Valentines
day is celebrated throughout the globe on February 14th of every year.
On this day, many people would get into a new relationship.
But its not
same for everyone. Some may not be able to convince their love and few
others might break up from the relationship. For such people, Anti
valentine weeks are observed after the valentines week.
This week is
specially for people who are depressed and feeling miserable after a bad
break up.
Had a bad Valentine’s Day?
Could not convince your date to be with you forever?
Had a bad break-up right after your dinner date?
Or did your boyfriend / girlfriend/ any other kind of lover throw your gift back at you because they didn’t like it?
If your relationship has not worked out after you have spent all your love, time and money on that special person the entire Valentine Week, then here’s your chance to go Anti-Valentine!
Yes, there is something like that.
After Valentine’s Day, comes the Anti-Valentine Week. Beginning with Slap Day on February 15, there comes Kick Day, Perfume Day, Flirting Day, Confession Day, Missing Day and eventually Break-up Day!
Like all popular holidays, Valentine's Day has a host of myths, urban legends, and misconceptions, to go with a murky history, unclear origin, and a confusing mythology. Valentine's Day origins aren't well known, and even which "St. Valentine" the romantic holiday is named after isn't quite clear. But it does have roots in literature of the Middle Ages, as well as English courtly traditions going back to the 1800s. But even English lovers in the Victorian era weren't spending the type of money that modern Americans spend on their true loves (or flings) on February 14. Valentine history is full of legends and widely believed theories that aren't actually based in fact. How did romance even get connected with St. Valentine? Again, it's not completely clear. And how much money do people really spend on Valentine's Day gifts anyway? These Valentines myths and legends about the Day for Lovers might surprise you, and you might find that what you thought you knew about the pink and red holiday known for hearts, Cupid, and Teddy bears isn't quite true. Vote up the Valentine's Day "facts" you were most surprised to learn aren't totally true and then order in some food for you and your sweetie - the real V-Day pros know that eating out on February 14 isn't romantic, it's a nightmare. 💓 St. Valentine's Day Started As A Roman Feast Called Lupercalia REALITY: Lupercalia was an ancient Roman fertility rite observed from February 13–15. A form of purification and spring cleaning, it was designed to spike birth rates by having drunk men run around naked, hitting women who wanted to conceive. While popular during the heyday of the Roman Empire, it declined in popularity as Christianity arose, and it was banned by Pope Gelasius in the late 490s, folded into the concurrent Feast of Purification. No written evidence connects the modern Valentine’s Day with this rite, given that Valentine’s Day didn’t become connected with love or lovers until much later. Though Lupercalia and Valentine’s Day might indeed be linked, it’s not clear how, and the fact that they take place on the same day is probably coincidence. It’s more likely that Lupercalia spawned some of the rituals of the modern Mardi Gras celebration.
Chocolate Is The Ultimate Aphrodisiac REALITY: Chocolate has been a traditional Valentine’s Day staple since sometime after the 15th Century Aztecs made it an aphrodisiac. And indeed, some kinds of chocolate contain two chemicals found in people who are either aroused or in love. One is tryptophan, which is an element of serotonin. The other is phenylethylamine, a stimulant released in the brain when people fall in love. But neither chemical appears in high enough quantities in the average box of chocolates to have much of an effect. You’d probably have to eat enough to get a stomachache, which is decidedly unsexy.
