CULTURE

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POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS

Here's a selection of die-hard and widespread, but wrong ideas

• Red is the correct symbolic colour for hot as blue is for cold.
  Physics shows us, that red is the colour of a low temperature while blue is hotter.

• Violent people may be called "Animals"
  No animal known is capable of the cunning brutality humans are directing to themselves.

• "New" and "modern" in technology mean "better" and "improved".
  Most innovations in consumer appliances dance the "pas de deux", i.e: 2 steps forward, one backward. Of course, the latter is NEVER mentioned in advertisements.

• If more than one maker of a new technological system aim for the same market, competition will help users choose the best among them.
  The contrary is the case: If two or three systems make it to the market, it causes confusion, until one of them disposes of the others. Often it is neither the best, nor the most consumer-friendly.

• A bowl is quite sufficient for an undemanding animal like a goldfish.
  The gas-exchange surface of a bowl is too small to provide fish with enough oxygen. A rectangular aquarium has a larger open surface for gas exchange.

• Charles Darwin wrote that man is the decendent of the apes.
  He said no such thing. If you have two branches growing out of a tree trunk, you would not say one of them has grown out of the other.

• The singular of visa is also "visa".
  Wrong. You do not apply for a "visa"(plural) but for a visum (singular), even if 99 % of people using this latin word have no idea of its correct form.

• Mexico belongs to Central America.
  Mexico is a part of North America. Viz: NAFTA (North American Free Treaty Association in which Mexico takes part with her partners USA and Canada).

• Panamá is a part of Central America.
  It once was part of Colombia. After the canal was built, it remained a South American country. Viz: INCAP (Institute of Nutrition for Central America and Panamá).

• Electrons along wires and within transistors travel with the speed of light.
  Think of how long it takes to start up your computer.

• Our systems used in political elections are aimed at finding the best person for a job.
  The identification of the most suitable person(s) is based on television presence and money available. Hardly the most relevant characteristics.

• The ground used in house plants pots must be changed regularly. (replacement of deplenished minerals, accumulation of limestone).
  Not so! The colloids in soil work like an ion-exchanger. They have a huge capacity to bind minerals. Limestone would indeed present a problem as it can change the pH of soil to alkaline. This is, however, only an issue if you use very hard water for sprinkling.

• It is easier for a jazz musician to improvise a tonal, melodic chorus over a given chord structure, than an atonal or non-melodic llines.
Not true. It is harder to find another melodic line for the chord structure, than just to add non-melodic notes.
• Flashing a photographic strobe onto a target thirty meters away or towards an object illuminated from within or behind a window will make the motive visible at night.
The effect of a flashing light in photography is limited to short distances. If a window intervenes, the only effect is one of complete fogging. The use of flashes presents a constant nuissance at concerts and open-air events.

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