Mark Twain

The statistics prove it: America is the largest country in the world for tourists

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It was Mark Twain or Benjamin Disraeli who came up with the adage about “lies, damned lies and statistics,” and the potential unreliability of large numbers used to support otherwise flimsy arguments. Twain once stated that he adopted the phrase from the former British Prime Minister, even though it is not in Disraeli’s papers, and … Read more

Unraveling the connection between Halley’s Comet and the birth and death of Mark Twain

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Snopes compilation/public domain Claim: American author Mark Twain was born and died on the days Halley’s Comet passed Earth. Judgement: Rating: Mixture What is true: Halley’s perihelion, the comet’s closest approach to the Sun, occurred in 1835 and 1910, the years of Twain’s birth and death. What is not true: The comet was not at … Read more