Refutations of Received Wisdom

Thesis:  “You can’t put a quart in a pint pot.”  (old folk-adage)

Antithesis:  According to Banach-Tarski, you can.

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banach%E2%80%93Tarski_paradox

Fixed That 4 U.

Thesis:  “Il faut qu’une porte soit ouverte ou fermée” (Musset).
["A door must be either open or closed."]

Antithesis:  On the contrary:  it might be ajar (a word we first learned in childhood, in the riddle:   Q: When is a door  not a door?”  A: When it’s ‘a-jar’.)  Or more generally, it might be clopen.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clopen_set

Fixed That 4 U.

Featherless biped

Fixed That 4 U.

Problem:  The central problem of computing science is whether P = NP.   How can we go about settling the question?

Answer:  Simple.   We need only demonstrate that N = 1.

Fixed That 4 U.

Age-old questions, answered at last

Q:  Is it the heat?

A:  No!  It’s the humidity !!

Q: When is a door … not … a door ???

A: When it’s a-roving / (athwart) (agley) …

Q: Où sont les neiges  d’antan ??

A:  Dans les égouts  d’aujourd’hui.

Fixed That For You

This wonderful new Internet catchphrase  allows us at last  to rectify the most egregious of widely-quoted inanities.

"There are no second acts in American lives."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

“America has ever been, since its very origins, the land  par excellence  of second acts.”

-- FTFY

“Mission Accomplished.”

--  W.

“Mission Demolished.”

-- FTFY

“nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands”

-- e e cummings

… with the possible exception of Donald Trump

-- FTFY

Old chestnuts, roasted afresh

Q:  Do bears poop in the woods?

A:  Actually no.  It is rumored that they used to, and perhaps the occasional wayward baby bear still does;  but modern bears use chemical port-a-potties, like everyone else.

Q:  Is the Pope Catholic?

A:  Actually not.  It is a central tenet of Catholicism that, in matters of faith and dogma, Catholics must acknowledge themselves subordinate to the Pope;  and the Pope can hardly be subordinate to himself:  that would be a logical contradiction.

Never thought of that, did you?  So, while His Holiness no doubt cherishes fond memories of having once been Catholic, and retains friendly feelings towards the faith even still, he is not himself --strictly speaking -- actually Catholic.

Q:  Why is the sky blue?

A:  It isn’t.  It’s black -- go out any night and see for yourself.

As for the blueish glow that some people fancy they see at other times (except when cloudcover removes the illusion), that is simply a side-effect of light-pollution.

~  Ask Doctor Justice ! ~

~~  Science U Can Trust (TM) ~~

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