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Six Things From History...
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...that everyone pictures incorrectly.
I actually knew three of these. How about you? -- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak.
Three for me too (Pyramids, Dressing, Big Bang). The Jesus one I should have thought of, but it never came to mind.
-People may die, but ideas are forever. Je suis Charlie. 
Astonishingly, the truth about the Big Bang was the only one I didn't have at least some knowledge of, although there were details new to me in just about all of those accounts.
Incidentally, with regard to the feathered velociraptors, a series called "Destroyermen" -- 4 books and counting -- takes place in a world where, much as suggested in the article, the Cretaceous Extinction Event never happened and feathered 'raptors have become the supreme predators, developing intelligence and language, and eating anybody they can -- which is just about everybody. But are they badass enough to deal with a World War One-vintage U.S. Navy destroyer? Edit to clarify: "Destroyermen" 'raptors are feathered, too. The author got it right. ----- Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING. 
I knew about the Pyramids, the statues (Although I imagined them a bit more dignified), the clothes, the raptors, and Jesus. The last one only comes from some news articles I saw on the topic last year, and the Raptors, while I know it, I still tend to go with the original Jurassic Park look in my head, no matter how wrong I know it is.
As for the Big Bang, that one seems obvious, but it never occurred to me. 
I was already aware of all these facts. However, when I casually picture a greek statue or veloceraptor, I automatcally default to modern museum or Jurassic Park. The convenient image is stronger than my intellectual knowledge unless I concentrate.
White Aryan Jesus isn't just some Italian fashion model, either. That guy is Cesare Borgia. o.O;
--Sam "You are the wampeter of a globe-spanning karass." Quote:when I casually picture a greek statue or veloceraptorFor a moment I read that as "a greek statue of a velociraptor", which produced a very strange mental image. -- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak. 
I'll echo Sky and Jinx, I knew, at least in concept, all of them but #3 (which makes total sense). But these memes have become rather ingrained in my head and I'll still think of the pyramids as sandy, dinosaurs as featherless, greek statues as white, etc.
It'll take a few years of seeing these things properly portrayed in the media to get my mental gears to switch. But it can happen. I used to think of dinosaurs as drab colorless things, and now I think of them as colorful featherless things. -Terry ----- "so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today" TF2: Spy  DHBirr Wrote:Astonishingly, the truth about the Big Bang was the only one I didn't have at least some knowledge of, although there were details new to me in just about all of those accounts.Likewise. (And one could argue that a rapid expansion was the equivalent of an explosion... Okay, maybe not.) -- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012 
The problem with labeling it an explosion is that 1: it hasn't stopped (in fact its accelerated) and 2: there was nothing for it to "explode" into. It's not like the Death Star blowing up into empty space. There was no "empty space" to explode into.
--------------- Epsilon
Another one here who knew all but number 3; and, as the possessor of a degree in physcics and a lifelong interest in astronomy and cosmology, I've been correcting people on the Big Bang misconcenption for years.
--The Twisted One edit: mssed that the article mentioned Hoyle. "If you wish to converse with me, define your terms." --Voltaire Quote:it hasn't stopped (in fact its accelerated)I just saw something yesterday about a counter theory that's emerged -- the expansion is not accelerating, time is slowing down instead. Apparently if you stop assuming the flow of time is a constant, you stop needing mysterious dark matter and dark energy, and some more things start making sense... If I can find the article again I'll drop a link here. -- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak.
Okay, here's one of the links I came across for this story. The other two, well, one is dead (ukpress.com) and the other is truncated to tease you into subscribing to the site it's one (New Scientist). However, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/larg ... ntist.html]this one still works.
-- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak.
Eh... I'm not an astrophysicist but I'm not very inclined to give the people in that article very much credit. For one, their work hasn't even been published yet and the article is probably greatly exagerating their claims. For another, there are several very good theories to explain dark matter/dark energy already (quantum foam, for example). For another, it reads a lot like a lot of Creationist claims that "light traveled faster earlier in the universe" and similar bullshit like that. I mean, in order for their theory to have any heft they had to create an entire new dimension of time, otherwise what the hell would "time is traveling faster/slower" even mean?
They're going to need some good evidence to convince me, is what I'm saying. ----------------- Epsilon
Fair enough. I kinda dismissed it myself when I came across it yesterday, but the discussion above reminded me of it and I figured, hey, let's throw that in.
-- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak. |
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