Verity Price won the 2021 World Championship of Public Speaking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The finale of a huge speech contest is one of the featured events at the annual convention of Toastmasters International. On August 30, 2021 there is a press release titled Cape Town resident wins Toastmasters’ 2021 World Championship of Public Speaking. The press release includes YouTube links to her winning speech and the second and third place speeches.

 

At the Toastmasters International web site you can find both the Judge’s Guide and Ballot with the criteria used for scoring, and the Speech Contest Rulebook.

 

The cartoon was adapted from this one at Wikimedia Commons.

A draining experience with our central air conditioner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had moved into our new home in late June of 2013. One of the ‘joys’ of home ownership is finding that something was not built so that it could be maintained properly.

 

Sometime in August I heard water dripping behind the wall of the master bedroom. One possible source was condensate from the part of the air conditioner located up in the attic. Access to the attic is via a hatch on the ceiling to the walk-in closet off of the master bedroom. I climbed up there and found that the secondary drain pan (shown above) was overflowing. After I bailed the water out, I could see the opening for a plastic pipe running out the back side. It exited the back wall of the house above a second story window. The builder had warned us that if we ever saw water coming out, then there was something very wrong. I stuck a four-foot wooden dowel rod into the pipe to clear it.

 

Then earlier this August the secondary drain pan overflowed again. Of course, it happened at 10:30 PM on a Saturday night. I felt water drops from the smoke detector on the ceiling of the second-floor hall. Then I stepped into a puddle on the carpet. I got a ladder, went up to the attic, and bailed the water out.

 

Later I looked up some YouTube videos about air conditioners and their condensate drain systems. The air handler box for an air conditioner contains an A-shaped coil which cools the air. If air is cooled to the dew point, then condensation occurs. The bottom of the air handler has a primary drain pan for collecting that water. A plastic primary drain pipe runs from the wall of the pan to a trap, and then downwards to eventually leave the wall near the air conditioner condenser unit on the ground outside.

 

Another overflow pipe leads out from the primary drain pan and into the secondary drain pan. It also has an emergency plastic drain pipe running from the wall of the pan out to the wall of the house, above a window. Sometimes the secondary drain pan has a float switch to turn off the air conditioner (Ours did not).

 

If debris collects in the trap on the primary drain pipe, then it can get clogged. The videos advised that you should take off the cleanout cap, and push a plastic cable tie or snake into the pipe to break up the clog. But I didn’t have a cleanout cap on my drain pipe (yet), just an elbow heading downward.

 

Then I tried removing the access panel on the air handler to get at the pipe from the inside, but still could not get to the clog. Videos also said you could connect a wet shop vacuum to the outside end of the drain pipe to suck the debris from the pipe. I tried that without effect. At this point I gave up on my do-it-yourself approach, and called Advanced Heating and Cooling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their technician redid the drain piping to add a cleanout cap (as shown above in a close-up). He blew out the line with nitrogen gas, and then flushed a couple gallons of water down it to finish cleaning away any debris. Now the primary drain is working correctly, and I know how to maintain it.

 

Apparently back in 2013 the primary drain was not completely clogged. It took eight years for that to happen. So back then I had missed going after the root cause of the problem.

 

Some people are well-rounded, so they don’t fit neatly into our stereotypes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At AP on August 11, 2021 there is a brief article by Aamer Madhani titled Biden makes selection for his top Supreme Court lawyer. It begins by noting Elizabeth Prelogar already was acting Solicitor General, and that she served from 2014 to 2019 as assistant to the Solicitor General. He also notes that she was clerk for two Supreme Court Justices – Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan. Before that she clerked for Merrick Garland (now our Attorney General) when he was a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals. The article ends by noting that:

 

“As Miss Idaho 2004, Prelogar also spent a year traveling to classrooms around Idaho to raise awareness about showing sensitivity to individuals with disabilities.”

