3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Fooling People
A Fake Wooden Bomb, Satellite Image Analysis & Fooling People With Ease
I. A Fake Wooden Bomb
In World War II, the German military tried to trick the allied forces. They went to great lengths to build a fake airfield with wooden planes, trucks, fake runways, buildings and hangars.
Having noticed their enemy’s efforts, the British waited patiently until the Germans had completed their building project. It was then that the British sent a bomber across the Channel to drop a single fake wooden bomb on the airfield.
II. Satellite Image Analysis
On the undisclosed airfield below we can identify what appears to be five fighter jets. For a basic satellite image analysis, we first need a question to be answered: “Are the fighter jets fake?” To answer the question we consider five criteria to evaluate the image and any objects of interest:
Size, e.g. of the jets in relation to the hangar
Shape, e.g. if they look like an existing jet type
Texture, e.g. rough or smooth, matt or glossy
Surroundings, e.g. if the jets are in their expected environment
Shadow, e.g. to gauge the height of the jets in relation to other objects
More on the answer to the question later. I’ve also written about this satellite image analysis case study here.
III. Fooling People With Ease
American writer and humorist Mark Twain on fooling people:
It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.
—Mark Twain
🐘
Have a great week,
Chris
themindcollection.com
P.S.: The fake wooden bomb story is likely a myth.
P.P.S.: The absence of shadows shows the fighter jets are fake.
P.P.P.S.: There is no evidence that Mark Twain ever said that quote.