Brent Regan used a bogus and ignorant quote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Gem State Patriot News blog on August 28, 2024 Brent Regan opened a post titled Ignorant, Brainwashed, or Lying by claiming Ronald Reagan had said:

 

“The trouble with our Liberal friends is that they know so much that isn’t so.”

 

But that’s an ignorant paraphrase. When I looked at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum I found his A Time for Choosing Speech, October 27, 1964 where paragraph 22 instead says:

 

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.”

 

A portrait of Reagan by Michael Del Priore came from here at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Thirty questions to engage someone, beyond How Are You?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We can always use open-ended questions for starting conversations, or as topics for impromptu speeches (like Table Topics at a Toastmasters club meeting). There is an article by Wendy Rose Gould at VeryWellMind on August 25, 2024 titled 30 Questions to Engage Someone Beyond ‘How Are You?”

 

With the contractions removed, her thirty questions (for three categories of familiarity) are:

 

Someone You Have Just Met

What is your connection to (this event/the host/this location)?

What do you think about the music/vibe here?

Did you come with anyone, and who are you hoping to meet? (i.e. business contacts, new friends, etc.)

Have you been here before, and what inspired you to attend?

How did you find yourself here today?

What did you think about (specific part of the event, such as a speech, performance, or activity)?

What do you usually order/do here?

How did you find out about this (place/event)?

Have you met anyone here that you thought was especially unique or interesting?

Any big plans for later in the day/tomorrow?

 

Someone You Already Know

What has been going on since the last time we met up?

Whatever happened with (XYZ thing they brought up last time)?

Have you experienced anything new that’s impacted who you are lately?

Anything exciting going on in your life?

Have you learned or discovered anything cool lately?

What are you most excited about in life right now?

Have any new goals or plans you’re working on?

Read/watched anything good since we last met up?

How is (person important to them) doing?

What is a rose (good thing) and a thorn (bad thing) happening in your life right now?

 

Someone You Have Known a Long Time

What has been on your mind and heart lately?

How are you really doing? Is there anything I can do to support you right now?

How have you been doing with (challenge/goal)?

How have you been spending your time, and what have you been investing your energy into lately?

What are you looking forward to today/this week/this weekend?

How is it going with (person important to them)?

Is there anything you have wanted to talk about with me lately?

What was your high and low today?

Any major life or work updates?

Is there anything you would like to share {which] you are proud of that I can celebrate with you?

 

The silhouettes image came from here at Openclipart.

 

Using a fake quote just is evil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a post by Bob Neugebauer at the Gem State Patriot News blog on August 25, 2024 titled It’s now simply a case of Good vs Evil. He begins with an image of the anti-Nazi Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer [1906 – 1945] and an alleged quote:

 

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

 

But eight years ago there was an article by Warren Throckmorton on August 25, 2016 titled The Popular Bonhoeffer Quote That Isn’t in Bonhoeffer’s Works. And if you look at Google Books you also will find in the 2019 The Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Michael Mawson and Philip G. Ziegler on page 478 that ‘quote’ is dismissed.

 

Mr. Neugebauer’s post obeys Godwin’s Law, which states that:

 

“As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”

 

In his fifth paragraph he claimed:

 

“....With the liberal media and social media technology companies doing all they can to scam us into voting for the democrats, it will be much like when Hitler took over Germany with his propaganda machine.”

 

His two title words of comparison were Evil and Good. When discussing Trump, we also need to remember three more words: Criminal, Defamer, and Fraud.

