Scientific falsehoods heard from adults during my childhood

[sojourner]

GMC (uh-oh, THAT coincidence was not what I intended!), sounds like a major lack of tolerance on both sides there. Someone needs to quit arguing, and realize that stopping arguing doesn't mean they've lost.

Sounds like someone else is making a diagnosis based on too little information.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I never assigned blame. That could go anywhere, and not being there, I DON'T know who's to blame--one, the other, or both. That's anybody's guess.

 

[sojourner]

I never assigned blame..

I beg to differ:

sounds like a major lack of tolerance on both sides

You assigned blame on both sides. But then again, I never mentioned blaming anyone. I merely stated that you have very little information to base your comments on.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

GMC (uh-oh, THAT coincidence was not what I intended!), sounds like a major lack of tolerance on both sides there. Someone needs to quit arguing, and realize that stopping arguing doesn't mean they've lost.

Sounds like someone else is making a diagnosis based on too little information.

The relatives in question have mostly gone to meet their maker in any case. Anyway, it isn't a case of arguing. How can you argue with people who brook no deviation from their fixed worldview, and can't accept that anyone should have a different perspective on things?

 

[Hatchet2k4]

Heh with the way this discussion is going and based on the original topic I'm surprised evolution hasn't been brought up yet. That's been sure to cause some lively school debates..

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

My dad taught me that the moon was Venus whenever he saw it during the day, because he thought the moon was only visible at night, and since Venus is between Earth and the sun you can see it during the day.

That reminds me of a conversation I overheard during a partial solar eclipse years ago. Someone in an apartment below mine was saying that the sun was getting darker because a planet was passing in front of it. He said he wasn't sure if it was Venus or Mars or whatever but it was probably one of those.

 

[Myasishchev]

God, can you imagine how monstrously huge Venus would have to be to eclipse the sun if it were in the same orbit?

 

[ITL]

^ That gets me thinking...I wonder if there's anyone who thinks that the Sun and Moon appear to be the same size because they are the same size?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Probably - certainly people exist who believe in a flat Earth. Even the ancient Greeks had worked that one out.

 

[Christopher]

The idea that the Moon only comes out at night seems to be strangely pervasive in society -- strange because you can actually look up and see the Moon in the daytime sky for two weeks out of every four. But I guess a lot of people these days just never bother to look at the sky. I remember once when I was on a bus going in to the university in the morning, and there was a really gorgeous cloudscape in the sky that I was admiring the whole trip... and then I realized that not one of the other two dozen or so people on the bus was even aware of the sky at all. I guess a lot of people just never bother to look up.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

At least we should be grateful that we don't have to put up with what Galileo had to put up with.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

The idea that the Moon only comes out at night seems to be strangely pervasive in society -- strange because you can actually look up and see the Moon in the daytime sky for two weeks out of every four. But I guess a lot of people these days just never bother to look at the sky. I remember once when I was on a bus going in to the university in the morning, and there was a really gorgeous cloudscape in the sky that I was admiring the whole trip... and then I realized that not one of the other two dozen or so people on the bus was even aware of the sky at all. I guess a lot of people just never bother to look up.

I've had similar experiences. It does amaze me how few people take time to appreciate their surroundings. The particular variety of inattention that comes to mind for me is observing animals. I'll spend ages simply watching birds or rodents or whathaveyou, only to realize no-one else is paying them the slightest bit of attention, no matter how unusual they are. It's...odd. Perhaps the wildlife I see is all imaginary?

 

[John Picard]

The idea that the Moon only comes out at night seems to be strangely pervasive in society -- strange because you can actually look up and see the Moon in the daytime sky for two weeks out of every four. But I guess a lot of people these days just never bother to look at the sky. I remember once when I was on a bus going in to the university in the morning, and there was a really gorgeous cloudscape in the sky that I was admiring the whole trip... and then I realized that not one of the other two dozen or so people on the bus was even aware of the sky at all. I guess a lot of people just never bother to look up.

I've had similar experiences. It does amaze me how few people take time to appreciate their surroundings. The particular variety of inattention that comes to mind for me is observing animals. I'll spend ages simply watching birds or rodents or whathaveyou, only to realize no-one else is paying them the slightest bit of attention, no matter how unusual they are. It's...odd. Perhaps the wildlife I see is all imaginary?

Yep. Too tied to their damned electronic leashes "LOLing" with their "BFFs" rather than unplugging/ignoring and looking at the beauty of nature.

 

[Skellington]

"Seasons are caused by the fact that the earth's orbit is elliptical. When the earth is closer to the sun we have summer, and when it is farther away we have winter."
That one was in one of my elementary school textbooks. I kid you not.

It's a combo of the distance and the axial tilt. See the wikipedia entry on seasons and the wikiAnswers entry on the distance between the Earth and the Sun for reference.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

The idea that the Moon only comes out at night .

The moon came out?

It's GAY????

 

[Skellington]

Heck if i remember my Mr. Wizard right. The earth is closer to the sun in winter.

It's closer during Northern Hemisphere winter, apparently.

 

[Christopher]

Yep. Too tied to their damned electronic leashes "LOLing" with their "BFFs" rather than unplugging/ignoring and looking at the beauty of nature.

That's not it. The incident I'm talking about happened a fair number of years ago, before ubiquitous cell-phoning and text-messaging had caught on. The people on the bus were just listening to their headphones or reading their papers or just sitting there in their own little worlds. People were isolated from noticing the beauty of nature long before the age of the Blackberry.

The moon came out?

It's GAY????

You're surprised? She's been cohabiting with Gaia for four and a half billion years.

 

[Myasishchev]

^How often do you look at the sky? I mean, I look from time to time, but odds are you're not going to catch me, because 1)the sky is pretty generally the same; 2)like a painting, I can pretty much capture it in a few seconds, so I don't have to stare at it and possibly get hit by a bus; 3)there are a large number of things on ground level which I find more interesting than a pretty but sterile sky--the aforementioned buses, neat cars, business establishments and cool buildings, women...

Now, airplanes, I always make sure to look at any passing airplanes.

 

[Christopher]

I've looked at the sky often enough to know that the Moon is often visible during the day. I mean, you'd almost have to avoid ever looking up at the daytime sky in order to be unaware of something so screamingly self-evident.

And if you actually think the sky is generally the same, you clearly don't look at it often enough.

 

[John Picard]

Since I drive on the Interstate a lot for my normal routes, I have the convenience to look at the sky often and to appreciate it. Sometimes, even when I take a break from walking about, I always look upward and around.