136
No.
Elevator manufacturers do not purposefully provide a door close button that doesn't actually work.
Elevator manufacturers provide door open and close buttons because they are required by code. (in the US)
CHAPTER K1 MODIFICATIONS TO
ASME A17.1 - 2000, SAFETY CODE FOR
ELEVATORS AND ESCALATORS
SECTION 2.27 EMERGENCY OPERATION AND
...
79
Doctor Potato says you should be eating the skin of the potato because that’s where most of the nutrients come from.
Should I Be Eating The Skin Of The Potato?
...
Yes. Eat the skin to capture all the natural nutrition of a russet potato. The potato skin has more nutrients than the interior of the potato. It has lots of fiber, about half of a ...
62
Apparently it is a psychological marketing technique that assumes consumers ignore the least significant digit, reading from left to right. This explains why you'll often see the 99 in superscript (e.g. $1999). A study by Nicolas Guéguen and Céline Jacob(pdf) found that "nine-ending prices led to increase the amount of purchasing of women-customers". ...
54
The International Astronomical Union
acts as the internationally recognized authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies (stars, planets, asteroids, etc.) and any surface features on them.
and they say:
The IAU frequently receives requests from individuals who want to buy stars or name stars after other persons. Some commercial ...
49
Heineken have addressed this rumour years ago, explaining that they did not sponsor the event, and have ceased their relationship with the venue:
A two year old image continues to circulate in social media channels showing a dog fight, with Heineken banners clearly in the background. As a company and a brand owner, we do not and would never knowingly ...
45
It looks like this was a fake ad by RJ White, made for a JD Ryznar, at his request:
Favor From Clever Dudes
Hey, if any of you dudes, clever with Photoshop or something siminar, are bored a work today, I wonder if you could do me this favor:
Create an advertisement from "The Soda Pop Board Of America" Advertising the benefits of giving soda pop ...
40
Q: Does the Idaho Potato Commission associate potato skins with healthy eating?
Yes. The Idaho Potato Commission does this now.
In several postings they are responsible for they this:
Kids Menus - Healthful Tips
Fries are always a kid’s favorite. One suggestion that keeps these on the menu but makes them healthier is to cut the potato portion costs ...
39
In an October 2015 test report by the Dutch 'ConsumentenBond' (consumer organization/watchdog)
they report back on an earlier test started in 2013 (no link available) where 5 lights each of 24 types from 13 brands were tested.
At that moment they had been running 20000 hours. They were switched 8 times per day: 2:45 hours on, 15 minutes off.
75% of those ...
33
Amazon.com
From The New York Times (2008):
... the explanation turns out to be a simple matter of aesthetics.
[...]
In a recent check of the 100 top-selling men’s dress watches on
"Amazon.com ", which included models from 20 brands, all but three
watches were set to 10:10.
Because brand names generally are centered on the upper half of a
...
31
The short answer is that this practice is marketing orthodoxy, and supported by empirical evidence; companies do this because it makes them money. The exact cause is complex and perhaps unknowable, but the effect is real, and reasonably well documented.
Some common "folk" psychological explanations of the phenomena of the "9-fixation" are outlined in the ...
26
According to Futility Closet,
In most elevators installed since the early 1990s, the “close door” button has no effect. Otis Elevator engineers confirmed the fact to the Wall Street Journal in 2003.
Most other online articles ultimately all point to the same resource.
The WSJ article is: Sandberg, Jared. (January 15, 2003) "Employees Only Think They ...
26
INDA and EDANA are industry groups representing the Nonwoven Fabrics (wipes) industry. They have defined Flushability Guidelines. The full spec is kept behind a $3000 paywall, but the Executive Summary explains:
For a product to be flushable it must:
Clear toilets and properly maintained drainage pipe systems under expected product usage conditions;
Be ...
24
Yes, there was an eBay auction where someone purported to have an original package of the Mulan Szechuan Dipping sauce from McDonalds.
Yes, someone used the eBay system to make a bid of $14,700.
However, there are good reasons to believe the original item was faked, and no good reason to believe the bid was actually paid.
The picture in the eBay listing ...
23
The only evidence for the claim that the device must be removed by a medical professional comes from the device creator, on the website of the product.
