BagOfNothing.com

We’ve all heard of urban legends, those plausible sounding but false stories that circulate so widely on email and news groups, such as the old lady who microwaved her cat or the Nieman-Marcus $250 cookie recipe. There are several web sites devoted to researching and exposing these fake stories. The same sort of thing happens in the world of food and cooking, although on a much smaller scale. This page is my answer.How do I know these are myths? Why should you believe me over someone who says that something I call a myth is in fact true? I can’t answer that question for you but I can say that all of the information on this page has been carefully researched. I do not claim that something is true or false just because I heard it somewhere or because it seems to “makes sense.” I require that something be backed by a credible source (the key word here is “credible”) and/or that it be in accord with accepted scientific knowledge (I am a scientist by training). In most cases this is also backed up by my personal experience. I certainly do not claim to be infallible but I do try hard to present accurate, verifiable information.

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An accounting mix-up led to the wrong woman being crowned Miss California USA, and she’s relinquished her crown to the rightful winner, organizers said Monday.

Christina Silva, 24, was declared the winner of the annual state beauty pageant, but she gave up the title to Raquel Beezley, who was originally named the second runner-up. Beezely, 21, will represent the state at the Miss USA pageant next April.

The pageant’s state director, Keith Lewis, said several judges questioned the results of the November 25 competition at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. Lewis said the error was discovered the next day after the ballots were opened and recounted.

“It was a simple human error,” Lewis said.

Silva has hired an attorney and is weighing her legal options, according to her manager, Tony Brewster.

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Christmas is hectic for all but particularly for Santa, who must live in Kyrgyzstan and make his rounds at lightning speed if he is to deliver gifts to all the world’s children on time, a Swedish consultancy has concluded.

Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Santa Claus’s route around the planet includes stops at 2.5 billion homes, assuming that children of all religions receive a present from the jolly man in the red suit, Anders Larsson of the engineering consultancy Sweco told AFP.

“We estimated that there are 48 people per square kilometer (120 per square mile) on Earth, and 20 metres (66 feet) between each home. So if Santa leaves from Kyrgyzstan and travels against the Earth’s rotation he has 48 hours to deliver all the presents,” he said.

Father Christmas has long been believed to reside at the North Pole, although a number of northern towns, including Finnish Rovaniemi, claim to be his true home.

But Sweco’s report on Santa’s most efficient route — which takes into account factors like geographic density and the fewest detours — shows that he wouldn’t be able to make his round-the-world trip from there in time.

“He has 34 microseconds at each stop” to slide down the chimney, drop off the presents, nibble on his cookies and milk and hop back on his sleigh, Larsson said.

Santa’s reindeer must travel at a speed of 5,800 kilometers (3,604 miles) per second to make the trip on time.

Another report circulating on the Internet suggested however that Santa’s sleigh, weighed down with presents and travelling at supersonic speed, would encounter such massive air resistance that the entire contraption would burst into flames and be vaporised within 4.26 thousandths of a second.

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I always liked this claymation special . . . 

Original Santa Claus and Rudolph puppets from the TV special ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,’ are seen on display at the Time and Space Toys booth during the Mid-Ohio-Con comic book convention in Columbus, Ohio, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007. Kevin Kriess, owner of the Pittsburgh, Penn., store found the puppets and had them restored after they were used as toys.

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