Urban Legends - True or False

Urban Legend of the Day....Adolf Donald?

2008-02-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

Our little feathered friend....a Nazi? Could Disney do such a thing?

The Story:

Donald Duck stars in a cartoon where he portrays a Nazi, repeatedly saying things such as “Hail Hitler!” while marching through a town littered with Swastikas.

The Facts:

Disney did in fact release a short cartoon called “Der Feuhrer's Face” on January 1^st 1943. During the short, Donald Duck is woken up, and sent to work on an assembly line screwing caps onto shells. Along with the shells, are pictures of the 'Feuhrer', every time Donald sees one he must do the Hitler salute. It is believed to support Nazism, but that is completely wrong. The song sung in the video mocks Adolf Hitler. It was an anti-Nazi propaganda piece for the American war effort.

No, you won't be seeing Mickey Mouse as Hitler in upcoming Disney shorts, but this one is in fact TRUE.

The Great Molasses Flood

2008-02-13T09:15:00.000-08:00

This ones a very uncommon urban legend, and it just sounds RIDICULOUS.

The Story:

At one point in time, a giant wave of molasses swept through the streets of Boston wreaking havoc, leaving 21 people dead and injuring 150 other people.

The facts:

January 15^th, 1919 a freakishly large wave of molasses pushed its way through the Boston streets at an estimated 35mph. It crushed buildings, suffocated humans, horses, and other animals on it's path of destruction. A monstrous tank of molasses holding 2,320,000 gallons of the sticky goo burst. The reason for this is not known for sure, but there are a few reasons why. One of them being that the tank was poorly constructed and insufficiently tested. Also, the air temperature rose from -17 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius. The company ended up paying damages and was found liable for the spill. To clean up the mess, it took 87,000 man hours to clear the molasses from the streets, homes, etc. United Industrial Alcohol Company was charged for $600,000 in out-of-court settlements, which is about $6,600,000 in 2005 dollars according to Wikipedia's article on this tragedy.

Head over to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boston_Molasses_Disaster if you wanna check it out.

The Verdict:

This one, as crazy as it sounds happens to be TRUE.

Exploding Microwaved Water

2008-02-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

You've all probably heard this one before, apparently heating water in a microwave, and taking it out will cause it to explode in your face.

The story:

"About five days ago my 26-year old son decided to have a cup of instant coffee. He took a cup of water and put it in the microwave to heat it up (something that he had done numerous times before). I am not sure how long he set the timer for but he told me he wanted to bring the water to a boil. When the timer shut the oven off, he removed the cup from the oven. As he looked into the cup he noted that the water was not boiling but instantly the water in the cup "blew up" into his face. The cup remained intact until he threw it out of his hand but all the water had flew out into his face due to the buildup of energy. His whole face is blistered and he has 1st and 2nd degree burns to his face which may leave scarring. He also may have lost partial sight in his left eye.The Facts:When heating water on a stove, the stove makes tiny 'hotspots' on the pot, these are above 100 degrees celsius. The 'hotspots' cause the water to start a rolling boil, which makes the water cool down to around 100 degrees celsius.

Now, when your using a microwave on the other hand...the water gets hot, whereas the container usually doesn't there are no 'boiling bubbles' to cool down the water. This is referred to as 'super-heated water'.

Superheated water is basically...a mine. It's waiting for a some form of a trigger to let the bubbles form and boiling to commence. Now, if you pour a form of powder (hot chocolate mix, coffee, etc), into the 'super-heated water' it will cause tons of tiny air bubbles to be carried into the water. Each one expands into steam bubbles, and there you go. An explosion of hot water.

The Verdict:

Believe it or not, this CAN happen but it's very unlikely.

Exploding Water - TRUE.

Welcome!

2008-02-12T15:26:00.000-08:00

Hey all, nowadays theres TONS of rumors, urban legends, chain letters, and the like going around. I've decided to make a blog to determine which of these are real, and which ones aren't. I'm hoping to update my blog daily, so continue to check back for more Urban Legends.