Fabled absinthe all a hoax, German scientists say
The Earth Times
May 6, 2008

Karlsruhe, Germany - Absinthe, the green liqueur flavoured with aniseed which reputedly used to drive artists mad, was a hoax, a team of scientists said Tuesday, adding that it was only the strong alcohol in the drink that was damaging to health.

Absinthe was banned in Europe for much of the 20th century because of fears it contained large amounts of thujon, which is toxic to the nerves. Not so, said scientists at the CVUA laboratory in Karlsruhe, Germany, who did the study with US and British colleagues.

They tested old bottles of the beverage nearly 100 years old.

“Its psycho-active effect is just a fairy tale,” said scientist Dirk Lachenmeier. The liqueur had contained only minimal thujon.

Users claimed the wormwood liqueur could trigger hallucinations or epileptic fits. The Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh is supposed to have cut off his own ear under its influence. (more…)

From David Emery of About.com on Super Bowl Sunday urban legends, February 1, 2008:

In an LA Times article a few years back, renowned folklorist Alan Dundes ventured to explain why Super Bowl Sunday has become the focus of so many larger-than-life “urban beliefs” in the United States — beliefs such as:

Every year on Super Bowl Sunday the water systems of major cities are in danger of collapsing because of so many simultaneous toilet flushings at half-time (FALSE).

More women are physically abused by spouses and boyfriends on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year (DISPUTED).

Two-thirds of all the avocados sold yearly in the United States are purchased during the three weeks prior to the Super Bowl for making guacamole dip (EXAGGERATED).

There are more pizza deliveries made during Super Bowl Sunday than on any other day of the year (TRUE).

Disneyland becomes a veritable ghost town on the day of the Super Bowl because so many Americans are planted in front of their TV sets (FALSE).

The stock market predictably fluctuates up or down the Monday after the Super Bowl depending on which league wins (PARTLY TRUE).

Wrote Dundes: “Every culture’s legends express that culture’s values. Super Bowl legends usually involve numbers and a sense of enormity. The idea of big numbers, of being bigger than other people, is very American.”

Or maybe we’re just prone to exaggerate. Who isn’t? Read on here.

image: Sahara pizza

Empire State Building car zap mystery
by Richard Weir
Daily News
January 27, 2008

Several cars a day get bizarrely stranded in a five-block ‘Bermuda Triangle’ near the Empire State Building.

In the shadow of the Empire State Building lies an “automotive Bermuda Triangle” - a five-block radius where vehicles mysteriously die.

No one is sure what’s causing it, but all roads appear to lead to the looming giant in our midst - specifically, its Art Deco mast and 203-foot-long, antenna-laden spire.

“We get about 10 to 15 cars stuck near there every day,” said Isaac Leviev, manager of Citywide Towing, the AAA’s exclusive roadside assistance provider from 42nd St. to the Battery. “You pull the car four or five blocks to the west or east and the car starts right up.”

Motorists like Russell Valeev, 25, learn about it the hard way.

“The lights work, the horn works, everything. But it won’t start,” Valeev, a driver for Golden Touch Transportation said one recent evening as he sat in his 2005 Ford van with the hood propped open on E. 35th St., between Lexington and Park Aves. “It’s my job. No money.”

(more…)

A comprehensive, alhtough theoretical, exhibition of the history of Alfred E. Newman, Alfred, We Hardly Knew Thee! continues through Feb. 7 in the Ford Gallery in Ford Hall at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. Ford Hall is north of Cross Street at the intersection of Normal Street. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon. and Thursday.; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday. Information: 734-487-0465.

Mad for Alfred:
A new exhibit shows Mad magazine’s poster boy has a shadowy past
by Tahree Lane
The Toledo Blade
January 20, 2008

Mad magazine’s lovable poster boy is as emblematic of the last half of the 20th century as any cartoon character.

But the face we know as Alfred E. Neuman has a storied past that reaches back 200 years and has its roots in discrimination.

