Troubles in our toilet tank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we moved into our new home a decade ago, we had a plumber replace the cheap, low toilets that had round seats. He put in taller ADA-compliant Toto low-flow (1.28 gallons per flush) models that had elongated seats. Eventually the rubber seals in the tank flapper and fill valve will deteriorate, and the toilet will start wasting water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently I heard the fill valve on the toilet in our ground-floor half-bath running. That was odd because it had not been used in the previous hour. I shut it off and looked at the pink flapper (shown above) and its mating white plastic seat. On the seat there was a pink area where material had transferred from the surface of the flapper. When I removed the flapper, I found the rubber was slightly gummy and there was an area (arrow) matching where the material had transferred. I got and installed a Korky generic replacement flapper to eliminate the leak. A YouTube video I watched about replacing the flapper also mentioned that the seal on the fill valve also could deteriorate and result in a leak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A week or two later the fill valve started to malfunction by not reliably shutting off. I watched some more YouTube videos that described how to completely disassemble and inspect the Toto #528 fill valve, (shown above). But the valve seat (arrow) did not look or feel unusual, and I didn’t find anything else obviously wrong. I decided to spend the $10 for a replacement valve seat. When I went to a plumbing supply store (Grover’s Pay & Pack Electric and Plumbing) I found they didn’t have the replacement for the Toto valve seat – but that a whole new Korky #528 fill valve was only $11. So I got one and installed it. The overflow tubing on the new valve interfered with the brass arm from the flush handle, so I had to shorten it.  

 

Rubber also can crack, as I discussed back on April 27, 2012 in a post titled Seeing what is there that shouldn’t be.

 

 

A trip to Lake County, Oregon’s Outback

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On July 6th and 7th I finally visited Lake County, an area in south-central Oregon just north of the California border. Travel Southern Oregon has a web page titled Oregon’s Outback, where you can download a detailed map of Lake County titled Oregon’s Outback – Outdoor Recreation Map. On the 6th I drove west on US 20 past Burns, and then south on US 395.

 

One prominent feature is the alkaline Lake Abert and Abert Rim (shown above), that is about 25 miles north of Lakeview. A sign from the Oregon Travel Information Council about the Abert Rim (also shown above) describes the geology as follows:

 

“Behind you to the east is a steep cliff called Abert Rim, made of many layers of hardened lava flows. This 30-mile-long, 2,500-foot-high, steep cliff is an example of a fault scarp, produced over millennia by great blocks of rock tilting and moving along faults in this region where the earth’s crust is thinning and stretching.

 

The fault that produced Abert Rim is one of many in the Basin and Range Province – a geologic region where rising blocks of crust (horsts) form mountain ranges, and sinking blocks of crust (grabens) create broad basins. The region spans about 300,000 square miles, including almost all of Nevada and parts of Oregon, Idaho, Utah, California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

 

Geologists believe the crustal movements contributing to Abert Rim’s formation were probably accompanied by earthquakes of up to magnitude 6 to 6.5 – they also believe the fault is still active.

 

Lake Abert, in the basin below Abert Rim, covers 63 square miles – but it is only a remnant of Ice Age Lake Chewaucan, which once covered over 470 square miles. Lake Chewaucan’s shorelines can still be seen lining Abert Rim’s cliffs, far above the present shoreline.

 

Archaeological evidence shows that Native Americans have been here for about 11,000 years, with the greatest use between 2,000 and 500 years ago. Most lived in earth covered lodge (pithouse) villages along Lake Abert’s shoreline. Artifacts suggest these early people were affiliated with ancestors of the modern Klamath and Modoc Indians, who now live to the west.”

 

There is an article by Jess Thomson at Newsweek on January 30, 2023 titled Shocking images show plummeting water levels at Oregon lake.

 

I stayed overnight in Lakeview, the county with a population ~2400 and an altitude almost twice that (4,757 ft.). It has a local Burger Queen instead of a Burger King.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the 7th I drove east on Oregon 140 to Adel. On my way back I passed the little gem of a waterfall shown above. The gravel pull off I stopped at only had room for my car. That little waterfall is not on the Oregon’s Outback – Outdoor Recreation Map. It’s about 25 miles east from US 395.

