Friday Sprog Blogging: great moments in skepticism (U.S. history edition).

For the record, this is the entry I would have posted last Friday if I hadn't been occupied with provisioning for our Independence Day barbecue. (Indeed, regular commenter $0.01 saw me at Trader Joe's last Friday doing that provisioning. "I haven't checked the sprog blog yet," said she. "I haven't posted it yet!" I replied.)

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In the run up to the July 4th holiday, the Free-Ride family dredged up some "common knowledge" about U.S. presidents. Of course, we started with Washington, but it wasn't long until we got to Lincoln.

Younger offspring: Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin.

Dr. Free-Ride's better half: That he built with his own two hands!

Elder offspring: (in exaggerated disbelief) What?!!

Younger offspring: No he didn't! He couldn't build a log cabin just with his hands. He'd need tools to cut the logs and make them fit together.

The elder Free-Ride offspring's jaw drops, eyes roll.

Dr. Free-Ride: Is that the only clue that it couldn't be true?

Younger offspring: Well ... babies probably couldn't build log cabins even with tools.

Elder offspring: Especially before they're born!

Younger offspring: Oh. Yeah.

More like this

Even though August has barely started, it turns out that the Free-Ride offspring have already been to quite a number of museums and related centers of edutainment this summer. We review the line-up:
Last weekend, the Free-Rides visited the National Zoo in Washington, DC. Here are some of the animals we saw:
Yesterday afternoon, I attempted to talk with the younger Free-Ride offspring about erosion. It would seem, from our conversation, that it is not just rocks that can erode -- recall of material learned in science class can also erode, as can patience.
Today, the Free-Ride offspring have lots of questions. Maybe science can answer some of them. Younger offspring: Why do the stars shine so bright? Elder offspring: Why do snails come out on rainy days?

What most history books fail to mention was that Abraham Lincoln was a POWERFUL PSIONIC and began manifesting tremendous telekinetic powers from the womb!

(I'm sure there's a reason why they fail to mention this, but you cannot deny that history books do in fact fail to mention this!)

I recall my youngest, a natural skeptic, talking to his grandpa.

Grandpa - if you dance outside naked at midnight it'll snow.

Youngster - Grandpa, I don't think that's how it works.