Common Myths Debunked

In the spirit of my post about "proof" and this BBC article we have decided to debunk a few myths of our own. At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not concerned about correcting misconceptions.

• Laughter is the best medicine. While laughter can be good for the soul, it doesn't do very much to alleviate even the simplest symptoms of even the simplest cold. Even if laughter were the best medicine for some conditions, it would be very difficult to prove that it was the best medicine in all cases.
• Even the most tempting rose has thorns. As this website points out, there are varieties of roses available that are 95-100% thorn-free. It is likely in this case that you could find a single rose with no thorns on it at all! Even if thornless roses hadn't been created by the marvels of modern technology, it would be hard to prove that no rose anywhere in the world has ever not had thorns. Even if you could prove this never occurred in nature, it would be hard to argue that a de-thorned rose doesn't violate this aphorism.
  
• Living well is the best revenge. Although R.E.M. seems to agree as the first track on their album Accelerate suggests, we don't believe that living well is much revenge at all. How can you avenge the wrongful death of your henchmen by living well? For that matter, what does "living well" really mean? Does it mean avoiding drugs, smoking, and alcohol and getting plenty of rest and exercise? Does it mean living comfortably? Not to mention that proving that there is no better method of revenge would be difficult at best.
• A .44 Magnum beats four aces. While the carrier of a .44 Magnum might be able to take the money of other players, the rules of Poker according to Hoyle clearly do not give a .44 Magnum any advantage over four aces.

We hope this was a useful exercise and look forward to more debunking in the future.