Saturday, December 22, 2007

Rico Carty and Roberto Clemente, Baseball Players and True American Heroes!



In 1969 I saved box tops from Post Raisin Bran and got a free ticket to an Atlanta Braves Baseball Game. With the passage of so many years, I don't even remember who won or lost. But there is one thing that I remember.
In 1967, Rico Carty was struck down with Tuberculosis. He had begun his career with the Braves in 1964 and showed great promise, batting .330 and finishing second to Roberto Clemente in the batting championship. Everyone assumed that his career was over after contracting tuberculosis, but they failed to take into account his character and determination. When he returned to the Braves in 1969, he batted .342, but 1970 was even better, Rico batted .366 and won the batting championship(the highest batting average since 1957 when Ted Williams batted .388).
After the game, some of the players "hung around" to sign autographs, for us kids. Some signed autographs like automatons, without comment and encouragement, most of them left only after a few minutes; some signed politely and moved on to the next kid as quickly as they could, they also left early; a few engaged in actual conversations, but eventually they also left; only one stayed until every kid who wanted an autograph got one. He was Rico Carty.
He also engaged us in real conversations. If you played baseball, he wanted to know what position you played, but also what your grades were. If you didn't play baseball, he wanted to know why. He preached a variation of: "Mens sana in corpore sano," to have a healthy mind you had to have a healthy body. Even through his think Spanish accent and his Dominican Republic dialect we knew what he was saying, because he was speaking our language.
When he got to me, he asked whether I played baseball or not. I was kind of "geeky" looking so I guess my athletic prowess was open to some doubt. I wasn't offended, because you knew he really cared. There wasn't a false note, nor an ounce of phoniness in Rico. He was what he was. And that was what made him so wonderful to us.
I said neighborhood games mostly. He said that there was nothing wrong with that. His happiest memories were playing baseball with his friends as a kid; by High School, Baseball had become a career. He missed those games from his childhood. He told me that there was nothing wrong with reading books, but as soon as I got through with one, I should call my friends and get a game started.
Rico Carty was never a star, he was one of us: he was just a good guy, who became a great baseball player. That was to be expected, because we knew that he already was a great man. But, more importantly, as that last kid left got his autograph, we knew, which was better, that he was a good man. And being called good is a far better complement than being called great.




 Puerto Rican Baseball Player Roberto Clemente a True American Hero!




Puerto Rican Roberto Clemente was one of my heroes when I was a kid, I will never forget him dying in a plane crash while bringing food to Managua Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake. Roberto had sponsored 3 flights full of food, but found out corrupt right-wing dictator Samoza had stolen all of the food. To make sure the people of Managua got the food from the next flight, Roberto decided to personally deliver it to Red Cross officials in Managua. Unfortunately, almost immediately after takeoff the plane crashed taking all the lives aboard. A true American Hero!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Imagine by John Lennon

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

I was at work one day a few years ago and it was kind of slow, somehow the subject of heroes came up and I mentioned Carl Sagan and John Lennon. Carl Sagan because he said something which has stayed with me since my teens: "Only people seeking the truth find it; People who know the truth, never do". John Lennon because he spoke for peace before it was popular and was attacked for it. It is easy to do the right thing when everyone agrees with you. Courage is doing the right thing when no one agrees with you.

Both of these of men possess that courage that John F. Kennedy spoke of, Grace under pressure.

I was attacked for my choice by several very religious people with whom I worked; they were relentless in their attacks and, what was more, they offered no quarter. I remembered Carl Sagan's words and asked for none. I stick up for my friends and I don't apologize for them when they haven't done anything wrong.
I must have been listening. My Nana always said that you can how intelligent someone is by how much they listen. Intelligent people always listen more than they talk.

The Original idea may have come from Henry David Thoreau, but the second Greatest Attorney in American History, Clarence Darrow, gave us the quote which comes down to us:
"If you are right, you are a majority of one."

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Candle on The Water

Candle On the Water
I'll be your candle on the water
My love for you will always burn
I know you're lost and drifting,
But the clouds are lifting,
Don't give up, you have somewhere to turn.

I'll be your candle on the water
Till every wave is warm and bright
My soul is there beside you,
Let this candle guide you
Soon you'll see a golden stream of light.

