Was the moon
landing faked?
Do goldfish only have a
three second memory?
2017 CALENDAR
IN EVERY BELIEF THERE IS A LIE
Welcome
to the
2017
Graduate Union Calendar
This calendar celebrates our gullibility.
It focuses on some of our greatest old wives tales, myths and legends, as well as those facts we take for granted as true.
As each new month arrives we hope that you enjoy learning about each topic,
and that we shed light on some long held beliefs of your own.
Members, please go to the page after December for a host of vouchers to be cut out and used
to experience the benefits of The Graduate Union.
From all of us here at The Graduate Union, we hope that 2017 is an excellent year for you.
is a membership association, a residential college and a meeting
place for graduates of all universities, ages, life stages,
disciplines and countries.
§
§
The Graduate Union
2016
2017
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march
January
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march
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JANUARY
THE EARTH
IS FLAT
The Reality
The notion of a flat earth is both ancient history and modern intellectual travesty.
The concept is relatively simple: from the observable environment it can be difficult
to determine the spherical nature of the earth. Given gravity would not be understood
until the 17th century, any concept that the world was round would assume people
would fall off at some point. Ergo, the world is surely flat. In the history of human
knowledge the theory was short-lived, and understandably so because early Greek
philosophers such as Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle all commented on various
observances as to our planet’s spherical nature.
The first practical endeavour to prove the earth is round has been noted as the 1519
circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan, a Spanish explorer. Magellan
never finished his journey, being fatally wounded in the Philippines, though his
second-in-command took charge and completed the full circumnavigation winning
the minds of the educated everywhere as to the sphere theory.
Having been such an early step in our modern understanding of the world, one would
expect that this proven and simple explanation for many natural occurrences would
be uncontested, yet, a contemporary group of deniers of both a spherical earth and
modern scientific approaches has once again begun promulgating the flat earth
theory.
December 2016
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February 2017
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New Year’s Day
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Australia Day - Public Holiday
293031
Graduate House Scholarship
and Bursaries Open for
Applications until 10th April
Resident Committee Meeting 1
Chinese New Year
Year of the Rooster
FEBRUARY
CARROTS
IMPROVE
VISION
The Reality
The year is 1940, World War II is ravaging Europe and British air pilots are successfully making night
raids on front lines everywhere. In doing so they baffled the public. How do British pilots see at night?
How were they so constantly successful? Around the same time a rumour begins that the UK Ministry
of Food has been feeding pilots carrots in excess to improve their night vision (in part to keep secret
Britain’s new radar technology which was helping fighters find German aircraft at night). Both by the
rumour’s fantastical nature or by the desperation for fun stories amidst of a dark war, the British public
adopted it with vigour, and the myth that carrots improve eyesight began.
But just as in every belief there is a lie, some lies have an element of truth. Carrots contain an amount
of beta-carotene which our bodies use to make vitamin A, essential to the conversion of light that
enters the eye into a signal that can be transmitted to the brain. Such signal transmission allows us to
see better in conditions of low light. In some countries beta-carotene accounts for a lot of vitamin A
consumption, but in western nations it only accounts for about 30%.
But how much beta-carotene is actually in carrots? Not a great deal. Even then, there have been recent
studies that show that beta-carotene may not convert vitamin A efficiently at all. While the research
continues to alter the academic position on the issue, all that is safe to say is that there is not yet any
conclusive evidence to show that carrots affect eyesight quite as much as has been claimed.
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Bridge Night
Sustainable Living
Festival Begins
GU Council Meeting 1
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World Interfaith Harmony
Week Begins
Bridge Night
World Interfaith Harmony
Week Ends
GU Building and Facilities
Committee Meeting 1
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Women’s Forum
Special Morning Breakfast
Italian Conversation Dinner
Valentine's Day
Bridge Night
GU Membership
and Marketing
Committee Meeting 1
White Night Melbourne
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Student Orientation
Week Begins
262728
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Festival Ends
Residents’ Meet and Greet
Police Safety Discussion
Semester 1 (12 weeks) Begins
Academic Summer Term Ends
Bridge Night
Student Orientation
Week Ends
MARCH
WE USE 10% OF
OUR BRAIN
The Reality
There is no scientific evidence that we only use 10% of our brain. In fact, most parts of our brains are
active almost all the time. We use 15% of our brain just to sleep. The brain is an amazing organ and
neuroscientists are still trying to fully understand how the brain functions.
