Bird’s Eye: Senator Patrick Moynihan used to say “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.  But everyone is not entitled to their own facts.” Three articles that all attempt to dispel myths, ranging from serious to light.

* Top Ten Myths about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Myth #1 – Jews and Arabs have always been in conflict in the region.

Although Arabs were a majority in Palestine prior to the creation of the state of Israel, there had always been a Jewish population, as well. For the most part, Jewish Palestinians got along with their Arab neighbors. This began to change with the onset of the Zionist movement, because the Zionists rejected the right of the Palestinians to self-determination and wanted Palestine for their own, to create a “Jewish State” in a region where Arabs were the majority and owned most of the land.

* Nine Myths about Socialism in the US Bill Quigley | ZSpace

Myth #1.  The US government is involved in class warfare attacking the rich to lift up the poor.

There is a class war going on all right.  But it is the rich against the rest of us and the rich are winning.  The gap between the rich and everyone else is wider in the US than any of the 30 other countries surveyed.  In fact, the top 10% in the US have a higher annual income than any other country.  And the poorest 10% in the US are below the average of the other OECD countries.  The rich in the U.S. have been rapidly leaving the middle class and poor behind since the 1980s.

Myth #2.  The US already has the greatest health care system in the world.

Infant mortality in the US is 4th worst among OECD countries – better only than Mexico, Turkey and the Slovak Republic.* The Food Lab’s Top 6 Food Myths Serious Eats

5. Pasta Must Be Cooked in Massive Amounts of Boiling Water

With dried pasta, as long as the pasta is completely covered in water, it’ll cook just fine. People cite the fact that a large pot of water will lose less heat than a small pot of water when you add pasta to it, but this is in fact not true. There is a difference between heat (energy) and temperature (a value based on how much energy a given amount of a given substance holds).