Natural always being better is a fallacy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by Amanda Ruggeri at BBC on February 12, 2025 titled Natural doesn’t always mean better: How to spot if someone is trying to convince you with an ‘appeal to nature’. It also was discussed by Steven Novella at Science-Based Medicine on that day in another article titled BBC Takes On Appeal to Nature Fallacy. And there is a Wikipedia page on Appeal to nature.

 

Natural may be terrible. For example, poisonous arsenic can be in well water. There is a web page at the Minnesota Department of Health titled Private Well Protection Arsenic Study with the following information:

 

“Approximately 10 percent of new wells in Minnesota contain arsenic above the drinking water standard. Drinking water with low levels of arsenic over a long time increases the risk of diabetes and increased risk of cancers of the bladder, lungs, liver, and other organs. It can also contribute to cardiovascular and respiratory disease, reduced intelligence in children, and skin problems such as lesions, discolorations, and the development of corns. Health impacts of arsenic may not occur right away and can develop after many years, especially if you are in contact with arsenic at a low level over a long time.

 

Arsenic can be found in groundwater throughout Minnesota, but is more likely in some areas than others, due to the way glaciers moved across Minnesota. Because it has no taste and no odor, testing is the only way to know whether or not a well has arsenic in it. All new wells must be tested for arsenic before being placed in service.”

   

Arsenic can also show up in foods grown in water like rice. In November 2014 there was a Consumer Reports article titled How much arsenic is in your rice? and a long report titled Analysis of Arsenic in Rice and Other Grains. In July 2023 there is an article by Lihchyun Joseph Su, Tung-Chin Chiang, and Sarah N O’Connor at Frontiers in Nutrition titled Arsenic in brown rice: do the benefits outweigh the risks?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about poisonous plants, for which Wikipedia has a web page. And the Wikipedia page about Cassava discusses how there is cyanide in bitter cassava (manihot esculenta).

 

What about fish? There is a Wikipedia page about poisonous fish. The Wikipedia page on the Fugu (pufferfish) says it can be deadly if not properly prepared, as shown in a YouTube video from The Simpsons.

 

The adapted water warning sign and Poison Garden gates are from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

What percent of adults dread public speaking?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a recent magazine article by Robin M. Kowalski et al. in The Journal of Social Psychology for 2025 (Volume 165, Issue 1 pages 135 to 153) titled Psychological dread and extreme persistent fear. You can find the abstract here or here. It is interesting because, as shown above, it looked at two higher levels of fear, Dread and Extremely Afraid, than usually are in surveys like the Chapman Survey of American Fears (Very Afraid, Afraid, Slightly Afraid, Not Afraid).

 

They did two different studies on dread with nonrandom sampling. The first used an online sample of 211 that was very skewed (82.9% female and 96.6% white). It was a “snowball sample,” with invitations to participate posted at Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Canvas, and GroupMe with respondents encouraged to share the invitation. The second used another less skewed online sample of 260 through Prolific (another snowball sample) that is 53.5% female and 81.5% white. For the first sample, the Margin of Error is plus or minus 6.7%, and for the second it is plus or minus 6.1%. The second study also covered extremely feared events. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results for Dread from the first study (Table 1) are shown above via a bar chart. The top five dreads were Academic: 16.6%, Work: 12.7%, Conflict/Confrontation: 10.7%, Significant Life Change: 10.2%, and Health: 7.3%. Public speaking was dreaded by only 2%.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results for Dread from the second study (Table 4) are shown above via a second bar chart. The top five dreads were Health: 16.1%, Work: 12.4%, Family: 11.7%, Legal/Finance: 8.9%, and a tie for Events and Public Speaking: 7.3%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results for Extremely Feared from the second study (Table 4) are shown above via a third bar chart. The top five were Other: 26.0.%, Death: 17.9%, Health: 11.7%, Relationships: 7.3%, and a four-way tie at 6.5% for Conflict, Legal/Finances, Socializing and Travel. Then came Family: 4.1% and Public Speaking: 3.3%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do these results compare with those for Very Afraid of Public speaking in the Chapman Survey of American Fears? Those results are shown above in a fourth bar chart. The mean for Very Afraid is 11.0%, which larger than those found for Dread or Extremely Feared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above in a fifth bar chart, the most common fear in the Chapman Survey (with a mean of 38%) is Corrupt Government Officials. That mean is about 3.4 times that for Public Speaking.  

