# Which of you is Doug (subtitled: Internet makes people stupid) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-you-is-doug-subtitled-internet-makes-people-stupid/556525 "2010-10-08T18:32:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-you-is-doug-subtitled-internet-makes-people-stupid/556525/1 "2010-10-08T18:32:41Z")
Maybe I’m a little isolated but I didn’t get a single email or read any internet posts about this October being such an amazing once in 823 year occurance, but I did read on a friends message board this rebuttal. > **[“This October has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays all in one month. It...](https://unitedcats.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/this-october-has-5-fridays-5-saturdays-and-5-sundays-all-in-one-month-it-happens-only-once-in-823-years/)** > > Well, isn’t that an amazing little factoid? I read that on-line and did what everyone else did, passed it along to delight and edify my readers. And it’s posted all over the Internet, o… I think Doug either is or should be a Doper. If this article didn’t seal that his follow up article and the sentiments within does. > **[A Hard Act to Follow](https://unitedcats.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/a-hard-act-to-follow/)** > > Well, my last post has turned out to be my most successful post ever, more than 40,000 hits so far. So now what do I do? Rest on my laurels? Sounds painful, don’t laurels have thorns? It̵… A small exerpt follows, but the entire article is short and well worth the few minutes to read. > [@](#): > > No, the Internet isn’t making people into idiots, but I don’t think it’s helping. Granted other things have been going on as well, changes in the mass media and our “educational” (formerly educational) system also seem to be having a rather negative effect on the typical person’s world view. So it would be hard to parse out exactly what the Internet is doing. I’m just appalled that the ability to quickly and simply fact check what people see on the Internet or the news or whatever … seems to have had no appreciable effect on the mass gullibility index. And I wonder if that’s by accident or design. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-you-is-doug-subtitled-internet-makes-people-stupid/556525/2 "2010-10-08T19:14:12Z")
Geez, you had me worried. I AM Doug. OK, not THAT Doug, but I in fact did question the “once every 823 years” on a friend’s Facebook post yesterday. It just didn’t sound plausible to me, since all that is required is a month with 31 days, which begins on a Friday. That did not sound like much of a stretch to me. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-you-is-doug-subtitled-internet-makes-people-stupid/556525/3 "2010-10-08T19:25:47Z")
Just looking at my calendar, I found that July 2011 is a 31-day month beginning on a Friday. Therefore it has 5 each of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-you-is-doug-subtitled-internet-makes-people-stupid/556525/4 "2010-10-08T19:28:53Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > Just looking at my calendar, I found that July 2011 is a 31-day month beginning on a Friday. Therefore it has 5 each of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Well since there are only 14 possible calendars it’s obviously bunk, even if you require it to specifically happen in October. Doesn’t even require a Snopes check 🙂