----- Original Message ---- From: Kenneth Graham gram9876@hotmail.com >There's no need to gunk up >gravestones with shaving cream or other materials. I agree that there is no NEED to gunk up gravestones with shaving cream (though some disagree with even this). I also think there is no NEED to resort to unsubstantiated fearmongering to convince people not to do it. >>Indeed, even with vigorous scrubbing and lots of rinsing, >>the cream fills in the pores of a porous stone and cannot all be >>removed. Indeed? Where is the evidence that the cream can't be removed? If anyone has evidence that it is "indeed" the case, then I would be most pleased to receive it. Does anyone have evidence that demonstrates that shaving cream leaves a residue in spite of attempts to wash it off? This almost exactly mirrors the statement made at the shaving cream hoax website: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gbonner/misc/shavingcream.html "Misleading/erroneous comment: "Shaving cream does, indeed, leave an acid residue that does not wash off. It destroys marble and limestone". Source: Newsletter of the Canterbury Genealogy Society Discussion Group, February 2000 Why it is misleading/erroneous: Because the word "indeed" represents a factual basis. The statement should have read, "Shaving cream does, in our opinion, leave an acid residue that does not wash off. The fact of the matter is that nobody has ever reported an experiment that even pretends to make a determination of the presence or absence of any residue. It is simply an opinion, masquerading as if it were fact. If it "indeed" leaves a residue, then what method was used to determine that a residue was present? How was it determined that the residue was from shaving cream? Where are the data/measurements that back up the claim that a residue persists? The answer is - nowhere...this experiment has never been done. The last part of the quote, about "destroying marble and limestone" is in error, as addressed above. The hoaxers rely on you simply believing a pronouncement without having need for ever providing any evidence that it is true." It seems to me that the voice of reason is the one that asks people to base their beliefs on the evidence, rather than unfounded opinion. Esther S.