-9
votes
Does a coal plant "kill more in a few weeks than nuclear has ever killed"?
Yes, that's easy to say because cancer statistics are easier to hide, deny and cover up compared to a guy falling from a wind turbine. 500 cancers from a smuggled waste are easy to hide and forget. ...
- 1,429
0
votes
Was the golden ratio deliberately used for aesthetics in ancient or Renaissance times?
The golden ratio or golden section was known to Euclid and clearly mentioned in his treaties.
Of course the ancients used fractions to approximate irrational numbers as the decimal system had not been ...
11
votes
In the event of a siren warning the public of a gas leak, is it actually advisable to listen to the radio when smelling gas?
This advice is obviously for a chemical leak that occurred outside of the house (e.g., a leak at a chemical plant), as opposed to a natural gas leak that occurred inside the house (e.g., a break in a ...
- 14.4k
3
votes
Does the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine destroy natural immunity in children?
This is not an answer, rather a comment trying to clear up a misunderstanding pointing out
what the technical term vaccine effectiveness means, and
that/how negative vaccine effectiveness is nothing ...
3
votes
Is offshore wind 9 times cheaper than fossil fuel?
No. This is a common trap when comparing the cost of energy from different sources: these costs are not directly comparable.
As explained in @IMSoP's answer, the actual claim is somewhat different: it ...
- 234
-3
votes
Did there use to be a law that made attempted suicide a capital offence punishable by hanging in Britain?
The anecdote was likely false because English law in 1858 revised the law on suicide and attempted and made it a misdemeanor punished by 2 years. Norman St.John-Stevas mentions this in his book Life, ...
2
votes
Did NFL player Brian Bosworth sell anti-Boz t-shirts to Denver Broncos fans?
Anti-Boz t-shirts
Yes, I can verify at least one design of anti-Boz t-shirt was sold in Denver. The one that can be found on eBay or Etsy is white and has on the front, "BOZ" in large red ...
- 137
6
votes
Did smallpox emerge in 1580?
What the statement "the evolution of smallpox virus occurred far more recently than previously thought" means is not that it evolved into existence, what it means is that it evolved at all.
Today's ...
- 325
13
votes
Has Newton's Third Law of motion been "debunked" and are there discrepancies in formulas of variation of mass with velocity?
He makes the claim that Newton's Third Law is only true in the limited case of elastic collisions, giving as counter examples inelastic collisions (ball of chewing gum deforms and sticks to wall) and ...
- 898
4
votes
Was plastic from a seaplane shot down in 1944 recently found in an albatross stomach?
According to Wikipedia Bakelite has a density of 1.3 g/cm3 so it would rapidly sink in water. It cannot have been floating in the ocean for 50 years.
- 65
4
votes
Did one of the victims of the Buffalo shooting invent a water-powered engine for cars?
Without knowing anything at all about the shooting or the person, I can state categorically that he did not invent a working water-powered engine for cars.
This is a Physics and Chemistry answer. ...
- 189
1
vote
Can you harvest energy from radio transmissions?
In addition to the other answers, it is the principle by which a crystal radio set (first used by Bose in the 1890's, but not patented until the early 20th centuary) works. This just consists of
an ...
- 111
10
votes
Does this article present an accurate summary of the (in)effectiveness of masks at preventing Covid-19 transmission?
While I can't address all the details in the article it's clearly being very deceptive:
Covid-19 is mainly spread by microscopic aerosols generated by breathing, talking, sneezing, and coughing. The ...
- 1,111
3
votes
Can Russia's Poseidon nuclear underwater drone create a 500 meter tidal wave?
There's a big problem here:
Let's suppose the bomb can actually produce a 500m wave near the point of detonation--what happens? The circumference of a circle is linear to it's radius--double the ...
- 1,111
-1
votes
Is there an unusual distribution of adverse events by lot number for the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines?
There is a very simple, and to me beautiful, explanation. This is original research by me - although I am basing it on facts for which I have sources, though only secondary ones. My main sources are ...
7
votes
Does your stomach shrink if you eat less?
We can learn some things about the stomach from competitive eaters.
Competitive eater Joey Chestnut trains his stomach to expand:
Chestnut practices by drinking up to a gallon of milk in a single ...
- 199
-1
votes
Did Michael Jackson sexually abuse children?
To sum it up: We don't know.
