Stage fright doesn’t impact 73% of the U.S. adult population, it’s really just 21%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes what we read from a usually reliable source is just plain wrong. There is an article by Mariana Bockarova at Psychology Today on March 16, 2023 titled Local Perspectives: Singing With Stage Fright. She opened it by claiming:

 

“According to the National Institute of Mental Health, ‘stage fright,’ or performance anxiety - the fear one feels when needing to perform or present in public, impacts approximately 73 percent of the population. In fact, stage fright is the most commonly cited fear people have.”

 

That’s hogwash. On August 12, 2015 I blogged about how There’s really no mystery about how common stage fright is. Research supported by the National Institute of Mental Health found 21.2 percent had stage fright – about three times less.

 

That 73 percent is a baseless number from a commercial web site called Statistic Brain – it is their claimed percent of men who suffer from speech anxiety. I showed their table in another blog post on August 14, 2020 titled Toastmaster magazine is spreading nonsense from John Bowe about how common the fear of public speaking is.

 

And the 2023 Chapman Survey of American Fears lists public speaking as the 53rd most common fear, at a similar 28.7%.

 

The image of Dmitry Bertman on stage was adapted from this one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

George Adamski told us fairy tales about meeting a man from Venus and riding in his UFO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seven decades ago, in his 1953 best-selling book (with Desmond Leslie) George Adamski told us that Flying Saucers Have Landed. George claimed to have met a Venusian named Orthon. He followed with Inside the Space Ships in 1955 and Flying Saucers Farewell in 1961. But in December 1962 the Mariner 2 space probe found the temperature for the atmosphere on Venus actually was 932 F – so nobody really could have lived there. In my teens I found Adamski’s UFO books at the public library, and quickly realized they were pseudoscientific nonsense.

 

Along with a Wikipedia article, there is an article by Greg Daugherty at History.com on January 9, 2020 about how George Adamski got famous sharing his UFO photos and alien ‘encounters’. Adamski is also discussed in three articles at the Denver Public Library by Chris Root: one on August 30, 2022 titled The man who met a Venusian (allegedly), a second on September 20, 2022 titled The man who boarded a flying saucer (allegedly), and a third on October 19, 2022 titled The man who hitched a ride to a Venus (allegedly).

 

I was surprised to find that the second half of the February 14, 2024 Coast to Coast AM radio show had a guest tell us favorably about Adamski as follows:

 

“Author and ufologist Glenn Steckling is the director of the sixty-year + George Adamski Foundation, one of the oldest enduring UFO organizations. In the latter half, he shared his findings in his longstanding UFO research and pointed out some of what he believes is misinformation and disinformation in the field. Adamski, he noted, was well known in the 1950s contactee movement, and shot numerous clear photos of UFOs. Steckling’s parents worked with Adamski, and also had their own sightings and encounters. Glenn said his current mission is to educate the public regarding ‘accurate’ UFO historical information and documentation as opposed to substituting with ‘science fiction, wishful thinking, or vivid imagination.’ “

 

I think calling that organization a Foundation is hilarious, since Adamski’s books really lack any foundation. In a March 22, 2009 blog post titled Goink! I said some of what appears on Coast to Coast AM deserves the term parastupid.

 

In the Wikipedia article there is an image of a Coleman gas lantern (sold by Sears Roebuck) which apparently was the model for the Scout Ship photos produced by Adamski.   

 

The cartoon of a UFO was adapted from an image at Openclipart.

 

Should we have a pre- and post- pair of Words of the Day at a Toastmasters club meeting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compound words in English are curiously unsymmetrical. We might expect the prefixes pre- and post- to describe before and after, but that’s not how they always work. On April 20, 2018 I blogged about Playing with words: PRO or CON? In that post I noted that club meeting for Toastmasters International optionally call for the Grammarian to introduce a Word of the Week (or Day). We might also consider having a pair of words. Also, on January 10, 2024 I blogged about Should we have a con- and pro- pair of Words of the Day at a Toastmasters club meeting.

 

And On February 12, 2021 I blogged about Playing with words: PRE- or POST-? Today I’m revisiting those prefixes PRE- and POST-.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above, now I found 14 pairs of words with both pre- and post- as their prefixes (rather than the previous two).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, I found 26 pairs where only the word beginning with pre- is real (rather than ten). You can be precise, but it’s too late to be postcise. And you can prefer something, but you cannot postfer it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I found seven pairs where only the word beginning with post- is real (rather than five). You can postpone something, but it’s too early to prepone it.   

