Facts that survive being checked
True things that sound made up. And a link, every time, to where it came from.
There is an enormous amount of delightful nonsense on the internet. Facts that are almost true, or were true once, or are true about a different animal. They spread because they are fun, and nobody checks fun.
Odd Truths is a small attempt at the opposite: things that are genuinely strange and genuinely true. There are currently 31 of them.
The rules
Everything is sourced. Every entry links to at least one source — a primary paper where one exists, otherwise a reputable publisher. If a claim cannot be sourced, it does not go on the site, no matter how good it sounds.
The caveat stays in. A lot of famous facts are true with an asterisk. Sea otters really do hold hands, but less often than the internet implies. Saturn really is less dense than water, but the bathtub would not work. Where the popular version overstates things, the overstatement gets named rather than quietly inherited.
Corrections beat deletions. If something here turns out to be wrong, the entry gets rewritten to say so. A collection that has never had to change its mind is not being checked.
Found a mistake?
Good — that is the most useful thing you can send. Point at the entry and at a source, and it will get fixed.