caught in a lightning storm, your car is a safe place to be.
The rubber tires will ground you from any strikes, right? Yes and no — the grounding actually doesn’t come from the tires, but the car itself. Because it’s made from metal, it basically acts as an accidental Faraday cage. But be warned: the protection afforded will only work if all of the doors and windows are closed, and there are really no absolute guarantees where so much energy is concerned.
People who run tend to think that they’ll lose out somehow unless they pound the pavement on a daily basis, but the truth is that doing so can actually harm your health. Running too much can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, and premature aging. Scientists recommend running 3-4 times a week and not exceeding a total distance of 19 miles.
It might sound far-fetched, but research points to the possibility that it also works on dogs. If a dog is sick and its owner hands over a pill, the dog stops feeling pain for a short while even if that pill is just a vitamin.
Long-term relationships might seem like a perfect, romantic experience. One where couples sit around cooing into each other’s ears and feeding each other chocolate-covered strawberries all day. As someone who’s been in a committed relationship for many years now, I’m here to tell you that’s just not the case. I’m not saying there aren’t wonderful times – there are plenty – but it’s also not as picture-perfect as it is in the movies.
But you don’t have to take my word for it. LA-based artist Amanda Oleander has been documenting the lives of couples behind closed doors and her work is way too relatable. She’s been dating a man named Joey for the past three years and is very open about how much their relationship has influenced her work. “Before I met Joey if anyone told me their love and relationship was like ours I wouldn’t believe it,” Oleander said in an interview with Bored Panda. ” It’s nothing less than amazing. We can’t get enough of each other.”
She went on to say that, “[She’s] enthralled by the way people behave behind closed doors, intimate moments we never get to see. Those are moments that can’t really be documented because if they were, it would alter the way the person behaved. So I draw them.”
I wish everyone came with a warning label. You know, a nice clear message pinned to their shirt reading misogynist, misanthrope, potential rapist, or emotionally unavailable – that could have saved me some time and trouble. If everyone did, though, what would yours say?
While you think about that, check out what these 13+people came up with for themselves.
#15. Extreme pressure.
“Contents under extreme pressure.”
#14. Upsetting the introvert.
“Warning: If you are close enough to read this, you are upsetting the introvert.”
#13. Possibly toxic.
“Possibly toxic.
Not suitable for children”
#12. Just sad.
“Warning: will make jokes about traumatic childhood that aren’t really that funny, just sad.”
#11. The standard.
“The standard: “CAUTION: Does NOT play well with others!”
#10. Overanalyzing everything.
“Warning: May seem laid back, but is really over analyzing everything.”
#9. A known hazard.
“WARNING: This person contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.”
#8. Fragile.
“Fragile: handle with care”
#7. High amounts of salt.
“May contain cripplingly low self esteem and high amounts of salt.”
#6. Don’t take it seriously.
“Warning: don’t take anything the sarcastic asshole says seriously.”
#5. Small parts.
“HAZARD – small parts”
#4. Not suitable.
“Allergy Warning:
Contains NUTS
Not suitable for nut and or sesame allergy sufferers due to the methods used in the manufacture of this human.”
#3. Do not use.
“Warning- do not use as a projectile in a catapult”
#2. And by ‘may,’ I mean ‘does.’
“may contain alcohol”
#1. May cause headaches.
“Warning: May cause headaches
I had a chemist show physical signs of pain when I refereed to Oxygen as “H0O2″.”
The extremely popular and highly watched television show Unsolved Mysteries debuted in January of 1987 and featured cold cases about things like missing persons, murders, and paranormal activity. Thanks to its wide and fervent viewership, many of the cold cases have actually been solved. They’ve even exonerated a few wrongfully-convicted inmates along the way.
Despite the attention, a number of the 1000 cases remain open. Below are 7 of the 10 that co-creators John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer told Mental Floss really stuck with them.