The issue of child molesting is not the same as, say, a bank robbery. It is usually a hidden crime where no others are involved. The evidence comes down to the victims' ...
- 29
4
votes
Accepted
Are these maps captured Russian plans to invade Ukraine?
I'm not really qualified for a full answer, but...
The stuff does look genuine, but it's not sufficient to make conclusions about the actual plans (without knowing more).
The table from the workbook ...
- 234
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Did the Russian 74th motorised rifle brigade surrender in February '22? [closed]
The following statements go around on the major social media networks. However, I have been unable to verify the statements are actually sourced.
Ragıp Soylu (Turkey Bureau Chief for MiddleEastEye):
...
- 485
-2
votes
Is the "Dutch reach" standard practice in the Netherlands?
It probably falls, and I hope it will, into the same category as the other sayings like: "Going Dutch", "Dutch courage"...
Actually there is a whole post related to sayings with '...
- 105
6
votes
Is the "Dutch reach" standard practice in the Netherlands?
I am from the Netherlands and I specifically learned it during my driving lessons from my driving instructor. I thought it was a standard thing. I still consistently do it. In my town if you don't do ...
- 169
44
votes
Is there an unusual distribution of adverse events by lot number for the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines?
The graph gives the impression that there is a bulge over to the right, indicated by a red arrow.
This is because the range of columns 2-3 is a band of "10 deaths" but columns 4-7 have a ...
- 6,615
2
votes
Did Martin Luther King, Jr. say that "I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy"?
Proverbs 24, New International Version translation:
[17] Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,
[18] or the Lord will see and disapprove
and ...
- 209
-1
votes
Have one in four American women had an abortion?
This is likely skewed and inaccurate.
It makes assumptions based on questionnaires response average rate and extrapolates it to the whole population.
Here are just three reasons why this is wrong:
...
- 69
8
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Did Near, a prominent emulator developer, take their own life?
A couple of weeks ago, there was news in the gaming-related media that Near, the developer of SNES emulators, has reportedly died by suicide.
However, the proof of this is an anonymous document posted ...
- 3,503
2
votes
Was "their" a singular pronoun in English before the 16th century?
The question could be answered by comparison of the King James Bible (1611 version) with the Wycliffe Bible (1382) but would require some considerable research.
Here are two examples I found myself, ...
- 758
14
votes
Were Facebook employees unable to enter their own building to fix router problems, during a recent (six hour) outage?
As Robb Watts' answer states, Facebook has acknowledged this was part of the problem, so we know the claim is true. ("...it took extra time to activate the secure access protocols needed to get ...
- 1,127
5
votes
At the current rate are we going run out of fossil fuels by 2060?
While reading the other answers, you might get the impression that fossil fuel availability won't be a problem for 100 years.
According to this Nature paper ("Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 ...
- 488
-3
votes
Is micro rebar a better way to reinforce concrete than rebar?
Helix is just another steel fiber with a good marketing scheme that dupes most people. There is no such thing as micro rebar and all their claims of being ACI certified are fake. ACI does not certify ...
- 7
12
votes
Accepted
Does (diet) soda cause tooth decay?
Summary: Diet drinks are less acidic, but still a problem for dental erosion.
Acids can cause erosion of teeth. Saliva acts as a buffer to prevent it. Saliva is more effective against milder acids. [...
- 139k
17
votes
2
answers
13k
views
Can you breathe underwater using bubbles of air?
A very popular videogame character, which is famous for his sonic speed, is depicted breathing underwater by using air bubbles. Now since I've never heard anyone complaining about this, despite the ...
- 2,549
2
votes
Does the average carbon footprint per bitcoin transaction range from 233.4 to 363.5 kg of CO2?
The transaction rate is a matter of public record, and can be seen here for instance. It varies, but seems to typically be in the range of 200k-300k transactions per day. (This is close to the ...
- 3,135
9
votes
Accepted
Do the lifetime emissions of 'three and a half Americans' kill 'one person'?
As so often, the claim has not been translated well into headlines, and makes a compelling soundbite without a very deep meaning.
The actual central claim is this:
adding 4,434 metric tons of carbon ...
- 8,021
-2
votes
Did Fauci argue that gain-of-function research is worth risking a global pandemic?
This is what Fauci explicitly argued in 2012:
Putting aside the specter of bioterrorism for the moment, consider
this hypothetical scenario: an important gain-of-function experiment
involving a virus ...