 

Quotations from Vital Speeches of the Day: # 002 – Hakeem Jeffries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a speech of January 7, 2023 delivered on the floor of the U. S. House of Representatives, and titled A Year of Ambiguity: What Direction Will We Choose? the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, alphabetically stated the following:

 

“House Democrats will always put:

 

American values over autocracy

Benevolence over bigotry

The Constitution over the cult

Democracy over demagogues

Economic opportunity over extremism

Freedom over fascism

Governing over gaslighting

Hopefulness over hatred

Inclusion over isolation

Justice over judicial overreach

Knowledge over kangaroo courts

Liberty over limitation

Maturity over Mar-a-Lago

Normalcy over negativity

Opportunity over obstruction

People over politics

Quality of life issues over Q-Anon

Reason over racism

Substance over slander

Triumph over tyranny

Understanding over uglieness

Voting Rights over voter suppression

Working families over the well-connected

Xenial over xenophobia

Yes we can over you can’t do it

And zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation.”

 

His speech appeared on pages 47 and 48 in the March 2023 issue of Vital Speeches of the Day magazine.

 

The image was adapted from page 511 of The Grammar of Ornament.

 

Whiteboards or flipcharts are more powerful than PowerPoint for a boardroom presentation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At her Maniactive blog on July 18, 2023 Laura Bergells has a post titled Ditch Your Slides! Draw on the Power of Whiteboard Talks. She describes the impact of a whiteboard talk (rather than the PowerPoint you might use in a larger room) these four ways:

 

Showcase your personality

Amplify engagement

Visual storytelling

Flexibility and adaptability

 

With a small audience you can do a more spontaneous and interactive presentation by drawing on a whiteboard or blackboard. But a flipchart is arguably better than either, since you can answer questions by going back to a previously drawn page.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no magic rewind button on a blackboard or whiteboard. One you erase, it is only a memory.  

 

Back on October 21, 2019 I blogged about the Impact of audience size on presentation style. And way back on January 16, 2008 at The Extreme Presentation Method Andrew Abela blogged about Ballroom vs. Conference Room Style Presentations. A large (ballroom) versus small (conference room or boardroom) is a useful distinction for venues.

 

On July 15, 2015 I blogged about Is a small audience one where the speaker doesn’t need a microphone? In that post I mentioned that:

 

“There are two types of people – those who divide things into two categories, and those who don’t.”

 

I belong to the second type, and mentioned different audience sizes classified by powers of 2 from zero (two people conversing, perhaps in a phone booth) to twenty (a visit from the Pope with an audience of 1,048,576).  

 

My two images were modified from those of a boardroom and a historical blackboard at Wikimedia Commons.

 

You should only be slightly afraid of public speaking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the LeadingBlog on July 7, 2023 there is an article by Gabe Zichermann titled Afraid of Public Speaking? You Should Be. Six things in it exasperated me, starting with the first sentence in the title. It should obey Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, which is that:

 

“Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”

 

Let’s look at the first six paragraphs of that article, which are:

RECEIVED WISDOM is that public speaking is one of people’s greatest fears. But the Chapman University Survey of American Fears (yes, that’s a thing) - the gold standard for fear assessment - doesn’t seem to agree. In the 2020–2021 findings, public speaking is fear #54 on the list, scoring lower than another pandemic (#6), identity theft (#21), and even sharks (#51).

This seems reasonable. You should be more afraid of pollution (#9) than giving a toast at your best friend’s wedding - though the obvious connection between the two (cocaine, hairspray, tik-tok based dances) - need not be underestimated.

It never really made sense to me that public speaking caused this much fear in a world filled with so many things to be fearful of. So I was naturally relieved to see in my research that most Americans were plump with the same anxieties that actually keep me up at night.

Make no mistake - public speaking put in a great showing. It’s basically the only work-related fear that even makes the top 100, other than the quirky “fear of being caught in an embarrassing zoom moment” (#87) - a perfect distillation of the pandemic’s mental health hangover if there ever was one. Thanks, Toobin.  

But does that mean that public speaking is no longer something to be afraid of? Does this mean that if you fear getting up on stage or Zoom or leading a meeting - assuming you’re fully clothed - that you should be derided like someone with a debilitating fear of clowns (#94)? Or does this mean that you don’t have anything to worry about if you’re pursuing a career path that involves public communication and effective persuasion?

Au contraire. You should be afraid of public speaking. Very afraid.”

