Myths

It isn't much to look at: a gray lump of rock behind an ugly metal grill, attached to an even uglier building. You have to crouch down to see it, and its admittedly modest (or maybe nonexistent) charm can seem trifling compared with the glories of St. Paul's Cathedral or Westminster Abbey. Unloved and neglected, lost in the shadows of gleaming bank towers and the bustle of a city hard at work, the London Stone gets short shrift from the tourist hordes and even Londoners themselves.

'The Pruitt-Igoe Myth' No MPAA rating Running time: 1 hour, 23 minutes Playing at: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills

Whether it's constellations named after Greek gods, stories of how the earth was created or tales of Camelot and the Holy Grail, myths and legends form part of our cultural heritage. Though legends tend to be fanciful stories told about real, historical people while myths tend to feature gods or people with special powers, both legends and myths are told to explain the unexplainable or to teach a lesson.

Forty years ago, an enormous, decrepit, crime-ridden St. Louis public housing project was destroyed with dynamite. Television and still pictures of the imploding buildings went viral, so to speak, though that wasn't a term yet. The death of the complex known as Pruitt-Igoe was seized on by any number of groups as validation of their viewpoints. Enemies of modern architecture said the soullessness of the design caused the problem. (Minoru Yamasaki, who went on to design the World Trade Center towers in New York, was the architect.)

The warning: When checking out of a hotel, never return the room key card! The myth: Computerized hotel key cards are routinely imprinted with guests' personal information, including names, addresses and credit card numbers. The truth: Hotel companies and law enforcement agencies have said repeatedly that such information isn't put on the cards. How it started: In 2003, a Pasadena police detective spread the warning without checking its veracity.

Consider this premise for a novel: Helen Hamilton has always known there is something odd about her. It's not just her superhuman strength, which she has learned to mask, or her tendency to provoke strange attackers. Lately she's worried that she's losing her mind — and the news that she is no ordinary human but a hero of Greek legend raises as many questions as it answers. Does this remind you of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians"? Now consider this description: A mysterious and glamorous family that hangs together clannishly takes an interest in a shy, awkward local girl.

THANKS so much for printing Richard Schickel's review of the two Arnold Schwarzenegger biographies (Book Review, July 17) and correcting a misconception. Having seen loads of evidence of Arnold's outsized ego, it was almost a knee-jerk reaction, on seeing the title of the book "Fantastic," that I would have sworn it was an autobiography. FRANCIS V. SCALZI Scottsdale, Ariz.

Ask the average American who is not on welfare to describe the average American who is, and the response is likely to be more wrong than it is right: a black unmarried teen-ager in the inner city who has lots of children and no desire to get a job. There certainly are many on public assistance who fit this profile. But there are just as many--in fact, more--who do not.

The long-debunked idea that abortions can contribute to breast cancer is reappearing amid the outpouring of comments this week on Susan G. Komen for the Cure's decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood breast-health programs. Here's one comment on Komen's Facebook page: "Also! Breast cancer is linked to abortions!!! More and more studied are pointing to abortions for a huge risk factor for BC, why should SGK support something that raises the chances of what they wasn't destroyed?

Californians are heading into an intense, critical debate over the level of public service they're willing to pay for. So it's time to puncture some myths. Everyone's entitled to his own opinion, as the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to say, but not his own facts. Voters owe it to themselves to separate myth from fact as they begin pondering Gov. Jerry Brown's planned November ballot initiative to temporarily raise about $7 billion annually from higher income taxes on the rich and sales taxes on everyone.

Reporting from San Diego -- Pteropus rodricensis was hanging upside down, doing some squeaking. That's mostly his daily routine, with occasional breaks to eat slices of fruit. He's primarily a dusk-and-night mammal. That's when members of his species spread their wings in a 30-inch span for some low-level flying and maybe some ritualistic courting. Arya Yari, 11, of San Diego was watching intently one day last week. He's kind of a bat expert, although until that day he'd never seen a Pteropus rodricensis, a.k.a.

Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports Mark Ribowsky W.W. Norton: 512 pp., $29.95

"Freshman 15," "Freshman 15"… how often do you read that stat about weight gain during that first year of college, and how often do you wonder if it's true? Two researchers - one at Ohio State University and the other at the University of Michigan at Dearborn  -- decided to take a thorough look. In a study to be published in the December issue of the journal Social Science Quarterly, they report that… .. drumroll .. ..it's not true. It's a myth.  Weight gain among freshman students is far less than 15 pounds, as a rule - more like three pounds.

Every year, parents and police departments worry about tricks in their kids' Halloween treats: razor blades in apples, poison in candy bars.   But incidents of candy poisoning are very, very rare -- if they exist at all.   "There have never been any substantiated cases of strangers tampering with Halloween candy," said Susan Whiteside, in an email to Booster Shots Friday. Whiteside is a spokesperson for the National Confectioners Assn., which provides an FAQ on Halloween candy safety and coordinates with law enforcement to track reports of tainted treats.

One human life Re "One man's joy is another's anguish," Oct. 19 The recent prisoner swap of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for more than 1,000 Palestinian criminals should establish only one compelling truth: Israel values a single human life above all else. The Palestinian prisoners who were released, however, have far different moral standards, exemplified in statements made by released murderer Fouad Abu Amrin justifying his random stabbing of a 15-year-old girl.