#1. Tupac Shakur
The puzzling details that led to the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur have fascinated the public since they came to light on this show and elsewhere. Tupac was in Vegas to watch a Mike Tyson boxing match. After the fight, it was rumored that he and fellow rapper Marion “Suge” Knight got into an altercation with the Crips — a notorious street gang — while they were at a stoplight, and a white Cadillac pulled up and opened fire.
Knight was injured and Shakur died from his wounds. A witness was later gunned down at his home in New Jersey. No one has ever been arrested for either crime.
#2. Dial H for Abduction
In 1991, Angela Hammond was talking to her boyfriend Rob on a pay phone and commented that a green Ford pickup had been circling the block, and that a “filthy, bearded man” had exited and was using the phone next to hers. They were still on the phone when Hammond screamed and stopped responding to Rob.
Rob hopped in his car and drove to the phones, passing the kidnappers in a pickup truck with Hammond inside screaming his name on the way there. He lost them when his transmission failed. The only clue he had to go on was the truck had a giant decal on the back window.
The boyfriend was originally a suspect, but was soon cleared, and there have been no leads since. Police do think that Hammond’s disappearance could be related to other abductions near Clinton, MO, where she lived.
#3. One Minute Million
On April 19, 1989, an armored car in Eden Prairie, MN, was stopped by a gang of armed robbers that got away with a million dollars in under a minute. It was the second of what would be three similar heists within a couple of years, but the case was never solved.
Police suspect that, because of the precise nature of the attacks, the gang might have been ex military.
#4. A.W.O.L.
This case followed Private Justin Burgwinkel, an Army man who aspired to become a Ranger and was committed to a career in the military. Then out of nowhere, he began to act oddly at home, abruptly leaving his girlfriend for meetings and telling her they were secret. After three years, Burgwinkel vanished. His car was found at a motel filled with all of his personal effects, and his dog tags were among them. He had once told his girlfriend that if they were found, “that means I’m dead.”
No one has seen or heard from him since June 12, 1993.
#5. D.B. Cooper
D.B. Cooper is an alias for a man or woman who successfully hijacked a plane bound for Seattle in November of 1971. Cooper told a stewardess he had a bomb and asked for $200k when the plane landed. When he got his money, he jumped out of the plane with a parachute. The police have never come up with a single suspect.
In 2018, an amateur sleuth named Rick Sherwood suggested that Cooper might be Robert Rackstraw, a Vietnam vet with parachuting experience, but the FBI hasn’t made any further comments.
#6. Dreamy Disappearance
Cynthia Anderson began having a recurring nightmare in which she let someone into her house who meant her harm. Around the same time, she began receiving threatening calls at work, to the point where her employers installed an emergency buzzer at her desk.
Then, in August of 1981, when the attorneys she worked for arrived at the office, she wasn’t behind her desk. The police later received two phone calls stating that Anderson was being held in a basement of an occupied house. However, without any more information to go on, the case has never been solved.
#7. The Kecksburg U.F.O. Incident
On December 9, 1965, thousands of people reported a strange light over the northeastern United States and Canada. Citizens of Kecksburg, PA, saw it too, but also saw a commotion around what seemed to be a crash site. There were reports of the crash being a meteor or space debris, but UFO researchers have insisted an extraterrestrial craft was to blame.
NASA and the Air Force have to this day declined to identify what landed in Kecksburg that night.
One person’s trash is another’s treasure. You know some occasional treasures turn up at Goodwill…but you gotta believe there’s also a lot of wacky stuff. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to work at a Goodwill place just to see all the strange things people get rid of. Weird clothes, knickknacks, books, etc.
AskReddit users share the weirdest things they’ve seen turn up at Goodwill stores.
1. Mice!
“Goodwill was my first job. My first day of working there, I opened a box and saw some yarn. It looked suspicious, so I poked it and a bunch of pinkies (baby mice) crawled out.