A cold and friendless tide has found you
Don't let the stormy darkness pull you down
I'll paint a ray of hope around you
Circling in the air, lighted by a prayer.
I'll be your candle on the water
This flame inside of me will grow
Keep holding on, you'll make it
Here's my hand, so take it
Look for me reaching out to show
As sure as rivers flow,

I'll never let you go
I'll never let you go
I'll never let you go

Written by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn


One of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard was in a movie called Pete's Dragon, made by Walt Disney in the 1970's. The song was "Candle On The Water". I bought the album and played it so much that I eventually wore it out. I would tape record this song and send it anonymously to friends of mine who were having a rough time of it. I always figured that it was better to find out that you had an anonymous friend, than to find out you had an anonymous enemy. I think some of the most beautiful expressions of love and hope are included in this songs lyrics.

An interesting footnote: when Pete's Dragon came out on video, I bought a copy of it. I remember it was very expensive: $69, a lot of money at the time. Can you imagine how stunned I was when I got home and found that Disney had cut the song when they released it on video. Sometimes people can be incredibly shallow..., even at Walt Disney. But then again, when The Wizard of Oz was released some executives at MGM felt that it ran too long, so the first thing they wanted to cut was "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". When Breakfast At Tiffany's was released, an audience test said that movie was too long too. So the studio executives wanted to cut Audrey Hepburn singing Moon River. That was stupid. Marnie Nixon sang for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. And certainly Marnie Nixon has a beautiful voice. But in Breakfast At Tiffany's it the was fact that Holly couldn't sing that made the song beautiful. It was about love, ideas and feelings, not talent. We all have those, whether we can sing or not. Audrey Hepburn gave one of the most wonderful performances of all time. I wouldn't change anything. I'm glad that someone had the common sense to make the argument; and we are all the better for it.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

The Truth is hardly ever where you look for it, but always where you find it.

"Awed by nature ...and a little odd by nature"

Borrowed from Rich Blundell, but oh so true.


Jack Bresnahan signed my Sandy Springs Annual in the crease of the binding "I bet I'm the first guy to sign your crack." To return the favor, I signed "Life Sux and then you die." We both told the truth.

Carl Sagan

The universe is neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.

Only people seeking the truth find it;
People who know the truth, never do.

Carl Sagan

A Prayer written by Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanov

Give patience, Lord, to us Thy children
In these dark, stormy days to bear
The persecution of our people,
The torture falling to our share.

Give strength, Just God, to us who need it,
The persecutors to forgive,
Our heavy, painful cross to carry
And thy great meekness to achieve.

When we are plundered and insulted
In days of mutinous unrest
We turn for help to thee, Christ-Saviour,
That we may stand the bitter test.

Lord of the world, God of Creation,
Give us Thy blessing through our prayer
Give peace of heart to us, O Master,
This hour of utmost dread to bear.

And on the threshold of the grave
Breathe power divine into our clay
That we, Thy children, may find strength
In meekness for our foes to pray.

A poem found in the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg inserted in one of Olga's books and written in her own hand after her execution on July 18, 1918 by Yakob Yurovsky on orders of Yekaterinburg Soviet Leader Sverdlov, Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin. Found by forces under the command of the Commander of the White Russian Forces under Admiral Kolchak.

Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov

With the recent recovery of the bodies of Alexei and Maria Romanov, I was reminded how I have always believed that Anna Anderson was Anastasia Romanov. Well, it turned out that I was wrong. In fact, it was Grand Duchess Maria Niklovena Romanov who was missing, not Anastasia. I don't feel foolish about it. Looking for something good from something awful is never something for which to apologize.
Anna Anderson and her handlers were merely among the greatest frauds in all of history, certainly not worth anymore consideration than that.
I guess that I wanted to believe that someone survived that awful day in July 1918.
But there is one thing that I can believe in: Nicholas and Alexandra may have been horrible as Autocrats of all the Russias, but as human beings and parents there has never been anyone better.
It reminds me how Trotsky lied about Lenin's knowledge of the massacre of the Romanovs. We now know that Trotsky, Sverdlov and Lenin gave direct orders to Yakob Yurovsky to kill the family.
In my mind there is nothing good that you can say about somebody who would do that.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Ask Not for Whom The Bell Tolls

"No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."John Donne (1572-1631)

Dedicated to Wes Steiner, smarter than anyone gave him credit for having been, but everyone knew that he was as good a friend as anyone could have. I remember and miss you to this day, thirty years later.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Death Be Not Proud

Death Be Not Proud

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

by John Donne/1572-1631

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Image result for the road less traveled

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

















When I was a boy of five-years-old, we lived in Newport Rhode Island. I remember looking out our bay window overlooking Narragansett Sound. The Light House said goodnight to me every night and good morning to me every morning. For me, the Ocean means all things are possible.


