science : technology - I Used To Believe

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I used to believe that to use a microphone you had to put a special device in your mouth which made your voice very quiet so that the microphone could 'pick up' the sound. I think this belief came from when I went to a circus when I was younger and the ringmaster leant over to speak to someone next to him without using the microphone and I couldn't hear his voice (even though he was about 25 foot away!)

Garry

I remember being scolded for not shutting the refrigerator door all of the way. Somehow I came to believe that if I didn't shut the refrigerator door all the way that it would eventually stop closing. I would test this theory out by leaving the refrigerator door slightly ajar and then quickly running in a circular path throughout the house (out one kitchen door and in another)back to the refrigerator to see if the door was any harder to shut.

Sammy

My father-in-law, who is his 50's, has recently got himself hooked up to the internet. Every night, before he goes to bed, he unplugs the main power supply and disconnects the modem. The reason? To stop the computer merrily browsing on the web all by itself and running up a huge phone bill. I swear this is true.

Helen Y (UK)

When I was small, I was told that if you left an electrical device plugged in with the power turned off, it would catch fire or explode.

Darren

I used to believe that the computer would blow up if I did the wrong thing or asked it to do too much.
Sadly, I still kinda do.

Anon

I used to think that if you put geraniums into electric switches it would blow up the whole world!

Steve Jeffs

Iused to belive that the key ctrl was short for citral

Teddy bear claire

I used to believe,there was a little person inside my Dad's box Brownie camera.

Sandra R

When you put a letter in the post box, it goes to an underground conveyor belt that takes it all the way to the house of the nearest postman to the destination. Is that not true? (!)

imgareth

Yay, I am so delighted to find out that I am not the only idiot that thought a piece of paper went in to the fax, de-materialised (like on Star Trek) and re formed again at the other end. Mind you, this was back in the 60's when I first saw a fax on a TV show. The cops were sending an identikit picture of a criminal to another state - I was convinced that it was only a matter of time before people would travel this way!!

Lee

My family lived next to an electric company right of way when I was growing up. I got the idea that not only were the power lines dangerously electified, but that touching the big, metal high-tension towers would mean instant death. Birds seemed to be ok when they perched on the towers, but I decided that that had something to do with them having no blood in their feet.

Rob

I used to believe that when you went into an elevator, it was the floors that moved, not the elevator. As a five year old, I couldn't understand what the point of going into the 'box' was and concluded that the floors must have moved, or that there was some sort of magic involved.

Pam

My grandfather told all kids that when the lights blinked, it was because "a fish went through the dam". We believed if, not sure for how long. I do know my Mom was in college before she found out otherwise!

When I was young I used to fear that when somebody takes a photo of me I would go inside the camera and cannot see my parents forever. For this reason I used to cry when anybody tries to take a snap of me

Priya

I was a little late in life getting online, and before that people on tv and magazines were always like "point your browser to www.whatever.com". I thought the browser was the modem and I thought it worked like an antennea. You'd turn it, try the address, and if it didn't work you'd have to keep turning it a little until it got the right reception and could find the page you wanted. I dreaded going onine and going through all that hassle just to visit websites.

Zoe

My nephew, when he was 7, used to believe that websites were "gone" from his computer if he clicked on the Back buttom and they did not appear. I discovered this when I noticed that every night he would sit & try to think of all the websites he would need. Then he would visit all of them to "bring" them back on his computer.

crois

when i was little, i used to believe that there was a band inside every speaker and the more expensive the speakers, the better the band was.

kro

I couldn't figure out how bombs worked. First I believed that planes could drop giant stones crushing whole cities. But I soon realised planes couldn't carry stones that size, and then thought they could drop a big fireball in the middle of a city, and then divide in to smaller fireballs rolling through all streets and burning everything up on its way. I must have been around 4

When I was about 4, I believed that if you scrub a vinyl record hard enough, long enough, with enough soap, you could erase what was on it and record your own songs there instead. I was never quite able to do this successfully, (this was before recordable CD's, or any CD's actually), but I did render several vinyl records completely unplayable.

Dave J.

We had a fridge with an unmarked switch inside. After I had flipped the switch a few times (turned off the defrost settings? Turned off the fridge? I dont know...) my sister told me that flipping the switch turns the neighbors house upside down. (!) I believed her until I was about 5, at which point I performed an experiment (flipped the switch and ran outside), and was very, very relieved to find the neighbor's house right-side-up.

Dave J.

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