Second, the Chapman surveys aren’t the gold standard for assessing fears. Surveys by social psychologists are – because they know the difference between a fear and a phobia. The Chapman surveys are contracted out to a polling firm, and then the university analyzes them and puts out their blog posts or press releases. Sometimes there are lots of gaffes, like in the 2017 survey which I blogged about in a post on October 14, 2017 titled What do the most Americans fear? The fourth Chapman Survey on American Fears, and being innumerate. In that post I pointed out their press release was mistitled What do Americans fear most?, while the blog post instead reported on what the most Americans fear, and as usual listed percentages for the sum of Very Afraid and Afraid (and their rankings).

 

Third, there is no Top 100. That survey had a total of just 95 fears. Also, three other work-related fears are #57, being unemployed and #62 computers replacing people in the workplace, and #82 technology I don’t understand.

 

Fourth, Gabe never got around to discussing what percent of Americans were Very Afraid of public speaking, or anything else. On September 27, 2021 I blogged about how In the 2020/2012 Chapman Survey of American Fears, public speaking was only ranked #67 (11.5%) out of 95 fears at the Very Afraid level. Survey results on how afraid are you of public speaking were 11.5% Very Afraid, 17.5% Afraid, 32.7% Slightly Afraid, and 38.4% Not Afraid.

 

Fifth, in that September 27, 2021 blog post I also discussed how to take results for all those fear levels to calculate Fear Scores. For public speaking that Fear Score is just 2.023 where 1.0 is Not Afraid, 2.0 is Slightly Afraid, 3.0 is Afraid, and 4.0 is Very Afraid. So on the average we are just Slightly Afraid – and that’s only how afraid you should be. Gabe later does discuss overcoming the fear, but he should not have started by saying you should be Very Afraid without using survey data to back up his claim.

 

Sixth, the 2020/2021 survey isn’t even the most recent one. There is a list of the fears from the 2022 one. And that list shows that Public Speaking now is #67 of 92 at 34.0%.

 

A cartoon of a woman speaking was adapted from one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Ten thoughtful quotations from Fred Rogers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a good article by James Melzer at Movieweb on July 15, 2023 titled Fred Rogers’s 10 most wholesome quotes from Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. They are:

 

 1]  Real strength has to do with helping others.

 

 2]  It’s not so much what we have in this life that matters. It’s what we do with what we have.

 

 3]  The only thing evil can’t stand is forgiveness.

 

 4]  We all have different gifts, so we all have different ways of saying to the world who we are.

 

 5]  There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind.  The third way is to be kind.

 

 6]  When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.

 

 7]  Often out of periods of losing come the greatest strivings toward a new winning streak.

 

 8]  You can’t really love someone else unless you really love yourself first.

 

 9]  Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero [to me].

 

10] Nobody else can live the life you live.

 

Quotations from celebrities sometimes turn out to be made up. Based on my searches at Google Books these are real with a couple exceptions. Number nine is missing the final [to me]. And in number five Fred was quoting Henry James. At Quote Investigator on September 21, 2018 there is an article by Garson O’Toole titled Three Things in Human Life Are Important. The First Is To Be Kind. The Second Is To Be Kind. And The Third Is To Be Kind.

 

Fred was on TV long before the Neighborhood. I watched him as a small child beginning in 1955! Back on February 21, 2018 I blogged about Remembering Fred Rogers and the Children’s Corner. My sister Ellen knew Fred’s paperboy, who said in real life Fred was the same as he was on television.

 

 

The image of Fred came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Three blackmail attempts mentioning the Cobalt Strike Beacon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On July 1, 2023 I blogged about getting Three more bogus blackmail phishing emails. In the last two days I got three more emails that attempted to impress me by mentioning something called the Cobalt Strike Beacon. When I did a Google search I found that topic had been mentioned both at Microsoft Answers on March 23, 2022 in an article titled Cobalt Strike “Beacon” and at Norton on January 12, 2023 in another article titled Cobalt Strike Beacon. They claimed to have access to my camera (which I have blocked with a piece of black electrical tape), and demanded that unless I send them a Bitcoin payment they will reveal my nasty behavior.

 

The Federal Trade Commission also has a Consumer Advice web page on How to recognize and avoid phishing scams.

 

The lighthouse was modified from an image at Openclipart.

 

Using event calendars to find themes for Toastmaster club meetings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you have long been interested in a topic, it is easily used as the theme for a club meeting. But last week I was assigned the role of Toastmaster for today’s Capital Club meeting. And I didn’t have a topic in mind.