Friday, November 9, 2007

Rodney Dangerfield's Best Jokes


“Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.”

Sylvia Plath

If only she had met Rodney Dangerfield.

Rodney Dangerfield Jokes – Best One Liners




I get no respect, when I was born the doctor hit me to get me to take my first breath. I found out the nurses took their turns too.

My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.

I took my son to Coney Island Amusement Park, I asked "wanna go in the crazy house?" My son said "save your money we'll be home soon"!

My Dad took me to the zoo, he said he hoped my parents would claim me.

One day after a long day at work I stopped by a bar, I told the bartender "surprise me," he showed me a naked picture of my wife.

Our house caught on fire the other day, my wife told my son and daughter to be quiet, so we don't wake up your dad.

When I was born I was so ugly the doctor slapped my mother.

On Halloween, when come to the door, they give me candy.

On Halloween, my wife sends the kids out looking like me.

What a kid I got, I told him about the birds and the bee and he told me about the uber driver and my wife.

I get no respect, my wife told me that my son was going to the father son dinner at school with my brother.

I’ll tell ya, my wife and I, we don’t think alike. She donates money to the homeless, and I donate money to the topless!

One night I came home. I figured, let my wife come on. I’ll play it cool. Let her make the first move. She went to Florida.

I asked my old man if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He told me, “Wait til it gets warmer.”

I come home from work early one day, and I see a guy jogging down the street naked. I ask him, "Why are you jogging naked?" He says, "You came home from work early".

And my girlfriend, she's FAT! How fat? She's so fat she wears two watches--one for each time zone!

I dated a girl who was fat. How fat was she? When she walked in high heels she struck oil.

I moved to a new apartment on the westside on New York City. I asked a cop who long a walk it was to the nearest subway station. He said he didn't know, so far 
no one has successfully made it.

My wife was in a wreck, but told me it wasn't her fault. She hit a tree, but told me that she beeped her horn to clear out of the way.

My parents didn't like me. For bathtub toys they gave me a space heater and a transistor radio.

My doctor told me to watch my drinking. Now I drink in front of a mirror. I drink too much. Way too much. My doctor drew blood. He ran a tab.

A girl phoned me the other day and said... 'Come on over, there's nobody home.' I went over. Nobody was home.

My dad took us to the carnival, when we got to the freak show, the ticket taker told my parents, the boy gets in free.

My wife is a terrile cook. The flies in our backyard chipped in to fix a tear in our kitchen screen door. 
  
When I was born the doctor came out to the waiting room and said to my father, “I’m very sorry. We did everything we could…but he pulled through.”

I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War my great uncle fought for the west!

My daughters no bargain either. In public school she was voted most likely to conceive.

My wife met me at the door the other night in a sexy see through negligee. Unfortunately, she was just coming home.

My mom never gave me respect, it took me forever to figure out there is no Alpo baby food.

My wife said she wanted to make out at the drive in, it took me forever to find out which car she was in.

I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her.

I had a date to go to the beach in high school, everyone asked what bait I used to catch her.

My father was stupid. He worked in a bank and they caught him stealing pens.

My mother had morning sickness after I was born.

My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend.

My father only carries around the picture of the kid who came with his wallet.

When I played in the sandbox the cat kept covering me up.

I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.





One year they wanted to make me poster boy… for birth control.

When I come home and walk into our bedroom, our parrot says, "quick out the window!"

I remember the time I was kidnapped and they sent back a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof.

My uncle’s dying wish was to have me sitting on his lap. He was in the electric chair.

One time I went to a hotel. I asked the bellhop to handle my old bag. He grabbed my wife!

This morning when I put on my underwear I could hear the Fruit of the Loom guys laughing at me.

I’m a bad lover. Once I caught a peeping tom booing me.

I asked my old dad if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He told me, "Wait til it gets warmer."

My dad took me to fly my kite. He took me to the edge of the Grand Canyon.

I tell ya, my wife was never nice. On our first date, I asked her if I could give her a goodnight kiss on the cheek - she bent over!

