Conventional Wisdom.
In the 1st century A.D., Pliny the Elder wrote of the stupidity of the ostrich that thrusts its head and neck into a bush, imagining "that the whole of the body is concealed."
In the 21st century A.D., Ze the Frank said "Wikipedia - home of the C+ term paper."
Pliny had never actually seen an ostrich and ostriches don't bury their heads in bushes or, indeed, sand. These facts are confirmed by Wikipedia.
Be careful what you believe.
posted by john dodds @ 6:23 AM
2 Comments:
i don't get it.
what are you saying?
that wikipedia is a great encyclopedia?
if so, i think you haven't poked around much. sure there are facts within, but more often than not they aren't the facts that are pertinent.
I'm saying "Be careful what you believe" - sometimes conventional wisdom is valuable, sometimes it's false folklore. Similarly, sometimes Wikipedia may be right, sometimes it isn't and I wouldn't trust it or any other source without corroboration.
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