 

An easy hack is to look up the day in an event calendar, like the online CheckiDay, which said it’s the Islamic New Year, on the first of Muharram in their lunar calendar. The New Year starts at sundown on July 18. It is a less important holiday than either Eid-ul-Fitr (end of hajj) or Eid-ul-Adha (end of Ramadan).

 

And CheckiDay also said it is National Daiquiri Day, National Hot Dog Day, and National Raspberry Cake Day.

 

There is a much more serious event calendar, an annually-published paperback reference book titled Chase’s Calendar of Events. I went to look in it at the Boise Hillcrest Library. The cover describes it as:

 

“The ultimate go-to guide for special days, weeks and months”

 

And says it has:

 

“12,500 entries, 192 countries. 365 days. All in one book.”

 

When we divide 12,500 by 365.25 we find an average of 34 items per day! Any one of them could become a meeting theme.

 

Back on June 9, 2017 I blogged about how June is Effective Communications Month, but somehow I didn’t get the message. In that post I described the book as a conversation piece for insomniacs. But it has historical birthdays and other significant events.

 

Actors Benedict Cumberbatch (1976), Anthony Edwards (1962), and Topher Grace (1978, short for Christopher) were born on this day. Others include firearms inventor Samuel Colt (1814), French impressionist painter Edgar Degas (1834), radio and TV personality Art Linkletter (1912), surgeon Charles Horace Mayo (1865) who founded a clinic, and politician George Stanley McGovern (1922). Last but not least, Rosalyn Sussman Yallow (1921) shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in Medicine for development of radioimmunoassay technique.

 

The first entry under July 19 in Chase’s Calendar is about an event in the U. S. Civil War:

 

“In a second attempt to capture Fort Wagner, outside Charleston, SC, Union troops were repulsed after losing 1,515 men as opposed to Southern losses of only 174. The attack was led by the 54 th Massachusetts Colored Infantry, commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who was killed in the action. This was the first use of Black troops in the war. The film Glory was based on the Massachusetts 54 th, and this was the attack featured in the film. Fort Wagner never was taken by the union.”

 

Two other entries note that in 1954 Elvis Presley’s first single record was released: That’s All Right (Mama) backed by Blue Moon of Kentucky, and in 2007 the AMC TV series Mad Men had its premiere.

 

The Wikipedia page for Hot Dog Day says it comes from the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.

 

Anyone with an idea can propose a holiday by writing a press release. On July 13, 2011 I blogged about Will anyone swallow July being named Freedom from Fear of Public Speaking Month? In 2008 Beverly Beurmann-King proposed July 2nd as Freedom from Fear of Public Speaking Day. For 2009 she changed it to a week. Humor columnist Dave Barry was responsible for making International Talk Like a Pirate Day into a holiday event.

  

Will aspartame give you cancer?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the summer I switch my afternoon caffeine source from coffee to iced tea, and also consume sugar-free colas like Diet Pepsi and Coca Cola Zero Sugar (which have aspartame).

 

There is an article by James Gallagher at BBC News on June 29, 2023 titled Aspartame - is it a possible source of cancer? It discussed how the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Pert of the World Health Organization, aka the WHO) was going to classify aspartame as possibly carcinogenic (hazardous). But that article title obeys Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, stated in Wikipedia as:

 

“Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”

 

There is another thoughtful article by Steven Novella at Science-Based Medicine on July 5, 2023 titled Aspartame and cancer. He clarifies that:

“…researching risk is complex and the evidence is often misunderstood and misrepresented. One type of such research is pre-clinical, basic toxicology research. This focuses on whether the chemical in question does stuff to cells or biochemicals. How is it metabolized, what are the breakdown products, does it increase or decrease inflammation or oxidative stress, is it a potential mutagen, and many other assays. This kind of research just tells us if a substance is a potential hazard, but not if will confer a health risk.

The difference between hazard and risk is important to understand in terms of this research. A good analogy I often go to is – a shark in a tank is a hazard, meaning that it can potentially cause harm in the right circumstance. But as long as you don’t swim in the tank with the shark, the risk is zero. Something happening chemically may be a hazard, but we need to know how the substance is metabolized, will it get to the target tissue and in what dose, and what compensatory mechanisms are there? A potential hazard can be of zero risk depending on exposure.”

Yet another article by Sandee LaMotte at CNN on July 13, 2023 is titled Aspartame, cancer and other health risks: What you need to know. She points out that you need to consume a lot more aspartame in a day than I do with a single can of diet soda.  

The diet soda can was modified from a soda can at Openclipart.