With my dog I don't get no respect. One day he kept barking at the front door. Found out he didn't want to go out. He wanted me to leave.

When I was a kid, I was kidnapped. The kidnappers cut my finger off and sent it to my parents as proof they had me. My dad wrote back, we need more proof.

My wife only has sex with me for a purpose. Last night she used me to time an egg.

It’s tough to stay married. My wife kisses the dog on the lips, yet she won’t drink from my glass!

The other day I called my house to speak to my wife, my son picked up the phone, I told him to put his mom on the phone, I could hear him say, "Mom, it's Dad, are you home?

When I was born the doctor came out to the waiting room and said to my father, "I'm very sorry. We did everything we could...but he pulled through."

My wife isn’t very bright. The other day she was at the store, and just as she was heading for our car, someone stole it! I said, “Did you see the guy that did it?” She said, “No, but I got the license plate.”

For Christmas one year, I bought my son a BB Gun, which he had been begging for. I opened my present from him, it was a sweatshirt with a target on the back.

On the Johnny Carson Show, It is love which gets me through life. I love art, music and one of my kids.

Last night my wife met me at the front door. She was wearing a sexy negligee. The only trouble was, she was coming home.

A girl phoned me and said, “Come on over. There’s nobody home.” I went over. Nobody was home!




A hooker once told me she had a headache.

I had a really expensive date once, after dinner at a fine restaurant and a $100 Broadway Show, when  we went back to my hotel. I woke up and found out she was gone, as was my watch, my wallet and the $400 I had in it.

I went to a massage parlor. It was self service.

If it weren’t for pick-pocketers, I’d have no sex life at all.

Once when I was lost I saw a policeman and asked him to help me find my parents. I said to him, “Do you think we’ll ever find them?” He said, “I don’t know kid. There are so many places they can hide.”

I remember I was so depressed I was going to jump out a window on the tenth floor. They sent a priest up to talk to me. He said, “On your mark…”

When my dad wanted sex, my mother would show him a picture of me.

I had a lot of pimples too. One day I fell asleep in a library. I woke up and a blind man was reading my face.

My wife made me join a bridge club. I jump off next Tuesday.

Last week my tie caught on fire. Some guy tried to put it out with an ax!

I met the surgeon general. He offered me a cigarette.

I was making love to this girl and she started crying. I said, “Are you going to hate yourself in the morning?” She said, “No, I hate myself now.”

I knew a girl so ugly that she was known as a two-bagger. That’s when you put a bag over your head in case the bag over her head breaks.

I knew a girl so ugly, they use her in prisons to cure sex offenders.

I knew a girl so ugly, I took her to the top of the Empire State building and planes started to attack her.

I knew a girl so ugly, the last time I saw a mouth like hers it had a hook on the end of it.

I knew a girl so ugly, she had a face like a saint–a Saint Bernard!

I was tired one night and I went to the bar to have a few drinks. The bartender asked me, “What’ll you have?” I said, “Surprise me.” He showed me a naked picture of my wife.

During sex my wife always wants to talk to me. Just the other night she called me from a hotel.

My marriage is on the rocks again. Yeah, my wife just broke up with her boyfriend.

One day as I came home early from work, I saw a guy jogging naked. I said to the guy, “Hey buddy…why are you doing that for?” He said, “Because you came home early.”

I went to see my doctor… Doctor Vidi-boom-ba. Yeah…I told him once, “Doctor, every morning when I get up and look in the mirror I feel like throwing up. What’s wrong with me? He said, “I don’t know, but your eyesight is perfect.”

I told my dentist my teeth are going yellow. He told me to wear a brown necktie.

My psychiatrist told me I’m going crazy. I told him, “If you don’t mind, I’d like a second opinion.” He said, “All right. You’re ugly too!”

I was so ugly, my mother used to feed me with a slingshot!

When I was a kid I got no respect. The time I was kidnapped, and the kidnappers sent my parents a note they said, "We want five thousand dollars or you'll see your kid again."

When I was born the doctor took one look at my face, turned me over and said, “Look, twins!”

And we were poor too. Why, if I wasn’t born a boy, I’d have nothing to play with!

With my wife I don’t get no respect. I made a toast on her birthday to ‘the best woman a man ever had.’ The waiter joined me.

I’m not a sexy guy. I went to a hooker. I dropped my pants. She dropped her price.




I tell you, I’m not a sexy guy. I was the centerfold for Playgirl magazine. The staples covered everything!

