4 ms·
When someone sent me the '5Fri, 5Sat, 5Sun only every 823 years' email I sent a quick refutation and explained that there are just a couple variations of the ca
by orbitingpluto 14y ago
When someone sent me the '5Fri, 5Sat, 5Sun only every 823 years' email I sent a quick refutation and explained that there are just a couple variations of the calendar. It went something like this:
The first day of the year has 7 seven choices. It's either a leap year or it isn't. Also 823 is a prime number. Can you now figure out why this isn't true? (You can also prove it by looking at the calendar when you double click on the time in Windows.)
The person did not want to be enlightened and I was deemed a buzzkill.
The lesson I learned is to be careful when educating someone when it may take away that person's 'awe and wonder'. That is why atheists should avoid trying to reason away the faith of the religious.
- zasz 14y agoIt isn't about "not wanting to be enlightened." That person wanted to share a fun fact--they were trying to be social. And you shot them down and essentially called them stupid.
- orbitingpluto 14y ago"Essentially called them stupid?" I shared some "fun-facts" back and offered them a chance to figure it out. That's social. If the email was fire-and-forget, that's not social. If we are all predisposed to take unconsidered facts as an insult to our intelligence and not as a prelude to a discussion, then that is a whole other educational issue. Also please accept my apologies if you think the word enlighten confers a condescending tone. I was going for 'greater knowledge/understanding'.
- waqf 14y agoI guess they would have preferred if you'd forwarded some fun facts which didn't contradict theirs. Something like "91 is the only prime number that isn't blue", perhaps.
- waqf 14y agoIt seems to me that in that case they did, indeed, not want to be enlightened. (Of course, not wanting is relative.)