  

A second longer article by Jim Jones in the Idaho Capital Sun on August 18, 2021 is titled Idaho-grown lawyer nominated by President Joe Biden to become next U.S. solicitor general. That article mentions that her father, lawyer Rudolph Barchas, was the first head of the Consumer Protection Division in the Office of the Idaho Attorney General. Jim mentions that some may also recall that Elizabeth was both Miss Teen Idaho in 1998, and Miss Idaho U.S.A. in 2001.  

 

There is a third long article by Jan Max Stevenson in the Idaho Statesman on August 19, 2021 titled Born in Boise, raised in Idaho, this ‘prolific’ woman is Biden’s solicitor general pick. It adds that she graduated from Harvard Law School. That article begins by describing how when Elizabeth was 12 and attending public school in Idaho City she spent her afternoons attending classes at Boise State University. She graduated from Boise High School in 1998, and then from Emory University in Atlanta. One of her high school friends, Jordan Heller, said she was adept at any number of subjects, a talented writer, and quite prolific.

 

An image of the US Supreme Court came from Ktjetil Ree at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Why is Bryan Smith whining about term limits and Idaho Senators? What is this primarily about?

 

On August 18, 2021 at his Bryan Smith for Idaho web site Mr. Smith posted an article titled Senators Risch and Crapo: The Case for Term Limits. On August 19, 2021 it appeared in the Rexburg Standard Journal. Then on August 22, 2021 it appeared both at the Gem State Patriot News and the Idaho Dispatch. Finally, on August 25, 2021 it appeared in the Post Register.

 

The newspaper articles identify him merely as the fourth vice chair for the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee. But he also is on the Board of Directors for the Idaho Freedom Foundation (as their Vice Chair).

 

The article opens by lamenting that both of Idaho’s Senators, Mike Crapo and James Risch, voted for Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. It continues with claims that both now are far less conservative than they once were. To support that, Bryan provides a table from 2012 to 2020 with scores for them on the Freedom Index compiled by New American (the John Birch Society). In 2012 both scored 95%, while in 2020 Crapo scored 30% and Risch scored 35%. I went to the web page for that index, and was surprised to find the listings there began with 2011 rather than 2012. In 2011 Crapo scored just 65%, and Risch scored 63%. Also, after Smith’s article was published the latest 2021 Freedom Index scores were posted, with both Crapo and Risch back up at 90%!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The graphs shown above reveal that neither Senator really is consistently less conservative than they once were. Mr. Smith may have omitted the 2011 numbers to mislead us.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about another rating? The American Conservative Union (who runs the CPAC meeting) has one. As shown above, their ratings for both Crapo and Risch are consistently high.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What about both ratings for our Representatives in the House? As shown above in a detailed table, Mike Simpson is less conservative than the Senators, while Russ Fulcher (and Raul Labrador before him) is quite conservative.

 

Is this article really about just one Senator? Our junior Senator, James Risch, was elected in 2008, 2014, and 2020. His term won’t be up until 2026. It’s probably not him.

 

Our senior Senator, Mike Crapo, was elected in 1998, 2004, 2010, 2016. His term will be up in 2022. On March 13, 2021 there was an article by Randy Staspilus at the Lewiston Tribune titled Commentary: Crapo can’t count on GOP loyalty in next year’s primary election. On August 13, 2021 there is an article by Wendell Husebo at Breitbart titled Three Senate Republicans who voted for $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” hoax have Republican primary opponents in 2022. Jeremy Gilbert challenged Crapo in the Republican primary, and term limits is one of Gilbert’s issues. He proposes a 12-year limit for both the Senate and House.  

 

Back in 2014 Bryan Smith challenged Mike Simpson in the Republican primary and lost. On May 28, 2014 I had blogged about that election in a post titled Being likable, Ronald Reagan and Bryan Smith.

 

A zebra crossing and a sleeping policeman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On one of my walks near home I was reflecting about differences in terminology between American and British English. What we call a crosswalk (as shown above) they instead call a zebra crossing. The Oxford English Dictionary definition is:

 

“a pedestrian crossing marked by broad light and dark stripes running parallel to the kerb from one side of a road to the other, at which (in most countries) vehicles must stop if a person wishes to cross.