It seems like an important point, since the idea is that in having to have such a device removed the authorities would be alerted and the rapist caught.
Testing how hard the device is to remove isn't ...
22
No, Heineken did not knowingly sponsor the event, and has made a public response:
Images continue to circulate in social media channels showing a dog fight, with Heineken® banners clearly visible in the background. This is very distressing and totally unacceptable. As a company and a brand owner, we do not and would never knowingly support any event, ...
21
Yes, it is against the US Federal law. Yes, in theory it can cost you $1000 or 30 days' jail.
Pesticides are regulated in the US by the United States Environment Protection Agency, in accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
Clorox Clean Up Cleaner With Bleach contains ingredients that are considered pesticides. (I'm ...
21
Dan Wieden, co-founder of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy and advertising executive of Nike, said in an interview with Dezeen that he came up with the slogan because he got inspired by Utah killer Gary Gilmore. Gilmore was sentenced to death in 1977 for robbing and murdering two men. Here is a sample of his interview with dezeen:
Marcus Fairs: You're ...
20
The question boils down to: Given we have an electronic device that can be triggered remotely (to lock or unlock a door), is it possible to produce a hardware-based solution that can trigger it by:
touching bananas connected to hardware?
pushing buttons on a wireless device in the shape of a wand?
detecting when you raise your eyebrows, using a device that ...
19
According to Snopes the answer is NO:
Barbara Mikkelson (who has contacted several airlines to get to the bottom of this) speculates:
... the origin of the "lifetime pass" legend came about as a fanciful explanation for why some airlines refuse passage to expectant women.
And there are indeed special regulations for pregnant women, e.g.
British ...
19
Although there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to show that the door close button works in some modern elevators (including the one in our office building).
Here is a link to a KONE elevator information brochure which states:
Door Close button for quick closing of
doors
And another from KONE:
Door close button allows the door to
be closed for a ...
17
Edit: The answer may be a bit unclear if you don't have much background in economics, so here the tl;dr version.
In the market for a specific kind of software (like an operating system) there will always emerge a monopolist, unless you have some heavy regulation from the start (this is explained by positive externalities from the network effect, and a lock-...
17
They probably do.
While I couldn't find evidence for Louis Vuitton destroying their unsold products, except for the original article, there are proof for other companies doing it.
H&M and Wal-Mart:
The clothing retailer H & M promised on Wednesday that it would stop the practice of destroying new, unworn clothing that it could not sell at its ...
17
This appears to be a poor translation of the original Japanese description:
"吸水発熱"
(e.g. from http://www.uniqlo.com/jp/store/goods/408603-00, but listed on other items too)
"吸水" means to absorb moisture, and "発熱" means to generate heat but is commonly used in the context of clothing or bedding making you feel warm even though it's actually just retaining/...
16
The "1/100" claim appears to have originated directly from this press release from Mars, the manufacturer of M&Ms, which itself directly quotes Roy Benin, Chief Consumer Officer of Mars Chocolate North America:
“This event perfectly captured our passion for peanuts – in fact only 1 in 100 peanuts is lucky enough to find its way into a bag of M&M’S ...
15
The question doesn't seem quite right: Farmers do better yes, but it's farmworkers that the quote is about.
Here is the relevant Fair Trade, Employment and Poverty Reduction (FTEPR) project reports:
Fairtrade, Employment and
Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia
and Uganda
April 2014
Appendices
In a straight comparison between workers at Fairtrade Certified ...
14
Summary
In the US and Canada, if you buy wipes which say "Flushable" on the package, you normally should never flush them. (Source.) If you do, they may clog your pipes or your local sewer / septic system. And a sewer clog may cause sewage to seep into your basement. (Source.)
Instead of flushing wipes down the toilet, you can use unscented baby wipes. ...
13
The first claim is definitely wrong for 2007 as far as trading value, based on data in http://comtrade.un.org/pb/CommodityPages.aspx?y=2007.
The summary below (based on that URL) is quoted from an article by Mark Pendergrast "Coffee second only to oil? Is coffee really the second largest commodity? Mark Pendergrast investigates and finds some startling...". ...
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