Different brain areas function both separately and together to allow us to coordinate complex tasks, so
at any moment we could be using 10% or 100% of our brain, depending on what we are doing.
Our brain uses a whopping 20% of our energy, so it stands to reason that we must use our brains more
than 10% for our body to give 20% of our energy.
The 10% myth may have begun in the early 1900’s when the neurosurgeon Karl Lashley removed
portions of the brains of rats who were trained to navigate around a maze. He found that he could
damage areas of the cerebral cortex and the rats were still able to perform the task correctly, as well
as behave normally. The greater the area of damage, the more impaired the rats were at the task.
However, these deficits could be recovered through additional maze training and time.
The myth has by no means disappeared, with Professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman) quoting the
10% brain usage in the 2014 movie Transcendence where Lucy (Scarlett Johansen) consumes a massive
amount of chemicals to cause her brain to exert unimaginable power.
February 2017
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Bridge Night
World Wildlife Day
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and Nominations
Committee Meeting 1
Welcome BBQ includes
Residents' Meet and Greet
Bridge Night
12131415161718
Graduate House is Closed
Labour Day - Public Holiday
Special Morning Breakfast
Women’s Forum
Festival of Colours
Italian Conversation Dinner
Bridge Night
College Table 1
GU Finance and Audit
Committee Meeting 1
St Patrick's Day
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Bridge Night
International Day of Happiness
World Poetry Day
World Water Day
WOW Melbourne – Women
of the World Festival Ends
WOW Melbourne – Women
of the World Festival Begins
Earth Hour 8.30pm to 9.30pm
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Bridge Night
Italian Conversation Dinner
Melbourne
Comedy
Festival
Begins
Melbourne Food and Wine
Festival Begins
APRIL
GOLDFISH HAVE
A THREE SECOND
MEMORY
The Reality
Goldfish are not as forgetful as they were once thought. There have been many studies to
prove that they can be trained to perform tasks and retain the information for months or even
years later. Goldfish have been taught to push objects level, play fetch and soccer, navigate
a maze or return to a particular location when they hear music a year later. Many hope this
could open up opportunities for teaching fish to escape from trawl fishing nets or (the opposite)
cageless fish farming. Another study found that goldfish can recognise their owner’s face or
a favourite person, like the one that feeds them, by becoming more active, whereas they will
often hide if they see a stranger’s face. They have the same IQ as a bird or many mammals,
so some argue that it is cruel to keep them in small tanks or bowls.
Goldfish, like people, need space and it takes about 13.5 litres of water for every 2.5cm of
goldfish length to provide a decent environment. Changing or moving the items inside their
tank to create a more challenging environment will help make the goldfish more active, happier
and extend their life span.
March 2017
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Italian Conversation Dinner
Daylight Savings Ends
Bridge Night
Graduate Union Influenza
and Vaccination Day
GU Council Meeting 2
Resident Committee Meeting 2
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Melbourne Food and Wine
Festival Ends
Graduate House Scholarship
and Bursaries
Applications Close
Graduate House is Closed
Special Morning Breakfast
Good Friday - Public Holiday
Bridge Night
16171819202122
Graduate House is Closed
Easter Sunday
Easter Monday - Public Holiday
Women’s Forum
Italian Conversation Dinner
Bridge Night
GU Buildings and Facilities
Committee Meeting 2
College Table 2
International Mother Earth Day
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Melbourne Comedy
Festival Ends
GU Nomination for
National Student
Leadership Forum
Opens for Applications
Graduate House is Closed
ANZAC Day - Public Holiday
Bridge
Night
Investment for your Future
Seminar 1
MAY
THERE IS A
DARK SIDE
OF THE MOON
The Reality
The baby boomers among us will remember Pink Floyd's 1973 album called the Dark Side of the Moon,
but is there literally a dark side of the Moon? Well yes, at least as far as the Earth is concerned. It may help
to refer to it by its other name, the Far Side. You see the moon always faces the earth at the same angle.
If the same side (hemisphere) of the moon always faces us, then it stands to reason the other side is
always facing away.
