Hmm, is this me?
December 2nd, 2008Attractive Parents = Daughter First
November 2nd, 2008As with many of these stories it starts with a wayward group of friends, a party, and some alcohol. This time it also involves my pregnant wife in a tangential manner. It all started Halloween night as a group of us were standing around talking during a party at a friends’ house. The conversation naturally turned to my impending fatherhood and the status of my pregnant wife and our unborn child. All agreed that the thought of my offspring roaming the world was a proposition they were not ready to embrace wholeheartedly. However, they remind themselves that our daughter is also going to be from my wife’s actions and they hold out hope all will be well.
Naturally during this discussion, I bring up that the first born child of parents who are considered to be good looking is a girl 25% more often than a boy. I also said that the father has no bearing on whether the son is considered good looking according to a recent study. I also thought that one could conclude from our child being a girl I was 25% better looking than the average person, and so is my wife. Like so many of my other statements in the past this one was again met with great skepticism and derision. Thus, the posting at our little site.
There are really two claims in this story based in fact and one is a hypothesis from these facts. Naturally we will address the two claims first and then the hypothesis.
On to the facts:
25% more first born girls to beautiful people: NO – it is actually 26% of the time a first born child is a girl (I was off by just 1%)
Good Looking Dad = Good Looking Son: No according to a study done in the UK by Prof David Perrett and Prof Elisabeth Cornwell, of the University of St Andrews
The verdict: Brad is not lying since all of this was published in a reputable news source. However, we may need to question my critical thinking ability as it appears I will pass on information as long as I have read it somewhere, but I think this is for another posting.
Now we must also address the claim that I am 25% better looking than the average person. Well, we have already established that two good looking parents have a girl as their first born 26% more often (we shall call this a). It has already been established that my wife and I are having a girl as our first born (this is b). Now the question becomes can one conclude from this that I am 25% better looking than the average person (call this c). Using the Transitive Property of Equality, which states If a=b, and b=c, then a=c, I say we can.
I will admit that I randomly picked the 25% more attractive portion, because it had a natural simple harmony with the 25% more first born girls for beautiful people. It also makes sense that you must be a measurable amount of finer than the average to get any type of statistical relevance in a study to be classified as hot, and it makes sense that this would be at least 25%.
The Verdict: I may be full of shit, but I still look good.
Now I wonder if the wife is 50% hotter than average, and the husband is average do you still have a girl as your first born 26% more often?
Supporting Links:
UK Telegraph Article
St. Andrews University Press Release
Transitive Property of Equality
The Trust Drug – Research from Switzerland
May 23rd, 2008Let’s just start with the claim of my BS first.
Again From Ben
“Scientists” in a country, city, continent or region that starts with an “S” (Brad believes this place to be European) have invented a substance (there was no information as to whether or not it was a powder, liquid, etc.) that, when added to a drink, makes the person who ingests this substance “like you more – even if they know you are a bad person”. This is the typical line of vague BS Brad will throw out in an attempt to sound interesting. To date, no sources have been named for this new “research”.
Now, I believe I said Switzerland, and that you can use said drug to get others to trust you more even when they have been told you are not trustworthy.
On to the facts:
Drug: Oxytocin
Research Location: Switzerland – several universities
Research Paper Title: Oxytocin Shapes the Neural Circuitry of Trust and Trust Adaptation in Humans
Authors: Thomas Baumgartner, Markus Heinrichs, Aline Vonlanthen, Urs Fischbacher, and Ernst Fehr
The Verdict: Again, Brad is NOT lying
Here is part of the summary of research for the paper as taken from the Neuron website.
Trust and betrayal of trust are ubiquitous in human societies. Recent behavioral evidence shows that the neuropeptide oxytocin increases trust among humans, thus offering a unique chance of gaining a deeper understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying trust and the adaptation to breach of trust. We examined the neural circuitry of trusting behavior by combining the intranasal, double-blind, administration of oxytocin with fMRI. We find that subjects in the oxytocin group show no change in their trusting behavior after they learned that their trust had been breached several times while subjects receiving placebo decrease their trust.
Supporting Links:
http://www.neuron.org/content/article/abstract?uid=PIIS0896627308003279
http://io9.com/392583/the-trust-me-drug-that-makes-you-take-social-risks (Original article I read)
Full Text of said Research Paper – Believe you have to be a member or have password to read
Decapitated Rastifarian Running from NYC Police
May 23rd, 2008Per my request for BS, and my promise to my dear reader’s, I will always post on any of the “BS” that comes out of my mouth and you call me on. Even if I am somehow mistakenly wrong on what I say. Following that here is one of the two latest accusations of BS by me.