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The St. Valentine's Day Massacre Bricks Are Cursed REALITY: The Massacre was the machine-gunning of five members of Chicago’s North Side Irish gang (along with two other unlucky associates) by Al Capone’s South Side Italians. The victims were lined up against the brick wall of a warehouse in Lincoln Park and ventilated with Tommy Guns. The warehouse soon became a tourist attraction and was torn down in 1967, with the bricks purchased by Canadian businessman George Patey. They were then used in the men’s room of a '20s themed club, with a Plexiglass wall around them so men could pee on them. The club closed and the bricks were sold off piecemeal, with many ending up at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. Patey claimed that many of the individual bricks he sold came back to him, returned by people who befell bad luck in business, love, and health due to them. But this presupposes the existence of curses – and Patey’s story actually being true. 💓 We Know A Lot About The Life of St. Valentine REALITY: We know about as much as we do about most other figures of early Christianity – which is to say, very little. Most of the stories commonly attributed to one or the other Valentines are squarely in the realm of myth, with nothing to confirm their veracity. One legend of St. Valentine is that he was arrested and beheaded for marrying Christian couples or Roman soldiers to Christians. Another is that the earlier Valentine was imprisoned for refusing to convert to Paganism, and through his prison prayers, he healed the jailer's blind daughter. On the day of his execution he supposedly left her a note that was signed “Your Valentine" – which was the first Valentine’s Day card. No evidence exists to support these or any of the other legends associated with St. Valentine, or even confirm when they might have occurred. 💓 Valentine's Day Started As A Holiday For Lovers REALITY: It was not until the 14th century that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love. It’s probably the medieval poet and Canterbury Tales author Geoffrey Chaucer who first linked St. Valentine's Day with romance, by way of a marriage poem. In 1381, Chaucer composed a poem to honor the engagement of England's Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. As per tradition, Chaucer associated the occasion with a feast day – in this case, Valentine. And even then, Chaucer didn’t use people to tell his story – he used birds. He wrote in "The Parliament of Fowls”: For this was on St. Valentine's Day, When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate. 💓 Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue REALITY: This highly clichéd bit of poetic doggerel stretches back to the English nursery rhyme collection Gammer Gurton's Garland from 1784. And it probably goes even further than that, with a reference to “red roses” found in Sir Edmund Spenser’s 1590 epic The Faerie Queen. It probably entered the popular lexicon when it was a line in one of the songs in Victor Hugo’s 1862 book Les Miserables. 💓 Valentine's Day Is A Hallmark Holiday Designed To Sell Cards REALITY: Lovers exchanging hand-made cards as tokens of affection on Valentine's Day had become common in England by the 18th century. Eventually, these cards, usually made of lace or ribbons, and featuring the familiar iconography of cupids and hearts, spread to the American colonies. It wasn’t until the 1850s, when Esther A. Howland began mass-producing them that the greeting card industry truly took off in the US. But take off it did, with tens of millions of cards being bought and mailed every year. 💓
French Nobleman Charles, Duke of Orleans Wrote The First Valentine's Poem REALITY: Charles was just 21 when taken prisoner by the British at the disastrous Battle of Agincourt in 1415 – legend has it he was found unharmed under a pile of corpses, unable to move due to the weight of his armor. He was held in the Tower of London for many years, where he composed up to 500 poems, many to his wife, Bonne of Armagnac. Allegedly, one of these was the first Valentine’s Day poem, written just a year into his captivity. In reality, Charles might have written ONE of the first known Valentine’s poems, but whether or not it was literally THE first can never be known with certainty. The romantic poetry tradition was already alive and well, so this is probably more urban legend than historical fact. Charles was released in 1440, 10 years after Bonne died. St. Valentine's Day Is An Important Christian Holiday REALITY: It’s not that important, and it's not even a holiday. Instead, it’s one of many, many liturgical feast days on the Christian calendar, meant to commemorate various saints. In the case of February 14, the honors are for the martyrs Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest killed around 500 CE, while Valentine of Terni was killed around 200 CE. There might have even been a third Valentine, an African saint martyred much later than the other two. In fact, the General Roman Catholic Calendar removed it as a feast day in 1969 because nothing could be confirmed about the existence of Valentine of Rome. 💓 That Valentine's Day Prix Fixe Dinner Is A Great Deal REALITY: It’s probably not. In fact, restaurateurs agree that Valentine’s Day is a terrible night to go out for dinner, with places packed with couples that don’t often go out to eat and will either be going all out to impress each other or so preoccupied with PDA that they’ll be annoying other diners. The waitstaff is stressed out and the chef is trying to push out too many meals – and since restaurants are so packed, the prix fixe menus usually tilt toward standard and unimaginative fare. Food experts agree that it’s more romantic to either pick up a little something to enjoy at home, or just cook together. 