The phrase “the dark side of the moon” once was used to describe something mysterious and unknown
but photos have been taken of the far side of the moon by many space ships from many countries since
the first in 1959 by the USSR’s Luna 3 spacecraft.
Perhaps this will help:
Full moon: earth views the moon fully illuminated by the sun, the far side is totally dark.
New moon: earth views the near side of the moon as always but because the sun’s illumination is on
the opposite side of the moon to the earth, what we call the dark side (or more accurately, the far
side) will actually be the side basking in Sunlight – its just that we will never see it.
Why does the Earth see the same face of the moon as it rotates? The moon rotates once in almost exactly
the same length of time it takes to orbit around the earth. The technical name for this spin-orbit lock is
"tidal locking" – but that will have to be covered in a future calendar.
April 2017
MAY
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Monthly Luncheon
Bridge Night
Melbourne Knowledge
Week Begins
Italian Conversation Dinner
GU Membership and Marketing
Committee Meeting 2
7 8 9 10111213
Melbourne Knowledge
Week Ends
GU Governance
and Nominations
Committee Meeting 2
Special Morning Breakfast
Residents’ Meet and Greet
Bridge Night
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Italian Conversation Dinner
Mother’s Day
International Day of Families
GU Finance and Audit
Committee Meeting 2
Women’s Forum
Bridge Night
College Table 3
21222324252627
Bridge Night
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Semester 1 Ends
Winter Recess (8 weeks) Begins
Bridge
Night
GU Annual General
Meeting and Dinner
Sat
JUNE
THE MOON
LANDING WAS
FAKED
The Reality
The moon landing happened over 50 years ago. Today, about 20% of Americans believe that the U.S.
Apollo never landed on the moon. They believe it was all staged and faked to win the space race,
which seems a bit unlikely given hundreds of people without a single exception would have needed
to keep their mouths shut that the landing was all staged.
Some of the arguments that the landing was faked were that the American Flag was blowing in the
wind, but there is no wind on the moon; that no stars were visible, and that the astronauts’ feet left
marks but the landing craft didn’t. NASA has offered answers for all such claims and has rock and
particle samples that they claim could not have formed under earth conditions. They also note that
the moon landing was scrutinised by the media from lift-off to landing back on earth. Perhaps the
only thing that would convince the conspirators is a charter flight to the moon to see for themselves,
so it might be a long, long time before everyone accepts one of the human race’s greatest technical
achievements.
May 2017
JUNE
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Jazz Festival Begins
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World Environment Day
Italian Conversation Dinner
Bridge Night
Examination Period Begins
GU Council Meeting 3
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Graduate House is Closed
Melbourne International
Jazz Festival Ends
Queen's Birthday
- Public Holiday
GU Nomination for National
Student Leadership Forum
Applications Close
Women’s Forum
Special Morning Breakfast
Bridge Night
18192021222324
Italian Conversation Dinner
World Refuge Day
Bridge Night
GU Buildings and Facilities
Committee Meeting 3
Examination Period Ends
252627282930
Bridge
Night
Investment for your Future
Seminar 2
International Day of Friendship
Sat
JULY
THE SAHARA IS
THE LARGEST
DESERT IN
THE WORLD
The Reality
Outside of the polar areas, the Sahara in North Africa is the largest desert: 9.1 million square km.
More interesting is that each of the two polar areas is larger than the Sahara.
Antarctic Desert (Southern Hemisphere) has a total size of 13.8 million square kilometres.
The Arctic Desert (Northern Hemisphere) is 13.7 million square kilometres in area. Each one is
nearly twice the size of Australia. The point here is that hot deserts with sand and dunes are not
the only type of desert. They can be cold too. The term desert is simply an area that has no or
very little rainfall or snow.
Antarctica gets less than 50 millimeters (2 inches) a year of precipitation, mostly as snow and it is
the coldest, driest, windiest and most hostile environment in the world and the highest elevation
of all the continents. There are presently 135 permanent residents in this desert with 1,000 to
5,000 people at research stations visiting throughout the year. The temperature goes down to
a chilly -63°C in the coldest part of the year, though the temperature has reached -89.2°C.
