When I want to know something, I look it up. I find it out.
I wonder how many people just wonder aimlessly. I used to do a lot of this….. endless wondering…. before the advent of the internet.
Twenty-five years ago, there might be a little “lot” of us sitting around and talking. And I, or someone, would pose a question. “I wonder who invented the shoelace?” From that point on, it was mostly raucous speculation.
“Jack Lacey. No…. Lacey Eyeletter. No. Seriously. It was a guy in a shoe factory that figured there had to be a better way than shoe buttons….” and this would go on and on. Unless it was critically important. Then we would hit a library.
Now, we just Google It….. dag nab it.
To the hypothetical question: The short answer is this. No-one knows exactly when the shoe lace was invented. Shoes have been around for a long, long, time. Like… thousands of years. And way back then… shoes started out as basic string or leather thongs … which people sort of used to “bind up” their foot coverings. Wrap and tie, I guess. So those strings have gradually evolved into the shoelaces that we know today.
It is a big urban myth that a guy named Harvey Kennedy invented them. He even has a “date.” Specifically… on the 27th of March in 1790. Now, this guy may have come up with a particular type of shoelace, but he did not “invent shoelaces”.
And there you have it. I looked it up.
But do people still just sit around and wonder?
I mean, it is so easy to ferret out information on just about anything.
Like. How many teeth do geese have? Well. It LOOKS like they do. But in fact.. there isn’t a single tooth in their feathered little heads.
Unlike lizards and mammals, somewhere during their evolution, birds lost the ability to produce enamel. Of course, enamel is what makes our chompers so hard. But they DO have kind of hard gummy points… which are called Tomia.
And there you have it again.
I like to discover new things. I also like to discern what is considered “fact” from “conjecture.”
A lot of times, I think we humans have a tendency of repeating what we hear… sometimes without knowing if it true or not. Some call it “gossip” in certain situations. In other scenarios, it is more like slander. And still in other cases… it is all out lying. Or… it could be…. just an honest mistake.
Of course, the most prevalent thing we hear about this right now… swims around the political ponds. Fact-Checking.
Well. I think Fact-Checking is a good thing.
If someone puts a bottle in front of me, with a skull and crossbones on the front… and tells me to drink up… it is GOOD. Pay no attention to that label. This tastes like chicken.
Well. This is the deal. I am going to tread lightly there, I’ll tell you. In fact, I am going to ascertain the actual contents of that bottle before I take, even a sip.
And perhaps we should use the same discretion when we hear a “this” or “that.” We might want to find out what it is we are drinking… before we swallow it whole.
I think we would be a lot better off…. the all of us… if we would just read the fine print on the labels.
And you can Google that!
“The truth.” Dumbledore sighed. “It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.” — J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” ― Mark Twain
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” ― Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays 2, 1926-29