November 2012
1 post
Is that really a picture of India from space...
No.
This is how #India looks like from outer space on Diwali Night. Happy Diwali to entire world. Wish you brightness. Pic twitter.com/MindbIowingFac…
— Mindblowing Facts (@MindbIowingFact) November 12, 2012
It’s actually, as Simon Ricketts points out, a false-colour composite image of India, made up of images taken over the course of a decade. As the picture caption explains:
Satellite...
October 2012
2 posts
Is that really a picture of Hurricane Sandy...
No.
Amazing picture of hurricane #Sandy decending in New York twitter.com/J7mster/status…
— JAMSTER(@J7mster) October 29, 2012
Hurricane Sandy approaching New York. twitter.com/efitz6/status/…
— Eamonn Fitzmaurice (@efitz6) October 29, 2012
It’s actually a picture from 2011, of a thunderstorm over Manhattan during a tornado alert (which turned out to be uneventful in the end, although...
Did a homeschooled teenager really write a letter...
Yes.
Jasmin, who is home-schooled, is worried that same sex marriage laws will lead to ducks taking over the world: twitter.com/leigh_howard/s…
— leigh_howard (@leigh_howard) October 4, 2012
The letter from 14-year-old, homeschooled Jasmin - warning that “if homosexuality spreads… it could threaten the human position on the evolutionary ladder, and say, ducks, could take over the...
September 2012
1 post
Did The Sun publish a mocking story in 1991...
No.
How The Sun reported the invention of the World Wide Web. twitter.com/hififidelity/s…
— Nic English (@hififidelity) September 4, 2012
How the Sun reported in the new fangled “Internet” in 1992yfrog.com/mmc1ejsj
— Old Holborn (@Old_Holborn) September 4, 2012
This is an odd one, because the picture above is very obviously a joke - from the byline onwards - but nonetheless does...
August 2012
9 posts
Are London 2012 Paralympic ticket pre-sales four...
It seems unlikely.
Extraordinary figures. Athens pre-sold 1,000 Paralympic Games tickets. Beijing pre-sold 5,000. London has pre-sold 2.3 million tickets.
— Richard Hawkes (@R_Hawkes) August 30, 2012
That claim is from a tweet by Richard Hawkes, the chief executive of disability charity Scope. Mr Hawkes provides no source for his figures, and (so far) hasn’t responded to questions about...
Did Samsung really pay Apple $1.05billion in 5...
No of COURSE they didn’t.
Apple recently won a $1.05 billion copyright battle against Samsung and Samsung paid the amount by sending 30 trucks full of 5 cents coins.
— What The F*** Facts (@WhatTheFFacts) August 29, 2012
For one thing: as much as the IP wars in the tech industry may have sometimes given this impression, multinational companies generally don’t act quite so much...
Is that really a pornographic picture of Richard...
NO.
NO NO NO NO NO AARRGH GOD NO.
Erm? Richard and Judy in rude picture? My whole world is upside down. I’m happier seeing Prince Harry’s arse. bit.ly/NIwkjF
— SimonNRicketts (@SimonNRicketts) August 22, 2012
Don’t click that link. As you value your life or your reason, keep away from that link. (This is roughly how everybody reacted to seeing it.)
Here is a version of the...
Has the UK threatened to storm the Ecuadorean...
Er… do we have to do this one? It’s complicated and messy.
UK government threatened to enter Ecuador’s London embassy to arrest Julian Assange, Ecuador foreign minister says bbc.in/PdH6RE
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 15, 2012
UK threatening to enter Ecuadorian embassy and arrest #Assange. Your support needed at 3 Hans Crescent, London SW1 #Wikileaks #occupy...
Is Margaret Thatcher dead?
No of course she bloody isn’t. Just like she wasn’t dead the last hundred times she was dead.
Oh, sad. RT @officialskynews: BREAKING NEWSFormer Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has passed away at age of 86 after prolonged illness.
— Meg Currell (@MeggyVC) August 14, 2012
This time, the “news” was tweeted by an account named @OfficialSkyNews, which is not an official...
Did BMW give cars to Team GB's male gold...
Not really, no.
Still shocked by Newsnight news that Team GB male rowers, even ones that didn’t get to Olympics - got BMWs. Women didn’t. Even with 3 golds.
— Stephanie Flanders (@BBCStephanie) August 11, 2012
Good fact - BMWs went to men who won medals in the #Olympics for GBR but not the women. #Newsnight
— emily bell (@emilybell) August 10, 2012
So all male GB athletes get...
Are those pictures of Mars from the Curiosity...
No (mostly).
This is unreal! First HD panorama of Mars! panoramas.dk/mars/greeley-h…
— Cory Morton (@corymorton) August 8, 2012
That picture certainly is an HD panorama of Mars. But it’s nowhere near being the first, and it wasn’t taken by the Curiosity rover which landed on the planet a few days ago. It was taken by the still-functioning Opportunity rover between December 2011 and May...
Did Bradley Wiggins say that thing to Piers...
No.
The line was said, but not by Bradley Wiggins, who was merely copied in on the exchange. It was actually written by Colm Quinn:
.@piersmorgan I was disappointed when you didn’t go to jail for insider dealing or phone hacking, but you know, each to his own @bradwiggins
— Colm Quinn (@mrcolmquinn) August 2, 2012
Does a London children's hospital employ...
Yes, but also no.
At a London children’s hospital, window cleaners dress like this. They are awesome. twitter.com/PhoebeWedding/…
— PhoebeMiller Wedding (@PhoebeWedding) July 19, 2012
Those Spider-Men are actually cleaning the windows of the Sheraton hotel in Shanghai. The vagueness of “a London children’s hospital” in the description is a bit of a giveaway - as is the fact...