 

My image was modified from a sculpture of Bonhoeffer posted by Kamahele at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Shooting down a fake quote - not really from a famous writer and pilot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Brian Tracy blog post on July 6, 2024 titled 117 Leadership quotes for Inspiration, has the following quote at #23, allegedly from the well-known French writer and pilot Antoine de Saint Exupéry:

 

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

 

And at the Gem State Patriot News blog on June 30, 2024 there is a post by Brent Regan titled Unity which begins with a similar quote:

 

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

 

But an article by Garson O’Toole at Quote Investigator (QI) on August 25, 2015 titled Teach Them to Yearn for the Vast and Endless Sea found that Monsieur Saint Exupéry did NOT ever say those exact English words. They are a posthumous paraphrase from more than fifty-five years later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a real quote you can tell us precisely: Who said it, What he said, When in his lifetime he said it, and Where he said it. A quick glance at Wikipedia shows that Antoine de Saint Exupéry was born on June 29, 1900 and died on July 31, 1944. Garson says:

 

“QI conjectures that this section of ‘Citadelle’ [1948] inspired the construction of the modern quotation although one or more intermediate steps may have occurred. It was possible that someone read the section and created a paraphrase or commentary. The modern quotation might be based on this posited intermediate text. Saint-Exupéry himself may have written a text that was closer to the modern quotation although it has not been located.”

 

On May 11, 2024 I had blogged about another fake quote also used by Brent Regan, in a post titled A fake Alexander Hamilton quote, ironically about falling for anything. But for his more recent post he didn’t bother to check where I told him, at Quote Investigator. And in a comment on the more recent post, John Livingston outrageously whined about how my:

 

“Officious claims of inaccuracies when claiming a falsehood are equally dangerous.” 

 

A cartoon image of a Lockheed P38 was adapted from one at Openclipart.

 

Cartoon about getting a ‘compliment’ from a speaker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Zach Weinersmith Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal cartoon on August 24, 2024 titled Compliment has the following monologue:

 

“ ’I have to say something nice in my speech about him, but this guy is a moron. How can I say something that sounds complimentary, but which actually means that everything he says is either wrong or too vague to be right?’

 

And so…

 

‘He is the Nostradamus of his field!’ ”

 

Wikipedia has articles on both Damning with faint praise and Not even wrong (unfalsifiable).

 

I previously blogged about Zach’s cartoons in a post on September 28, 2019 titled A cartoon tip on how not to wow your audience and on March 21, 2020 in another post titled Cartoon about how filler words when finishing a presentation sound more impressive in Latin.

 

A speaker was adapted from this cartoon at Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

In his speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention Barack Obama asks a simple question, and then compares Trump to a rude neighbor with a leaf blower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On August 20, 2024 I was looking forward to watching former president Barack Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention. He gave an excellent speech, and so did his wife Michelle who preceded him (a wonderful tag team).

 

You can watch the full speech by Michelle here at PBS News and read a transcript here at TIME. And you can watch the full speech by Barack here at PBS News and read a transcript here at TIME.

 

NBC news has a three-minute excerpt video where Barack Obama calls Trump a “78-year-old-billionaire” with a leaf blower outside America’s window. Pay attention to his delivery, particularly his hand gestures for conspiracy theories and crowd sizes. The speechwriting is excellent:

 

“…. And as we gather here tonight, the people who will decide this election are asking a very simple question: Who will fight for me? Who’s thinking about my future, my children’s future, about our future together.

 

One thing is certain: Donald Trump is not losing sleep over that question. Here’s a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago. It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually been getting worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala. There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes.  

 

It just goes on and on. The other day, I heard someone compare Trump to the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day. Now, from a neighbor, that’s exhausting From a President, it’s just dangerous.

 

The truth is, Donald Trump sees power as nothing more than a means to his end. He wants the middle class to pay the price for another huge tax cut that would mostly help him and his rich friends. He killed a bipartisan immigration deal written in part by one of the most conservative Republicans in Congress that would’ve helped secure our southern border, because he thought trying to actually solve the problem would hurt his campaign. He doesn’t -

 

[Crowd boos.] Do not boo, vote.

 

He doesn’t seem to care if more women lose their reproductive freedom, since it won’t affect his life. And most of all, Donald Trump wants us to think that this country is hopelessly divided: between us and them, between the real Americans who – of course- support him and the outsiders who don’t. And he wants you to think that you’ll be richer and safer if you will just give him the power to put those other people back in their place. It is one of the oldest tricks in politics, from a guy whose act has – let’s face it – gotten pretty stale.  

