On Tue, 11 May 2010 20:43:15 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>> Yeah, this one had to do with evolution and so forth. It made multiple
>>> references to The Blind Watchmaker, but I haven't read that.
>> 
>> So then you do know what he's done. ;-)
> 
> It's been a while, yeah.
> 
>>> (The next question, of course, becomes "who invented this myth?")
>> 
>> GIYF - a hit that I got returned:
>> 
>> http://physics.about.com/od/classicalmechanics/a/gravity.htm
> 
> What the heck did you search for?! It's kind of a rather specific
> question...

I searched for "newton apple myth".  First hit took me to a page that 
linked to this.

>>> I would refute that... Perhaps I need to do a straw poll when I go
>>> down the pub tonight? (Although I can't *pronounce* most of those
>>> names, so...)
>> 
>> You might refute it, a straw poll might be a start, but a poll of 20
>> people isn't a particularly statistically valid poll.
> 
> Well it would be more valid than a straw poll of *one* wouldn't it? :-P

I don't think statistically it would be.  A sample size that's too small 
is too small.  Still, you might give it a go anyways, if anything it'll 
get you talking to people in meatspace. ;-)

> Still, I guess this is going to be one of those things where no matter
> how much evidence I produce that nobody has heard of these people,
> everybody will continue to assert that my statistics are just wrong...

That's because you don't *have* statistics.  You have a guess.  You say 
"nobody", but to prove that, you have to prove that *everybody* hasn't 
heard of them.  That's pretty easy to disprove.

>> As for pronunciation, I'm guessing Vint Cerf is the one you are having
>> trouble with - I gave a clue, when I said "Cerfing". ;-)
> 
> Quite a few of the names look hard to pronounce, but we'll see...

Such as?  In the list of names I provided, I fail to see how any except 
Cerf's name would be difficult to identify the pronunciation from - since 
they sound exactly the way they're spelled (and for that matter, Cerf is 
as well, though you have to know the C sound is soft rather than hard).

Jim

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