 

Forget about memory supplements!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Mcgill Office for Science and Society there is an excellent article (by their head) Joe Schwarcz on February 16, 2024 titled Nothing Memorable About Memory Supplements. He stated:

 

“What then is the overall conclusion about slowing memory decline? There is not enough evidence to back any memory supplement."

 

On January 13, 2020 I had a blog post titled Did a clinical trial show the dietary supplement pill Prevagen improves memory? Only when you forget about more than half of their data.

 

The finger with a string was adapted from an image at Openclipart.

 

A new Idaho bill would prohibit cities and counties from regulating knives – but not pitchforks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by Clark Corbin at the Idaho Capital Sun on February 21, 2024 titled Idaho cities and counties would be prohibited from regulating knives under new bill. That new bill is H0620 from Rep. Jordan Redman, who says he carries a knife every day. (Is he the guy who brings a knife to a gunfight?) But the proposed legislation does not also include pitchforks, like the one shown above in the iconic 1930 painting American Gothic by Grant Wood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing devil’s advocate, for consistency I think pitchforks need to be included.

 

The pointing devil image came from Openclipart.   

 

An article about Reiki vanished from the Mayo Clinic website – after being criticized in another article at Science Based Medicine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At a web site for the Mayo Clinic there was an article by Kenneth Rooth on February 8, 2024  titled My journey from energy work skeptic to Reiki practitioner. It was discussed by Steven Novella at Science Based Medicine on February 14, 2024 in another article titled Mayo Clinic Promotes Reiki. Mayo Clinic has removed the article.  

 

Dr. Novella mentioned but did not link to still another article by Jonathan Jarry at the McGill Office for Science and Society on February 19, 2020 titled Should we take Reiki seriously? And on March 22, 2020 I blogged about Can Reiki reduce public speaking anxiety? and linked to Mr. Jarry’s article. Both that article and my blog post obey Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, which states:

 

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

 

The image was adapted from this one at Openclipart.

 

Learning about public speaking from a sandwich artist, a sportscaster, and an accountant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an interesting article by Bobby Powers titled What a sandwich artist, a sportscaster, and an accountant taught me about public speaking. It’s wonderful how you can learn from very different people. (I have learned from a veterinarian, a novelist, and an electrical engineer).

 

His seven tips are:

 

Use stories as your Trojan Horse.

Create villains for your audience to hate.

Beware the curse of knowledge.

Paint vivid mental pictures.

Embrace the power of silence.

Practice twice as much as you normally would.

Fly at multiple altitudes.

 

A sportscaster taught him to replace filler words with pauses. And an accountant taught him about the Curse of Knowledge (not remembering when you didn’t know a subject inside out). Back on November 6, 2009 I blogged about Knowledge, consciousness, and curses.

 

Images of sandwich makers, a sportscaster and an auditor all were adapted from Wikimedia Commons.

 

A TikTok video on five public speaking myths includes a bogus fear statistic and a bogus Mark Twain quote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to dispel myths, then you shouldn’t state some more. At TikTok on February 13, 2024 there is a two-and-a-half minute teaching video by Trophy Kiprono (a coach from Nairobi, Kenya) titled 5 things they lied to you about public speaking. Her text claims:

 

“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. Here’s the good news in that statistic. If you have fears around public speaking, you are in good, large company.”

 

But 73% is baseless nonsense from Statistic Brain, which I discussed on August 14, 2020 in a blog post titled Toastmaster magazine is spreading nonsense from John Bowe about how common the fear of public speaking is.

 

Her video mostly contains reasonable advice. A transcript with punctuation and capitalization added is:

 

“Let’s talk about some common public speaking myths that we need to dispel now. Because of the fear that surrounds public speaking there’s a lot of myths surrounding it.

 

The first myth is that great speakers are born that way. It’s a myth that great speakers are born with the ability to connect confidently and easily with a room full of people. The truth is anyone who aspires and desires and decides to improve their public speaking skills can do so. It’s a learnable skill, it’s like riding a bicycle which can be achieved through training, commitment, determination, and most importantly practicing.  

 

The second myth surrounding public speaking is that experienced speakers don’t feel nervous. As you develop your public speaking skills, your pre-presentation anxiety lessens. The truth is your nerves will never go away completely, if you’re about to give a presentation you genuinely care about. Experienced speakers simply learn how to control, manage, and even harness their nerves to help them rather than hinder them. As Mark Twain once said, ‘There are two types of speakers – those that are nervous and those that are liars.’       

 

The third common myth out there is that only extroverts make good public speakers. No, that’s not a fact. Your personality doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert, an extrovert, an ambivert, or any other type out there. All you need is something important to say that will make a difference to others. A belief that what you have to say needs to be heard. A passion for what you believe in, and finally a conviction to express your passion and share your message.

