"Hit him on the nose, but be accurate, because just south of the nose is the mouth," Burgess cautioned.
So is it a fact or a myth then that sharks are public enemy No. 1 at the beach?
Burgess says no. "I would say sunburn is probably public enemy No. 1," he said.
Where lightning is concerned, there is an entire catalog of myths. Here are just a few: Myth: Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
Fact: It does, especially if it's a tall, isolated object such as the Empire State building, which is struck an estimated 25 times a year.
Myth: If it's not raining, you're safe from lightning.
Fact: Lightning can strike more than three miles from a thunderstorm.
"Lightning's got its own agenda and we don't have its behavior totally figured out yet," said Richard Kithil, founder of the National Lightning Safety Institute.
"I want to emphasize that no place outside is safe," he said. "We should avoid proximity to water. We should avoid proximity to metal objects. We should avoid proximity to electrical machinery or equipment," he said.
But what about your car? Are you safe inside that metal object?
Wendy Allen, an anchorwoman for Central Florida News was in her car when it was struck by lightning. "I just saw bright light. Intense light filled up my car for just a split second. But it was a deafening bang. And I knew," she recalled.
The antenna was destroyed and a tiny scorchmark on the trunk shows where the lightning exited after it fried the car's electrical system. There were burn marks on Allen's T-shirt where her seatbelt had been; and, in a story she taped afterward, she was still recovering from a burn on her lip.
"I was drinking bottled water while I was driving, so they think that I might have had a little bead of water on my lip and that the electricity arced up from the seatbelt up to my lip and it charred my lip," she told "20/20."
Otherwise, she was unhurt, because the lightning had arced around the car's body.
"You're much safer staying in the car than going outside to try to find some other place to go, said William Roeder, the Chief Staff Meteorologist at the high-tech 45th Weather Squadron at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. Roeder is responsible for the weather safety of the space shuttle and other launches from nearby Cape Canaveral, including lightning detection.
His answer to our myth question is that it's true to say that your car does protect you from a lightning strike. Here's why.
"The metal shell conducts the electricity from the lightning on the outside of the metal. If you're inside, not touching anything that can pass to the outside, you're reasonably safe," he said.
But if you thought that being safe inside your car had anything to do with the rubber tires, you were wrong.
"Think about it," Roeder said. "Lightning has just pushed through 10, 20, 30 miles of air. You think two, two inches of rubber's gonna stop it? I don't think so. Lightning laughs at two inches of rubber."
And there are always exceptions to what's safe -- in this case, cars with fiberglass bodies, according to Kithil.
"This business of a car being a fully enclosed safe place only refers to metal vehicles. No convertibles, no golf carts, no riding mowers, things like that," he said.
If you do get caught in the open during a lightning storm, get away from trees and poles. Kithil recommends a method to make yourself less of a target. Crouch down, put your feet together and place your hands over your ears to minimize hearing damage from thunder.
Here are important tips if you are in your home during a lightning storm.
Turn off the computer;
and stay away from appliances and plumbing.
Stay off the phone,
although it is OK to use a cordless or cell phone, because they're not
connected to outside wiring.
Wait at least 30
minutes after the thunder has stopped before resuming normal activities.
When you head out on vacation this summer, you'll probably spend big bucks filling your car's gas tank, while griping about the price. But a lot of you who are complaining could be spending less for your gas.
You have a choice of gas at the pump. The price of 93 octane premium is more than regular 87 octane -- about 20 cents more per gallon at many stations. Because premium costs more, a lot of people think it's better for their cars.
People told us premium gasoline gives them better gas mileage, more power and cleaner engines.
Regular gas, one woman told "20/20," "leaves a lot of gunk in your engine … That's what my daddy taught me."
But her daddy -- and many of you who buy premium -- are wasting your money.
NASCAR driver Joe Nemechek knows this. "Believe me, I've pumped gas in from about every gas station there's been in my personal cars. Whether it's around town or on vacation or wherever, you put the regular in there it keeps on running," he said. The NASCAR drivers, mechanics, and car makers will tell you that for 90 percent of the cars sold today, high octane is no better than regular gas. It won't give you better mileage, more power or a cleaner engine. NASCAR crew member Lisa Smokstad told us what every expert told us.
"It is a myth that cars run better on premium gas," she said.
Some cars do need higher octane -- older cars that knock, and cars with high-compression, high-revving engines like Ferraris, Bentleys, Jaguars, Acuras, Mercedes and Corvettes.
But 90 percent of new cars don't need it -- check your owner's manual.
The car manufacturers and every car expert we consulted told us that for most cars, high octane is a waste of money. Even the gas companies that sell the high-octane fuel -- and make more money off of it -- admit most people don't need it. But they don't go out of their way to tell you that.
Once you've figured out which octane to buy, does the brand matter? Are the well-known national brands better than the no-name brands, which are usually cheaper?
People we spoke to gave similar reasons for buying name-brand gasoline that they gave for buying high-octane gas. They believed the national brands were higher quality, and better for their cars.
