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Mythical Number
A mythical number is a number used and accepted as deriving from scientific investigation and/or careful selection, but whose origin is unknown and whose basis is unsubstantiated. An example is the number 48 billion, which has often been accepted as the number of dollars per year of identity theft. This number "has appeared in hundreds of news stories, including a New York Times piece"Shafer,The (Ongoing) Vitality of Mythical Numbers/ref> despite the fact that it has been shown repeatedly to be highly inaccurate. The term was coined in 1971 by Max Singer, one of the founders of the Hudson Institute. The origins of such numbers are akin to those of urban legends and may include (among others): * misinterpretation of examples * extrapolation from apparently similar fields * especially successful pranks * comical results * guess-estimates by public officials * deliberate misinformation See also * Confabulation * Factoid * For all intents and purposes * Newspeak * Noble lie * Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Number
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can be represented by symbols, called ''numerals''; for example, "5" is a numeral that represents the number five. As only a relatively small number of symbols can be memorized, basic numerals are commonly organized in a numeral system, which is an organized way to represent any number. The most common numeral system is the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, which allows for the representation of any number using a combination of ten fundamental numeric symbols, called digits. In addition to their use in counting and measuring, numerals are often used for labels (as with telephone numbers), for ordering (as with serial numbers), and for codes (as with ISBNs). In common usage, a ''numeral'' is not clearly distinguished from the ''number'' th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for scientific reasoning is tens of thousands of years old. The earliest written records in the history of science come from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE. Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek conceptions of the world deteriorated in Western Europe during the early centuries (400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle Ages, but was preserved in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age and later by the efforts of Byzantine Greek scholars who brought Greek ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Singer
Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1971–2004), a western lowland gorilla at the Johannesburg Zoo who was shot by a criminal in 1997 Brands and enterprises * Australian Max Beer * Max Hamburgers, a fast-food corporation * MAX Index, a Hungarian domestic government bond index * Max Fashion, an Indian clothing brand Computing * MAX (operating system), a Spanish-language Linux version * Max (software), a music programming language * Commodore MAX Machine * Multimedia Acceleration eXtensions, extensions for HP PA-RISC Films * ''Max'' (1994 film), a Canadian film by Charles Wilkinson * ''Max'' (2002 film), a film about Adolf Hitler * ''Max'' (2015 film), an American war drama film Games * '' Dancing Stage Max'', a 2005 game in the ''Dance Dance Revolution'' series * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hudson Institute
The Hudson Institute is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation. In January 2021, John P. Walters was appointed president and CEO of the Hudson Institute. Walters succeeded Kenneth R. Weinstein who had been CEO since June 2005 and was named president and CEO in March 2011. History Founding to 1982 Hudson Institute was founded in 1961 by Herman Kahn, Max Singer, and Oscar M. Ruebhausen. In 1960, while employed at the RAND Corporation, Kahn had given a series of lectures at Princeton University on scenarios related to nuclear war. In 1960, Princeton University Press published ''On Thermonuclear War'', a book-length expansion of Kahn's lecture notes. Major controversies ensued, and in the end, Kahn and RAND had a parting of ways. Kahn moved to Croton-on-Hudson, New York, intending to establish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family member, often with horrifying, humorous, or cautionary elements. These legends can be entertaining but often concern mysterious peril or troubling events, such as disappearances and strange objects or entities. Urban legends may confirm moral standards, reflect prejudices, or be a way to make sense of societal anxieties. Urban legends in the past were most often circulated orally, but now can also be spread by any media. This includes newspapers, mobile news apps, e-mail, and most often, social media. Some urban legends have passed through the years/decades with only minor changes, in where the time period takes place. Generic urban legends are often altered to suit regional variations, but the lesson or moral remains majorly the same. Or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prank
A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. A person who performs a practical joke is called a "practical joker" or "prankster". Other terms for practical jokes include gag, rib, jape, or shenanigan. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks or hoaxes in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being talked into handing over money or other valuables. Practical jokes are generally lighthearted and without lasting effect; they aim to make the victim feel humbled or foolish, but not victimized or humiliated. Thus most practical jokes are affectionate gestures of humour and designed to encourage laughter. However, practical jokes performed with cruelty can constitute bullying, whose intent is to harass or exclude rather than reinforce social bonds throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confabulation
