Word: myths
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Then" and "Now:" Davis is quick to note that historical data can sometimes be misleading, if not altogether inaccurate. Take early measurements of iron in foods: because scientists failed to sufficiently remove clinging soil, iron levels appeared unusually high in certain vegetables like spinach (which gave rise to the myth that it contained exorbitant amounts of iron - a notion further propagated by the popular cartoon character, Popeye). Then again, good historical data provides the only real-world evidence of changes in foods over time, and such data does exist - one farm in Hertfordshire, England, for example, has archived its wheat...
...scientists are truly doing a disservice to all children. The incidence rate of measles has sharply risen over the past few years; more people were infected from January to July 2008 than during any other time since 1996. In the United Kingdom, despite the subsequent denials of the myth relating the MMR vaccine to autism, the percentage of children being immunized for MMR has dropped from 90 to 82 since the original study. Correspondingly, children are now more at risk for the contagious diseases that the vaccine typically prevents. Parents who choose not to immunize their children thus endanger other...
...look at the whole GTA series as a sustained fictional inquiry into the myth of the great American badass - the criminal, the gangsta, the made man, the outlaw. It's a loving inquiry, but it has a consistent critical distance, an outsider's point of view. And no wonder: the games aren't created by Americans at all. Houser, a Brit, is based in New York City, but most of the work gets done by Rockstar North, a team of Scots based in Edinburgh...
...Institute of Politics last night. Faust was joined by Pulitzer prize winner Tony Kushner, Harvard English professor John Stauffer, New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik, Yale University professor David W. Blight, and Gettysburg University professor Allen C. Guelzo for the discussion, which focused on the realities that underlie the Lincoln myth. Harvard professor of African-American studies Henry Louis Gates Jr. served as the moderator. “Every generation of Americans since 1865 has fashioned a Lincoln to its own needs,” said Gates, who called the event a “celebration of the 200th birthday...
...caused more by economic changes than the glaring issue of slavery—goes to the heart of a historiographical tendency that Egnal rightly sees as dangerous. People have come to see slavery as the cause of the war, he argues, because this provides them with a comforting myth that helps present the history of the United States as simply the progress of liberty and democracy. The Civil War won’t go away, because it shines a light on America that can be troubling, but this problem must be reconciled and not ignored, he writes...