Halloween is when?!

What's really spooky is the fact that so many people have apparently fallen for this one...c'mon! When has Halloween ever fallen on the 13th? Let alone on Friday the 13th. Halloween is celebrated, by those who do, on the 31st of October. Yes there is a 1 and a 3 in the date but the numbers are transposed.

And, Halloween is not even on a Friday this year--it falls on a Saturday. Here, I've even provided a calendar, below, so you won't even need to get up and check your own calendar!

Obviously this was started as a joke but a good number of people on Facebook fell for it and were already planning the parties. Sigh. When did we become so gullible that we'd fall for any little thing as long as it's in a cute little box and shared on Facebook? If anyone believes this meme and actually does go out trick or treating you're already a dumbass. No costume needed

October
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Phases of the moon: 4: 12: 20: 27:
Holidays and Observances: 12: Columbus Day (Most regions), 31: Halloween

Copyright 2015 Julie P. Clark

Channeling logic...

"Logic will get you from A to B but imagination will get you everywhere."

And yet another quote often attributed to Albert Einstein. Sometimes the quote starts "Logic will get you from A to Z." But there is no evidence that he ever actually said it in any of his works. Yes, this quote is attributed all over the internet to Einstein but no one cites a source. I guess a lot of folks imagined that he said it. 

When no sources are cited, that should be a clue. So, ever the curious one, I got out The Ultimate Quotable Einstein to find this quote. Hm...it is not listed in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein as a true Einstein quote. So I went to the online book and searched, thinking that maybe I missed the quote in the book. Nope. Not in The Quotable Einstein online, either. The author, Alice Calaprice, put this quote under probably not said by Einstein and she should know, as her bio states: "Alice Calaprice is a renowned expert on Albert Einstein and was a longtime senior editor at Princeton University Press. She has worked with the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein since the founding of the project, has copyedited and overseen the production of all the volumes, and administered the accompanying translation series with a grant from the National Science Foundation. She is the author of several popular books on Einstein and was a recipient of the Literary Market Place's award for individual achievement in scholarly editing."

On this page someone posts several of Einstein's quotes and gives sources. However, the "source" for this quote merely says "attributed." More like misattributed...

Another clue is that this quote can only be traced back about 10 years but to no definitive Einstein source. 

It is reported that Einstein did say something even better: "I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." Source: The Saturday Evening Post, 1929 (see, I even found it and linked to it for you!)

Now, using logic (!), if Einstein did say this quote then why is there never a source cited? But if you'd rather imagine that he said it...

So logic may get you from A to B but facts will take everywhere...

Blog posts © copyrighted 2015 Julie Patrick Clark

Anyway...

What if you had written the words quoted here and then people began giving credit to someone else? What if you had written something that you were very proud of and someone else got the credit? It wouldn't feel very good, would it?

Mother Teresa, known and beloved the world over, has done many wonderful works. And said many wonderful things. But she did not write the words quoted here.

That honor goes to Kent M. Keith, who, as a 19-year-old Harvard student, who put together a leadership booklet for high school leaders. Who knows why it is attributed to Mother Teresa--maybe people would not pay it much attention if they knew it came from someone as-yet-unknown, Kent Keith? I mean, who can trust a person with two first names, right? And a 19-year-old kid, at that!

It is good advice to live by, no doubt about it. But let's give the credit where it is due.

There are reports that Mother Teresa these commandments on her bedroom wall and they were discovered after she died. According to the Kent M. Keith, the author of these commandments, she actually posted them on the wall in in her Calcutta children's home. So while Mother Teresa approved of and thought the commandments important, she did not author them.

While Kent M. Keith is probably a bit miffed at the credit going to Mother Teresa, he probably gives them...anyway.

You can read (and learn) more about how these quotes came to be written, and learn more about Kent Keith here: The origin of The Paradoxical Commandments

And the website devoted to all things Mother Teresa also debunks this meme (and other sayings falsely attributed to Mother Teresa: Quotes falsely attributed to Mother Teresa

And more from the Quote Investigator: Do Good Anyway


Blog posts © copyrighted 2015 Julie Patrick Clark

Five lessons in life from...someone

My first post on Dr Seuss Did Seuss Say It?  debunked the mind over matter meme. Now we have this one, also making the rounds on Facebook.

Lovely thoughts. Good lessons/reminders. But...did Seuss say it?

Having read Dr Seuss books to my son until I was Blue Fish in the face, I did not remember most of these quotes being in Dr Seuss's books. So...with a little curiosity and a little sleuthing I am here to report my findings.

Number 1 in this meme is accurate. It can be found in Happy Birthday to You!

Number 2 is not by the good Dr Seuss. The sentiment is in line with his works but it does not appear in any of his works, according to the good folks at http://www.seussville.com/

Number 3 is correct, it appears in Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Number 4--debunked in my first blog piece Did Seuss say it?

Number 5 Nope. Seuss never said it. Doesn't even sound like something he'd say, actually.

So if one is all for lists of life lessons, here's mine:

1: Ask questions
2: Verify
3: Be curious
4: Search for truth
5: Don't be a dumbass
6: Teach your children well

Dr Seuss is highly quotable but, instead of sharing something in a cute little box, why not  pick up one of his books and share a quote directly from his work?

