This Week I Learned – August 18 through 24, 2019

I learned the words for the song “Before the Throne of God Above” were written in 1863, and became more popular only recently, in 1997, when Vikki Cook put the words to a newer, more upbeat melody.
The boys tend to believe what their friends say over what Traci and I say.
The Nolensville football administration and field caretakers are hesitant to throw away a lost $20 mouth guard. It never hurts to go check and see if they’ve left it near the fence.
“The use of canned laughter causes an audience to laugh longer, more often, and to rate the material as funnier. Some evidence indicates that canned laughter is most effective for poor jokes.” Robert B. Cialdini, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
A guy I play with at church works with a Christian music production company, and he said that a dirty little secret of many concerts is that backing vocals are usually piped through the audio tracks that the bands play along with. This plays exactly into the previous point about canned laughter and social proof.