💓 Taking A Hot Bath Together Is Super Sexy REALITY: It can be, if you have room for two in your bathtub. On the other hand, it might also be destroying your sperm count. A three-year study by a Brazilian urologic journal found that many of the subjects’ fertility stats, including count and motility, soared after they stopped taking hot baths. This can lead to savings of thousands of dollars in fertility treatments, as well as the heartache of not being able to get pregnant. 💓 Your Partner Wants You To Propose On Valentine's Day REALITY: They almost certainly don't. According to a survey by the Daily Mail 70% of women don't want to get a proposal on Valentine's Day, feeling that it’s too gimmicky and too predictable. Of 1,107 women they polled, just 19% said they would like to be proposed to on Valentine's Day, while 74% said they wouldn't. And almost 50% of the women they surveyed stated they'd rather have their proposal come as a complete surprise. Despite this, nearly four million Americans propose on Valentine’s Day anyway. 💓 Ladies Want You To Buy Them Something Sexy REALITY: Thanks to the unrealistic ideals propagated by men’s magazines and the media in general, many women have body issues that could only be exacerbated by buying them lingerie they’re not comfortable with. Men seem to have gotten the message, as according to flower company Teleflora, only 11% buy sexy night things for their partner. Your best bet is to ask your lady what she actually wants - whether it's something sexy or something else - rather than just getting what you think you are supposed to buy. 💓 People Spend A Lot Of Money REALITY: It depends on what you define as a lot. According to the National Retail Federation, the average American couple spent $133.91 total on gifts for each other on Valentine’s Day. Men reported $108.38, while women reporting spending $49.41. This isn’t much more than the cost of a nice dinner out, so don’t think everyone is out buying their sweetheart a diamond bracelet. 💓 https://www.ranker.com/list/valentines-day-myths/mike-rothschild
Biggest Valentine’s Day Myths of All Time
Cupid can in Fact be Thwarted
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By Sarah Hutto
Myth:Valentine’s Day was named after St. Valentine, the Roman saint of courtly love.
Fact:You don’t need love to have a good time. You don’t even need friends. 💓 Myth:A St. Valentine’s key is a small metal token given in some European countries as both a romantic symbol and a charm to ward off epilepsy. Fact:Epilepsy can be treated with medication, unlike being in love, which is often fatal. 💓 Myth:Ancient Romans practiced Lupercalia, a fertility rite involving the whipping of women with the raw hides of sacrificed animals. Fact:Lupercalia is still practiced today, figuratively, through the voluntary act of online dating. 💓 Myth:Cupid is often portrayed as the infant son of the love goddess Venus and Mars, the god of war. Fact:It is well known that immunity against Cupid’s arrows of desire can be attained by wearing a Bluetooth earpiece and Crocs in public. 💓 Myth:In some traditions, Valentine’s Day is associated with the beginning of spring. Fact:Spring is probably not going to come this year. 💓 Myth:A little under half of all American couples choose not to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Fact:A little under half of American men choose not to celebrate Valentine’s Day, because your anniversary was just a couple of months ago, and aren’t they basically the same thing? 💓 Myth:There were multiple St. Valentines recognized by early Christian churches. Fact:All St. Valentines represent one disappointing person from your childhood whom you repeatedly fall in and out of love with, because like love, the cycle of dysfunction lives on forever. 💓 Myth: The heart symbol, long used to represent love and emotion, has only a vague resemblance to an actual human heart. Fact:The first person to use the heart as a symbol may have had some questionable hobbies and possibly astigmatism. 💓 Myth: It is acceptable not to acknowledge your mother on Valentine’s Day. Fact:No, really. It’s fine. Your father probably won’t acknowledge her either, so she’ll just see you next time your washing machine is broken. It’s not like she gave birth to you or anything.
Explaining Occam’s Razor & a little background on where it comes from, and provide some examples to help get a better grasp of this mental model. Occam’s Razor is a philosophical razor that states, entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. It is often paraphrased today as, the simplest explanation is usually the best one. It is also known as the Law of Parsimony.
Parsimony is just a ten-cent word that means to be extremely thrifty or careful with resources. Occam’s Razor is parsimonious in that it says we should look for the simplest explanations when in search of the truth.
Explaining Occam’s Razor Occam’s Razor works as a rule of thumb that can be used when you’re faced with a number of competing explanations for a given situation or phenomenon. It says that the simplest explanation is usually the best one, or conversely, that unnecessarily complex and convoluted explanations are unlikely to be correct. It advocates for simplicity, or parsimony, and helps you choose the most likely explanation by eliminating those that are needlessly complex.
