111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

October 14, 2004 6:35 PM

Did you know? Each year, more people are killed by teddy bears than by grizzly bears; an average of 100 people choke to death on ball point pens each year; and, there is an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which has a winter population of 200.
posted by shepd (38 comments total)

"True fact" is an oxymoron, morans.
posted by darren at 6:39 PM on October 14, 2004

no, i didn't know. : >
posted by amberglow at 6:47 PM on October 14, 2004

(actually, i'm lying--i knew about the subway sponsorship thing, and the early puberty thing, and the novel with no verbs, and the New Yorker subscriber thing, and the brand recognition thing, and the...)
posted by amberglow at 6:52 PM on October 14, 2004

"Each year, more people are killed by teddy bears than by grizzly bears"

Yes, but grizzlies are miles ahead in the "eats the person they kill" category.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:54 PM on October 14, 2004

"The New York City Police Department has a $3.3 annual budget"

Hell, I spend twice that much just on lunch every day.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:55 PM on October 14, 2004

"True fact" is an oxymoron, morans.

An oxymoron is a combination of words with opposite meanings. "True" and "fact" are complimentary. In fact, Webster's lists them as being synonymous.

The company that manufactures the greatest number of women's dresses each year is Mattel. Barbie's got to wear something.

Um. Isn't a women's dress, by definition, a dress that would fit on a woman?

(still a neat site)
posted by eyeballkid at 6:57 PM on October 14, 2004

"An oxymoron is a combination of words with opposite meanings. "True" and "fact" are complimentary."

Then would "True Lies" be an oxymoron, or just a bad movie?
posted by ZachsMind at 7:00 PM on October 14, 2004

A goldfish has a memory span of about 3 seconds.

There was an episode of mythbusters on a while back that tried to debunk this "fact". Im pretty sure they succeded, if I remember correctly.
posted by bob sarabia at 7:01 PM on October 14, 2004

> Each frame of the Lord of the Rings trilogy requires 12.5 mb in storage. Filmed at 24 frames per second, that amounts to more than 3 million megabytes (3 petabytes) per episode.

Last time I checked, that would make the total storage be 3 terabytes, which is a much more manageable figure.
posted by neckro23 at 7:17 PM on October 14, 2004

HA! I knew about the ATM at McMurdo due to some research I did in hopes that I might get to do a stint down there at some point.
posted by a3matrix at 7:27 PM on October 14, 2004

In 1985, the most popular waist size for men's pants was 32. In 2003, it's 36.

Someone's been in my closet!
posted by Dick Paris at 7:28 PM on October 14, 2004

The chicken is one of the few things that man eats before it's born and after it's dead.

...or any other creature whose eggs and dead body are consumed by man. That brings that number up a little bit.
posted by bob sarabia at 7:30 PM on October 14, 2004

Then would "True Lies" be an oxymoron, or just a bad movie?
An oxymoronic pleonasm?
posted by kush at 7:30 PM on October 14, 2004

Now you've done it. You made me pull my copy of Fortean Times to reference the truth about forgetful fish.
posted by SPrintF at 7:33 PM on October 14, 2004

What separates "60 Minutes" on CBS from every other TV show? No theme song or music.

No longer true. 24 now shares that distinction. (And if you want to argue that the stylized clock ticking with which 24 goes to/comes back from commercials with is "music," I'll say the same about the stopwatch ticking on 60 Minutes.)

Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

debunked (as well as some of the others on the list)

85% of the guys who cheat on their wives die while having sex.

Come on, this one doesn't even pass the smell test.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:35 PM on October 14, 2004

grizzlies are miles ahead in the "eats the person they kill" category

For now. But now that I'm working at Cyberdyne Children's Products, just wait to see what the TeddyRuxpin II (Model TR-101) will do... working jaws are already there, all I need to do now is get the nanoreactor digestive tract on line so that it can excrete cake batter for EZ-Bake ovens like that little blond girl wanted...

And to think they laughed at me --ME-- when I left Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems to start a line of toys!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:39 PM on October 14, 2004

85% of the guys who cheat on their wives die while having sex.

No damn way.

And as for Canada's $2 bill depicting the Parliament buildings flying the American flag, Canada doesn't make a $2 bill anymore - it's now a coin, known as the toonie. The last version of the $2 bill (which was created c. 1990) depicted Queen Elizabeth on one side and robins on the other.

Fun site, though, Shep! Thanks.
posted by orange swan at 7:41 PM on October 14, 2004

Very cool site -- going into my list of near-daily reads!
posted by davidmsc at 7:58 PM on October 14, 2004

...because it doesn't matter if they're true, as long as they're clever.
posted by jpoulos at 8:14 PM on October 14, 2004

An oxymoron is a combination of words with opposite meanings. "True" and "fact" are complimentary. In fact, Webster's lists them as being synonymous.