What a childhood I had, why, when I took my first step, my old man tripped me!

Last week I told my psychiatrist, “I keep thinking about suicide.” He told me from now on I have to pay in advance.

I tell ya when I was a kid, all I knew was rejection. My yo-yo, it never came back!

Oh, when I was a kid in show business I was poor. I used to go to orgies to eat the grapes.

When I was a kid I got no respect. The time I was kidnapped, and the kidnappers sent my parents a note they said, “We want five thousand dollars or you’ll see your kid again.”

I tell ya, my wife was never nice. On our first date, I asked her if I could give her a goodnight kiss on the cheek – she bent over!

I tell you, with my doctor, I don’t get no respect. I told him, “I’ve swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills.” He told me to have a few drinks and get some rest.

Some dog I got too. We call him Egypt because he leaves a pyramid in every room.

With my dog I don’t get no respect. He keeps barking at the front door. He don’t want to go out. He wants me to leave.

What a dog I got. His favorite bone is in my arm!

Last week I saw my psychiatrist. I told him, “Doc, I keep thinking I’m a dog.” He told me to get off his couch.

I worked in a pet store and people kept asking how big I’d get.

I get no respect at all - When I was a kid, I lost my parents at the beach. I asked a lifeguard to help me find them. He said "I don't know kid, there are so many places they could hide".

My girlfriend is so ugly, two guys broke into her apartment. She yelled "Rape!" They yelled "NO!"

And my sex life is nothing to crow about. At my age I'm envious of a stiff wind.

I joined gamblers anon., they gave me 2 to 1 odds I wouldn't make it! I joined AA, there was a two drink minimum!

Me and my dad used to play tag, he'd drive!

My dad told me to stop running in circles, I couldn't, so he nailed down my other foot!

My mom took me to a dog show and I won!!

The sign on the bar said: 'girls- topless, bottomless', I went inside and there was nobody there!

A man in the crowd asks: Hey Rodney, how'd you get started? Rodney: I was 12 years old, alone in my room, and I got started!

My wife's so dumb, she got a nail in the spare!!

My daughters been picked up so many times she's starting to grow handles

I walked in on my wife and the milkman, the first thing she says is "don't tell the butcher"!

I tell ya, I don't get no respect ... Last week, my wife told me that she was going to cut me down to twice a month. But I thought about it, and I figured that it wasn't too bad. I know a couple of guys that she cut out completely.

I'll tell ya, I don't get no respect... The other day, I got back from a business trip. I got in a cab and said to the driver, "Hey! Take me to where the action is!" So ya know where he took me? He took me to my house!

Do ya remember the first time you had sex? I do, and boy, was I scared! I was alone!


Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Lost at Sea

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.



I remember seeing "Lawrence of Arabia" in 1962 when I was five. When I started school, I remember looking for a biography of TE Lawrence. Of course, what I found was a childish, simplistic, sanitized version of his life, but it still kept my interest and I read it straight through. I remembered this quote from that time.



Carl Sagan's Tools to use when in search of the truth.

The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments:

Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts
Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no "authorities").
Spin more than one hypothesis - don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.
Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours.
Quantify, wherever possible.
If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work.
"Occam's razor" - if there are two hypothesis that explain the data equally well choose the simpler.
Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified (shown to be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, is it testable? Can others duplicate the experiment and get the same result?

Additional issues are
Conduct control experiments - especially "double blind" experiments where the person taking measurements is not aware of the test and control subjects.
Check for confounding factors - separate the variables.
Common fallacies of logic and rhetoric
Ad hominem - attacking the arguer and not the argument.
Argument from "authority".
Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavourable" decision).
Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence).
Special pleading (typically referring to god's will).
Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased).
Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses).
Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes).
Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!)
Inconsistency (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not "proved").
Non sequitur - "it does not follow" - the logic falls down.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc - "it happened after so it was caused by" - confusion of cause and effect.
Meaningless question ("what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?).
Excluded middle - considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the "other side" look worse than it really is).
Short-term v. long-term - a subset of excluded middle ("why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?").
Slippery slope - a subset of excluded middle - unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile).
Confusion of correlation and causation.
Straw man - caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack..
Suppressed evidence or half-truths.
Weasel words - for example, use of euphemisms for war such as "police action" to get around limitations on Presidential powers. "An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public"


Carl Sagan's Baloney Detector