Urban myths that somehow, people still believe

[PorkInsider]

schmunk said:

They learn them from the security noticeboard in prison...

Obvious really.

[rich23]

popeyewhite said:

Ari said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Pothole said:

If you swim too soon after eating you'll get cramp and drown.

When you eat, blood flow is increased in your digestive system. One of the reasons people often feel sluggish or tired after a big meal.

So swimming isn't ideal straight after eating.

It might not be, but you won't get cramp and drown.

And you don't feel sluggish because of increased blood flow to the stomach. Post insulin spike or serotonin release maybe.

I always assumed it was said to limit the chance of kids eating a meal and then throwing up in the pool

[Rickyy]

Have we had this gem?

[nonsequitur]

popeyewhite said:

Ari said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Pothole said:

If you swim too soon after eating you'll get cramp and drown.

When you eat, blood flow is increased in your digestive system. One of the reasons people often feel sluggish or tired after a big meal.

So swimming isn't ideal straight after eating.

It might not be, but you won't get cramp and drown.

And you don't feel sluggish because of increased blood flow to the stomach. Post insulin spike or serotonin release maybe.

Dear Doctor, Why complicate matters? Lets all agree not to go swimming after a meal.

[robsa]

schmunk said:

PorkInsider said:

Fastchas said:

R8Steve said:

swerni said:

essIII said:

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

droopsnoot said:

Ari said:

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

Chalk marks on your house means you're about to be burgled by the local diddycoys.

Even got released as a warning by one particularly dopey police force!

Currently being passed around FB by Greater Manchester Police.

Ha - not seen all those symbols before. When I was a lad we just put the chalk X on the houses of the people we didn't like at school, that was many years ago. Kids obviously carry on the tradition, but now we've got local Facebook groups and thousands of incredibly gullible people who take it very seriously indeed. If you try and tell them it's just kids mucking about you get properly lambasted.

Urgh, that's currently going around my local residents' facebook group. Try questioning why on Earth a burglar would take the time to do such an elaborate chalk drawing after burgling your house.

They walk amongst us
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I also posted a thread about this...

This is posted on our Security noticeboard in the prison.

Can you ask some of the inmates (if you have burglars) if they know what the symbols are about, and where they learn them if they somehow mean something to them ? 'Burglar School' presumably?

They learn them from the security noticeboard in prison...

Surely this is taken from the chalk signs hobos used to leave outside houses for other hobos? These are true and there is plenty of information online about them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo?wprov=sfsi1

[cootuk]

This one doing the rounds on fb again

[Brother D]

The Crack Fox said:

Windscreens will crack if you pour hot water on them. Every winter, without fail, there's a thread on here.

Eh? I've seen it happen in front of me (and a rather sheep-ish looking dad). Do people think throwing hot or boiling water on an iced up screen won't make it crack?

[mko9]

neelyp said:

silentbrown said:

Yipper said:

silentbrown said:

HTP99 said:

In the whole history of mobiles, has there ever been a fire in a petrol station actually caused by someone being on their mobile; that rule about not being on your mobile on a petrol station forecourt, due to a fire risk, has always perplexed me.

Err, no. That's why it's a myth...

http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

All the petrol pumps here still have warning stickers on them, though.

It is because of the (tiny) theoretical risk of someone dropping their phone from height and the battery sliding off the back onto the concrete floor and any metal contacts creating a spark by friction that ignites vapour.

,, and switching your phone OFF fixes that how, precisely? There's probably more risk of friction sparks from dropping a big bunch of keys on the floor.rather than a largely plastic mobile phone!

Phones are dangerous while refuelling for the same reason they're dangerous while driving: Distraction, during what is potentially a dangerous activity. Risk of phone actually being an satisfactory ignition source must be very low.

If it's got a battery in it then it's a potential ignition source.
Hence the reason that we are not allowed personal phones within oil refineries and petrochem plants but employees can use an ATEX rated phone in which the risk of it creating a spark is engineered out.

Um, you mean like the large battery in the vehicle you just drove up to the pumps??

[popeyewhite]

nonsequitur said:

Dear Doctor, Why complicate matters? Lets all agree not to go swimming after a meal.

Dear N,
It's a MYTH.
Swim all you like.

[FlyingMeeces]

rich23 said:

I always assumed it was said to limit the chance of kids eating a meal and then throwing up in the pool

It's the impact of the gastrocolic reflex on the other end of a small child I'd be worried about…

[FredClogs]

There's some folk around still saying that after we Brexit the government will have an extra £350million a week to spend on the NHS... Obviously bs, unless you live in Belfast that is.

[Wiccan of Darkness]

mko9 said:

neelyp said:

silentbrown said:

Yipper said:

silentbrown said:

HTP99 said:

In the whole history of mobiles, has there ever been a fire in a petrol station actually caused by someone being on their mobile; that rule about not being on your mobile on a petrol station forecourt, due to a fire risk, has always perplexed me.