That was a pretty good indicator of what the next year of my employment was going to be like. The only thing I really learned was that people take “donation” to mean “free trash dump.” “
2. Bad timing
“During the Austin, TX serial bombings earlier this year, someone donated an artillery simulation device that ended up going off while being sorted and led to minor injuries to an employee and mass hysteria that the bomber had started to target donation drop offs.
Bad weird donation. Worse timing.”
3. No thanks
“A Blazer Vest with a LIVE BAT comfortably nestled inside it, cute little guy.
Never got pictures, was before the age of smartphones I’m afraid. Got the thickest pair of gloves to carefully grab him and release him outside.”
4. Quite a story
“This was 7 years ago now. Had a lady in her late thirties donate everything in her house. A whole moving truck full. I didn’t notice anything odd until it was almost empty. She was acting nostalgic, yet semi flippant about giving it all away. At the end she asked if she could pray for me and the co-worker that helped unload the truck. After she drove away I had a sinking feeling about this lady.
I told my boss that nothing about this lady seemed right. We ended up racing through some of the boxes to look for info, found a bunch of journals and things from therapists over the years. Turns out she’d been living with mental illness for most of her life, and was giving us all her stuff so she could go home and end her life.
I asked my boss to call the police, and an officer apparently contacted her sister. They prevented her from committing suicide that day. I’m unsure if she’s still alive today, but I hope she wasn’t mad at me for trying to help. :/”
5. Kind of gross
“Old porn DVD’s donated with a crock pot full of moldy bean water.”
6. Score!
“I used to work at Value Village and one day somebody brought in an entire truck load of machines used in a convenience store. Those hot dog rollers, slurpee machine, warming cases and surprisingly that ended up selling them.”
7. Hopefully it goes to a nice home
“A glass jar labeled “fart june. 1975” “
8. The Mystery Knitter
“The mystery knitter. So every so often, at various times of various days, a bag would appear. A nondescript white bag, full, with white tissue paper on top. In the bag would be beautiful knitted baby wear – cardigans, hats, bootees, all different sizes and colors.
All hand knitted, with the same talcum powder scent. We’d try to stake the front of shop out to find out who but we never did. I still go in for a chat and a rummage and the Mystery Knitter is still at it. We like to think of some wee old lady lurking around until the coast is clear then finagling the bag into the shop and leaving the scene unnoticed.”
9. That’s cool
“One time a guy came to the donation center and asked me, “do you guys take magazines?” I told him, “generally no, unless they’re old enough to potentially be collectable.” He said “why don’t you take a look at them and let me know what you think?”
So I open up the first box, and right on top is a Time Magazine with a picture of the Moon landing, dated July of 1969. So of course I tell the guy “yeah ok, we can take these.” He had two boxes of them, and most of them were pretty big stories, though I can’t remember any others he had off the top of my head.”
10. A whole smorgasbord
“I was a lead at a goodwill until about summer last year but man, the stuff we would see. Enjoy!
“Oh my god my time to shine.
“Peter Meter” -a really tall- “shot glass,” to measure wang size with
Fully loaded guns
Meth, at least three times
And my personal favorite, our poor dead guy Gregory. He’s a box of ashes that we have to keep in the cash room, because we have to wait for Loss Control (or whoever) to pick him up. He’s been with us for over a year now, because no one from Corporate ever takes him, and myself and quite a few coworkers are very fond of him. Any time we get a new cashier, we make sure to introduce them to Greg, and any time something weird happens, well, it was probably Gregory’s ghost.”
11. I hope nobody took them
“Bath salts
..the drug.”
12. What a deal!
“My friend had a summer job at a Goodwill in Sacramento. Someone ended up literally donating a greasy McDonald’s french fry wrapper. He was told to put it in the toys section. It was sold for 49 cents.”
13. Wear your gloves
“One of the weirder things I have found was a hard cover cardboard children’s book with a hole directly in the middle. Each page of the book had a unique background (e.g. a hot dog bun) and presumably the reader was supposed to stick their d*ck through the hole to see it in front of a specific background. Goes without saying that I made sure I had gloves on before I threw that one out.”