Umm, to defend Darren, I'm pretty sure the presence of the word "morans" was meant to signify it as a joke.
posted by Hildago at 8:16 PM on October 14, 2004

85% of the guys who cheat on their wives die while having sex.

Maybe it's 85% of the guys who die during sex do so while cheating? Just a thought.
posted by psmealey at 8:37 PM on October 14, 2004

And as for Canada's $2 bill depicting the Parliament buildings flying the American flag, Canada doesn't make a $2 bill anymore - it's now a coin, known as the toonie. The last version of the $2 bill (which was created c. 1990) depicted Queen Elizabeth on one side and robins on the other.

There was a parliament in the background someplace on one of the modern $2s The flag was the old dominion flag not the american flag. Easy mistake to make as the flag was a couple millimetres on a side and didn't look anything like a canadian flag.

Also "Hot water is heavier than cold." is only true if we're talking 0C to 4C water or ice.
posted by Mitheral at 8:49 PM on October 14, 2004

David Bowie thinks he is being stalked by someone who is dressed like a giant pink rabbit. Bowie has noticed the fan at several recent concerts, but he became alarmed when he got on a plane and the bunny was on board.

Heh.
posted by Tlogmer at 9:22 PM on October 14, 2004

Wearing headphones for an hour increases the bacteria in your ear 700 times.

I just asked about that in ask metafilter.
posted by skallas at 9:55 PM on October 14, 2004

There has been no mail delivery in Canada on Saturday for the last thirty five years.
Is the rest of the world getting mail on Saturdays?! What can't wait until Monday?
posted by teg at 10:00 PM on October 14, 2004

>There was a parliament in the background someplace on one of the modern $2s The flag was the old dominion flag not the american flag.
The ones with the log gatherers? The twos had the fisher-hunters.
posted by philfromhavelock at 10:36 PM on October 14, 2004

Is the rest of the world getting mail on Saturdays?! What can't wait until Monday?

Hell, Express Mail gets delivered on Sundays! And holidays. A couple of years ago, they delivered a Christmas present I'd sent to my parents on Christmas Day itself. It was a week late, but at least they delivered it in time for the holiday, and I got my money back thanks to their delivery guarantee. This was nice because it was a heavy package that cost over $30 to mail.
posted by kindall at 11:42 PM on October 14, 2004

Almost 20% of the billions of dollars American taxpayers are spending to rebuild Iraq are lost to theft, kickbacks and corruption.

Wow. How've they managed to keep it so low?
posted by kindall at 11:48 PM on October 14, 2004

This was nice because it was a heavy package that cost over $30 to mail.

Here's a trick for you: cut the body into several packages and drain it of fluids. It costs *way* less.
posted by The God Complex at 12:05 AM on October 15, 2004

"Morans" joke aside, the word Darren was looking for was "tautology"...
posted by benzo8 at 1:54 AM on October 15, 2004

People with initials that spell out GOD or ACE are likely to live longer than people whose initials spell out words like APE, PIG, or RAT.

No. People with those initials have in the past on average lived longer than people with the other initials, maybe. But are they more likely to live longer? Nope.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 1:59 AM on October 15, 2004

"Almost 20% of the billions of dollars American taxpayers are spending to rebuild Iraq are lost to theft, kickbacks and corruption.

Wow. How've they managed to keep it so low?"

They're not counting Halliburton's share.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:12 AM on October 15, 2004

"Each year, more people are killed by teddy bears than by grizzly bears"

Oog. Now I'm gonna have Bjork's Human Behavior running thru my head for days. And the images from the video too.
posted by Shane at 7:08 AM on October 15, 2004

Is the rest of the world getting mail on Saturdays?! What can't wait until Monday?

Assuming you are serious, teg, the US delivers mail on Saturdays.

Although it doesn't do deliveries, Canada Post still processes mail on Saturdays.
posted by deborah at 11:14 AM on October 15, 2004

"Morans" joke aside, the word Darren was looking for was "tautology"...

I think the word he meant was redundant. Redundant was certainly the word he meant.
posted by euphorb at 12:48 PM on October 15, 2004

Besides eggs and chicken humans eat caviar and sturgeon.

Also, on Fear Factor I think they ate Pig Fetuses once.
posted by Bonzai at 1:29 PM on October 15, 2004

"Every megabyte sent over the Internet takes two lumps of coal to power."
posted by Lizc at 3:33 PM on October 15, 2004

What about toppling soda machines ? Those kill a few people each year.
posted by troutfishing at 3:40 PM on October 15, 2004