Urban Legends (and some not so urban)

I blogged recently about common logic problems. One thing I've noticed is that people are often quick to believe something that sounds only remotely plausible. Some of these things get spread around and are widely believed, but they just aren't true. Usually a little thought can dispel these notions, but I heard from a friend of a friend who's wife's cousin works for Senator Clinton that...

When I was in school, we were taught that the reason George Washington never smiled in any of his portraits was because he had wooden teeth. This was in school; I took it in, and accepted it as truth. Shortly thereafter, though, we were studying Thomas Jefferson, and the teacher put his picture up on the wall. My hand shot up. "Did he have wooden teeth, too?" I was told that he did not, but quite frankly, if you look at any of the portraits of our earlier presidents and statesmen, they all have that same, serious expression on their faces. It seems to me that they didn't want people to think that they didn't take their positions seriously. Much, much later, I learned that the main reason that the Father of our Country married Martha was because she had money. His letters indicate that he did end up falling in love with her, but not until after they had been married for many years. Now my second question is this: If they had money, why would he wear wooden teeth? Couldn't they afford the best dentures? Do you expect me to believe that wood was the best-known material for dentures at the time? BTW, an article on GW's dentures can be found here.

I've heard for years that you shouldn't swallow your chewing gum, because it takes 7 years for it to go through your digestive system. I think that it's probably good advice, but, gum passes through in about the same amount of time as anything else you swallow. The difference is, it comes out pretty much the same as it went in. It's 'indigestible,' meaning, simply, that your digestive system really doesn't do much of anything with it, except pass it. Read more, here.

Let's consider a couple of images that are commonly accepted: Christ and the devil. I have heard a lot of talk about the paintings of a "blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus." To be honest, I have never seen a picture of Jesus with what I would consider to be blonde hair. Blue eyes, yes. Unrealistically light brown hair, yes. I think the "blonde hair" is just an exaggeration. To be honest, Jesus was Jewish (although, apparently, 20% of Americans don't know that), and as such, probably did not look any near as Caucasian as the paintings make out to be. The French philosopher Voltaire once said, "God created man in His own image, and then man returned the favor." We have a tendency to see Jesus in our own image. I don't think Jesus looked like me, because I don't look at all Jewish. I would like to think that Jesus looked like me, but I don't. He would have had an olive complexion, dark eyes, and either black or very dark brown hair. Don't like that image? Sorry, but that's what I think. As far as Satan, the standard picture shows him as basically a bigger, redder version of Pan. Why? My guess is, because, in mythology, Pan was a trickster. So, this became the template for the devil. I believe in the devil, but I believe that he is an invisible spirit. The Bible says that he was created as an angel; it never says that his form was changed. I know that a lot of people don't believe in Old Scratch, these days. That's your decision, but I have to say, if he's not real, that means all those evil thoughts that keep popping into your head are your own. Do you really want to claim them?