But why is it called a “razor”? What is a philosophical razor? In philosophy, a razor is a principal or rule of thumb used to shave awayunnecessary ideas or theories. Other notable philosophical razors include Hanlon’s Razor and Hume’s Guillotine. Each one of these applies a principal or rule of thumb to eliminate unlikely options, arguments, or ideas. And that’s exactly how Occam’s Razor works. It’s a rule of thumb used to cut away less likely explanations. I’ll give you an example of Occam’s Razor in action in just a minute. But first, let’s talk about where this philosophical razor gets its name.
About William of Ockham Occam’s Razor is named after William of Ockham, a 14th century Franciscan Friar, theologian, and scholastic philosopher. He was born in the town of Ockham, located in Surrey, England and attended Oxford. William spent six years at Oxford and did enough work to be granted his masters, but for reasons we don’t know, he never received that honor. Regardless, William went on to teach and write and is a major figure in medieval thought, having produced important works on logic, physics, and theology. In fact, he was often at the center of the significant intellectual and political controversies of his day, and even went as
far as to publicly call Pope John 22 a heretic. Unsurprisingly, in hindsight at least, Williamof Ockham was eventually excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. What’s interesting about Occam’s Razor is that William of Ockham didn’t really invent it. Aristotle, Ptolemy, Aquinas, and Duns Scotus all promoted
the law of parsimony, which is what Occam’s Razor is, well before William of Ockham.
An example of Occam’s Razor in use Okay! So we’ve covered how Occam’s Razor works, explained philosophical razors, and talked about William of Ockham’s background. Now it’s time for an example. Let’s say you live in an apartment building in NYC that’s next to a railway line. As you’re watching television, a loud rumble overwhelms you. Is that loud noise a train going by or is it a
herd of African water buffalo stampeding on the street below? The simplest explanation is that it’s a train.
A caution for using Occam’s Razor
I must caution you that it’s possible to oversimplify and end up with the wrong answer. For example, someone might go to the doctor with flu-like symptoms:
headache, sore joints, and a fever. The doctor, using Occam’s Razor, might conclude they’ve got the flu, since that’s the simplest explanation. But, it’s possible that further tests might reveal a more serious problem, like Lime Disease. The two things to keep in mind if you want to avoid misapplying Occam’s Razor is first, remember it’s just a rule of thumb, and not a law. Second, always get as much information as you can before eliminating possible options. Keeping these things in mind will help you avoid jumping to the wrong conclusion.
Conclusion So, there you have it! Occam’s Razor, named after William of Ockham, is a philosophical razor that states the simplest explanation is often the best one. It’s a rule of thumb that’s best applied to eliminate unlikely explanations after you’ve reasonably collected as much data as possible.
This
is a video explaining Occams's Razor, which is a normative, rational
pattern of thought. It also explains how this principle differs from Inference to
the Best Explanation and some other similar principles. There is also
an explanation of an individual's ontology. To illustrate all of this,
several examples are used involving the germ theory of disease and plate
tectonics. This video was originally developed for use in an
introductory level philosophy course, Introduction to Ethics, but it can
be used for any philosophy course.
Comments Amazing explanation of Occam's razor. I was teaching my students about Occam's razor and needed to check my own understanding of what it really means. I read a few notes about it and browsed on YouTube to find out more. Found some but nothing as helpful as yours. You have helped me beyond what I already knew ( or thought I knew ) . Explaining how we choose the simplest solution based on our ontology makes so much sense. I also
love the examples using the continents because it shows the choices we make in our explanation. Thank you.
Thanks for the more detailed explanation. I originally heard the term in Carl Sagan's PBS series Cosmos and then again in the movie Contact.
P.S. I used it in trying to figure out how you're writing backwards on a glass board. I initially thought you're either a genius who can see this in his head and transfer it to the board for us to be able to read it, or that you're really not left-handed and that you probably just inverted the video image. Because most people are right-handed I assumed the ladder. Yes?