14. Two for one!
“When I worked there we got a
pink d*ldo with a taser on the other end.”
15. Poor guy
“It was my second week working in processing housewares. I opened a black trash bag to find a half stuffed raccoon…. it was like someone began the taxidermy process but didn’t finish. Poor lil trash panda.”
Rejection is never fun, but it’s especially brutal when it comes from someone you really admire.
In this article, AskReddit users share their personal stories of being shot down by people they were interested in. We’ve all been there, so I think you’ll be able to relate.
1. That’s not a good response
“She was a new server in a restaurant where I was a cook. We hit it off hard, lots of chemistry, always had a good time chatting during work hours. I floated along on this for two weeks and then one night as we were closing the store I asked if we could get together sometime. She said no in such an immediate and apprehensive way that I was a little bit shocked. I asked why not, she said “I really just don’t like you very much.”
I asked haven’t we been flirting it up for two weeks? She said yes. I asked what’s the deal with all that and I’ll never forget the answer.
“You just seemed like you really needed to meet someone and I felt sorry for you.”
She wasn’t wrong, but FUCK.”
2. Ouch
“A friend thought it would be funny to let slip to the girl I liked that I liked her.
Her response? “EW NO” “
3. Damn…
“Lots of flirting between a gal and I in one of my college courses. Went on for months. Finally work up the courage to ask her out and she replied with “not even if you were the last man on Earth.” Damn.”
4. Laughed at
“Got laughed at to my face. Not an exaggerated laugh, it was a true from the heart actual crack-up.”
5. Okay…
“Asked a girl out and she said she was a lesbian, two weeks later I saw her making out with a dude at a party.”
6. Thrown away
“In high school, a bunch of cheerleaders sat at the same table as part of my friend group. I had classes and mutual friends with a lot of them so it wasn’t out of the ordinary to talk to them. One girl was also in my Physics class and I was like, wow this girl has it going on. She was tall, blonde, stereotypically cheerleader hot, popular and also smart. We would talk inside and outside of class and often were in the same study groups. I took a liking to her, my friends convinced me to make a move.
One day at lunch, I told her I liked her and asked if we could go out. It seemed to be going well, she didn’t say no or give a negative reaction. 16 year old me couldn’t believe I was pulling this off, just like my friends told me I would! I don’t remember if she asked or I offered, but I had my number written on a piece of napkin and gave it to her. She accepted it and then had to leave early for cheer.
As she was walking out of the lunch room she stopped at the ends of the tables, looked back and made sure I was looking. Then, she crumpled up the napkin with my phone number and threw it with conviction into the trash. And turned around and walked out.”
7. Short
“I dated a girl for about two weeks in high school and she actually made a literal pro and cons list of me vs this other guy she worked with, and showed it to me when she broke up with me for him. The only pro on his list was “is hot” and the only con on mine was “is short”. That stuck with me for more than a decade.”
8. I’ve heard enough
“60 year old guy here. Met online, first “meet for coffee” date. After 20 minutes, she said “Well, I’ve heard enough here” and walked out. Ouch.”
9. That’s rough
“Not me, but a few weeks ago my coworker walked into a bar. Sat down and ordered a drink. A girl walked in a stood next to him waiting for the bartender. He looks over at her and said, “Hi”. She looked at him and said, “Sorry, I dont talk to guys with bitch tits.” And walked away.”
10. Oh my!
“She lit my number on fire and threw the ashes back at me.”
11. Not relationship material
“One time I was making out with this girl in her apartment and I said we should go on a date, we’d make a good couple. She laughed and said I’m not relationship material then continued making out with me.”
12. Unfave
” “What’s your name again” was my personal unfave.”