 

Fifty questions for a first date which also can be used in Table Topics at a Toastmasters club meeting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Back on February 12, 2018 I had blogged about Falling in love and Table Topics questions. A half-dozen articles in the last six months describe sets of fifty or more first-date questions which also can be used for the impromptu Table Topics section at a Toastmasters club meeting.

 

One article by Sanjana Gupta at VeryWellMind on September 18, 2024 is titled 50 First Date Questions to Make a Great Impression. Hers are divided into three categories:

 

Casual and Light-Hearted Questions [20]

Deep and Meaningful Questions [20]

Questions for Navigating Awkward Silences [10]

 

A second article by Chanel Campbell at The Glowing Muse on October 28, 2024 is titled 50 Good Questions to Ask on a First Date. Hers are divided into five categories:

 

Ice-Breaker First Date Questions [10]

Funny First Date Questions [10]

Flirty First Date Questions [10]

Deep and Meaningful Questions [10]

Light-hearted First Date Questions [10]

 

A third article by Emily Weaver at PopSugar on January 29, 2025 is titled 70+ First-Date Questions to Keep the Conversation Moving. Her six categories with 76 are:

 

Funny First-Date Questions [11]

Important First-Date Questions [12]

Ice-Breaker First-Date Questions [15]

Flirty First-Date Questions [12]

Serious First-Date Questions [14]

Would-You-Rather First-Date Questions [12]

 

A fourth article at Lifebulb on February 4, 2025 that has 58 questions is titled First Date Questions to Get to Know Someone Deeper. There are four categories:

 

Ice Breaker Questions [10]

Questions to Get to Know Someone [10]

Deep Conversation Starters [20]

Compatibility Questions [18]

 

A fifth article by Jenna Ryu at SELF on February 12, 2025 is titled 50 Non-Awkward Questions for a First Date That’ll Actually Spark a Connection. Her three categories are

 

If you want to start off light and casual [14]

If you’re looking to learn more about them – without overstepping [20]

If you’re ready to suss out your compatibility [16]

 

A sixth article by Isabelle Eyman at Camille Styles on February 14, 2025 is titled 50 Thoughtful First Date Questions That Skip the Small Talk. Her five categories are:

 

Getting to Know Each Other [10]

Personal Interests and Hobbies [10]

Life Values and Beliefs [10]

Fun and Lighthearted Questions to Ask on a First Date [10]

Future Goals and Ambitions [10]

 

Her ten about getting to know each other are:

 

 1] What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

 2] How would you describe your perfect day?

 3] What’s something you’re passionate about?

 4] What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t yet?

 5] Do you have a favorite childhood memory that still makes you smile?

 6] What’s your favorite way to spend a weekend?

 7] If you could lve anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be?

 8] What’s the most unusual job you’ve ever had?

 9] Who or what inspires you most?

10] What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

 

I have a good reply to the eighth question. When I was serving as a medic I once had to take footprints of all our aircrew. (Footprints are one way to identify the dead after a crash and fire). I mentioned that on November 10, 2024 when I blogged about Some memories of the Air Force Reserve – for Veterans Day. The Air Force manual had vague and useless advice about inking the glass plate used for prints. But the Treasury Department had a manual on Palm Prints with great specific advice: just put a sheet of white paper beneath the glass, and then ink until you can barely see the paper. Problem solved.

 

The silhouette came from Openclipart.

