Joao Barbosa
Lucas WerkmeisterGood morning! It’s the first Tuesday in February, and so you’re all invited to look through Wikipedia’s List of common misconceptions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions) per xkcd custom.
Randall Munroe, Misconceptions (https://xkcd.com/843/), CC BY-NC 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/)
I learned this year:
• the “AR” in AR-15 stands for “ArmaLite rifle”, not “automatic” or “assault rifle”
• Carthage was not sown with salt after its defeat
• the Newton apple-on-head story is almost certainly apocryphal
• I had some idea that cremation isn’t just “burning”, but I certainly didn’t know that, following incineration, the dry bone fragments are turned into something closer to “ashes” by a machine called a “cremulator”(!), which is “essentially a high-capacity, high-speed blender”(!!)
• you’d have to huff a chloroform rag for at least five minutes to lose consciousness
• American Gothic shows a father and daughter, not a husband and wife
• American Gothic shows a father and daughter, not a husband and wife
Mans R@LucasWerkmeister I thought American Gothic was a portrait of Jacob Rees-Mogg.
@mansr then I would’ve had to put a few more CWs on it ;)
Thomas@LucasWerkmeister worker at the crematory: "now let's get these ashes reaaaaal creamy! *turns on the oversized kitchen-aid*"
Bruce Heerssen 
@LucasWerkmeister
This fact might have become apparent, after some reflection, if you've ever thrown bones in a campfire. They don't burn on their own.
This fact might have become apparent, after some reflection, if you've ever thrown bones in a campfire. They don't burn on their own.
Jan D> Newton apple-on-head
First two seconds: "Why would one put an Apple Newton on one's head? Is this a product design story?"
Simon
MvRiederberg@LucasWerkmeister Interessant, dass es diese Website nicht auf Deutsch gibt. Als ob Deutschsprachige solchen Fehlkonzepten nicht in besonderem Maße ausgesetzt wären ...
Manu@LucasWerkmeister
Disappointingly usacentric
: j@fabrica:~/src; 
@Manu @LucasWerkmeister @holyramenempire I’m sorry USians have so many misconceptions.
But I have faith that with hard work and dedication, your country can reach our level of achievement!
Noah Cook@LucasWerkmeister Except that in many areas (especially medicine), Wikipedia is basically just a bunch of misconceptions and misunderstood terminology.
And yes, I have tried fixing it. I stopped after the umpteenth argument about why we do not cite prominent Scientologists in psychiatry articles.
peter@LucasWerkmeister wonder why mr adidas shortened his name from adolf to adi
Doug Baker - Elbows Up! 🇨🇦@LucasWerkmeister I don't think I can handle this much truth. My system simply isn't built that way.
Princess Unikitty@LucasWerkmeister
When can we get a moratorium on historical fiction and dramatizations? There is going to be a whole generation getting their US history from the Hamilton musical and I just feel like we don't really need that.
When can we get a moratorium on historical fiction and dramatizations? There is going to be a whole generation getting their US history from the Hamilton musical and I just feel like we don't really need that.
bertwest@LucasWerkmeister that's an important article!
Spocko@LucasWerkmeister
THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS!
Here is a misconceptions *I* had believed and now work to correct the record whenever I see people using it.
FLA-VOR-AID WAS USED AT JONESTOWN.
Despite popularizing the phrase "drinking the Kool-Aid". Kool-Aid was NOT used for the potassium cyanide-fruit punch mix ingested as part of the Jonestown massacre.
A similar product, Flavor-Aid, was used.
When I see it used I often reply with this image & sign it,
Kool-Aid Brand Manager
SaltyI went to Guyana some time ago and got soooo sick of hearing that phrase before I left, and of correcting everybody so I just rolled my eyes.
@LucasWerkmeister Here's a misconception I had.
Ronald Reagan was never seriously considered for the role of Rick Blaine in the 1942 film Casablanca, played by Humphrey Bogart.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ronald-reagan-casablanca/
HOWEVER, I did find a GREAT #SciFiBooks based on the misconception that I highly recommend.
Time on My Hands by Peter Delacorte
"a time traveler tries to derail a young contract actor named Ronald "Dutch" Reagan from his track to the Oval Office."
https://www.amazon.com/Time-My-Hands-Peter-Delacorte/dp/0671023241
Tristan Ridley@LucasWerkmeister this was a good read. I even learned a couple things.
Jane Adams@LucasWerkmeister oh wow I had a lot more of these debunked for me than I expected just now
Pyperkub@LucasWerkmeister I started, and then... tl;dr
Cecelia@LucasWerkmeister that was a long read. Learned a couple of things. Glad to see some big ones that are very pertinent today on the list.
I have more questions about how airplanes actually fly because I’ve been fed contradictory information but maybe it’s a “why not both?” kind of situation.
ajft [SEC=continvoucly morged]@LucasWerkmeister was skimming these while attending a webinar (ugh, hate that word). With amazing synchronicity, the speaker said "rule of thumb" as I read the item on "rule of thumb"
Rev. Bussy Body of The Church of America MLM and Shooting Club@LucasWerkmeister
> Grigori Rasputin was not assassinated by being fed cyanide-laced cakes and wine, shot multiple times, and then thrown into the Little Nevka river when he survived the former two. A contemporary autopsy reported that he was just killed with gunshots. A sensationalized account from the memoirs of co-conspirator Prince Felix Yusupov is the only source of this story.
oof that's an entire genus of memes made extinct right there
> Grigori Rasputin was not assassinated by being fed cyanide-laced cakes and wine, shot multiple times, and then thrown into the Little Nevka river when he survived the former two. A contemporary autopsy reported that he was just killed with gunshots. A sensationalized account from the memoirs of co-conspirator Prince Felix Yusupov is the only source of this story.
oof that's an entire genus of memes made extinct right there
Wandering HermitThank you! That was a glorious rabbit-hole, and just what I needed tonight.
Matt Maddux@LucasWerkmeister By LAW and custom?! We gotta a get that thing passed!
PH7831@LucasWerkmeister
Et hop ! Pour les francophones :
Liste d'idées reçues.
https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_d%27id%C3%A9es_re%C3%A7ues
Et hop ! Pour les francophones :
Liste d'idées reçues.
https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_d%27id%C3%A9es_re%C3%A7ues
Nicolas Ward 
@LucasWerkmeister @tankgrrl Aw the banana candy one isn't real? I've definitely repeated that.
endrift 🏳️⚧️@LucasWerkmeister @Cdespinosa whoops I just read this entire article. I learned many things