Lostgallifreyan wrote:
wrote in :
Where do you get all this nonsense?
Those examples, from a BBC article sometime, and also some book on space when
I was a kid. So they were wrong... I have to ask, do you second guess
absolutely everythign you hear?
Calling nonsense nonsense is not second guessing.
The examples I gave were also mentioned in
part of a school class, so even if it wrong, it ended up part of a lot of
people's thoughts, so maybe you should berate the people who started the
mess, not the ones who ended up inheriting it.
If your education stopped when you walked out of the school house door,
that is your fault, not the schools.
There are lots of old wive's tales, urban legends, and other nonsense
a lot of people believe but quoting them without bothering to check
the veracity of them is your failing and yours alone.
If, for example, you had bothered to do a little research on the history
of the ballpoint pen, you would have discovered they were invented in
1888 but manufacturing problems keep them from becoming a common writting
tool until shortly after WWII when those problems were solved.
Once the practical problems were solved, sales of ballpoint pens took
off and they rapidly replaced quill and fountain pens.
Space had nothing to do with the commercial success of the ballpoint
or the fact that the Bic disposable is the most widely sold pen in
the world.
So if there is any lesson to be learned from this, it is that a little
research before posting is a GOOD idea.
--
Jim Pennino