 

Advice on ground rules for meetings that also applies to presentations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On July 11, 2023 Doug Savage had the cartoon shown above. His ground rules for meetings also will work for presentations.

Quotations from Vital Speeches of the Day: # 001 – Jacinda Ardern

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacinda Ardern served as the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand. An article at Vital Speeches of the Day on March 2023 (pages 39 and 40) is titled I will not be seeking reelection. In her speech to the Labour Party Caucus at Wellington, New Zealand on January 19, 2023 she succinctly stated:

 

“I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It is that simple.”

 

You can watch a video of that speech here on YouTube.

 

At his Manner of Speaking blog John Zimmer has a long series on quotes. On March 14, 2023 he has a post titled Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 350) – Rudyard Kipling. I don’t know how he selects his. But instead I decided to look at recent ones from David Murray’s magazine, Vital Speeches of the Day, which I can read at EBSCOhost via databases from my friendly local public library.  

 

The image was adapted from page 127 of The Grammar of Ornament.

 

 

Celebrating having published 2500 blog posts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I reached the milestone of having published 2500 posts on this blog. The PowerPoint image shown above illustrates 2500 items. Were you surprised that a simple object could be repeated that many times?

 

Am I running out of ideas? No! I have quite a few speech topics about trips, like a recent full-day jet boat tour of Hells Canyon on the Snake River. And there are always more silly claims about people having a short attention span, or inflated fears of public speaking.

 

I am also going to do a series of posts on recent quotes from presentations which have appeared in a monthly magazine titled Vital Speeches of the Day.   

 

 

 

Who does the Attorney General of Idaho really work for?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lately I was perturbed by some actions taken by Raul Labrador regarding the University of Idaho and their proposed purchase of the University of Phoenix. There are a pair of articles in the Idaho Capital Sun by Kevin Richert. The first on June 30, 2023 is titled Idaho State Board of Education steps up battle with AG Labrador, and the second on July 7, 2023 is titled Statehouse showdown over University of Idaho – Phoenix discussion escalates. Mr. Labrador sued the Board of Education – even though one of his deputies had attended the meeting he now chose to dispute.

 

Jim Jones has an article at JJCommonTater on June 28, 2023 titled Labrador’s shoot-first style does not serve his or Idaho’s best interests. He had been Attorney General of Idaho for eight years, so his opinions on how to handle that position are worth listening to.

 

The relevant Idaho statue says in part:

 

67-1401.  Duties of attorney general. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, it is the duty of the attorney general:

(1)  To perform all legal services for the state and to represent the state and all departments, agencies, offices, officers, boards, commissions, institutions and other state entities in all courts and before all administrative tribunals or bodies of any nature. Representation shall be provided to those entities exempted pursuant to the provisions of section 67-1406, Idaho Code. Whenever required to attend upon any court or administrative tribunal, the attorney general shall be allowed necessary and actual expenses, all claims for which shall be audited by the state board of examiners.

(2)  To advise all departments, agencies, offices, officers, boards, commissions, institutions and other state entities in all matters involving questions of law.

 

Labrador and his office are supposed to work for the Board, not against them. I recalled that there was an article by Ruth Brown at Idaho Reports on January 5, 2023 titled AG Labrador moves to dismiss trespassing case against Sara Brady. In April 2020 she was arrested after refusing to leave a closed park. She had told the officers to arrest her! I don’t see why the AG needed to get involved with undoing her stupid behavior.

 

Speaking of stupid behavior, the previous AG, Lawrence Wasden, had wisely advised Idaho not to join in a silly election lawsuit. An article in the AP News on December 10, 2020 titled Idaho attorney general won’t join Texas election lawsuit described the situation. The very next day the US Supreme Court rejected that lawsuit for lacking standing to sue!

 

A very recent survey of Russian fears

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On June 28, 2023 there is an article from the TASS news agency titled Russians reveal their greatest fears – poll which listed the top ten from a telephone survey of 1600 adults by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM). 30% are afraid of heights, 28% are afraid of snakes, and 24% are afraid of water (particularly deep water). 18% are afraid of dentists, or insects, or spiders. And 12% are afraid of either enclosed spaces or microorganisms, bacteria, or viruses. 11% are afraid of public speaking, and 10% are afraid of flying (on a plane).