 

We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse.

 

America’s ready for a new chapter. America’s ready for a better story. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris.”

 

The image of a man with a backpack leaf blower was adapted from one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Did an inspirational quote about leadership come from John Quincy Adams or Dolly Parton?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an article by Katie Sanders at Politifact on May 1, 2017 titled Ivanka Trump’s new book includes quote falsely and frequently attributed to John Quincy Adams. He was our sixth president and lived from 1767 to 1848. That quote is:

 

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”

 

The article notes that:

 

“But we did talk with someone well-versed in his considerable output: Sara Martin, editor in chief of The Adams Papers of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

 

‘I am confident that this is not a JQA quotation,’ she said. ‘It neither sounds like him, nor is it really the vein of political thought that he typically expresses in his quotations.’ “

 

Katie references another article by Garson O’Toole at Quote Investigator on July 3, 2011 titled If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. Garson notes that the supposed quote first appeared in a 2002 book! He says it may have been derived from this 1997 quote by Dolly Parton (born in 1946):

 

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.”

The claimed Adams quote recently turned up again on July 6, 2024 in a Brian Tracy blog post titled 117 Leadership quotes for Inspiration, where it was the second quote.

 

A painting of John Quincy Adams and a photo of Dolly Parton came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Visiting the World Center for Birds of Prey just south of Boise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On August 9, 2024 I visited the World Center for Birds of Prey operated by The Peregrine Fund. It is located just south of Boise, off of Cole Road on Flying Hawk Lane. (On December 31, 2022 I blogged about Birds and a world of wonder).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their first outside display, of course, is about the Peregrine Falcon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There also is a California Condor display, and others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside there are lots of displays. One pair of walls is about the quest to save birds of prey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a classroom we were treated to a flying display with a pair of burrowing owl siblings, Alexa and Pretzel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There also are separate indoor areas housing a Gyrfalcon, an Ornate Hawk-Eagle, a Great Horned Owl, a Harpy Eagle, and a Aplomado Falcon.

 

First look at the data, then look at the words

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Via interlibrary loan, I recently got a 2024 book by Hasan Merali titled Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas and subtitled Secrets from the Science of Toddlers for a Happier, More Successful way of Life. On page 58 he intriguingly says:

 

“One of the sad parts of getting older is that we all go over what has been termed the ‘humor cliff.’ A 2013 Gallup study of 1.4 million people in 163 different countries showed that the amount we smile and laugh starts to fall dramatically at age twenty-three. It does start to rise again but not until age eighty, and it never reaches the peak we started at.” Ref. 4, 5

 

Reference 5 is an August 2021 TED talk by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas: Why Great Leaders Take Humor Seriously | TED. They discuss the global humor cliff:

 

“Here’s the problem though. We’ve all fallen off a humor cliff. In a global study, over a million people were asked a simple question – did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday? When we’re kids the answer is yes. Then, right when we enter the work force, the answer becomes no. The good news is things look up again around 80. The bad news is the average life expectancy is 78.”

 

And they have a graph at the one-minute mark, which I have shown above with annotations. But their words and their graph disagree. A transition between yes and no logically would occur at 50% (my dashed red line at the bottom), but their blue line always is above 60%. If the transition was at 75%, then their statement would make sense. Instead, when we enter the work force the slope decreases. This problem should have been caught in the first rehearsal where the graphic was used.

 

That TED talk was preceded by a 2021 book by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas titled Humor, Seriously: Why Humor is a Secret Weapon at Work and in Life. Their discussion of The Humor Cliff on page 22 has a two-and-a-half-inch tall line drawing just like the TED talk and above it says:

 

“The collective loss of our sense of humor is a serious problem afflicting people and organizations globally. We’re all going over the humor cliff together, tumbling down into the abyss of solemnity below.

 

At the bottom of that abyss, we’re joined by the majority of 1.4 million survey respondents in 166 countries who revealed in this Gallup poll that the frequency with which we laugh or smile each day starts to plummet around age 23.”

 

That discrepancy also should have been caught during proofreading of the book.

