Myths You Might Want to Know About

Here are just a few myths you'll want to know and if they are true or false.

1. The ever popular punch or kick a shark in the nose or gut and it will run away. HA! Do something like that and you might get an arm or leg bitten off. For one thing sharks are very fast and it's more than likely before you even land a blow it could either quickly move away or take a good chunk out of you. Secondly if you do this it wont hurt the shark, but it might just distract it for a bit. I guess you will have to find another way to scare off a shark. Don't worry though, the chances of being attacked fatally are less then the chances of getting struck by lightning.
2. Those who go swimming after eating will suffer from cramps and drown. Now I don't know about you but this myth always sounded dumb since I first herd it. Not only did it waste my time while everyone else played in the pool, but it also struck me as weird because I found myself to be a good swimmer! The truth about this myth is no such thing will drown or kill you! Although getting cramps in the pool are not unknown they are certainly not life threatening. Just relax your muscles and it will go away. If you really do want to avoid cramps wait at least five or ten minutes.
3. Don't swallow gum because it will take seven years to digest? Our digestive system is so complex that even sticky gum wouldn't resist going through our bodies and coming out within the hours. The thing is when gum enters our digestive system its no more different from any other food we swallow. Gum does not linger in the stomach for seven years or any other part of the body but will leave our bodies in the same way and at the same rate any other food will. The only difference is the gum will come out just as we swallowed it as, gum. Gum resists the body's job to break it down and therefore comes out not as waste but as gum. It's likely this myth came from mothers who didn't want their children swallowing gum in fear of choking.
4. Your next fortune cookie might have next month's lottery answers. Yes it's very possible that the lucky numbers on a fortune cookie could be your ticket to winning to lottery. In 2005 lottery officials suspected fraud at work because so many people were winning the lottery than usual. The truth was there was no fraud going on but rather the crumbling of a cookie and reading its internal paper!
5. I find this myth very interesting. It's a myth that says killing a Praying Mantis is illegal in some states and they would fine you $50.00? By far is that even a law! Praying Mantises are by far an endangered species and if they were you would be paying a fine much more than just $50.00. Even though there are no such laws nor have there ever been any, it would be nice to not kill Praying Mantises at all and just leave them alone because they rid us of many other bugs considered as pests and they are interesting creatures.
6. Dog years? For a while I used to do the same thing, multiply your dogs age by seven and you get the human equivalent. Truth? That's just a myth that until just recently I thought to be true but unfortunately its not. Usually when we hear a persons age we can tell if they are elderly or young or middle aged, etc. and this is probably why someone came up with a way to tell a dogs age in human years due to the fact that a dogs life span is usually under 20 years it makes it hard to tell what age is equivalent to a human age. The fact is multiplying your dogs age by seven would make it inaccurate. By using this factor it would make dog's capabilities similar to that of humans but in most cases it would be wrong. An example is a 12 month old dog would begin to go through sexual maturity (puberty) by multiplying that by seven the dog would be six in human years and a six year old child would by no means be going through puberty! Another factor is that age affects humans differently than dogs and other animals. A human of 56 years might experience aching and weakening in bones and muscles but a dog at 10 years might be all well and healthy. So all in all it might not be so accurate converting your dog's normal age to match an age of a human.
7. Alligators in New York City sewers? Does anyone still believe this myth? As a New York City native never have I encountered Alligators nor have I herd of any. The myth says that rich families returning from Florida bring back pet Alligators and when the Alligators got to big to keep they flushed them down the sewer system. Then the Alligators became Albino and blind due to lack of sunlight. Now there has only been one (at least that I know of) case of an Alligator sighting in New York and that was about it. No Alligators live in the sewer system.
8. Lastly the Bloody Mary… not myth but legend. This legend goes back to 1978 and even before that. Legend has it that you lock yourself in a dark room with a mirror typically in a bathroom and perform a sort of “ritual” you will see a face in the mirror. The legend varies a little such as how you say the ritual (Bloody Mary thirteen times, Hell Marry, I believe in Mary Worth, etc) what you do, what you will see in the mirror and what the ghost will do to you (scratch your face off, make you insane, rip your heart out, instantly kill you, etc). The REAL truth about this legend is unverified. Neither I or anyone else can decide if its real or not, nor will any information be able to tell you if its real or not. The only way to find out is by doing the ritual…