 

Another article that day by Mohammed Ali at Urdupoint titled Poll shows fear of heights as Russia’s most common phobia added additional details. 9% of Russians are afraid of either crowds or thunder and lightning. 8% are afraid of blood, 5% are afraid of the dark, 3% are afraid of clowns, and just 2% are afraid of death. Thirteen other items were feared by less than 2%: birds, dogs, dolls, fire, God, hunger, loneliness, mice, natural disasters, other people, poverty, speed, and war.

 

A horizontal bar chart of those sixteen fears is shown above. (Click on it to see a larger view).

 

The previous day there was yet another article at the Teller Report titled VTsIOM: Russians over 60 are more likely than young people to be afraid of bacteria and viruses. I was somewhat frustrated that since I don’t read Russian I may be missing a comprehensive article or press release from VTsIOM with all the aforementioned results and perhaps more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do these fears compare with those found for comparable fears in a recent U. S. Survey? Another bar chart shows the nine results from the 2022 Chapman Survey of American Fears, which I have blogged about on October 22, 2022 in a post titled The Chapman Survey of American Fears has a forest with 92 fears. Public speaking was feared by 34% of adults and only ranked 46th.

 

Let’s compare results. First, 30% of Russians fear heights, as do 30.6% of Americans. Second, 28% of Russians fear snakes, and 27.2% of Americans fear reptiles. There are no American results for water or dentists. 18% of Russians fear insects or spiders, versus 23.8% of Americans who fear the combination Insects/Arachnids. 12% of Russians fear enclosed spaces, versus a larger 21.7% of Americans. 12% of Russians fear microorganisms, bacteria, and viruses versus a slightly larger 14.5% of Americans who fear germs. 11% of Russians fear public speaking, which is over three times less than the 34% of Americans who do. 10% of Russians fear flying, versus a slightly larger 12.4% of Americans. There are no American results for either clowns or darkness. 8% of Russians fear blood, versus 5.8 % of Americans. Finally, and most differently just 2% of Russians fear death versus 29% of Americans who fear dying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ratio (results for Americans divided by those for Russians) is shown in a third horizontal bar chart. Results range from 14.5 times for death and 3.09 for public speaking to just 0.73 for blood.

 

 We should probably take these Russian results with a large grain of salt. An article by Yekaterina Pachikova and Nadezhda Kolobaeva at The Insider on June 28, 2023 is titled The silent nation: Why wartime opinion polls cannot be trusted.

 

 

Top zodiac signs who allegedly have excellent communication skills, are afraid of public speaking, or are introverts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On October 14, 2020 I blogged about Does your zodiac sign predict how you will be as a public speaker? and discussed several articles. There is aan article about Astrology at RationalWiki that lists the usual dates attributed to the signs, as shown above in a table (but that aren’t currently their actual dates). And Wikipedia has an article about the Seasons, which also are shown above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The topic came up again recently in three articles at Astrotalk. One is an article by Kasturi Chaudhari on June 15, 2023 titled 6 Zodiac Signs That Have Excellent Communication Skills. Those six, as shown above in green, are Gemini, Libra, Leo, Sagittarius, Virgo, and Aquarius. There is a cluster of three (Leo, Virgo, Libra) in the quarter from July 23 to October 23, plus three individuals. Why aren’t there two opposite clusters of three? And why don’t the clusters just correspond with the opposite seasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second is another article by Tammoyee Roy on June 28, 2023 titled Top 5 zodiac signs who are afraid of public speaking. Those five reportedly are Cancer, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Pisces. But, as shown above in red, they are not evenly distributed around the calendar. Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio are adjacent signs – a quarter from August 23 to November 22. But then there is a gap of one (Leo) before Cancer. On the other side there is a gap of three (Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius) before Pisces. Perhaps I’m being too picky by asking for consistency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third is still another article by Karan Singh on June 29, 2023 titled Top 5 introvert zodiac signs. As shown above in orange, these are Cancer, Virgo, Capricorn, Pisces, and Aquarius. Capricorn Aquarius, and Pisces, are adjacent signs - a cluster of three for the winter season from 22 December 22 to March 22, and there is a gap of three between both Pisces and Cancer, and of Capricorn and Virgo.

 

We might have expected a link between being afraid of speaking and being introverted, but only three signs, Cancer, Virgo, and Pisces are the same.

 

There is a dismissive article by Scott A. McGreal at Psychology Today on June 30, 2022 titled The final word on astrology and personality. Another recent article by Stephen Luntz at IFLscience onMarch 24, 2023 is titled How we know astrology isn’t real.