h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

* Sometimes it seems that we're being asked to be experts on more subjects than we care to learn about, just to avoid being led around by the nose by bad actors with agendas. Welcome to the 21st Century, folks.*

Yes indeed - I spend less time on Twitter and Facebook these days because of the amount of fake news I encounter. If I do have the time and energy for a fact check, quite often the response is something along the lines of *well it sounds like it could be true, and it fits the point I want to make * . . . Frightening how such fantasies can affect the reality of other people in substantial ways.

Sadly the people who need certain training courses are the least likely to do them, but one I enjoyed recently had a good mantra: What assumptions are being made and how do I know they are true?

Applies to adverts, too - floating soap is useful, but testing is the way to know whether it floats, rather than just believing the advert. People in/out of the target market may have different, helpful/unhelpful reactions to it, so that is important to take into account, as with the exam paper - very important point that a classroom is a different environment to an exam, with different expectations. Carl Bovis checking AI birds is also helpful - easy for people who don’t know much about birds to be taken in, especially as AI bird pictures are glossy and colourful so they stand out, it hopefully at least some people will gain more of an appreciation of real nature thanks to his efforts

I can understand the desire to stay away from people who often seem to be making it up as they go along. Your mantra about assumptions is a good one!

There was a big discussion on Twitter yesterday. Somebody posted a picture of a honeycomb from an apiary with a description that said the beekeeper 'forgot' to put a frame in the box and the bees made this heart-shaped comb, wasn't nature just wonderful? Alarm bells went off and I hunted.

I found, as I suspected I would, that this image had done the rounds some years ago and been researched and explained by a folklorist who was still on Twitter. It seems a South African beekeeper had put in a heart-shaped frame as a surprise for his wife. The folklore guy had the receipts and it was a nice piece of research.

I located his thread and copied it into the discussion, thinking to be helpful.

http://twitter.com/CZEdwards/status/1784310280928776655

Some people were satisfied: others started bickering over details.

That honeycomb is a good example - shocking, but probably not surprising, that the photo has been around for years and people are still using it to 'prove' things when it is taken out of context... The reactions to your post are also illustrative!

Some people (including readers) will be appreciative of the information, even if some people in the thread aren't

Indeed. We just do what we can, I think.