This southern desert is covered by a permanent ice sheet that contains 90% of the Earth’s fresh
water. The 2% of the continent that isn’t covered by ice is along the coasts, and that’s where all
the life is. Rainfall (or snowfall) in this region of Antarctica is less than 20 millimetres per year.
June 2017
JULY
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Italian Conversation Dinner
Bridge Night
Final Release Date for Results
9 101112131415
Women’s Forum
Bridge Night
Special Morning Breakfast
World Population Day
GU Membership
and Marketing
Committee Meeting 3
16171819202122
Italian Conversation Dinner
Bridge Night
Christmas in July
Student Orientation Begins
Student Orientation Ends
23242526272829
Semester 2 (12 weeks) Begins
Bridge
Night
Sat
AUGUST
FEED A FEVER
STARVE A COLD
The Reality
Whether it has been mistranslated from “feeding a cold would stave off a fever”
or just an old wives’ tale from the nineteenth century, it is clear that a cold
and fever were considered to be two different types of illnesses, and needed to
be remedied differently.
A cold caused low temperatures and needed to be fueled up by eating.
Colds usually last for 7 – 10 days so you are inclined to eat.
A fever was believed to cause high temperatures and needed cooling down,
so refraining from eating. Fevers usually last only a few days with not much
of an appetite, so refraining from eating is not difficult.
So maybe the myth is more about what people tend to do when suffering these
‘diseases’ rather than what will actually cure them. In fact, starving is never
a good idea. Eating fewer or no calories makes it more difficult for your body to
fight the infection and recover. Be guided by your appetite during an illness with
plenty of rest and keep your body well-hydrated with water, juice and hot liquids
to replace lost electrolytes.
July 2017
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AUGUST
Tue
Wed
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September 2017
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Italian Conversation Dinner
Bridge Night
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GU Governance
and Nominations
Committee Meeting 3
Special Morning Breakfast
Bridge Night
International Youth Day
13141516171819
Italian Conversation Dinner
GU Finance and Audit
Committee Meeting 3
Women’s Forum
Bridge Night
College Table 4
World Humanitarian Day
20212223242526
Donor Thank You Day
Graduate House and
'give a flower, get a smile'
The University of
Melbourne Open Day
Melbourne Writers
Festival Begins
Bridge Night
2728293031
Italian Conversation Dinner
Residents’ Meet and Greet
Bridge Night
Melbourne
Day
Investment for your Future
Seminar 3
SEPTEMBER
SHARKS OFTEN
ATTACK PEOPLE
The Reality
It can be said it is more dangerous to get into a car than to swim in the ocean. In Australia,
there was a total of 1,205 deaths on the road in 2015, and 2 deaths from sharks in the same
year.
The media have played a big part in generating a negative belief about sharks. The film
Jaws and horror fiction have helped make “man eating monsters" more plausible and
subsequently led to shark hunts aimed to find the ‘killer’.
There are 480 shark species. The Great White, Tiger and Bull Sharks are responsible for
most fatal unprovoked attacks on humans. While the Oceanic Whitetip is regarded as
responsible for most deaths in deep sea, there are no statistics recorded. There are horrific
accounts of hundreds of sailors jumping sinking ships in WWII, only to be eaten
by Whitetips.
Sharks live in the ocean, and it is worth remembering that we are choosing to enter their
domain, and that they have no choice to go elsewhere. Some general rules include not
swimming at dawn, dusk or at night and definitely not near anyone fishing.
Some entrepreneurs are developing protective suits that appear to repel sharks but for the
time being, if you are still worried about sharks, you might bear in mind that no one has
ever died from a shark attack while sitting on the beach above the water line.
August 2017
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October 2017
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Graduate House Ball
'Roaring 20s
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Monthly Luncheon
Melbourne Writers
Festival Ends
Italian Conversation Dinner
Bridge Night
Father’s Day
International Day of Charity
GU Council Meeting 4
Residents' Meet and Greet
Resident Committee Meeting 4
International Literacy Day
10111213141516
College Table 5
World Suicide Prevention Day
Special Morning Breakfast
International Day of Democracy
Bridge Night
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Women’s Forum
Bridge Night
International Day of Peace
Royal Melbourne Show Begins
24252627282930
Bridge
Night
World Heart Day
OCTOBER
YOU WOULD
SINK IN LAVA
The Reality
In short, 'No', you would not sink into lava. Contrary to pretty much every movie
you may have seen where someone falls into lava, lava does not behave like water.