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The best presentation on YouTube on "Occam's razor". from 0.20 to 6.00 minutes. What clarity man! Many thanks. You deserve a standing ovation! This video is an absolute must for all PhD students 1. Every human possess an ontology model deep inside his mind 2. Formal education must help every man to digout-clarify his own ontology model 3. else... ! 4. All expenditure on education in terms of money-time-efforts will go waste
5. As man becomes older , he must attempt to simplify his own ontology model as much as possible 6. He must document-publish it before he dies ! 7. He must pass it on to the next generation as legacy.
Occam’s Razor states that one should not increase (beyond reason) the number of entities required to explain anything. All things being equal, the simplest solution is often the best one. The principle is attributed to 14th-century English theologian William of Ockham.
Understanding Occam’s Razor Occam’s Razor is a principle that states that one should not increase (beyond reason) the number of entities required to explain anything. In other words, with all things being equal, the simplest solution is often the best one. The principle is attributed to 14th-century English theologian William of Ockham. It’s important to realize that Occam’s Razor is not 100% reliable. That is, the simplest solution is not always the correct solution. But when presented with several solutions to a problem, its best course of action is to choose the solution with the fewest assumptions.
What is Occam's Razor?
A famous but often misunderstood principle in philosophy, how we can use this principle to help guide us in choosing appropriate models and theories.
Occam refers to William of Ockham, a 14th century English logician and theologian. A “razor” in philosophy is a guiding principle that helps philosophers “shave away” unlikely or unuseful explanations for a phenomenon. In the case of Occam’s razor, overly complicated explanations are shaved away. More directly, if two competing explanations, theories, or models explain the same phenomenon equally well, philosophers generally prefer the explanation that makes the fewest assumptions. William of Ockham was not the first to propose such a principle, as it was famously used by Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, and other philosophers before him. He did, however, use the principle in much of his philosophical work, and thus the razor became associated with him. It is important to note that Occam’s razor does not make any claim about which of two competing theories is actually true, or which will continue to explain the phenomenon as new data is uncovered. Rather, it is a rule of thumb that guides scientists and philosophers when developing and choosing between models and theories. It is particularly effective against the tendency to add assumptions (called ad hoc hypotheses) to an older theory to make it fit with new conflicting evidence. A good example of Occam’s razor at work concerns the debate between the geocentric and heliocentric models of the solar system. The goal of both models was to explain the motion of the planets as seen from earth. The geocentric model began with each planet following a simple orbit around the earth. However, it was later observed that the inner planets did not simply move across the sky but danced with the sun in a complicated pattern. The outer planets even appeared to turn around and move backward for a brief period in their orbit, before continuing through the sky. Furthermore, the planets moved at different speeds throughout their path. The geocentric model used ad hoc hypotheses to account for these new observations, assuming that the planets orbited on epicycles which themselves orbited the earth, or rather, a point very close to the earth, and that their speed was constant about a third point slightly farther from the earth. When still more discrepancies were observed, more epicycles were added until the model was thoroughly over-complicated. Meanwhile, the heliocentric model more elegantly explained all the observed phenomena by assuming all planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun. Occam’s razor supports this model, which continues to explain newly observed stellar phenomena even today. There are many other instances in which Occam’s razor supported a successful scientific theory. For example, quantum mechanics and special relativity were both huge departures from previous theories in an effort to avoid extraneous or ad hoc hypotheses. Even before the empirical success of Occam’s razor, the idea drew support due to its aesthetic appeal. St. Thomas Aquinas, Newton, and Galileo all remarked that simplicity was inherently natural and desirable, and physicist Paul Dirac believed that theorists should strive for the mathematical beauty that often accompanies simplicity. Scientists and philosophers alike agree that all theories must be understandable and testable to be successful, therefore pragmatically speaking a model with fewer assumptions and complications is easier to work with. While opponents of Occam’s razor argue that it is subjective and stifles creativity, its successes have earned it a place as a cornerstone of modern philosophy and scientific thinking.
William of Ockham was a theologian in the 14th century and most of you will likely be familiar with Occam’s razor, but for those of you that are not, it can be summarised as follows: Given conflicting theories, the one with the fewest assumptions, is more likely to be correct. It’s so named because it cuts away that which is unnecessary. ‘The Razor’ by Richard and Jordan tells Ockham’s tale in the most stunningly beautiful way.
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