 

The Wikipedia article titled Pedestrian crossing has a longer description. Other variations appear in Wikipedia. A pegasus crossing is special for horse riders, while a toucan crossing is for both pedestrians and bicyclists. The crossing shown above might also be called a pelican crossing (a pedestrian light-controlled crossing). There also is a puffin crossing (a pedestrian user-friendly intelligent crossing).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What we call a speed bump (as shown above) they instead call a sleeping policeman. The Oxford English Dictionary definition is:

 

“a ramp in the road intended to jolt a moving motor vehicle, thereby encouraging motorists to reduce their speed.”

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cartoon shown above was adapted from one at the Library of Congress, and an image of a sleeping man was adapted from one at the U. S. National Library of Medicine.

 

Can homeopathic gelsemium calm nervous tension associated with public speaking? What if we pretended it could?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boiron claims to be the world leader in homeopathic ‘medicines.’ Their BoironUSA website has an article dated December 10, 2020 that is titled Uncovering the Mystery of Yellow Jasmine. The first paragraph says:

 

“The bright blooming flowers of the yellow jasmine vine are a welcome sign of spring, but they also hide a mysterious dark side. Throughout history, this plant has held power to both heal and harm. Read on to uncover more about this intoxicating botanical and how the homeopathic preparation can help calm nervous tension associated with public speaking.”

 

The last paragraph says:

 

“You will find lots of yellow jasmine growing in southern gardens today, but it is only used medicinally in homeopathy where its toxic properties are removed. Made from the tincture of the root, homeopathic Gelsemium sempervirens is used to relieve apprehension with trembling, headaches, and dizziness.* It’s a valuable medicine for those who suffer from stage fright or fear of public speaking before a speech, event, or presentation. Five pellets can be taken twice a day before or after the event.”

 

What about that asterisk? It leads to a disclaimer at the bottom of the page:

 

“*Claims based on traditional homeopathic practice, not accepted medical evidence. Not FDA evaluated.”

 

There is a more recent article by Heidi Weinhold at the BoironUSA web site on March 3, 2021 titled Homeopathy and the New Age of Communication. Her second paragraph opens by saying:

 

“The homeopathic medicine Gelsemium sempervirens 30C helps to relieve stage fright or situational stress.”

 

But at the end there is another weasel-worded sentence:

 

“Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Boiron.”  

 

Also, there is a 37-second YouTube video from October 16, 2018 titled Gelsemium sempervirens – Homeopathic Medicine to Relieve Apprehension. The text says that:

 

“Gelsemium sempervirens helps relieve apprehension.* Learn more about its uses in this video featuring Dr. Gary Kracoff NMD, Reg Pharm.”

 

Again, the asterisk is for that first disclaimer:

 

“* Claims based on traditional homeopathic practice, not accepted medical evidence. Not FDA evaluated.”

 

In that video Dr. Kracoff wears an impressive white coat. He holds up a package showing a 30C dilution and says:

 

“It’s a useful medicine for stage fright that will not affect alertness.”

 

Are they going back to traditional practice because there isn’t any medical evidence? No, it’s even worse than that. Back on December 15, 2011 I posted on this blog with the title Can homeopathic gelsemium reduce anxiety about public speaking? It does not. In that post I discussed a magazine article from 2012 in Fundamental Clinical Pharmacology titled Effect of Gelsemium 5CH and 15CH on anticipatory anxiety: a phase III, single-centre, randomized, placebo-controlled study. It found no significant difference between a placebo and the two dilutions of gelsemium.  (Anxiety was induced using the Stroop Color and Word Test). Authors of that article were Adeline Paris, Sophie Schmidlin, Sandrine Mouret, Enkelejda Hodaj, Phillipe Marijnen, Naoual Boejedaini, Mircea Polosan, and Jean-Luc Cracowski. Both Marijnen and Boejedaini are listed as being with Laboratoires BOIRON, St Foy-lès-Lyon F-69110, France.

