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Will a mere touch kill a butterfly?
I've heard many times that touching a butterfly will remove some "special" powder from its wings preventing it to ever fly again, effectively killing it or condemning it to die of starvation.
Example on a blog:
When you touch a butterfly, you get…
Sklivvz
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Did Albert Einstein say "the only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once"?
The quote
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
is attributed to Einstein with some regularity. (For example, Google returns 47,700 results, of which all except 5,780 include the word Einstein. Google Books…
user95432
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Do ~25% of Japanese people believe that USSR dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
I have heard this claim a few times from some random people, and recently came across it in pravda.ru as well:
from "Japan will never forgive USA"
There is such a statistics: 25 per cent of young Japanese people
believe that the bombings were…
sashkello
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Is this picture of Rachel Dolezal reading a book called "How to be Black" genuine?
This picture of Rachel Dolezal has been making the rounds online. Is it genuine?
Ijreview, where it was featured, isn't sure if the image is fake or real.
Twilight Sparkle
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Do Greeks evade taxes by not finishing their houses?
I've heard this claim several times:
Q: Why are there so many unfinished houses in Greece?
A: as long as the house is not finished, they don't have to pay building tax for it. So the leave it unfinished in order to evade this tax.
Is this true?
oefe
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Why should we try to reduce swelling after injury?
The very common advice for immediate treatment of an injury is R.I.C.E. — rest, ice, compression and elevation — to reduce swelling. But why should we try to reduce the natural swelling response? When I pose the question on Google, many results…
Martin F
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Was Pope Francis a Black Sabbath fan in his youth?
Recently I stumbled upon the image of the young Pope Francis wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt.
Could this be real?
I'm guessing this is fake, but I am at work and can't do a complete research about it. The reason I find this may be fake is mostly due…
streppel
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Do African countries have to pay a "colonial tax" to France?
There is a claim that as of today, a lot of African countries are forced to pay a significant percentage of their income to France, and this is the cause of widespread hunger in Africa.
14 African Countries Forced by France to Pay Colonial Tax For…
vsz
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Do secret societies that wish to bring about a new world order still exist?
Do secret societies that wish to bring about a new world order still exist? Who are they, what evidence points to their existence today, and what are their overall goals? Also, who are the foremost experts on secret societies?
This question…
Eric Sokolsky
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Is Idaho forcing pastors to conduct same-sex weddings or face penalties?
According to this article from "ADF" and this in the Washington Post, the city of Coeur d'Alene is requiring the Knapps, an ordained couple, to conduct same sex weddings or face penalties for discrimination.
Donald and Evelyn Knapp are apparently…
Affable Geek
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Have you shared (one water molecule of) your glass of water with a dinosaur?
I saw on the web:
La probabilité que vous buviez un verre d'eau qui contient une molécule d'eau qui est également passée à travers un dinosaure est de quasiment 100%.
This translates to:
The probability that the glass of water you are drinking…
Pop Flamingo
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Are there 24 empty houses "available" per homeless person in the USA?
I just saw this meme on Facebook:
Since this question answered the ratio question, I would like to know if these houses are "available for" those homeless?
Cees Timmerman
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Is gearing down more energy efficient than braking?
When spotting a red light or similar, I often release the gas pedal, gear down and let the engine decelerate instead of pressing the brake pedal. I was taught that this was more energy efficient for some reason, but I never really understood why. Is…
Benjamin Lindqvist
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Was pepper once worth its weight in gold?
It's a frequent claim that common black pepper was worth its weight in gold in early modern times. Just yesterday I heard it again in a documentary about the Dutch East India Company's spice trade in the 17th century.
There is no doubt that the…
Michael Borgwardt
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Can the health of an alkaline battery be determined by bouncing it?
I was just sent a YouTube video, which appears to demonstrate that one can determine the "health" of a battery (current voltage, useful lifetime remaining, etc.) by bouncing it on a level surface.
A new[ish] battery will not bounce, and tend to…
Hendy
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