True or False #1

I thought I'd do something different today ... you all know those random lists of hard to believe facts that are always being sent by email ... well, do you often wonder whether they are true or not? Lets have a look at some!

Pope John Paul II is an honorary member of The Harlem Globetrotters
TRUE: The pontiff was made an honourary member of the comedic basketball troupe at Vatican City November 2000. The Pope met with the Globetrotters owner and chairman Mannie Jackson, plus five players wearing their trademark red, white and blue warmup suits.

He was presented with an autographed basketball and his own named and numbered jersey, No. 75, and posed for photographs.

The average person eats 12 spiders in their sleep during their entire life
FALSE: Spiders don't actually like our warm breath and will stay away from our faces when we are sleeping. As well - who stayed awake and sat with a person while they slept their entire life to count how many spiders they ate? Who has ever woken up with spider remains in their mouth? Finally, why would a spider crawl into a wet damp mouth that was moving and making noises?

Female ferrets can die if they go into heat and cannot find a mate
TRUE: Ferrets, like cats, are induced ovulators. An induced ovulator is any animal that stays in heat until they mate. Once they mate they will ovulate. They do not necessarily need to become pregnant to go out of heat, but they must mate. Female ferrets are prone to severe anemia if allowed to remain in heat for long periods of time. This has been reported to be fatal for the unaltered female. In addition, the immune system of female ferrets in heat is usually lower, making them prone to infection and disease.

Another interesting Ferret fact is that ferrets are the only animals that can catch colds and flu from humans. TRUE!!

The bubbles in Guiness Beer sink to the bottom rather than float to the top like all other beers. No one knows why.
FALSE: This phenomonen does not only happen with Guiness - it happens with other beers. And people do know why ... it has been scientifically proven. See the video here: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2004/march17/beer-video-317.html As explained in the video, the bubbles go up more easily in the center of the beer glass than on the sides because of drag from the walls. As they go up, they raise the beer, and the beer has to spill back, and it does. It runs down the sides of the glass carrying the bubbles -- particularly little bubbles -- with it, downward. After a while it stops, but it's really quite dramatic and it's easy to demonstrate."