We saw Meghan today.

Saw her at the boat, played together, then walked back with her to the boat (or, in her case, the train).

Passed by the WTC memorial - a hunk of sculpture taken from the ruins and with a flame in front of it. Very good, better than the expensive shit they're pulling out that doesn't help anybody but only... but I digress.

And Meghan goes into this whole bit about the people, they died, they in heaven, and the plane (cue hand motion for plane), and...

It's just like "Meghan! You weren't even born then! You're creeping me out!"

I mean, I know - her parents were walking with her, and she asked about it, and they told her. Perfectly reasonable. But she's three, not even. Really surprised me.

I'm not sure I'd've gone into that much detail - I was planning on just saying "Yeah, that's from the World Trade Center" and letting it drop. I mean, the kiddlets are three (or not), how much information do they need yet?

The Appeal to Authority.

Let's say you're in an argument with somebody, and to prove your point you go "Well, so-and-so says that rubbing your head while patting your tummy (or is it the other way around?) is a sure way to prevent colon cancer!"

Unless so-and-so is a leading researcher in colon cancer, that argument is unlikely to hold much water, right? And even if so-and-so *is* a leading researcher in colon cancer, I'd want to see some research before I begin my new exercise routine. Even experts make mistakes.

And that's the appeal to authority, in a nutshell. A very loosely defined nutshell, but there it is. As a logical argument, it kinda sucks. I mean, it really sucks. Hoo boy, does it ever suck. In the bad way.

But as a child wrangling technique? GOLD STAR.

"Connie! I DON'T WANNA WEAR MY OVERALLS!"
"They make you look cute, and we don't have anything else in this bag. You're sopping wet*."
"THEY NOT MAKE ME CUTE!"
"Hey! You! Do these overalls make Ana look cute? Yes? SEEE?"

And thus the world is saved from watching Ana's bare butt running around. Random strangers can stop an argument short, simply by agreeing with me when I ask them things like "Are we really on Staten Island?" or "Do you think she should flush the toilet?" or "Do you think this blue ball is just as good as that yellow ball?"

It's great. It really is.

And it's your logical fallacy of the randomly determined period of time. Learn it, live it, love it. When appropriate.

*_{Due generally to water tables and sprinklers, not the other stuff, thankfully.}