Snopes

Big fan of Snopes.com. It's a site that works very hard to find the veracity of a claim. I can get lost for hours on the website and use it for many different things from countering ridiculous emails that get sent to me or posts on Facebook that warn of some new feature that will give away all my personal information or folk medical cures for an ailment or just about anything. Earlier today someone used it against me to counter a claim I had made about the origin of a saying. I decided to share a taste of the site with all of you. The site goes into great detail on each explanation, here I'm am just providing a few tidbits.

Claim: Dan White's legal team successfully used the "Twinkie Defense".
Status: False
More: Neither White nor his defense team ever claimed his consumption of any type of junk food lead to the murders of George Moscone or Harvey Milk. They quite simply stated he had suffered from depression for a long time and it made it impossible for him to distinguish between right and wrong. The jury did determine his actions weren't premeditated and that seems an odd conclusion.

Claim: Prostitutes can safely challenge John's with the question "are you a cop?" because law enforcement officers must answer truthfully.
Status: False
More: Cops can lie while performing their duties. I used to lie all the time when conducting interviews. The most common lie I told went something like this..."why would so-and-so tell me it was your idea and he just went along with it?"

Claim: Police have documented cases of people handing out poisoned Halloween candy.
Status: False
More: It's just an urban legend. There was a case were a man poisoned his own son and tried to say he was poisoned from trick or treating but the man was executed for the act.

Claim: The Bible says three wise men visited Jesus in the manger.
Status: False
More: "...there came wise men from the east..." that's it (Matthew 2:1). There were three gifts given. "...and when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother..." not even a manger (Matthew 2:11).

Claim: The term "Immaculate Conception" refers to the conception of Jesus to the Virgin Mary.
Status: False
More: The term is a special decree by Roman Catholicism that the Virgin Mary was preserved free from original sin by divine grace from the moment of her conception.

Claim: Cats can suck the breathe from babies and possibly kill them by doing so.
Status: False
More: Simply lore, nothing more.

Claim: Elephants are afraid of mice.
Status: False
More: They are one of the most fearless animals on the planet.

Claim: Multiplying your dog's age by seven gets you the human equivalent of its age.
Status: False
More: There is really no way to make this work in any perfect formula. Each dog is different based on its breed and size. Here is a chart that gives a better estimation if you are curious... 1 dog year - 15 human years, 2-24, 4-32, 7-45, 10-56, 15-76, 20-98.

Claim: A frog placed in a pot of water that is gradually brought to a boil will make no attempt to escape and will eventually die.
Status: False
More: Studies show this just isn't true.

Claim: A dog's mouth is "cleaner" than a human's.
Status: Never been a study to prove this but probably not.
More: A dog's tongue is its wash cloth and its toilet paper. Having a dog lick a human wound is not a recommended treatment.

Claim: Sylvester Stallone's first acting job was the leading role in a porn film.
Status: True
More: It was called Party at Kitty and Stud's and he made $200.

Claim: The briefcase in Pulp Fiction contained the soul of Marcellus Wallace.
Status: Undetermined
More: It was purposely written to be an unknown.

Claim: Al Gore claims he invented the internet.
Status: False
More: In an interview he did use some clumsy wording and stated he created the internet but he was explaining his initiative to move forward several ideas including: economic growth, better education standards, and environmental protection.

Claim: Puff The Magic Dragon is a song about marijuana.
Status: False
More: The song was written by a 19 year old Cornell student that passed it on to Peter Yarrow (the Peter in Peter, Paul and Mary). It was always about innocence lost.

Claim: Marilyn Manson played Paul Pfeiffer, Kevin Arnold's sidesick, on The Wonder Years.
Status: False
More: Not even close. Josh Saviano played the part and Brian Warner (Marilyn Manson) never did any acting.

Claim: Van Halen's standard performance contract required they be furnished with M&M's and all of the brown ones had to be removed.
Status: True
More: David Lee Roth stated this was done to see if all of the technical specifications of the contracts had been read and complied with. Pretty clever.

Claim: Refried beans are beans that have been fried more than once.
Status: False
More: The dish we enjoy in English called refried beans is called frijoles refritos in Spanish. Frijole means bean and frito means fried. In Spanish the prefix "re" is a point of emphasis and doesn't have the same meaning it does in English. The best translation would be they have been "well-fried".

Claim: The FDA issued a warning linking Hepatitis A and green onions.
Status: True
More: They did just that in 2003. They believe eating raw or lightly cooked green onions could lead to Hepatitis A outbreaks. See honey, I told you it was from the onions.

Claim: The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from the Moon.
Status: False
More: A photo released by NASA taken from a distance of 180 miles above the planet shows the Great Wall is barely discernible and there are plenty of other objects (highways, airports, bridges, dams) that can be seen from this distance. Needless to say, at 237,000 miles (the distance to the Moon) the Great Wall is not visible.

Claim: The average person swallows eight spiders a year.
Status: False
More: Lisa Holst authored an article in 1993 talking about the fact people will believe anything they read, especially on the internet. She created the false "fact" and ironically it has lived on and many people believe it. It shows up all the time on lists of weird facts.

Claim: A person's fingernails and toenails continue to grow after they die.
Status: False
More: It's simply not true. However, we do dehydrate and our flesh dries and does pull away from the nails possibly creating this illusion.

Claim: Rubber tires protect a car's inhabitants during a lighting strike.
Status: False
More: The rubber tires have nothing to do with it. However, the metallic composition of the car does provide safety to the inhabitants by serving as a conductor that moves the amperage toward the ground and not the people in the vehicle. And it is true talking on a land lined phone can kill you if lighting strikes. Another true tidbit is being around water (doing dishes or taking a bath or shower when lighting strikes) can be deadly if lighting hits nearby. Still, being indoors is safer than being outdoors if lighting is around.

Claim: Casinos pump oxygen to the gaming floor to keep the players awake and feeling good.
Status: False
More. Simply not true.

Claim: The actor who portrayed the "Malboro Man" in ads died of lung cancer.
Status: True
More: However, many people have taken on the role of the "Malboro Man" but it is true one of them, Wayne McLaren, did die of lung cancer at the age of 49 and had a pack and a half a day habit.

Claim: Bill Cosby bought the right to The Little Rascals to keep them off of television because of the racial profiling in the show.
Status: False
More: King World Productions has always owned the rights and Cosby has never had anything to do with them.

Claim: Sesame Street is adding a muppet to the cast that is HIV positive.
Status: True
More: They did this in 2002 but the character only airs in South Africa and its a mustard color female.

Claim: The winning pick three lottery numbers in Illinois after the 2008 election were 666.
Status: True
More: Shit happens