 

There is an article by Reed Tucker at the New York Post on March 13, 2021 titled We start losing our sense of humor at age 23 – and it could wreck your career. It has a graphic with a detailed caption saying:

 

“THE HUMOR CLIFF

Studies show that people laugh freely and openly when young, but less so as they age, starting around 23. The laughter tends to return, however in the twilight year – perhaps as we work less and spend more time with loved ones.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My annotated version of the graphic is shown above. The article title accepts the age 23 claim from the book without looking at what the data in the graph reveals. We really start losing our sense of humor at age 13. It drops from 83.4 percent at age 13 to 73.6% at age 25 - at a rate of 0.82% per year. Then from age 25 to 50 it drops more slowly at a rate of 0.22% per year to 68.1% at age 50. There also is a small peak of 68.6% at age 58. It drops at 0.3% per year from age 58 to age 83 The minimum is 61% at age 83, and then it rises again to 72% at age 100.

 

A Toastmasters International web page about Visual Aids and Props warns us that:

 

“Diagrams, graphs and charts should always coincide with what is being said in the speech.” 

 

We should first look at the data, and then look at the words to see that they match.

 

Donald Trump told us a fairy tale about an emergency helicopter landing with Willie Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In his August 8, 2024 press conference Donald Trump told us a fairy tale about an emergency landing of a helicopter. It might as well have started with the classic phrase Once Upon A Time. But he didn’t say when it happened (day, month, or year), or tell us where that helicopter was going, or everyone who was on it. An article by Domenico Montanaro at npr on August 11, 2024 titled 162 Lies and distortions in a news conference. NPR fact-checks former President Trump listed it at Number 130, which was:

 

“Well, I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together and there was an emergency landing.”

 

But Willie Brown wasn’t on that flight – Nate Holden was. Another article by Don Lee in the Los Angeles Times on August 10, 2024 is titled Willie Brown wasn’t on that frightening helicopter ride with Trump. Here’s who was. Yet another article by Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling at The New Republic on August 13, 2024 titled Trump mixed up two black politicians in weird helicopter story also provided information from another passenger, Barbara Res.

 

“Trump’s former executive vice president of construction and development Barbara Res was also on the terrifying flight, and recalled the white-knuckle encounter in her 2013 book, All Alone on the 68th Floor. She confirmed that Trump, his brother Robert, and Holden were all on board the aircraft as it lost control of some of its instruments and was forced to make an emergency landing in a New Jersey airport.”

 

Still another article by Maria Ramirez Uribe at Politifact on August 9, 2024 titled Trump’s unproven story about Willie Brown and a harrowing emergency helicopter landing said that Trump had told the same story in his 2023 coffee-table picture book, Letters to Trump:  

 

“ ‘I knew Willie Brown a long time ago,’ Trump wrote. ‘He was a hot politician and had a great ‘way.’ ’ We actually had an emergency landing in a helicopter together. It was a little scary for both of us, but thankfully we made it. His time with Kamala in retrospect turned out to be very interesting – but only he can tell that story.”

 

There also is a six-and-a-half minute YouTube video from CNN on August 13, 2024 titled Other passengers contradict Trump’s account of scary chopper ride. And even another article by Rachel Dobkin at Newsweek on August 11, 2024 titled Donald Trump’s helicopter claim raises questions from critics added in summary:

 

“Brian Krassenstein, who gained popularity on social media after trolling Trump on X, formerly Twitter, during his presidency, wrote on X on Saturday morning: ‘Donald Trump recently made a claim about an emergency helicopter landing involving him and Willie Brown, which is either a blatant lie or a clear case of mistaken identity (confusing 2 black men).'

 

He continued: ‘The real issue here is Trump’s refusal to admit a mistake. Instead of acknowledging the error, he’s doubled down on the falsehood, which highlights a concerning pattern … this behavior should alarm voters because a leader who cannot admit fault is likely to repeat mistakes – and in this case, he’s doing so over something trivial yet insists on misleading the public.’ “   

 

The image of a helicopter was modified from one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Donald Trump now claims that nobody was killed in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before Joe Biden dropped out of his re-election campaign after an awful debate, the Trump campaign emphasized how Joe was too old and confused to run at age 81. But Donald is just slightly younger at 78 and sometimes quite confused.

