You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

A penny dropped from the top of the Empire State Building will kill you.

On Mythbusters, the scientists determined that a penny "traveling at terminal velocity cannot penetrate concrete or asphalt." It won't cause serious damage to a person, and even at the speed of sound, will still not damage flesh. At most, it could sting a little.

[Lee Stewart]

Cracking your knuckles will give you arthritis.

This was probably told to you by people who can't stand the sound of bones popping, cracking your knuckles or other body parts will not give your arthritis. Dr. Robert Klapper, an orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and co-director of their Joint Replacement Program, explained on the hospital's site that there is no harm to cracking your knuckles. "The noise of cracking or popping in our joints is actually nitrogen bubbles bursting in our synovial fluid," he wrote. "It does not lead to arthritis."

[Lee Stewart]

It takes seven years for your body to digest a piece of gum.

Actually, gum will pass right through you and leave your body within a matter of hours or days.

[Lee Stewart]

Paul Revere held up the lanterns in the Old North Church.

"One if by land, two if by sea" is the famous quote by Longfellow that was given to the lantern code to be used in the Old North Church to determine how the British were approaching Boston. Paul Revere is best associated with this historic event, but he was not the one to hold up the lanterns. The church said that the church sexton Robert Newman, and Vestryman Capt. John Pulling, Jr. were likely the ones inside the church to pull off the signal.

[Lee Stewart]

On average, you swallow eight spiders a year in your sleep.

Thankfully, this one's far from true. Scientific American claimed that spiders don't intentionally crawl into a bed because there's no prey and they don't care about humans. "Spiders regard us much like they'd regard a big rock," Bill Shear, former president of the American Arachnological Society told the site. If a sleeping person has their mouth open, they're likely snoring, creating vibrations that warn spiders of danger and scare them off.

[Lee Stewart]

When briefed on those suffering in her kingdom, Marie Antoinette replied ‘"Let them eat cake."

There is no record of Queen Marie Antoinette of France ever having said these words. The myth goes that when told French peasants did not have enough bread to feed themselves, she replied callously, "Let them eat cake." History.com claimed that Lady Antonia Fraser, author of a bestselling biography of the French queen, believed that "the quote would have been highly uncharacteristic of Marie-Antoinette, an intelligent woman who donated generously to charitable causes and, despite her own undeniably lavish lifestyle, displayed sensitivity towards the poor population of France."

[Lee Stewart]

Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

This morbid fact is not true, but the truth is much more horrifying. BBC reported that "nerve cells die within three to seven minutes" after death, proving that they stop growing. However, the skin around the hair and fingernails retracts after death, due to dehydration, making them appear longer. Funeral directors will apparently heavily moisturize the fingernails to prevent this sight.

[Lee Stewart]

The arrow in the Amazon logo is placed with a very specific purpose in mind. If you look carefully, you’ll see that the arrow connects the letter A to the letter Z, signifying that on the website you’ll find everything you need from A to Z.

[Lee Stewart]

This nonprofit works hard to improve people’s lives and put smiles on their faces, and so it’s fitting that the g in their logo doubles as a smiling face (twice).

[Lee Stewart]

Everyone can easily spot the two giant Hershey’s Kisses featured prominently in the center of the brand’s logo, but what about a third kiss? If you look between the letters K and I and tilt your head to the left, you’ll see the extra kiss squeezed in there.