From Loyal Reader and Doubter Ben:
A video on the internet depicts a “black guy with dreadlocks” running from police and trying to jump an iron fence with spikes on top. Somehow, the criminal falls, impaling his head on a spike and actually tearing his head completely off. Again, no video was ever located, despite Brad’s searching online.
As you can see from my headline I also said I believe this took place in New York City, but was not sure. Even not being sure of this I am willing to add it to the public record and further open myself up to ridicule. Also, I did not say video, but pictures. This is a point of contention right now, but I find it to be just an intentional haze being created driven by fear from my doubters. I also said the guy was Rastafarian looking.
Now on to the verdict. Is Brad Lying?
Here are the facts.
Police Chase: Yes
Location: Atlanta
Man Climbing Fence and getting decapitated: Yes – kind of
Pictures: Yes
Black/Rastafarian Looking: Yes
Date: February 15, 2003
Decapitation: Yes
The verdict: Brad is NOT lying
What happened was a man was running from the police after being stopped and tried to climb a concrete highway rail on an overpass. He then fell/jumped 35 feet onto the wrought iron fence. This action lead to his decapitation. I was wrong about the city. Of course a couple of people may claim the whole video thing as well. However, the central theme of the “BS” was decapitated Rastafarian on wrought iron fence with pictures. On this I was dead on. Pun intended.
Supporting Link:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/gruesome/decapitation.asp (Not Safe for Work)
Careful clicking the above link. It shows very gruesome images, so please think before clicking.
Equal Time – A request for BS.
April 21st, 2008What a great little response we have had so far to IsBradLying.com. One common thread, other than the continuing questioning of my rightness and sanity, is the call for equal time for those that obviously think I am BS’ing 99% of the time. To be fair, I do sometimes expand upon facts just to see if people are listening. However, I do not do this as much as many of you claim. To make this fair, I will not only use this blog to post the times I am right, which is still most of the time. If you email me, or leave a comment on a post discussing a time you think I am full of it, then I will be happy to address that issue here. You can always submit your own articles for the blog, and I will be happy to post them – if they are an honest portrayal of the situation.
So email be at IsBradLying@gmail.com or post a comment to this post and I will address a time you thought I was lying. Maybe I was and maybe I wasn’t. The truth will be revealed here.
Baseball Wife Swap in the 1970’s
April 21st, 2008Let me set the scene for you. This past Sunday four friends are out enjoying the first golf round of the season, shooting the shit, and having a good time. Dave, Ben, and Casey* are the other members of the foursome and Dave and Casey think that about 95% of the “fun facts” I produce are complete BS. Ben is relatively new to these little bits of info, and while Dave tries to influence his opinion, I like to believe he is still open to the idea that I speak the truth.
As it often does when a group of guys gets together the conversation takes a winding path and is full of a number of interesting topics. There are always a number of non sequitur’s in guy talk, and today was no different. At some point, I bring up the “fact” that in the 1970’s two professional baseball players (MLB) publicly swapped wives because they wanted to change wives. Futher, one of the couple ended up staying married, but the other relationship did not work out. I could not remember the players, or team (I thought it was a NY or East Coast Team).
Of course, Dave, being the doubting Thomas that he is instantly called bullshit, quickly followed by Ben – maybe he isn’t as open minded as I thought to my powers – and Casey. Of course, I am willing to bet each of them $50 -there were no takers. Chickens.
Due to my willingness to put money on the line, they start to ridicule me with comments of, “I am sure that at some point in the past 30 years, in some sport, two people have changed wives, girlfriends, or filed for divorce. Hahaha.” I stick by my nugget of info – baseball, 70’s, publicly swapped wives. Now let’s find out who is right.
After some research, here are the facts.
Players Involved: Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson
Team: New York Yankee’s
Year: 1972
Activity: Swapped wives and lives.
Result: Fritz Peterson is still married to the former Mrs. Kekich, but Mike Kekich is no longer married to the former Mrs. Peterson.
The verdict: Brad is NOT lying.
I was right about the decade, team, the sport, and most importantly the whole wife swapping affair. In truth, my fact nugget did not go far enough. I should have included the entire family swapping aspect.
Better luck at catching me next time. Keep trying and one day I may be lying.
Supporting Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Peterson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Kekich
http://www.slate.com/id/2111295/
http://www.askmen.com/sports/fitness_top_ten_100/117_fitness_list.html (see #10)
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/baseball/shocking/moments.html (see #6)
http://www.cracked.com/article_15171_p2.html
*Names may have been changed to protect the ignorant.