Unknown Unknowns by Donald Rumsfeld

Unknown Unknowns

by Donald Rumsfeld

As we know, 

There are known knowns. 

There are things we know we know. 

We also know 

There are known unknowns. 

That is to say 

We know there are some things 

We do not know. 

But there are also unknown unknowns, 

The ones we don't know 

We don't know. 

It's a two hour change though, isn't it?

I forgot to post this last weekend.  A vivid reminder that we all live in different worlds even though we are roughly in the same space.

Last Sunday, the day of daylight savings time's leap forward, I am reading at Church between the morning services.  I am seated on a sofa in a foyer area and there are two or three ladies standing close by talking about how they are accommodating the change in time.

Lady 1:  I hate losing an hour's sleep.  I try and go to bed an hour early to make up for it but its hard to go to sleep earlier than your usual time.

Lady 2:  I know.  It takes a while to adjust.  I am out of schedule for a whole week after the change.

Lady 3:  I agree.  I don't like changing the time.  It's a two hour change though, isn't it?

Two hours.  And she made it to church on time so I am guessing someone else was actually in charge of the schedule.

You get used to people having sophisticated (pointless) refined arguments about the merits and consequences of Daylights Savings Time and then you come across someone who thinks you set your clocks forwards two hours.  We live in different worlds. 

History

“Chin up, girls, I’m proud of you, and I love you all.” These were the final words of Matron Irene Drummond on 16 February 1942, moments before 22 Australian nurses were marched into the sea and Japanese soldiers opened fire on them.

This atrocity, known as the Bangka Island… pic.twitter.com/yslfUufupB

— Australian Patriot. (@JimThom90458694) February 16, 2026

 

An Insight

Symbolic ideology and education, 1972-2024.

Ideological polarization increasingly interacts with education.

Data from @electionstudies CDF. pic.twitter.com/xwP4XFgcGg

— Tom Wood (@thomasjwood) February 19, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

Four Interlaced Horses. Culture: Safavid period. Origin: Iran, early 17th century. Medium: Ink on paper. Collection: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The design features components placed in the four corners, but there are actually only two horse heads and two hindquarters. No… pic.twitter.com/jjk8lnXfW4

— Archaeology & Art (@archaeologyart) February 16, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

alternate timeline:

if sweden had had one more truant officer, germany's industrial sector might have been saved... pic.twitter.com/nd2AO5jhsr

— el gato malo (@boriquagato) March 15, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

pic.twitter.com/lH5BMsZRZB

— Amazing Physics (@amazing_physics) February 16, 2026

 

Data Talks

US Territories pic.twitter.com/vdDFf41uGz

— Vintage Maps (@vintagemapstore) February 16, 2026

 

Shipwreck off a Rocky Coast, 1614 by Adam Willaerts

Shipwreck off a Rocky Coast, 1614 by Adam Willaerts (Netherlands, 1577-1664)

Click to enlarge.

History

”In 1786, when the United States was barely a country, it was having its sailors taken as slaves by the Barbary states, the states of the Ottoman Empire and North Africa. Tripoli. Shores of Tripoli. Ships stopped, its crews carried off into slavery. We estimate 1.5 million… pic.twitter.com/aKbwf8TRLO

— Taya (@travelingflying) February 16, 2026