 

The fourth myth out there is that you have to be perfect. Anxiety increases substantially when you strive for perfection. The greatest presenters know that, so they don’t try to go for an Oscar winning performance. Instead they know that their job is simply to be the best of who they are, with the sole intention of making a difference to their audience rather than making themselves look like ‘superstars.’

 

The [fifth] final myth is that you need to memorize your speech. Your audience don’t want to hear a sleek polished presenter who has memorized everything. It’s a myth that’s ‘theatre.’ Your audience want to hear someone speak, someone who knows what they’re talking about, someone who cares about what they’re saying, someone who makes their audience care too. You don’t need to memorize your speech. This will do both you and your audience more harm than good.

 

I hope these tips help.”

 

But under the second myth she includes a bogus Mark Twin quote. On May 12, 2020 I blogged about Did Mark Twain really say there were just nervous speakers or liars?

 

The image was adapted from this one at Openclipart.

 

Patrick O’Mara got a Guinness World Record by delivering 32 ten-minute impromptu speeches in 24 hours

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patrick O’Mara is from from Hoover, Alabama. He works at State Farm Insurance as a subrogation analyst and has a side business doing public speaking training (Pro Presenting). There is an article by Jon Anderson in the Hoover Sun on January 18, 2024 titled Hoover man certified as Guinness World Record holder for most speeches in 24 hours. Another article by Aliciamarie Rodriguez at Guinness World Records on February 5, 2024 is titled Vocal virtuoso from Alabama delivers 32 ten-minute impromptu speeches in 24 hours.

 

Patrick gave 33 unique ten-minute impromptu speeches (inspired by fortune cookies), but only 32 counted. Each was to be to a different venue with an audience of at least ten people (and room for fifty). The previous record of 30 speeches was set in 2018 by Piyush Vyas in Gujarat, India.

 

Club meetings of Toastmasters International have a one-to-two-minute impromptu speaking section known as Table Topics. Most Toastmasters (including me) initially found it difficult to speak impromptu for over a minute. Patrick’s record therefore is quite impressive.

 

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

 

Laura Bergells article on Unconventional Ways to Improve Public Speaking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At LinkedIn Pulse on February 13, 2024 there is an interesting article by Laura Bergells titled Embrace the Weirdness! Unconventional Ways to Improve Public Speaking. One way she mentions and pictures is practicing with books on your head to improve posture. That’s listed in TVtropes and shown at Getty Images. You could instead try a roll of paper, as shown above.

 

She noted that a technique like holding your arms up with palms out would initially feel weird. But that looks open, versus a closed gesture of crossing your arms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another weird way might be to (as shown above) give your speech while sitting down on the floor or stage. Gestures will feel different!

 

Images were adapted from the 1905 book by Lina Beard and Adelia B. Beard titled How to Amuse Yourself and Others (pages 378 and 252) from Wikimedia Commons.

 

A Pearls Before Swine cartoon about overcoming a metaphorical writer’s block

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On February 6, 2024 there is a Pearls Before Swine cartoon by Stephan Pastis with the following dialogue:

 

Pig: What do you do if you’re a writer and the ideas just won’t come?

Rat: Like a broken gumball machine you hit yourself on the side of the head until an idea rolls out.

Rat [to Goat]: The life of a writer is not for everyone.

 

On September 14, 2021 I published a blog post asking Are you stuck in a rut? It linked to a brief article by Kathleen Fordyce on page 27 in the October 2015 issue of Toastmaster Magazine titled 3 Ways to shake off writer’s block. She advised you to:

 

1] Start with a list

2] Imagine you are talking to your best friend

3] Brainstorm for 10 minutes

 

There is another article by Aleks Curac Saric at Medium on May 17, 2015 titled The only cure for writer’s block is to stop trying to write. It shows a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon where Calvin made a literal writer’s block.

 

And on March 23, 2015 I blogged about how Writer’s block is like getting your car stuck in mud up to the axles.

 

The image was adapted from one at Openclipart.

