Who Knew? Assertions, Assumptions and Assorted Weirdness from All Over

"It's not what we know that hurts us. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so." "The New York Times Guide to Essential Information" says this is attributed to Mark Twain: but that Josh Billings really said it.¹

Since I think it's prudent to live in the real world, I post about alternatively-accurate ideas now and again:

• "Archaeology Paleontology, Science, and Wishful Thinking"
  (October 12, 2010)
• "If Catholics are Superstitious, How Come We're Not Allowed to be Superstitious?"
  (August 18, 2010)
• "School District Celebrates Religious Freedom Day: By Banning Bibles"
  (July 1, 2010)
• "Pedophile Priests! - or - My Mind is Made Up, Don't Confuse Me With the Facts"
  (April 11, 2010)
• "Cultural Chaos, Divisiveness, and CNN"
  (April 1, 2010)
• "Pedophile Priests, 'Evil Pope' and The New York Times"
  (March 31, 2010)
• "The Manhattan Declaration: Hateful?"
  (November 21, 2009)
• "Global Warming, End Times - 'We're All Gonna Die' Over the Last 45 Years Or So"
  (October 3, 2009)
• "Pro-Life People - 'Domestic Terrorists and Violent Racketeers': Who Knew? "
  (June 1, 2009)
• " 'Catholics and Muslims along with the fake Jews all are Satanic Cults' - Who Knew?"
  (April 2, 2009)
• "The Pope Shouldn't Wear a Cross: Who Knew?"
  (March 17, 2009)
• "Jesus is a Palestinian: Who Knew?"
  (March 7, 2009)
• "Catholics Not Allowed to Read Bible!! Catholic Church Banned Bible Ownership!!"
  (January 27, 2009)
• "Old Woman Attacked Proposition 8 Demonstrators: Who Knew?"
  (November 13, 2008)
• "Nancy Pelosi an Ardent, Clueless Catholic: Who Knew?"
  (November 3, 2008)
• "Catholics Don't Believe the Bible: Who Knew?"
  (September 26, 2008)
• "The Rosary is a Gang Symbol: Who Knew?"
  (September 16, 2008)
• "Nero Was Working for the Christians: Who Knew?"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (March 22, 2008)

Judging from what I've collected in another blog, there'll be quite a sampling here.

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¹ Permutations on '...ain't really so' are also attributed to Artemus Ward (Twain's contemporary), Kin Hubbard, Will Rogers, and - once - Yogi Berra.

Judging from discussions of 'aletheia' (ἀλήθεια) by Aristotle about two and a half millennia back, and how important it is for the mind and desire to deal with what's real, that "just ain't so" remark may be the English version of something that predates Plato's Ἀκαδήμεια.