Finding the "Truth"

[PossumPie]

The Blind Men and the Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a WALL!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a SPEAR!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a SNAKE!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he:
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a TREE!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a FAN!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a ROPE!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

[Curryong]

Feeling in philosophical mood, Possum? Are you trying to tell us something about this Forum?

[debbiediablo]

There once were six cats of Kilkenny,
Each thought there were five cats too many,
So they fought and they fit,
And they scratched and they bit,
Till, excepting their nails
And the tips of their tails,
Instead of six cats, there weren't any.

[Curryong]

Warning to Andrew?

There was an Old Man of Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
His daughter called Nan,
Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket Nantucket.

[PossumPie]

Lol, nice responses. I was trying to show how people can approach the same "elephant" of facts and evidence, and cherry-pick through to come up with theories so vastly different. That naked Uncle Morse and Andrew romping around the spare room just won't leave me. How someone could be reading the same facts I am and see such a different animal is beyond me. I've seen very plausible cases for Morse as chief suspect, an illegitimate child, as well as lesser known suspects. Everyone see's the elephant differently.

I once read a wonderful quote by Neil De Grasse Tyson, the famous Astrophysicist. He said that you can take a book, and look at it under an electron microscope. You will see all kinds of things, but have no idea what the book is about. Alternately, you can place the book on a table across the room and see the whole thing, but again know nothing about the book. Not until you hold the book at just the right length away can you read what it is about.
I fear some folks take the facts in this case, and look at them so closely under a microscope, that they don't see the 'whole book' only a very very large fact taken out of context.

[debbiediablo]

There once was a woman from Norway,
Who could hang by her heels from a doorway...
Nevermind.....

I know what you are aiming at, Possum, and that is we must obtain all the evidence possible and examine it both separately and as a whole. Before we make an speculation. Otherwise speculation can drive our decision...soon we look only at those pieces which support our own theory. This brings to mind the prosecution's failure to reveal the gold flecks probably from a new hatchet or everyone's blatant disregard of a hatchet found on a nearby roof. Or even at David Anthony with a microscope. Looking back on these with a 122 perspective allows very limited analysis. Tyson also said, "If you removed all the arteries, veins and capillaries from a person's body, and tied them end-to-end...the person will die." (I like him, too...:-)

[debbiediablo]

This is fascinating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZsckuKiH94