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After I put my page up, kids started e-mailing me stuff THEIR brothers and sisters told them. It turns out every big brother and sister in America is telling little kids BALONEY. I looked these up the same way I did mine. Mom checked them again.
I only put your first name and how old you are, because Mom said so.
FROM ANDREW, 12
His sister said: Ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they get scared.
What I found: They don't! When an ostrich wants to hide, it lies down flat with its long neck stretched out on the ground. Also they dig their nests in the ground and stick their heads down to turn the eggs. So from far away it LOOKS like their head is in the sand. But it isn't. They'd suffocate.
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FROM NATALIE, 9
Her brother said: If you pick up a toad you'll get warts.
What I found: Warts come from a germ (a virus) that people get from other people. Not from toads. The bumps on a toad's skin aren't warts either, they're just how toads look. BUT wash your hands after you hold one, because toads have stuff on their skin that tastes bad to animals so they won't get eaten, and you don't want it in your mouth.
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FROM THOMAS, 12
His brother said: A turtle can crawl out of its shell if it wants to, like a hermit crab.
What I found: A turtle's shell is part of its skeleton. It's attached to its backbone and its ribs. So it can't come out any more than you can take off your ribs. Hermit crabs are different, they borrow shells and move into bigger ones. Turtles are stuck with theirs for life, which is fine, because it's a good shell.
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FROM CHRISTIE, 11
Her sister said: Owls can turn their heads all the way around in a circle.
What I found: Almost, but not all the way! An owl can turn its head about three quarters of the way around, which is still really far. (Try it. You can only do about a quarter.) Owls do it because their eyes can't move in their heads like ours, so they move the whole head instead. Close, but not a full circle.
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FROM OLIVER, 10
His brother said: If you eat Pop Rocks and drink soda at the same time, your stomach will explode.
What I found: The grown-up at The Legend Lab already checked this one, so I'm using his. Pop Rocks crackle because of tiny bubbles of gas trapped in the candy, and it's a tiny amount of gas compared to what's in the can of soda. You'll burp. That's it. He also says the kid from the cereal commercials who was supposed to have died from it grew up just fine.
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FROM CHAD, 8
His brother said: If you sneeze with your eyes open, your eyeballs will pop out.
What I found: I tried to sneeze with my eyes open for a whole week (I used pepper). I couldn't do it. My eyes closed by themselves every time. Mom says for most people that just happens when you sneeze, your body does it without you deciding. And nobody's eyeballs have ever popped out from a sneeze. Chad, your eyeballs are safe.
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FROM MORGAN, 13
Her brother said: An octopus has three hearts.
What I found: I was SURE this was baloney. It's TRUE! An octopus has three hearts. Two of them pump blood through the gills and one pumps it to the rest of the body. Also its blood is blue. I had to read it in two different books before I believed it. Morgan, your brother wins this one. Don't tell him I said so.
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READERS' SCOREBOARD
BROTHERS AND SISTERS: 1 BALONEY: 6
Keep sending them! I have a list of eleven more to look up, including "you can see the Great Wall of China from the moon" and "a duck's quack doesn't echo." Those are hard ones. I'm still working on them and I'm not putting a verdict until I'm sure.
<< BACK TO MY BROTHER'S BALONEY
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Last updated Saturday, September 25, 1999
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