 

The disclaimer really should have said:

“Someone once thought this works, but accepted medical evidence says it does not. Nevertheless we will continue to pretend that it works.”

 

 To paraphrase Daffy Duck, that’s just despicable.

 

Finally, what do 5C and 15C homeopathic dilutions mean? C means the the substance was diluted by a factor of 1 to 100, and 5 means that process was repeated five times. The end result is a dilution of 1 to 10 to the tenth power, or 10,000,000,000 times. For 15 C it is to the thirtieth power or  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times.

 

And 30 C means the end result is a dilution of 1 to 10 to the sixtieth power, or an outrageously tiny factor of 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

 

The image of gelsemium is cropped from one by David Stang at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Public speaking shouldn’t be your greatest weakness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above, during a job interview you might be asked about your greatest weakness. It shouldn’t be public speaking. If so, then you should get help and learn to get better. Consider joining Toastmasters International.

 

The August 13, 2021 Savage Chickens cartoon titled Friday the 13th: Part XXIX shows Jason Vorhees in a hockey goalie’s mask. (Jason appears in the Friday the 13th film franchise of a dozen slasher films with high body counts). Another cartoon from October 21, 2016 titled The Best Interview has a surprising answer for Why do you want to work here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An article by Rolf Bax at Resume.io on August 10, 2021 is titled The worst job interview questions, revealed. He reports results from a survey of 2,000 Americans, As shown above in two bar charts, What is your greatest weakness? is the eighth most commonly asked question, and the fifth hardest question to answer. The article also discusses how to answer those worst (hardest to answer) questions.   

 

Donald J. Trump’s escalating language

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently Donald Trump has escalated his language against opponents from the Democratic Party. In a February 2021 speech at CPAC he whined about (small-r) radical democrats:

 

“For the next four years, the brave Republicans in this room will be at the heart of this effort to oppose the radical Democrats,” Trump ranted. “I’m going to continue to fight right by your side.”

 

Only July 29th the r in radical now was captitalized:

 

“Fight for America, not for special interests and Radical Democrats.”

 

An article by Chris Cillizza at CNN on June 7, 2021 titled The most dangerous word for Democrats in 2022 pointed out that at the North Carolina GOP Convention he now called them (capital S) Socialists:

 

"Joe Biden and the Socialist Democrats are the most radical left-wing administration in history"

 

On July 27th he escalated further by proclaiming:

 

“We cannot let Communist Democrats destroy our great cities.”

 

Stepping up to calling his opponents Communists isn’t surprising, considering his early mentor was Roy Cohn, who had been involved with Joseph McCarthy and his witch hunt.

 

The only combination Trump hasn’t used so far is one which showed up back at Colorado Springs in a 2007 newspaper when:

 

“…. hapless rookie congressman, Doug Lamborn, suffered yet another humiliating defeat at the hands of the Godless Communist Democrats.” 

 

Is that a RHINO or a RINO?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Wikipedia the acronym RINO redirects to a page titled Republican In Name Only. There is an article by Phil Edwards at Vox on September 29, 2015 titled A brief history of the term RINO, from Roosevelt to Boehner.

 

But at the Gem State Patriot News blog for August 4, 2021 there is an article by Dr. John Livingston, who is notorious for not proofreading his writing, titled ED (Electile Dysfunction) which says in the fourth paragraph that:  

 

“….We have three conservatives running for Governor in the Republican primary and they have been triangulated and essentially marginalized by the Romney/Kasich - RHINO establishment wing of our party.”

 

And in the sixth paragraph he says:

 

“….They are essentially placing themselves above the cause—which is what the RHINOs and their close allies the Dems want us to do and are counting on…..”

 

The word rhino instead refers to a rhinoceros, and the acronym to Really Here In Name Only.

 

Images of a rhinoceros unicornis and Mitt Romney both came from Wikimedia Commons.  

 

Learning to listen actively

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Active listening is a skill that any good speaker should learn. On the web you can find several succinct descriptions of how to listen actively.