So while the Wicked Witch of the West may well have been able to swim in lava but
melted in water, it’s the other way round for us.
Lava is very dense, about three times more dense than us. Humans are mostly
made up of water, so we would float on lava:
Water has a density of 1000 kg/m3 and a viscosity of 0.00089 Pa.s.
Lava has a density of 3100 kg/m3 and a viscosity of 100-1000 Pa.s.
This means we would have a better chance of outrunning the slow moving lava
which has a flow rate similar to peanut butter, but if it did catch us we sure
wouldn’t be swimming our way to safety. There is also the radiant heat and toxic
gases from lava that might kill you before you hit the surface. Basaltic lava has a
temperature of ~1,100°C to 1,200°C. Considering this, sinking into lava is the least
of your worries.
September 2017
OCTOBER
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November 2017
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International Day of
Older People
Monthly Luncheon
Daylight Saving Begins
Royal Melbourne Show Ends
Bridge Night
GU Buildings and Facilities
Committee Meeting 4
8 9 1011121314
Special Morning Breakfast
Italian Conversation Dinner
World Mental Health Day
Bridge Night
15161718192021
Bridge Night
World Food Day
International Day for the
Eradication of Poverty
GU Membership
and Marketing
Committee Meeting 4
College Table 6
22232425262728
Semester 2 End
Examination Period
(6 weeks) Begins
Women's Forum
Italian Conversation Dinner
293031
Residents' Meet and Greet
Halloween
Bridge Night
Investment for your Future
Seminar 4
Sat
NOVEMBER
A HIGH FLYING
COIN IS DEADLY
The Reality
Another classic urban myth with a little bit of truth. Have you ever been told that if a
coin fell off a tall building it could kill someone? Or go right through their skull or hit the
pavement and smash the concrete?
Coins are not aerodynamic so they are slowed down when they fall. Coins actually
flutter and tumble as they fall because of their shape and light weight. The terminal
velocity of a coin is about 40 km/h and because they are lightweight (the Australian
dollar coin weighs 9 grams) the resultant momentum (velocity x mass) is insufficient
to penetrate the skull. In other words, if a coin did hit your head it may hurt but is
extremely unlikely to kill you.
On the other hand, if a big nut or bolt weighing 50 grams were to hit you on the head
without a hard hat it would have a high probability of being fatal because the terminal
velocity of a bolt is about 400 km/h. With a velocity roughly 10 times higher and a mass
roughly 5 times greater than a coin, the force when the momentum is brought to a rapid
stop on hitting the skull would be 50 times greater for the bolt than the coin.
So here is the essence of this myth. Construction workers taking a snack break might
agree it is indeed smart to wear hard hats on building sites - but they should fear the
nut far more than the dough.
October 2017
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Tue
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December 2017
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Science and Peace Begins
Graduate House is Closed
Monthly Luncheon
Melbourne Cup Day
Bridge Night
Remembrance Day
Residents' Meet and Greet
International Week of
Science and Peace Ends
12131415161718
GU Governance
and Nominations
Committee Meeting 4
Special Morning Breakfast
Women’s Forum
Italian Conversation Dinner
Bridge Night
Examination Period Ends
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Variety and the United
Nations Universal
Children’s Day
GU Finance and Audit
Committee Meeting 4
Bridge Night
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Bridge Night
GU Council
Meeting 5
International Day for the
Elimination of
Violence Against Women
DECEMBER
CELERY HAS
NEGATIVE CALORIES
The Reality
The term negative calories refer to food that takes more calories to process than it delivers.
Something for nothing or free food mentality. If such food exists it would mean the more you eat
the slimmer you get. No wonder it’s a popular concept. This term has been used by dietitians,
diabetic educators and big business. So can they all be wrong?
Negative calories is not true of celery, regardless of its low calories, high fibre and high water content,
it still contains more calories than it takes the body to consume it. A medium sized stick of celery
provides about 6 calories. Your body will burn about 1 calorie eating and digesting it. Chances are
your body will absorb some of those 5 extra calories, not to mention, the cream cheese or peanut
butter you put on the celery before eating it – but lets stick to the celery alone. The plus side of celery
is its high fibre and water content will keep you feeling full for longer causing you to eat less.