But they may not know that all the gas, brand name and generic, comes from the same refineries. Brand names do use different additives, but it doesn't make them better for your car.
In 1996, the Federal Trade Commission forced Amoco, which denied any wrongdoing, to stop claiming in its ads that it was better than other brands without scientific evidence to back it up.
"It's a myth that brand-name gas is better than a no-name gas," said mechanic Dave Bowman, co-host of "Two Guys Garage" on cable TV's Speed channel.
"It doesn't make any difference whether you're buying a branded product or a no-name product," he said.
"The only difference is price."
The NASCAR drivers agree about that, too. "It's a myth, you don't need the high-octane gasoline, you don't need the, the name-brand stuff," said driver Jimmie Johnson.
Some of the fans have figured that out.
One man summed it up nicely for us. "The manufacturers and the gasoline dealers, they all want you to buy that expensive stuff. It all runs on the same stuff. Gas is gas."
Ah, the oyster! We've all heard what a hot commodity oysters will make you between the sheets.
The Oyster Bar in New York City serves thousands of raw oysters every day. Just why do people find them so sexy?
"It's a very sensual experience. I mean you don't chew an oyster. You kind of like swallow it down completely. And it's wonderful. And your mind sort of just wanders along to sex," said David Walters, who spoke to "20/20" at the landmark restaurant.
A recent study lent credence to that popular belief. Rats were injected with amino acids found in shellfish, and researchers found it caused them to release sex hormones.
However, one of the doctors involved in the study says there's no evidence that oysters are an aphrodisiac in human beings.
One of ABC News' medical consultants, Yale University's Dr. David Katz, agrees. "The new research is many steps away from showing that oysters are an aphrodisiac, or in any way enhance sexual performance," he said.
What about the people though who swear that oysters are an aphrodisiac?
"As of today, if we ask the question do we know that oysters are an aphrodisiac, or for that matter, any shellfish, we'd have to say, no, it's a myth," Katz said.
But what's not a myth is that eating raw shellfish can make you sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that thousands of people get ill from eating shellfish every year, particularly oysters, and a handful die. But that in no way deters the faithful.
"My son was conceived the night my wife and I each downed a dozen oysters. So that's not completely scientific but it certainly passes an empirical test," said Walters.
"Are they an aphrodisiac because of properties in the oyster, per se? No. Regrettably, it's a myth. Unless, you think they're an aphrodisiac. Because if you think they will put you in the mood, they will put you in the mood," said Katz.
From Mae West to Marilyn Monroe to Farrah Fawcett to Pamela Anderson, blonds have embodied the notion of the sex symbol. But it was a Clairol hair color advertisement that raised the big question: Do blonds really have more fun?
"20/20" hired two actors to go platinum to find out, and came up with a very unscientific test using hidden cameras.
Actress Diedre Lorenz found lots of people willing to help a fair-haired maiden in distress. Some went beyond the call of duty, offering their phone numbers and to take her out for a drink.
Lorenz said she doesn't typically get the sort of attention that she received with her blond tresses.
What about a platinum-haired man? Actor Jake Mayers gave it a shot and said he felt "sexier, and I do feel more attractive."
While surveys say blonds are often perceived as "ditzy" but "glamorous," brunets are seen as "competent" and "trustworthy."
Posing as a dark-haired tourist, Jake felt he got less action but more respect.
As a brunette, Deirdre felt invisible. She got dramatically less attention than she did with her blond hair.
"Men basically were throwing their phone numbers, begging me for my phone number, wanted to take me out sightseeing, take me for drinks," she said. "Today, not an offer. Literally, I did not have an offer."
If it's any consolation, studies show women are nicer to brunettes.
Research shows men are twice as likely to help someone out if she's a blonde. Our experiment found blondes certainly turn more heads, and that may be the fun a lot of people are looking for.
But our testers say fun, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
"If you want a lot of glances, blonds. If you want something deeper, perhaps brunets," Lorenz said.
And Mayers? As a blond he felt attractive and sexy, as a brunet he said he "felt real."
It's the danger in the water your mother warned you about: Swimming right after eating is dangerous and if you do it, you will get a cramp and maybe drown.
Dr. Tim Johnson asked a swimming class what they thought. They believed it. When he told them it was a myth, they didn't believe him.
Dr. Jane Katz has been inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame for her contributions as an expert on swimming. But even she can't convince this beginner's swim class at New York City's John Jay College that swimming after eating isn't dangerous.
Katz said, "Part of this myth, … is basically comfort, because after you eat you always get tired. The reason is of course your circulation is going to the intestines and sometimes if you try to exercise vigorously you get a stitch."
But even if you get a stitch, or a cramp, it's not life-threatening.
The American Red Cross agrees. We set up our own experiment with those skeptical swimmers. We had them climb out of the pool and eat a snack. We had them get back in the pool and swim vigorously.
Everybody in class felt fine. One swimmer even said he was hungry.
