{"id":1617,"date":"2012-06-26T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2012-06-26T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoddsmustbecrazy.com\/?p=1617"},"modified":"2012-06-26T09:00:16","modified_gmt":"2012-06-26T16:00:16","slug":"a-poison-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/2012\/06\/26\/a-poison-apple\/","title":{"rendered":"A Poison Apple?"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Submitted by reader Fred Bremmer<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Alan<\/strong> Turing, the computer pioneer, was born June 23, 1912, and died\u00a0June 7, 1954<\/a>.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

On <\/strong>June 23rd, this comic<\/a> was posted on Barney & Clyde with the following text:<\/p>\n

“Why<\/strong> does the apple logo have a bite out of it?”<\/p>\n

“Probably<\/strong> to show they’ve taken a big bite out of life. Robustly\u00a0engaged with the world, for the benefit of humanity.”<\/p>\n

“Mh.<\/strong> It says here it was so it wouldn’t look like a tomato.”<\/p>\n

“Mine<\/strong> was better.”<\/p>\n

“Yes,<\/strong> dear.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There<\/strong> is an urban legend<\/a> that the bite out of the apple in Apple’s\u00a0logo (which was originally rainbow-striped, a bit like a Pride flag)\u00a0is a reference to Turing’s death (and maybe his homosexuality):
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

“For<\/strong> years it has been rumored that Apple’s iconic logo, a stylized,\u00a0solid white apple missing a bite on one side, was inspired by\u00a0circumstances surrounding the death of Alan Turing, the groundbreaking\u00a0mathematician and computer scientist who committed suicide by eating a\u00a0cyanide-laced apple in 1954.<\/p>\n

Not<\/strong> so, says the man who actually created the logo, graphic designer\u00a0Rob Janoff, who laughs it off as “a wonderful urban legend.” The\u00a0concept was purely visual in inspiration, he says, with the bite taken\u00a0out only to provide scale so the apple wouldn’t be mistaken for a\u00a0cherry.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gene<\/strong> Weingarten writes the Barney & Clyde comic strip along with his\u00a0son and the artist who draws it. I follow Weingarten on Twitter, so I\u00a0asked him<\/a> about the coincidence:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

@geneweingarten<\/strong> Was the B&C comic on A.Turing’s 100th birthday an\u00a0intentional reference to the rumor that Apple’s logo refers to AT’s\u00a0death?<\/p>\n

@nowoo<\/strong> Hahaha. No.<\/p>\n

@geneweingarten<\/strong> Interesting. I’m a fellow skeptic. Do you mind if I\u00a0submit this coincidence to The Odds Must Be Crazy?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

@nowoo<\/strong> sure. We write these things 3 weeks in advance; neither my son\u00a0or I knew anything of the Turing Apple nexus, Turing’s bday, etc.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Later<\/strong> he retweeted<\/a> my question and his answer, but added “Er, maybe.”\u00a0as a joke:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

No.<\/strong> Er, maybe. @nowoo Did B&C comic on A.Turing’s 100th bday reference\u00a0rumor that Apple’s logo refers to AT’s death?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

[EDITOR:<\/strong>\u00a0Urban legends are commonly the sources of superstitions, making them even more tenuous than usual. But this one just happens to provide some background for a humorously-timed moment of tech memes colliding on an important anniversary. One that commemorates a truly great person whose life was sadly harmed, and eventually lost, due to a lack of critical thought by those in power. While we’re a few days late for the anniversary, we here at TOMBC raise a glass of whatever’s appropriate to Alan Turing and the work he did that led us to have this amazing technology we use to share our stories with you every week. And in case you missed it spreading around last week, please check out this exceptionally cool Lego recreation of Alan’s Turing Machine. It’s a great tribute to the start of it all.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

LEGO Turing Machine<\/a> from ecalpemos<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alan Turing, the computer pioneer, was born June 23, 1912, and died June 7, 1954.<\/p>\n

On June 23rd, this comic was posted on Barney & Clyde with the following text:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1823,1824,1825,1826,1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,281,1835],"class_list":["post-1617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-alan-turing","tag-apple","tag-barney-clyde","tag-cherry","tag-cyanide-laced-apple","tag-fred-bremmer","tag-gene-weingarten","tag-homosexuality","tag-logo","tag-mathematician","tag-rob-janoff","tag-turing-machine","tag-twitter","tag-urban-legend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tombc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}