The only real way to lose weight is to ensure that the calories that you eat do not exceed the calories
that you burn. It is extremely unlikely that this will be achieved on a lasting basis by reducing calory
intake alone. The same can be said of fitness alone. However, regular exercise and thoughtful food
selection can indeed win the day.
There appears to be little scientific support for the existence of any food that uses more energy in its
consumption than it provides, but celery would be one of those that gets closest to it, so it may well
play a part in a great overall sustainable weight management plan. So we can safely say, no amount of
celery (or any other food) will make you thin on it's own, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a great ally
in the war against obesity.
November 2017
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Graduate House Reopens
8th January, 2018
Chairperson’s Cocktail Party
New Year’s Eve
Final Release Date for Results
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Italian Conversation Dinner
International Volunteer Day
for Economic and Social
Development
NO Monthly Luncheon
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Special Morning Breakfast
Bridge Night
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Italian Conversation Dinner
Graduate House Closes for the
Festive Season
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Christmas Day
Boxing Day
OTHER
(BUT VERIFIED)
BELIEFS AND MYTHS
CHEESE GIVES YOU WEIRD DREAMS
There has been only one small study of 100 male and 100 female participants on dreams and cheese conducted by the British Cheese Board in 2005. The participants
were given 20 grams of cheese half an hour before they went to bed for the simple reason they wanted to know if their product was having a bad or unexpected effect
on their customers. The result of the study found that 85% of females reported having super-crazy, vivid dreams from eating Stilton. Red Leicester was more likely to
give you nostalgic dreams. Cheddar tends to be dreams about celebrities and Cheshire appears to be for those who want a dreamless night.
DRINKING HOT TEA COOLS YOU DOWN
The idea of drinking hot drinks to cool you down on a hot day can seem like a bizarre concept. Hot drinks activate sweat and this is a key mechanism our body uses to
cool us down. The sweat then needs to evaporate to have a cooling effect. (The same principles used to develop the Coolguardie safe.) However, if it is too humid or
you are exercising very hard and your sweat drips to the ground, the evaporating effect is lost and you are better off drinking cool drinks.
DOGS CAN DETECT CANCER
Yes they can. Dogs have an amazing 25 times more smelling receptors than humans, boosting their smelling ability by 100,000 times. We look after their food, shelter
and protection so therefore it is in the dog’s interest to look after us. Cancerous cells release different metabolic waste products than healthy cells. Dogs can smell
these differences at very early stages. They can be trained to sniff out a variety of cancer on human skin, urine and on the patient’s breath, just as they can be trained to
sniff out bombs, drugs, missing persons and other illnesses.
MILK BEFORE TEA
How a cup of tea is prepared is very important to some people. There have been millions of debates over whether the milk goes into the cup first or the boiling water.
Over 13 years ago, scientist tried to end the arguments. They found that if the milk went in over the boiling water the milk heated unevenly, causing the milk to
denature. This affected the taste and contributed to the formation of skin on top of the tea. There are many variables to making a cup of tea. One, for example,
is whether or not the tea bag remains in the cup when milk is poured in. Perhaps, whether you put the milk in first or not is entirely up to you.
AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS
Elephants are smart and intelligent, similar to dolphins. Their sight may not be great but they have great memories. For an elephant’s survival it need to remember
locations of food and water and faces of other elephants. An elephant can recognise and keep track of 30 in their family unit. Recognising when there is a stranger in
the group is very important as the newcomer may harm their calves or impact negatively on the herd’s safety. Elephants can recognise their reflection in a mirror and
can also remember human faces.
DINOSAURS AND MAMMALS COEXISTED
The first mammals were tiny mouse size creatures and evolved from Therapsids (a mammal-like reptile) at the end of the Triassic Period. Being tiny they could
maintain a low profile, be hard-to-see, hunt at night and scurry up trees or dig burrows to keep out of the way of predators. The characteristics that define these
mammals were: milk-producing mammary glands, hair or fur, warm-blooded, shape of their skull and neck bones, and two small bones in the inner ear. Both mammals
and dinosaurs coexisted throughout the Mesozoic Era. Once the dinosaurs disappeared the mammals evolved into large animals.
NOTES
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