Tolkein had a gerbil called Gollum

June 2, 2009

The New Statesman has been running a weekly competition for intelligent quips of various types for as long as I have been reading it, which is over 40 years now. Number 4077 asked readers to come up with factoids which means believable comments that become true through repetition. popular examples include the number of words that Eskimo’s have for snow and the frog boiling story. Some of these (the latter in particular) are too good not to be true but never mind! They are a subset of the general category of urban myths. There were some delightful ones in this weeks edition (which is on George Orwell by the way so well worth a quick visit to the newsagents) which I share here (and in the title of this post):

  • There is a Starbucks in the Vatican but none in Italy
  • More people were killed in making Saving Private Ryan than died in the Normandy landings
  • If a penguin stays dry for three days, it turns red
  • Muesli is more carcinogenic than Coco Pops
  • The memory of an average pocket calculator equals that of 100 million earthworms

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

About the Cynefin Company

The Cynefin Company (formerly known as Cognitive Edge) was founded in 2005 by Dave Snowden. We believe in praxis and focus on building methods, tools and capability that apply the wisdom from Complex Adaptive Systems theory and other scientific disciplines in social systems. We are the world leader in developing management approaches (in society, government and industry) that empower organisations to absorb uncertainty, detect weak signals to enable sense-making in complex systems, act on the rich data, create resilience and, ultimately, thrive in a complex world.
ABOUT USSUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER

Cognitive Edge Ltd. & Cognitive Edge Pte. trading as The Cynefin Company and The Cynefin Centre.

© COPYRIGHT 2024

< Prev

MP and swimming pools

On Friday I was watching "Have I got News from you" a satiric program on ...

More posts

Next >

Garden project - an invitation

A great opportunity for all of you out there to tell a story about ...

More posts

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram