The Daily Legend

Claim: Rice should not be thrown at a newlywed couple because birds will eat the rice and explode due to the swelling of the rice.

Status: FALSE

Although it is true that rice absorbs water and swells, this myth doesn’t account for the fact that the absorption of water into rice is slow except at cooking temperatures. At the temperatures present in birds’ digestive systems, rice does not have time to swell enough to cause any harmbefore it passes through. In fact, one study done by a group of students from the University of Kentucky indicates that bird seed seems to swell more than rice (the study went on to bust this myth once and for all when the students fed 60 of their professor’s doves and pigeons a diet of rice to show the rice causes no ill effects).

Even though rice doesn’t pose any risk to birds, it isn’t entirely safe to throw at weddings. Rice can make hard floors and sidewalks a slipping hazard for wedding guests.

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Claim: Facebook users must post a copyright notice to their Facebook wall in order to protect media posted to Facebook. Otherwise, Facebook will own any media posted by its users.

Status: FALSE

Let’s assume for a moment that Facebook’s terms of service did allow it to own any media posted. Do you really think posting a legal notice that contradicts Facebooks terms of service will do anything? You cannot negate any terms of service you’ve previously agreed to by simply posting a contradictory notice.

Fortunately, Facebook’s terms of service do not give it ownership of your media. According to Facebook’s terms of service, when you post media to Facebook “you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings.” In other words, you are still protected by copyright law, and you determine how Facebook can use anything you post through your privacy settings.

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Claim: Drinking beer causes people to gain weight in their abdominal area, leading to the development of a “beer belly.”

Status: FALSE

We all know that beer-loving friend with the round gut. We’ve been convinced we are doomed to the same fate if we regularly indulge in the suds as well. However, a study involving 2,000 Czechs — a people know for consuming more beer per person that people from any other country — shows no correlation between beer consumption and weight gain.

Don’t get me wrong, beer does contain calories, and excessive calorie consumption does result in weight gain. However, weight gain from too much beer is no different than weight gain from too much pizza or too much cheesecake. Calories are calories, and too many causes people to gain weight. Depending on your genetic makeup, you may or may not put on said weight around your abdomen.

So where did the beer belly myth come from? Possibly from cirrhosis, a symptom of chronic liver disease which causes the abdomen to swell.

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Claim: The term “Xmas” was invented as a way to secularize the Christian holiday Christmas by removing the word “Christ.”

Status: FALSE

Many Christians (and non-Christians) claim that the term “Xmas” is intended to secularize Christmas by taking Christ out of Christmas. It is true that many people do use “Xmas” as a way to make Christmas more politically correct, but a little research reveals that Xmas was never intended to secularize Christmas, and that the term “Xmas” actually has a Christian origin.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the first known use of the word “Xmas” was in 1551. In the early days of the moveable type press (Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with moveable type in 1436), typesetting was done by hand and was a tedious process. To make the process easier, abbreviations were common in printed materials of the time. According to this article, the church, in order to cut the cost of printing books and pamphlets, would abbreviate “Christ” with the letter X or the letter C (The exact origin of the use of the letter X to mean Christ is unclear, but possibly originated in either the 1st century AD or the 13th century). The practice spread into more general use, and terms like “Xmas”, “Xian” (abbreviation of Christian), and “Xianity” (abbreviation of Christianity) became common.

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Claim: Aluminum soda can tabs can be redeemed to certain companies and charities who will help pay for medical treatments such as chemotherapy and dialysis.

Status: FALSE

This story is yet another example of a “redemption rumor,” similar to the Star Tootsie Roll Pop wrapper story. According to an article published in The Houston Chronicle (and similar articles in other publications), the rumor is false, but it has been repeated so often that many people are convinced that it is true, and nothing can convince them otherwise. One recycling center reports it receives 30-40 calls a day from people who have heard the myth. Even worse, this myth has given countless families false hope. Families collect thousands of tabs, thinking that they are helping save a loved one, only to find out that the whole story’s a hoax. In one instance, a collection drive in Alabama resulted in over 276,000 tabs being collected for a 12-year-old girl with melanoma. When the girl’s mom called Coca-Cola to find out how to redeem the tabs, she found out the sad truth.

Although aluminum tabs can’t be redeemed to pay for medical treatments, some charities do accept the aluminum tabs. Ronald McDonald Houses are prime examples. However, the charities that do accept the tabs simply sell the tabs as scrap metal. According to Ronald McDonald House Charities, they accept tabs instead of whole cans “because it’s more hygienic to store tabs than cans, and collection and storage is easier.”

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