- 32.8k
8
votes
Do young Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine recipients have 200x the background rate of myocarditis/pericarditis?
tl;dr: The author of those tweets misinterpreted the CDC presentation. Yes, the presentation states that there is a notable increase, but it is only about 1/10th of what the tweet author claims.
The ...
- 2,143
0
votes
Do young Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine recipients have 200x the background rate of myocarditis/pericarditis?
Do young Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine recipients have 200x the background rate of myocarditis/pericarditis?
No.
The CDC has been investigating cases of myocarditis and pericarditis reported to the Vaccine ...
- 14k
2
votes
Do young Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine recipients have 200x the background rate of myocarditis/pericarditis?
It seems the claim is based on data from this slide, looking at Males 18-24 years old:
Image from CDC slide deck found here
The ratio of Observed to Expected counts ranges from 219 to 27.3. The ...
- 779
1
vote
Does this medical study prove that wearing gold is harmful?
The commandment in Islam is that men should not wear gold, I.e. jewelry (https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5864) It is actually not forbidden to swallow gold for medical purposes, which was also occasionally ...
- 127
33
votes
The Arizona Election Recount 2021: Would Chinese paper prove there was an election fraud?
No.
This is a logical fallacy of the form: some men are tall, you are tall, therefore you are the man who stole $20 out of my wallet because because I think I'm supposed to have $20 more.
There's a ...
- 16.2k
1
vote
Did Abner Schoenwetter spend 6.5 years in jail because he used plastic bags instead of cardboard boxes when importing lobsters from Honduras?
Yes, but only as one of the charges and the fact that the lobster tails were undersized was considered the bigger issue(however, he could technically have been jailed just for the bags).
Prosecutors ...
- 661
6
votes
Do Afghans keep track of their birthdays?
Afghans are Muslims, and Islam requires you to know your exact age for the religious ceremonies and duties. girls for example at 9 and boys at the age of 15 (lunar calendar) will have certain duties.
...
- 169
7
votes
Did farmers adopt cars faster than inhabitants of cities?
You seem to doubt that cars would be more popular among farmers "in remote areas" because you don't think there would be many people in those areas.
The fact is that at the time that cars ...
- 5,038
-1
votes
Do around 2 billion people eat insects regularly?
Lets consider some of the OP's claims.
insect consumption is commonplace in the tropics, while in temperate
zones it is often absent
This just seems to be factually incorrect. Regardless of what you ...
- 1,036
4
votes
Did British journalists keep silent about Russian defections to Germany in WW2?
Is true. The Vlasov army, for example, had thousands of people, all (including the General Vlasov) former Soviet soldiers and officers.
The existence of Russian army soldiers and officers who ...
user58549
0
votes
Has China eliminated local transmission of COVID-19 within its borders?
I am living in one of the major cities in China right now. And I think I'd better stay here for some time. People are still very alerted to the COVID-19 virus. And the television broadcast news about ...
- 117
7
votes
Are fifth freedom flights more often discounted than regular flights?
This statement may have been true before the rise of low-cost carriers, and indeed, in the 2000s I occasionally caught cheap fifth-freedom fares like SIN-HKG on United or KUL-CGK on KLM that were ...
- 1,454
10
votes
Is the British Medical Journal largely funded by vaccine manufactuers?
I am a brit whose family are doctors and am training to be one myself.
The BMJ is run out of advertisements and out of subscriptions like any magazine. It is part of the British Medical Association ...
- 384
-1
votes
Can heat cure COVID-19, the common flu and the common cold?
I'm not a doctor but it seems unlikely this treatment would work for 2 reasons:
The proposed heat is very high in comparison to normal body temperature and temperature used in other heat-treatments
...
- 315
11
votes
Are These Legitimate Tossed-Away Votes For President Trump Found At An Oklahoma Wedding?
There is no credible evidence to support this.
The only evidence here is a few guys talking on a video. We can't verify anything they say, not even that they were actually at a wedding in Oklahoma, ...
- 56.8k
21
votes
Do vote counts for Joe Biden in the 2020 election violate Benford's Law?
According to Wikipedia:
Benford's law, also called the Newcomb–Benford law, the law of anomalous numbers, or the first-digit law, is an observation about the frequency distribution of leading digits ...
- 2,863