“The image is fluid and flexible and has been with us from George Washington to W. Bush,” says John E. Hett, publisher of the intermittent The Journal of Madness. (more…)

Both Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing and Alex Boese of the Museum of Hoaxes, following threads from the Heresy Corner blog (see links below), commented today on the probability that the twins separated at birth who found each other later in life, fell in love and got married, much to the horror of seemingly everyone, since, as the story goes, their marriage was immediately annuled, is undoubtedly an urban legend.

Links from Heresy Corner:

image: Twins Insurance

Heard the one about reading in dim light being bad for your eyes? It’s just a myth
by Alok Jha, Science Correspondent
The Guardian
December 21 2007

Doctors pour cold water on commonly held views. And they use more than 10% of their brains to do it

They are the universal pearls of wisdom that explain some of the more puzzling things about the human body and help people live healthy lives: don’t read in dim light, drink eight glasses of water a day and don’t use mobile phones in hospitals.

The problem is: there is no evidence to suggest that these gems of advice are actually true. In a study out today researchers have scoured through leading databases of medical research to test whether any of the most commonly held beliefs among doctors and patients bear any links to reality.

The two doctors behind the research wanted to remind their colleagues that anyone could get things wrong and suggested that doctors should think twice about commonly held ideas that might not be based on evidence.

“We got fired up about this because we knew that physicians accepted these beliefs and were passing this information along to their patients. And these beliefs are frequently cited in the popular media. We didn’t set out to become myth busters,” said Aaron Carroll of the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis.

Along with Rachel Vreeman of the Indiana University School of Medicine, Carroll examined beliefs ranging from healthy living to the morbid idea that nails and hair keep growing after you die.

The seven myths, published today in the British Medical Journal, were based on ideas and conversations the authors had heard endorsed on several occasions - and which many physicians thought were true. (more…)

From David Emory of About.com Urban Legends:

Netlore Archive: Internet photos purport to show a giant, man-eating catfish caught in the Furong Reservoir in Huadu, China.

(more…)

Here’s the trailer for Kevin Keating’s documentary about Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani Time:

This brings back memories of Joey Skaggs’ public performance piece Doody Rudy with Dumbo’s Dung, which was staged January 4, 1999 in Washington Square Park to protest the New York Mayor’s authoritarian policies. This event gave the public the opportunity to let Mayor Giuliani know how much they detested his policies and is shown briefly in the trailer.

Thanks Sheldon Drake

In a video that is by turns emotional, scathing and at times factually questionable, the nation’s largest union of firefighters is appealing to its members across the country not to support the Republican presidential candidacy of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani

Video by Firefighters’ Union Urges Opposition to Giuliani
by Marc Santora
The New York Times
July 12, 2007

The video, issued by the International Association of Fire Fighters and titled “Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend,” strikes directly at what Mr. Giuliani’s campaign has presented as a central strength: his leadership of New York City after the Sept. 11 attacks, in which nearly 350 firefighters died.

(more…)

From STV.tv:

Man claims to have filmed nessie
An amateur scientist believes he could have captured the Loch Ness Monster - on videotape.

Yorkshireman Gordon Holmes was carrying out experiments at the famous loch when by chance he happened to spot a strange creature in the waters. Now his film of the incident is causing a sensation.

The legend of the Loch Ness Monster dates back to 565 AD when St Columba was said to have seen a strange water monster in the loch. Tales of Nessie regularly surface, but she is a symbol of Scotland that is so recognised across the globe that when there are any new sightings reported it causes a frenzy.

The new footage showing a creature swimming across the loch is already causing a stir.

The footage was taken at the weekend by an amateur scientist who happened to spot a fast-moving creature swimming across the world-famous loch.

Gordon Holmes, from Yorkshire, had been undertaking some scientific tests on the Loch, recording sounds from the deep with special hydrophonic equipment.

But nothing prepared him for the prospect of actually setting eyes on what could be the elusive Nessie - an event he luckily captured on film.

Gordon took his tape to local experts who say it warrants further scrutiny - and so far, the jury is out. (more…)