  The present standard model of cosmology, $\Lambda$CDM, contains some
intriguing coincidences. Not only are the dominant contributions to the energy
density approximately of the same order at the present epoch, but we note that
contrary to the emergence of cosmic acceleration as a recent phenomenon, the
time averaged value of the deceleration parameter over the age of the universe
is nearly zero. Curious features like these in $\Lambda$CDM give rise to a
number of alternate cosmologies being proposed to remove them, including models
with an equation of state w = -1/3. In this paper, we examine the validity of
some of these alternate models and we also address some persistent
misconceptions about the Hubble sphere and the event horizon that lead to
erroneous conclusions about cosmology.