 

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 airliner door plug incident

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On January 5, 2024 Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport at 5:07 PM. Six minutes later, at an altitude of 16,300 feet a 2x4’ door plug detached from the fuselage (as shown above), causing a rapid loss of cabin pressure. Luckily the crew was able to return to the airport and there were no severe injuries or fatalities. A door plug is a panel for covering an unused emergency exit. An article by George Petras et al. at USA Today on January 8, 2024 titled A Boeing 737 Max 9 lost a panel midair, terrifying passengers. Here’s how it happened describes the incident. Another article by Kristian Foden-Vencil at OPB on January 8, 2024 titled Portland teacher recounts finding Boeing door plug in his yard told about an astonished science teacher, Bob Sauer. A third article by Sean Broderick at Aviation Week Network on January 9, 2024 is titled NTSB Eyeing Door Plug Bolts in Alaska 737-9 Accident Probe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fourth article by David Shepardson at Reuters on February 6, 2024 titled Bolts appeared to be missing from door plug that flew off Boeing MAX 9 jet – agency discussed preliminary results from NTSB. The plug had been removed to repair some rivets, and not properly reinstalled. There should have been four bolts fitted with castle nuts (as shown above) and locked in place by cotter pins. If those bolts had been installed correctly, then they never should have loosened and come off. A close-up view of a properly installed castle nut can be found here on the last page from an October 2016 NHTSA Recall for an Autocar Industries truck.

 

On May 6, 2018 I blogged about how Driverless cars don’t need steering wheels – but the rest of us sure do. In that post I discussed another incident (which I’d helped investigate) involving a motorglider crash due to a locknut not being properly tightened.

 

On January 12, 2024 in his Writing Boots blog Dave Murray linked to a humorous video by Clarke and Dawe describing another incident – where The Front Fell Off.  

 

I adapted an image of a Boeing 737 from Openclipart. An image of a castle nut came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Etiquette for a movie theater or a presentation audience

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doug Savage has a humorous Savage Chickens cartoon on February 7, 2024 about etiquette in a movie theater (as shown above). It also applies to the audience for a presentation.

 

Things that you should know about eye drops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by Dan Gudgel on June 1, 2023 at the American Academy of Ophthalmology simply titled Eye Drops. Also, there is another article by Kierstan Boyd on February 9, 2022 about Lubricating Eye Drops for Dry Eyes, and yet another on April 7, 2023 about Redness-Relieving Eye Drops.

 

More recently there is an article by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration on December 12, 2023 titled What You Should Know about Eye Drops. It followed another article on November 16, 2023 titled FDA warns consumers not to purchase or use certain eye drops from several major brands due to risk of eye infection. FDA’s consumer tips on December 12 include:

 

“Do not use ophthalmic products that:

 

Are marketed as OTC [over-the-counter] products to treat serious eye conditions such as  glaucoma, retinopathy, or macular degeneration. There are no OTC treatments for these conditions.

 

Are labeled as homeopathic, as these products should not be marketed.”

 

The tip about avoiding homeopathic eyedrops was picked up three other places: by Beth Mole at Ars Technica on December 12, 2023 in an article titled Every homeopathic eye drop should be pulled off the market, FDA says; by Laura Baisas at Popular Science on December 13, 2023 in another article titled Stop using homeopathic eye drops; and by Scott Gavura at Science-Based Medicine on December 21, 2023 in still another article titled FDA: Don’t use homeopathic eye drops.

 

Naturally there was grousing by Americans for Homeopathy Choice on December 26, 2023 in an article titled Our Homeopathic Eye Drops Are Gone! which lazily whined that FDA had not cited any adverse case reports. But there were at least two such case reports. One article by Lin Chen et al. at Clinical Medicine & Research for December 2017 is titled Anisocoria secondary to anticholinergic mydriasis from homeopathic pink eye relief drops. A second abstract by Mallorie L. Huff in the America Journal of Emergency Medicine for April 2022 is titled Acute angle closure glaucoma precipitated by homeopathic eyedrops containing Atropa belladonna.

 

The more common criticism of homeopathic products is that the active ingredient is so diluted as to be insignificant. An article by Steven Salzberg at Forbes on May 22, 2016 titled Allergy sufferers beware: These eye drops are a scam cautioned:

 

“Uh oh. It turns out that these products are little more than very, very expensive bottles of sterile water. For $9.99 you get 10 ml of water that contains several extracts–in vanishingly small amounts–for which there is no evidence whatsoever that they have any effect on allergies.”

 

An NIH image of eye drops came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Toastmasters International CEO Daniel Rex on the Power of Communication

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On January 29, 2024 I flew from Boise to Albany, NY on United Airlines. I was pleasantly surprised to find an article by Chris Norris on page 46 of their Hemispheres magazine titled Speaking Terms in the print version and subtitled Toastmasters International CEO Daniel Rex on the Power of Communication. A link to it is at the Toastmasters Media Center. There are sections titled:

 

On the power of communication skills

On the definition of “public speaking”

On the digital age

On embracing your fear

 

 An image of a United 737 by Alan Wilson came from Wikimedia Commons.