things the masses of people seem to believe that aren't true.

[shortroundd]

I am not talking about conspiracies here that can't be proven with a bit of digging but more false stuff that seems to stick in the minds of the general population as truths.

1. All/majority of lotto winners go broke after 5 years. I have seen this touted out a lot yet there is no known source of it as no such research exists. There is the handful of bad stories that are circulated but this is only a minority out of 1000s of big winners worldwide. Infact, I recall the tabloids doing a feature with winners to celebrate Camelot's 20th anniversary or so and many winners had said their lives were better.

1. Marriage means all assets are split 50/50. Another huge misconception.

1. Prenups will protect 1 in divorce- again I think 2 and 3 come from people watching tv shows and movies that use this as factual when it's not.

1. Elvis sings 'Lonely this Christmas.'

1. The capital of Brazil is Rio.

@Graphista generally spouses or domestic partners inherit on death in Australia in the absence of a will specifying otherwise. A domestic partner is (from memory) a higher threshold of 3 years or having a child together.

It’s drummed into Australians to make a will for that reason.

For simple relationship breakdown, the courts look at the facts. If there is a joint child then clearly that’s a stronger argument for a division of assets than say 2 young childless professionals calling time on a mid-20s relationship.

mean you read articles about someone having a cardiac arrest and how they were saved by the fact there was a defibrillator nearby. If it doesn't cause the heart to start beating again - how does it help

It is to help reset the correct rhythm

Defibs work on hearts that haven't stopped, the different muscles have just stopped working in sync

That antibiotics are painkillers. My MIL is the worst for this (actually she probably believes most things on this thread 🙄). She'll get prescribed antibiotics, then say she's in pain but she hasn't taken her antibiotics yet. I'll ask her if she's taken a painkiller - no, as she's got antibiotics. Her Dr dishes them out like sweets, she takes them for a few days, then says they've upset her stomach so stops mid course. EVERY time.

That asd children need to learn to fit in!!

Theres a lot of people that believe if you come from certain countries you can walk into the council and walk out with a house and thousands of pounds. Literally 10s of thousands. Hahahaha.

[quote SpaghettiArmsMurderer]@WeirdlyKind you’ve fallen for the misconception. In reality almond milk uses less water than dairy! www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46654042[/quote]
The study this is based on is very comprehensive, unfortunately most of reports misinterpret the findings. The study includes all the rain that falls on the field the cows are in, the media reports take this as the water consumed by the cows. California has had a drought for the last ten years so very little rain. If you compare the fresh treated water used in the production of almonds compared to the equivalent in the production of grass fed beef the almonds are vastly worse.

A lot of people also believe that Muslim women are forced to wear hijab by their husbands or father.

The entire of Africa is poor.

That Africa is a country.

[quote WhoppingBigBackside]@EarringsandLipstick, what I said is true. A pound of one thing weighs the same as a pound of something else but by volume, muscle weighs more than fat.

Similarly a litre of milk weighs more than a litre of water.[/quote]
Exactly. We all knew what you meant

Agrudge

WTF?

@PopsicleHustler

A lot of people also believe that Muslim women are forced to wear hijab by their husbands or father.

The entire of Africa is poor.

That Africa is a country.

A lot of people also believe that Muslim women are forced to wear hijab by their husbands or father.

and in many cases this is true

@Spitspotsput

Civil servants seem to be convinced that wfh is forever

The civil service ALREADY WFH routinely and effectively, before covid. In fact the Office of Government (formerly GPU) has been “rationalizing” ie selling off state owned estate for the last decade (probably longer). The public sector has not been working to the traditional model of one FTE per desk for 10 years. Hotdesking / activity based working/ hubs and yes, home working has been the norm for a very very long time because the government realised a long time ago that spending money on offices to house their workers was expensive and unnecessary. My office accommodates 2000 people (in normal times) over 6000 people “work” out of that office. Where would you like us all to sit?

The point about driving and emergency stops is spot on - a doctor can’t tell if you are or aren’t safe to drive, only you know. When I broke my hand my doctor said if I had any pain then in an emergency I might instinctively lift my hand from the email. It was for me to know when the pain had gone, not for him to say it would be at 8 weeks (only an estimate)

I have a few friends in the public sector who did a lot of wfh before the pandemic. Although there is an office, they have to hot desk and they both say unless you get in very early, it is almost impossible to get a desk.

@SnackSizeRaisin

Right so at a roundabout, it’s just a free for all right? Not that you give way to traffic coming from your right?

You give way because the person coming from.the right has priority. They don't have right of way though. If you fail to give way they must stop if they can - they don't have the right to keep going and cause an accident . Priority is just a way to decide whose turn it is to keep things moving. Unfortunately lots of people think they have right of way and an accident would therefore not be their fault. It's a bit nuanced but there is a different.
Right of way refers to a legal right to travel along a road, path, track etc.

