So very proud of my wife!

[Aragorn]

Yeah, lots of people aren't big on geography either. If it doesn't effect their daily lives, who cares? Sad but true.

I never had to memorize all 50 state capitals in school, so I can't name them all without looking. I probably don't even know all of them if I had to think about it. Throughout middle school and high school, I kept waiting for that time to come where we would have to learn all 50 capitals, but it never happened.

When I was a senior in High School, they offered a course in Astronomy. Since I had been interested in Astronomy pretty since I was gestating, I signed up for it, desperate to have a class that wasn't mind-numbingly boring. By the end of the semester, nobody in the class had yet learned the names of the planets in the Solar System. Granted, there were nine in those days....

Only nine? Right, the new one is Planet 51, like in the cartoon.

 

[B.J.]

I never had to memorize all 50 state capitals in school, so I can't name them all without looking. I probably don't even know all of them if I had to think about it. Throughout middle school and high school, I kept waiting for that time to come where we would have to learn all 50 capitals, but it never happened.

Growing up in Georgia, that happened for me in fourth grade. My oldest is in 5th grade, and I don't think he's ever had to learn the capitals, but then again, he's a lot further ahead of where I was in several other subjects.

 

[TheSeeker]

Oh Brother! Not another thread with funny ideas of what people should know.

<- - - - The point


<- - - - Your head

I doubt that many people actually know what A4 paper standard is, including those with doctorate degrees...

Given that it's the standard paper size used everywhere except the United States, I expect a few people might recognise it.

You may want to research that a little more.

 

[Mistral]

My 5th grade teacher made us memorize all 50 capitals. His argument was, what if we were on a trip and got lost? No matter where we were, we'd know the name of one city in each state to ask directions about.
Did I mention he was a former linebacker who'd probably been tackled once too often?

 

[Miss Chicken]

I can name all the 50 states of the US but probably only about half of the capitals.

I was treated as an imbecile by members of my family when I didn't know who Susan Boyle was. They said everyone should have heard of Susan Boyle.

Quite a few years ago my son's class was asked by a librarian "Who are the Teenage Ninja Turtles named after?". My son was the only one to put up his hand. He said "Painters, except Donatello who was named after a sculptor". The only source he had for this info was the TV show which nearly all the other kids had also seen but only he took the information in and kept it.

My son's class was also asked "Where does the sun go at night". The other kids said things like "Under the ground" and "To the other side of the Earth" whereas my son said "The sun doesn't go anywhere, the Earth turns away from the sun". The things is my son had a reading disability (he barely could read at all) but was taking more general knowledge than the other kids in the class. His teachers always said they were amazed by his general knowledge.

 

[MetalPants]

Tonight, Mrs Cheapjack and I will be probing Uranus.

That's no moon...

 

[scotpens]

She got home and asked me how can people walked around this Earth and be that stupid.

Ignorant, not stupid. And there's little reason to be aware of something that has absolutely no bearing on one's life.

Actually, there's a very good reason to be aware of all sorts of things that have no direct bearing on one's life. It's called being knowledgeable and worldly. Or, in other words, not being a provincial shit-kicker.

I doubt that many people actually know what A4 paper standard is, including those with doctorate degrees....

I know what A4 paper standard is. But then, I'm in the printing trade.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

A4? What happened to the first three standards?

As Dr. Richard Daystrom once explained, "Well, you see, the standards one through four were not entirely succesful. But this one is. A4 is ready to take control of the ship."

Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing! CORRECT ANSWER! In the words of David Letterman, "Once again, Paul, you have crystalized my thoughts, exactly." (I mean this IS a Star Trek board, right?)

Yes, all these years of watching Star Trek has taken its toll on my brain! When I read your question/post, I immediately thought of the scene with Kirk questioning Daystrom!

 

[Switch]

Actually, there's a very good reason to be aware of all sorts of things that have no direct bearing on one's life. It's called being knowledgeable and worldly. Or, in other words, not being a provincial shit-kicker.

Ah, there's that liberal elitism I was looking for.

 

[Amaris]

Actually, there's a very good reason to be aware of all sorts of things that have no direct bearing on one's life. It's called being knowledgeable and worldly. Or, in other words, not being a provincial shit-kicker.

Ah, there's that liberal elitism I was looking for.

Then again, if you're looking for it, you're likely to find it anyway.

 

[Switch]

Actually, there's a very good reason to be aware of all sorts of things that have no direct bearing on one's life. It's called being knowledgeable and worldly. Or, in other words, not being a provincial shit-kicker.

Ah, there's that liberal elitism I was looking for.

Then again, if you're looking for it, you're likely to find it anyway.

Yeah, I'm clearly reading too much into "provincial shit-kicker".

 

[Amaris]

Ah, there's that liberal elitism I was looking for.

Then again, if you're looking for it, you're likely to find it anyway.

Yeah, I'm clearly reading too much into "provincial shit-kicker".

You're certainly reading what you want into it. You seem quite pleased about it.

 

[Snaploud]

I recall a time when some people would say that the idea of moons plural was a misnomer. They were under the impression that there was just one Moon (capital letter, indicating a name) but many "satellites." So, from their point of view, it would be incorrect to say that there are "moons" around Jupiter. Rather, it would only be correct to say that there are "satellites" around Jupiter. I guess that idea didn't catch on...

 

[Amaris]

I recall a time when some people would say that the idea of moons plural was a misnomer. They were under the impression that there was just one Moon (capital letter, indicating a name) but many "satellites." So, from their point of view, it would be incorrect to say that there are "moons" around Jupiter. Rather, it would only be correct to say that there are "satellites" around Jupiter. I guess that idea didn't catch on...

Although the formal name for Earth's moon is Luna, so it can work either way.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Actually, there's a very good reason to be aware of all sorts of things that have no direct bearing on one's life. It's called being knowledgeable and worldly. Or, in other words, not being a provincial shit-kicker.

Ah, there's that liberal elitism I was looking for.

Wow, there are people who actually think high standards are better than low standards? That's fucked up.