by david allan van nostrand | May 1, 2023 | Fads, Misinformation traps, The world around us
Most dictionaries agree that to bamboozle someone is to deceive, defraud and hoodwink them. No one knows for sure where the word comes from. Some say it began with a Scottish word meaning to confound. Others say it’s from the French word for baboon, which means to...
by david allan van nostrand | Aug 1, 2022 | Fads, Human Behavior, The Wayback Machine
As P.G. Wodehouse once wrote, “What’s wrong with flies being in ointment, what harm do they do and who wants ointment anyway?” Perhaps he was unfamiliar with the following verse from the Book of Ecclesiastes: “Dead flies cause the apothecary’s ointment to send...
by david allan van nostrand | Mar 28, 2022 | Fads, Human Behavior, Items in the News
Shouyang, a Chinese princess, fell asleep under a plum tree. A flower petal landed on her forehead and left a purple imprint that was thought to enhance her pale-skinned beauty. Ladies of the court were so impressed that they started decorating their own foreheads to...
by david allan van nostrand | Mar 21, 2022 | Fads, Human Behavior, Items in the News
In ancient Greece, early influencers were professionals hired to manipulate audiences’ emotions by applauding performers and performances. In French theaters and opera houses, the pros were called claquers. By the 1830s, theater impresarios would order groups of...
by david allan van nostrand | Feb 21, 2022 | Fads, Items in the News
While browsing during a commercial, I came across a professional pickleball tournament. As you may know, pickleball is a game that combines elements of tennis, ping-pong and badminton. The game is played by two or four players on a small court batting a ball back and...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 30, 2020 | Conformity, Fads, Misinformation traps
When the clerk at my grocery store asked if I found everything I was looking for, I said yes and she said “Awesome!” In the time it took her to scan my dozen items and take my payment, she said awesome seven more times. I don’t know about you, but I believe awesome...