Okay, what you call priority is what I call right of way then. I mean, I still have to stop if some idiot drives down the wrong side of the motorway if I don’t want to get killed. That’s just accident-aversion.

@shortroundd

*Um, I've looked at a lot of medieval skulls?

I could do proper digging around if you want, but at a quick google, there's a paper here examining teeth as an indicator of general health; since the sample includes people with no issues, plainly, not all medieval people had bad teeth. So that'll do you for a start.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3094918/

Or did you mean the other bit about life expectancy*

see the problem is that is 1 paper and yes not 'all' but likely the majority. I am no expert but we are told fluoride was 1 of the best things in 20th century science as tooth decay globally declined, we are also told that teeth not washed will decay even on a very healthy diet.

Then you come in and say it was only when sugar came the teeth declined which goes against what we are taught. You use 1 paper to go against dozens of text book/internet sources. I am not saying you are all wrong by any means but I am saying there is such a drive to rewrite history the lines become very blurry.

Wait, what, we're rating internet 'sources' over a published, peer reviewed paper?

Oh dear gods above

Myth: The greatest threat to women's safety is strangers attacking us outside the home.

Reality: The vast majority of attacks on women are committed by people known to them, husbands/partners/parents, and most attacks are in the home or other "safe" place. We're less likely to be attacked walking down a dark alley alone late at night than if we're at home with our partner.

The same is also true for child abuse, the fear is always some paedophile grabbing a child off the street but this is overwhelmingly not the case usually. It's almost always the parents/carers/relatives and above all siblings who commit the abuse.

@motherofawhirlwind

All part timers doing the same hours get the same amount of time off, it's just if you have Mondays as a non working day you get to decide when more of your time off is than if you worked Mondays and had to have Bank Holidays off.

All part time HR peeps have Mondays off if they possibly can!

@motherofawhirlwind that does not work in education. You get one more day off if you work a Monday in a school (early May bank holiday)- occasionally if Easter ends a holiday you might get a 2nd- or the other way someone gets a Friday. All other bank holidays are in holiday time anyway

@KarenTheGammonRemoaner to be really really not picky it is usually a Guardian ad Litem that prepares the reports for the courts not the social worker.

@Sorka

Common law marriage is extremely rarely recognised in the UK. Not at all in Scotland/NIband has to meet stringent conditions in England/Wales

This is a note via the embassy 8n Singapore but clearly details

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/940373/Information_Note_Common_Law_Spouses.pdf

RunnerDown That if you eat too little your body goes into starvation mode and you don’t lose weight . Have you looked at people who are seriously ill or who have anorexia

This is actually true - your body does go into starvation mode. The body limits the amount of calories it is using and therefore if you start eating normally you can put more weight back on

@FatOaf

Actually it’s true that excessive sugar intake is associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

It's obesity that's the major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, rather than sugar consumption specifically. Lack of exercise is also a risk factor, independent of obesity.

Obesity is a risk factor yes but also plenty of studies implicating sugar, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages e.g.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26199070/

The authors conclude: "Habitual consumption of sugar sweetened beverages was associated with a greater incidence of type 2 diabetes, independently of adiposity"

@Funkyslippers

RunnerDown That if you eat too little your body goes into starvation mode and you don’t lose weight . Have you looked at people who are seriously ill or who have anorexia

This is actually true - your body does go into starvation mode. The body limits the amount of calories it is using and therefore if you start eating normally you can put more weight back on

Actually it's been shown that the metabolism of people with anorexia is different to those without. There's often a stage of hypermetabolism during the weight recovery stage which is incredibly frustrating!!

@PotatoGoblins what is it you do that makes this your field of study (intrigued!)

@MorningStarling

Myth: The greatest threat to women's safety is strangers attacking us outside the home.

Reality: The vast majority of attacks on women are committed by people known to them, husbands/partners/parents, and most attacks are in the home or other "safe" place. We're less likely to be attacked walking down a dark alley alone late at night than if we're at home with our partner.

The same is also true for child abuse, the fear is always some paedophile grabbing a child off the street but this is overwhelmingly not the case usually. It's almost always the parents/carers/relatives and above all siblings who commit the abuse.

Yes but if you are confident that the men you live with are not sexual predators or violent then YOUR fears are going to be of men outside the home, aren't they?

People say ' its a myth you are most likely to be attacked by a stranger' as if women who have fears of strangers are somehow irrational. They are not. They just know the men in their lives will not hurt them.

The risk of being attacked in the home by a man you know is not evenly spread amongst the population. Some women/children are far, far more at risk than others. Most are not at risk at all.

Surely any virus can be mild - I don’t know why people cling to the idea that flu is always gives you severe symptoms