 

The briefest one is a single-page .pdf file titled Tips for Active Listening. It has two notecard-size pages from NHS University Hospitals Dorset in an A5 format (148 x 210 mm or 5.83 x 8.27 in.).

 

A second is an excellent two-page .pdf about Active Listening from the Office of the Ombuds at Boston University. The first page is a table about the processes of paraphrasing, clarifying, reflecting, and summarizing. It has four columns describing: what it’s called, how to do it, why do it, and examples of active listening responses. The second page has another table with a cheat sheet of ‘feeling’ words.

 

A third is a web page at MindTools on Active Listening which also can be downloaded as a single-page .pdf. It is accompanied both by an infographic and a three-minute YouTube video titled Improve your listening skills with active listening.

   

If you want more detail, then at the WholeBeingInstitute you can download a five-page article from 1987 by Carl R. Rogers and Richard E. Farson titled Active Listening.

 

There also is an eight-page .pdf white paper from Mosaic titled Active Listening & Effective Questioning (or here from McGill University).

 

Toastmasters International has a project on Active Listening in its new Pathways educational program. It is an elective at level three in the Engaging Humor, Motivational Strategies, and Presentation Mastery paths. It is required at level two in the other eight paths. But the material there is not as well organized as the sources I already described.

 

The July 2020 Toastmaster magazine has an article by Peggy Beach titled Are You Listening? I blogged about how it opens in a August 5, 2020 post titled When doing research, your attention span should be more than 10 seconds.  

 

The image was adapted from a painting (Grandma Tells Tales) at Wikimedia Commons.

 

The Fourth Wall in comics

 

In theater there is a performance convention, which a Wikpedia article calls the Fourth Wall, where:

“…an invisible, imagined wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ‘wall’, the convention assumes, the actors act as if they cannot.”

 

The Fourth Wall also appears in cartoons and other types of storytelling. Sometimes it gets humorously broken, as in the August 3, 2021 Dilbert cartoon titled Dilbert Simulation, which has the following dialogue:

 

Pointy-haired Boss: I have a report that you were watching a cartoonist doing a live stream when you should have been working.

Dilbert: I’m practicing my religion. I believe a cartoonist is our creator, and reality is some kind of simulation.

Pointy-haired Boss: Does the creator love us?

Dilbert: No. He’s in it for the money.

 

It was followed by today’s cartoon, titled Cartoonist Runs The Simulation, which has this dialogue (and a last frame with an arrow flying towards the head of the Blue-shirt Guy):

 

Blue-shirt Guy: I hear you believe we live in a simulation created by a cartoonist. HaHaHaHa!!!! Cartoonists are idiots, and there’s no proof for your stupid theory.

Dilbert: There’s a good chance you’re about to die in a freak accident that is easy to draw.

Blue-shirt Guy: Absurd.

 

Another way to break the fourth wall is for the cartoonist to make himself a character in the comic, as Stephan Pastis did for the last frame in his August 1, 2021 Pearls Before Swine cartoon. Pastis also sometimes has his characters interact with other strips, as was described in a June 2, 2010 blog post at Finding Beauty in Ephemera titled Breaking the Fourth Wall of Comics.

  

There also is a literary device (with many subtypes) called the Story within a story.

 

Using just ten stones to make decisions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am reading Richard Lui’s interesting new book, Enough About Me: the unexpected power of selflessness. Chapter 14 is titled Ten Stones, and he begins with an example about deciding which of three vehicles to buy. (My image shows chickpeas rather than stones).

 

One way of doing this would be to rank each choice on a scale from 1 to 10, where ten is perfect. When we rank our choices that way there are a large number of possible combinations, including ties (and even three-way ties). We’d like to choose the optimum, ‘perfect’ vehicle. But we don’t really have enough money to buy perfection.