I will be sharing this post again around March 2 because of the celebrations taking place in schools in honor of Seuss's birthday. It is good to honor someone, at any time of year, but spreading misinformation is actually a dishonor. Many is the time I've seen posters in schools with quotes by someone but they were not by Dr Seuss. Would you like it if someone threw a party in your honor and then quoted other people; ignoring what you did say?

Why not have children go through his books and find and share a quote that is meaningful to them, instead of teaching them something Seuss never wrote?

Another page devoted to debunking Seuss quotes: Oh, the quotes you'll forge!


Blog posts © copyrighted 2015 Julie Patrick Clark

Beware the butt biting spider!!!

OMG!!!! The butt biting spider (arachnius gluteus) (clue) is back!! Never pee in the dark again! Lift the loo lid for a look!

According to Facebook this butt biting spider is back, and attacking backsides. And people are dying, for crap's sake! The highly toxic poison kills you...but it takes three or four days before it kills yo' ass (clue).

Well...no. The fake news reports are so laughable it ain't funny. The hoax has been going around since 1999 according to snopes and there are changes with each iteration. Reading the "news" piece you see that the airport in Chicago is "Blare" (clue) airport and...there is no such airport. There is no "Journal of the United Medical Association" (clue).

Sigh. Some easy ways to tell if something is fact or fiction is pretty easy--Google something in the piece you want to share...in this case how about Googling butt spider...see, I made it even easier with a link. If you see this piece of crap on Facebook, click the article or photo and read some of the comments and you will generally see that people who think have pointed out that the piece is a hoax.

It doesn't add to one's credibility rating to post these warnings as truth...it can take less than a minute in most cases to check. Like the boy who cried wolf too many times, people will stop listening to you.

But! Beware the butt biting boa...


Blog posts © copyrighted 2015 Julie Patrick Clark

Another meme mangled

This is another meme being passed mindlessly on without (hardly) anyone stopping to consider if it is true or not. Since I've chosen to feature this meme today you probably know where this is going...

When I first saw this on Facebook I didn't think "How cool is that?!" I thought "what moron came up with that?"

If this is a quote that means something to you then you may have an acquaintance with a book of antiquity called The Holy Bible. You know, that dusty book at great-grandma's house used to record family births and deaths?

Now, it set off my crap detector right away but to be sure I did some research. I got out a copy of the bible and turned to the index--you know, that list of names and words and stuff contained in a book? And there are variations of "do not be afraid" a handful of times--less than ten. Unless math has really changed since I was in school, ten or so is nowhere near 365.

Other skeptics on the Internet (some people out there do think!) have tried different variations and still only came up with around 100 or so, and that was stretching what this meme says. This skeptic breaks it down nicely David Lang And another skeptic MillyJonesBlog had a good idea--go through the bible and make a list of those 365 quotes. What a cool idea! You could then post a different verse each day. But that would require a bible, thought, time, and research...easier to pass around a quote of dubious value, eh?

And it causes me to wonder why once isn't enough? Do not be afraid-- why do we need a daily reminder? Are our memories that short? Our faith too shallow? Out of our ADD meds?

Okay. Another meme mangled. Plenty of people fell for it and passed it around. But it is the not thinking before passing it around, the acceptance that it is true without doing some research that I find troubling. There are full text bibles online to search. There's an index in your personal bible (or in great-grandma's) to peruse. You would know if it was fact or fiction before being fooled, and fooling others who may think you know what you're passing along.

(There are websites that claim that "fear not" is in the King James Bible 365 times. Searching the King James Bible online I came up with 62.)

(The word "fear" may be in the bible 300 or so times. The meme above specifies "Do not be afraid." If we count the word fear, in any context, then I bet "do" and "not" and "be" are in the bible more than the word fear.)

And yes, it is a good thought, to remind ourselves to not be afraid...unless you're broken down at night in the bad part of town. Or staring straight down the barrel of a .44. The bible was talking about not being afraid spiritually, in the sense of not losing your faith.

And note that the meme states: "The phrase 'do not be afraid' is written in the bible 365 times." One could stretch and twist and use variations and maybe come up with 300 or so uses of fear. But the phrase "do not be afraid" does not occur 365 times in any bible translation.

I think it is past time for intellectual curiosity to come back into vogue.

Blog posts © copyrighted 2015 Julie Patrick Clark

Two moons tonight?

So here we go again...the two moons hoax. Today, as I type this, is August 27, 2015. It gives me gales of giggles to think how many gullible gazers will be out there tonight looking for the second moon.

But there will not be two moons tonight. Or ever. According to EarthSky this hoax has been hanging around for 12 years. Sorta like the Rapture-that-never-came, eh?

One of the "moons" is supposed to be Mars. When did Mars morph into a moon? There's your first clue right there. Mars as large as the moon! I don't believe that is even scientifically possible. There's a second clue that this ain't right. The fact that Mars isn't even visible in August at the same time as the full moon should be a clue...if people would think for a few minutes. Or check a reliable source such as The Sky Live. Passing around such things does not do wonders for one's intelligence...

If anyone sees two moons tonight, you might wanta see a doctor about that...

Blog posts © copyrighted 2015 Julie Patrick Clark