In psychology, confabulation is a memory error defined as the production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world. It is generally associated with certain types of brain damage (especially aneurysm in the anterior communicating artery) or a specific subset of dementias. While still an area of ongoing research, the basal forebrain is implicated in the phenomenon of confabulation. People who confabulate present with incorrect memories ranging from subtle inaccuracies to surreal fabrications, and may include confusion or distortion in the temporal framing (timing, sequence or duration) of memories. In general, they are very confident about their recollections, even when challenged with contradictory evidence. Description Confabulation is distinguished from lying as there is no intent to deceive and the person is unaware the information is false.Moscovitch M. 1995. "Confabulation". In (Eds. Schacter D.L., Coyle J.T., Fischbach G.D., Mesulum M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Factoid
A factoid is either an invented or assumed statement presented as a fact, ''or'' a true but brief or trivial item of news or information. The term was coined in 1973 by American writer Norman Mailer to mean a piece of information that becomes accepted as a fact even though it is not actually true, or an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print.Paul Dickson (writer), Dickson, Paul (April 30, 2014)"The origins of writerly words" ''Time (magazine), Time''. Retrieved November 14, 2015. Since the term's invention in 1973, it has become used to describe a brief or trivial item of news or information. Usage The term was neologism, coined by American writer Norman Mailer in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe. Mailer described factoids as "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper", and formed the word by combining the word ''fact'' and the ending ''-oid'' to mean "similar but not the same". ''The Washington Times'' described Mailer's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
For All Intents And Purposes
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by law"), which refers to things that happen according to official law, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. History In jurisprudence, it mainly means "practiced, but not necessarily defined by law" or "practiced or is valid, but not officially established". Basically, this expression is opposed to the concept of "de jure" (which means "as defined by law") when it comes to law, management or technology (such as standards) in the case of creation, development or application of "without" or "against" instructions, but in accordance with "with practice". When legal situations are discussed, "de jure" means "expressed by law", while "de facto" means action or what is practiced. Similar expressions: "essentially", "unofficial", "in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newspeak
Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate that is the setting of the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. In the novel, the Party created Newspeak to meet the ideological requirements of Ingsoc (English Socialism) in Oceania. Newspeak is a controlled language of simplified grammar and restricted vocabulary designed to limit the individual's ability to think and articulate "subversive" concepts such as personal identity, self-expression, and free will. Such concepts are criminalized as thoughtcrime since they contradict the prevailing Ingsoc orthodoxy. In "The Principles of Newspeak", the appendix to the novel, Orwell explains that Newspeak follows most of the rules of English grammar, yet is a language characterised by a continually diminishing vocabulary; complete thoughts are reduced to simple terms of simplistic meaning. The political contractions of Newspeak—''Ingsoc'' (English Socialism), ''Minitrue'' (Ministry o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noble Lie
In politics, a noble lie is a myth or a lie typically of religious nature, knowingly propagated by an elite to maintain social harmony or advance an agenda. The noble lie is a concept originated by Plato as described in '' The Republic''. In religion, a pious fiction is a narrative that is presented as true by the author, but is considered by others to be fictional albeit produced with an altruistic motivation. The term is sometimes used pejoratively to suggest that the author of the narrative was deliberately misleading readers for selfish or deceitful reasons. The term is often used in religious contexts, sometimes referring to passages in religious texts. Plato's ''Republic'' Plato presented the noble lie (γενναῖον ψεῦδος, ''gennaion pseudos'') in the fictional tale known as the myth or parable of the metals in Book III. In it, Socrates provides the origin of the three social classes who compose the republic proposed by Plato. Socrates speaks of a socially st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Truthiness
Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition (knowledge), intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, Intelligence, intellectual examination, or facts. Truthiness can range from ignorant assertions of falsehoods to deliberate duplicity or propaganda intended to sway opinions. The concept of truthiness has emerged as a major subject of discussion surrounding Politics of the United States, U.S. politics during the Information Age, late 20th and early 21st centuries because of the perception among some observers of a rise in propaganda and a growing hostility toward factual reporting and fact-based discussion. American television comedian Stephen Colbert coined the term ''truthiness'' in this meaning as the subject of a segment called "Recurring segments on The Colbert Report#The Wørd, The Wørd" during the pilot episode of his political satire program ''The Colbert Report'' on Oc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