 

Instead, our choice is between a brand-new bottom-of-the-line subcompact (without air conditioning!), a used luxury car (2005 model, with 120,000 miles), and our aunt’s eight-year-old minivan.  Richard suggests that instead of the 1 to 10 ranking for each choice we begin with a total of ten stones, and then divide them up among those three choices. That radically reduces the number of possible combinations. He decided the used luxury car was a 5, the new bottom-of-the-line subcompact was a 3, and our aunt’s eight-year-old minivan was a 2. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above, I tried to list all the possible combinations using ten stones for 2, 3, 4, or 5 choices. There seem to be just 5 for 2 choices (with one tie), just 8 for 3 choices (with one tie), just 8 for 4 choices (with two ties), and just 5 for 5 choices (with one tie).     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What happens when we add another stone for a total of an odd 11 (to eliminate some ties)? As shown above, there now seem to be just 5 for 2 choices (no ties), just 8 for 3 choices (no ties), just 10 for 4 choices (with two ties), and just 7 for 5 choices (with one tie). We got rid of the ties for 2 or 3 choices by adding one more stone.     

 

A Google search of the phrase ‘ten stones’ led me to an article by Mark Newton on October 30, 2017 titled Facing an overwhelming decision? Get stoned.

 

Not everyone fears public speaking, and an alleged Mark Twain quote about it isn’t real

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One silly statement about public speaking is that absolutely everyone fears it. That claim might come with an alleged quote from Mark Twain. Here are four recent examples.

 

An article by Rachel Kresge at LinkedIn Pulse on October 1, 2020 and titled 3 of the biggest myths associated with public speaking (and how you can overcome them) proclaimed:

 

“Mark Twain famously said, ‘There are two types of speaker in the world: the nervous and the liars.’ Everyone gets nervous. So, let’s hard stop there. We all get nervous.”

 

A second article by Brian Krogh on February 8, 2021 titled Overcome the fear of speaking with these 3 tips says:

 

“There is a reason public speaking is at the top of nearly every poll on people’s greatest fears. The reason is, everyone gets nervous when it’s their turn to speak! This reality caused Mark Twain to quip, ‘There are two types of speakers: those who are nervous and those who are liars.’”

 

A third article by Bryan Lemos at Decker Communications on June 3, 2021 titled What to do with fear and nerves in communication states:

 

“Mark Twain has a famous quote, ‘there are two types of speakers, those who are nervous and those who are liars.’ Nerves happen…they are human.”

 

A fourth article by Rosemary Ravinal on July 26, 2021 titled How to tame your fear of public speaking dogmatically states:

 

“Let us get something straight.  Anyone who says they never feel nervous when speaking to a live audience on camera or in public, never feels anxious, sweaty, and agitated when doing an oral presentation—is lying. Then she quotes Twain:

“There are two types of speakers in the world: the nervous and the liars.”

 

When you look at surveys of fears, you instead find that a sizable minority percentage of the population instead just is Not Afraid at All. On September 19, 2019 I blogged about how Fear of public speaking doesn’t happen to everybody – or all the time. The six Chapman Surveys of American Fears give the following percentages: 2014 - 34.1%; 2015 - 36.7%; 2016 - 38.3%; 2017 - 41.9%; 2018 - 41.4%; 2019 - 35.9%; for an average of 38.1%. That’s nearly two out of five!

 

 On May 7, 2021 I blogged about how A news release from Toastmasters International begins with a quotation that really is not from Mark Twain. Earlier, on May 12, 2020, I had blogged about Did Mark Twain really say there were just nervous speakers or liars? Along with Garson O’Toole, my answer was no. Various versions of that alleged quote only appeared decades after Twain’s death and without the expected details of either where and when he said it.

 

Rachel Kresge’s article also said that:

 

“According to the National Institute of Mental Health, it is estimated that close to 73% of the world’s population has a fear of public speaking.”

 

But that percentage isn’t from NIMH – it’s crap from Statistic Brain, which I blogged about in a post on December 7, 2014 titled Statistic Brain is just a statistical medicine show.

 

The cartoon of a man speaking was adapted from this one at Wikimedia Commons.