 

Ashli Babbitt was shot during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, as is described in a Wikipedia page titled Killing of Ashli Babbitt. An article by Io Dodds at the Independent on January 2, 2022 titled Trump’s ‘manufactured martyr’: How Ashli Babbitt’s death was weaponized by the MAGA movement discussed that:

 

“Mr. Trump himself has been her cheerleader in chief, referring to her death as a murder. and offering her family his ‘unwavering" support’. ‘To Ashli’s family and friends, please know that her memory will live on in our hearts for all time,’ he said in a video specially filmed for her birthday on 10 October. ‘There was no reason Ashli should have lost her life that day. We must all demand justice for Ashli.’ "

 

But in a news conference this month Donald instead claimed that no one was killed on January 6th, as shown in this YouTube video. And another article at apnews on August 8, 2024 titled FACT FOCUS: A look at claims made by Trump at news conference reminded us:

 

“Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego, was shot and killed by a police officer as she climbed through a broken part of a Capitol door during the violent riot. Trump has often cited Babbitt’s death while lamenting the treatment of those who attended a rally outside the White House that day and then marched to the Capitol, many of whom fought with the police.”

 

Yet another article by Domenico Montanaro at npr on August 11, 2024 titled 162 Lies and distortions in a news conference. NPR fact-checks former President Trump lists “Nobody was killed on Jan. 6th” as Number 102.

 

The NOPE poster was modified from this one at Openclipart.

 

Six ways to create an outline for your presentation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Magic Slides on July 22, 2024 there is a useful article titled How to Create a Presentation Outline: A Step-by-Step Guide with Examples. It describes the following methods:

 

Method 1: Create Your Outline from Scratch

Method 2: Use an AI Presentation Maker

Method 3: The Mind Mapping Technique

Method 4: The Storyboard Approach

Method 5: The Reverse Engineering Method

Method 6: The Comparative Layout

 

I have previously discussed four of these methods. On July 5, 2009 I blogged about Two types of speech outlines: speaking and preparation. And on August 4, 2009 I posted about Mind mapping and idea mapping for planning presentations. Also, on March 17, 2011 I blogged about Use a storyboard to organize your presentation. Finally, on December 11, 2022 I posted about how to Get a bird’s eye view of a presentation with a reverse outline.

 

At Toastmasters International the mandatory Level 1 Pathways project on Writing a Speech with Purpose contains a Speech Outline Worksheet starting on page 22.

 The number six was modified from this image at Openclipart.

 

An even weirder presidential candidate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my previous post on August 11, 2024 titled That weird label I briefly discussed how the Republican candidates for president and vice-president were being characterized by their Democratic opponents.

 

But there also is an even weirder independent candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Watch this YouTube video from The Daily Show on August 10, 2024 titled Michael Kosta Covers RFK Jr.’s Bizarre Bear Story & GOP Reactions to Tim Walz | The Daily Show. The weirder story from October 2014 he told Rosanne Barr would have been rejected as a script for The Simpsons. There also are two articles by Miranda Nazzaro at The Hill, one on August 4, 2024 titled RFK Jr. admits to leaving dead bear in Central Park, and another on August 5, 2024 titled RFK Jr. posed with bloody bear carcass in photograph.

 

There is another 31-minute YouTube video by John Oliver at Last Week Tonight titled RFK Jr: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). A long time ago RFK Jr. was respected as a lawyer covering environmental concerns. But more recently he has been an antivax loon, described in a web page at the Encyclopedia of American Loons on May 22, 2011 titled Robert Kennedy Jr. . There is yet another article about him by David Gorski at Science-Based Medicine on November 6, 2023 titled Robert F. Kennedy Jr. comes home to his antivax roots … again.

 

The cartoon dead bear was adapted from one at Openclipart.