13. Ghosted
“I developed a crush on a friend. We talked all the time, and sent 50+ messages to each other on a daily basis. We’d known each other since kindergarten, and it was now senior year of high school. I tried to scratch the surface of some of his deep feelings and stuff, and he responded by promptly sending me a death curse, and ghosting me. In public, he pretended he had never met me before.”
14. Rough ride
“I was in 7th grade and had a huge crush on this 8th grader named Brittney. We both rode the bus to school, and I was the last person to get picked up in the morning (also last to get dropped off). We both would talk on the bus in the afternoons, and one day I decided to tell her how much I liked her, and asked if she would be my girlfriend. She said she would think about it. The next day I got on the bus to literally every kid on that thing chanting “SHE SAID NO! SHE SAID NO!” over and over again. Rough ride to school lol”
15. SMH
” “I can’t deal with a bf in a wheelchair”
It’s like… :/ Ok.”
16. How dare you…
“In my mid-20s I met a woman I was attracted to, and I made an uncharacteristic effort to get to know her. We’d run into each other about three times a week, and I pretty much got her entire life story in those meetings. From her mom raising her as a single parent to her lack of a relationship and feeling lonely, I heard about it all.
Weeks pass. I decide the way she keeps telling me about how alone she feels, and that she wants a boyfriend, is to hint to me she wants me to ask her out. I do so.
This resulted in about five minutes of her tearing me a new one, going on about how I wasn’t the kind of man she wanted and how dare I think she’d date me.
We never spoke again after that.”
17. Why?
“I think the first girl I asked out in 7th grade.
Me: “Do you want to go to the dance with me?”
Her: “Why me?” “
18. Laughed in my face…
“I was in junior high school and had a crush on one of the basketball players. I was obviously too stupid to know my place yet, so when I walked up to him on a break between class and asked him out (it may have been to a dance or something) he laughed in my face. When we crossed paths again he was with his friends, so he thought it would be hilarious to use his sports towel to choke me until a teacher intervened.
All I could think was “am I that ugly?” “
19. A fresh one
“Literally today, I finally built up the courage to ask out one of my good friends (girl), and i’ve been waiting to do this for legit months. I introduced her to a friend a week ago. I just found out they started dating a few days ago.
I sad.”
20. Brutal
“In middle school I had given a girl a note and earrings on Valentine’s day. I had finally built up the courage to give it to her. She was with her friend. They walked away for a few moments, and her friend skips back to me with the items and screams “REJECTED!” “
Several prominent musicians, many considered to be legends, have died untimely deaths at the age of 27. This strange phenomenon is now referred to as “The 27 Club.”
Read through this list to learn about the different celebrities who have ended up on this tragic list.
One of the most iconic blues musicians in history, the man who supposedly sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his musical abilities died at age 27 in 1938, supposedly after he was poisoned by a lover’s jealous boyfriend or husband.
The icon of the early 1990s grunge movement found fame to be unbearable. Cobain struggled with drug addiction and tragically ended his own life in April 1994 in his Seattle home.
Often cited as one of the greatest guitar players of all time, Hendrix passed away at the age of 27 in London, England in his sleep. Hendrix’s cause of death was choking on his own vomit.
Joplin was the singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company before she embarked on a solo career. Joplin had a serious drug and alcohol habit, and she died of a heroin overdose in a hotel in Hollywood only three weeks after the death of Jimi Hendrix.
The man known as “The Lizard King” became a legend as the lead singer of The Doors in the late 1960s. Morrison’s drinking habit spun out of control and he became known for his unpredictable behavior. Morrison died of a heroin overdose in Paris, France in 1971.
The Rolling Stones member was forced out of the legendary band in June 1969. The following month, on July 3, 1969, Jones was found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool at his house in England. Drugs and alcohol were to blame for his death.
Amy Winehouse was known for her unique voice and her blend of influences. Like many of her successful predecessors, the singer had drug and alcohol problems. After years of struggles, Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning in her London apartment at the age of 27.
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