 

The Scout Mindset is an interesting book by Julia Galef which discusses why some people see things clearly and others do not

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently I have been reading an interesting book from 2021 by Julia Galef titled The Scout Mindset: Why some people see things clearly and others don’t. There is a Google Books preview of it and a Wikipedia page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A table (shown above) from page 14 describes how there is a large difference between a soldier mindset and a scout mindset.

 

Chapter 4 in the book is titled Signs of a Scout. It has the following headings:

 

Feeling Objective Doesn’t Make You a Scout

 

Being Smart and Knowledgeable Doesn’t Make You a Scout

 

Feeling Objective Doesn’t Make You a Scout

 

Actually Practicing Scout Mindset Makes You a Scout:

  Do you tell other people when you realize they were right?

  How do you react to personal criticism?

  Do you ever prove yourself wrong?

  Do you take precautions to avoid fooling yourself?

  Do you have any good critics?

 

In 2016 Julia gave two twelve-minute TEDx talks about this subject. One in February is titled Why you think you’re right - even if you’re wrong. The other in April is titled Why “scout mindset” is crucial to good judgment. There also is an hour and a half seminar at the Long Now Foundation on October 18, 2019 titled Soldiers and Scouts: Why our minds weren’t built for truth.

 

There is an article by Benjamin J. Lovett in Psychological Injury and Law magazine for 2022, Volume 15, pages 287 to 294 titled Objectivity or Advocacy? The ethics of the scout mindset in psychoeducational assessment.

 

The image of a woman with binoculars is from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Making our talk pop with effective use of a prop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a three-minute YouTube video by Michael Davis at Speaking CPR on May 3, 2024 titled One key to make your talk pop with effective use of props. He advises that we should get our audience to pay attention by interacting with a prop. Look at it and pick it up.

 

The image was modified from kid and grandpa and microphone at Openclipart.

 

Another 2,401 prompts for writing and storytelling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A writing prompt (or story prompt) is a brief topical suggestion to help us get started. There is a 46-page pdf e-book by Stevan Krajnjan titled 1000 Quick Writing Ideas.

 

And there is a free 56-page e-book by Chris Davenport from 2023 titled Story Prompts for Nonprofits that is a nonprofit storytelling conference publication subtitled 900+ storytelling prompts for attracting new donors, generating media buzz, connecting with your community, and deepening relationships with donors!

 

There is also a 181-page pdf e-book from LearningExpress in 2003 titled 501 Writing Prompts.

 

On November 12, 2022 I blogged about how Writing Prompts also can be used for Table Topics questions at Toastmasters club meetings. And on May 15, 2024 I blogged about My workshop presentation at the 2024 District 15 Toastmasters Conference on May 18, 2024 about Creating or Finding Great Table Topics Questions.

THE STORY BEAST is a free quarterly magazine about storytelling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE STORY BEAST is a free quarterly magazine about storytelling, which is subtitled For Story Artists, Listeners, and Dreamers. It has a web site with an archive of pdfs from three volumes with fourteen themed issues so far:

 

VOLUME 1 - 2022

Issue 1, July 2022 – Breaking Free

Issue 2, August 2022 – Dog Days of Summer

Issue 3, September 2022 – Monsters in Your Backyard

Issue 4, October 2022 – Whispering Spirits

Issue 5, November 2022 – Eternally Grateful

Issue 6, December 2022 – Guiding Lights

 

VOLUME 2 - 2023

Issue 1, Spring – Winged Words

Issue 2, Summer – Bright Babblings

Issue 3, Fall – Under the Tome and Tombs

Issue 4, Winter – Peaceful Ponderings

 

VOLUME 3 - 2024

Issue 1, Spring – Stepping Stones

Issue 2, Summer – Chaotic Creations

Issue 3, Fall – Flavored Fright

Issue 4, Winter – Whirling Winds

 

A section titled TAMING the BEAST is about The Art of Crafting Stories. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Summer 2024 there is an article by Joan Leotta titled Folded Tales on pages 15 to 18 which describes how Kuniko Yamamoto and Megan Hicks use origami as props.

 

The mammoth and origami crane cartoons are from Openclipart.