Err, no. That's why it's a myth...

http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

All the petrol pumps here still have warning stickers on them, though.

It is because of the (tiny) theoretical risk of someone dropping their phone from height and the battery sliding off the back onto the concrete floor and any metal contacts creating a spark by friction that ignites vapour.

,, and switching your phone OFF fixes that how, precisely? There's probably more risk of friction sparks from dropping a big bunch of keys on the floor.rather than a largely plastic mobile phone!

Phones are dangerous while refuelling for the same reason they're dangerous while driving: Distraction, during what is potentially a dangerous activity. Risk of phone actually being an satisfactory ignition source must be very low.

If it's got a battery in it then it's a potential ignition source.
Hence the reason that we are not allowed personal phones within oil refineries and petrochem plants but employees can use an ATEX rated phone in which the risk of it creating a spark is engineered out.

Um, you mean like the large battery in the vehicle you just drove up to the pumps??

I was always under the impression it was to do with the way mobile phones actually work. They don't use radio waves, they use micro waves. Put one in your microwave at home and phone the number, occasionally they'll ring but on the whole, a mobile in a microwave oven can't get a signal.

Those microwaves, bouncing about a petrol station can and do create static charges to build up on the pumps and the building. That theoretically can create the spark. Since petrol vapour is the highly flammable part, those vapours wafting around can, theoretically, catch fire in the theoretical event a spark is created due to all those microwaves bouncing around. But that was how I understood it - microwaves from the mobile and nothing to do with batteries or dropping phones.

[eldar]

Wiccan of Darkness said:

I was always under the impression it was to do with the way mobile phones actually work. They don't use radio waves, they use micro waves. Put one in your microwave at home and phone the number, occasionally they'll ring but on the whole, a mobile in a microwave oven can't get a signal.

Those microwaves, bouncing about a petrol station can and do create static charges to build up on the pumps and the building. That theoretically can create the spark. Since petrol vapour is the highly flammable part, those vapours wafting around can, theoretically, catch fire in the theoretical event a spark is created due to all those microwaves bouncing around. But that was how I understood it - microwaves from the mobile and nothing to do with batteries or dropping phones.

So, if I out my ginsters pastie next to a mobile, I can warm it up?

[aka_kerrly]

eldar said:

So, if I out my ginsters pastie next to a mobile, I can warm it up?

HA,that has myth potential! sling that on FB an see how many pictures you'd get of pasties with phones on top.

[nikaiyo2]

TwyRob said:

You will say I am gullible but I know a guy who's snake did actually start measuring him up in this way.

It now lives in the tank rather than having free roam.

Nope you know a guy who lied to you, or wound you up

Most of the REALLY big snakes are truly tropical, so struggle (die) when temperatures go bellow 20c, need access to 30c+ regularly and need 60-80% humidity. This is why snakes live in tanks, to maintain their environmental needs, not to stop them eating people.

[Wiccan of Darkness]

eldar said:

So, if I out my ginsters pastie next to a mobile, I can warm it up?

If that's a euphemism I'd advise against it lest it swells up and goes pop. Or leaves you with sterile plums.

If that's not a euphemism and the ginsters you refer to is an actual pasty, then no. There's another urban myth that putting 2 phones together with an egg cracked in to a glass between them, that the microwaves would cook the egg. That too seems to be an urban myth as we tried it on several occasions at uni. The egg didn't cook, which is unsurprising as the power output of a mobile phone is considerably less than a microwave oven. So we worked it out, the power output of a mobile phone directly converted to energising the water molecules at 4200 joules per kilogram degrees C would take about 30 hours to adequately heat a tin of beans. The tin loses heat to the surroundings at a faster rate, producing no overall measurable temperature increase.

Bear in mind that mobile phones have been around since the mid 1980's and the power output of those could well have been higher.

[peterz3]

rthere was a program on telly about that bit of road when it was built seems the ground by the farm wasn't strong are stable enough to take the road that's why it goes arround the farm
peterz3

[toastybase]

There are more people alive today than have ever lived.

[Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah]

I recently had a customer who had a 'friend' who called the police after he found some burglers in his kitchen and that he'd held them so they couldn't escape. They refused to attend. He called apparently called them back a few minutes later to say they'd tried to escape and he knocked them unconscious, and they turned up within a few minutes. 'Ay, they're interested then!'

Like the story wasn't being told when Jesus was a nipper.....

[ReaperCushions]

peterz3 said:

rthere was a program on telly about that bit of road when it was built seems the ground by the farm wasn't strong are stable enough to take the road that's why it goes arround the farm
peterz3

The farm on the M62?