I used to write for my college newspaper and I actually did an article on this. I did a survey of maybe 40 people and maybe only 60% knew the moon had gravity! Even one of the math teachers didn’t know! Later she came in down to the newspaper office (I guess it took her that long to realize she answered incorrectly) and demanded that we not print her name. She threatened us and said that she didn’t know it would be published etc, etc. (How dumb is she? “Hi I’m from Bandersnatch, the college newspaper. Would you mind answering some questions?” That’s what newspapers do, they publish stuff.)
I actually posted that article on usenet once. If anyone wants it I can probably find it.
A lot of people seem to think gravity has something to do with the rotation of the earth, despite the fact that centrifugal force would throw us off, not keep us on.
Weird how they can conveniently ignore logic sometimes.
I used to work with a guy in Indianapolis when I lived in Ohio. I’d call him and ask him what time it was, before going out to meet the people over there. I think they have no daylight savings but some part of the state does!
Driving a coworker home one night, we were listening to the traffic report, and heard that there was a back up because of a jackknifed tractor-trailer. She looked at me, in all seriousness, and asked “Why are there so many accidents involving tractor-trailers? There aren’t any farms here, who needs to drive a tractor-trailer?” She had no idea that a tractor and a tractor-trailer were two different things. We live in NYC, by the way, and the chances of seeing a tractor on any road in the city are slim to none. She was also my supervisor.
“I wore an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time…”
Actually Indianapolis doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time at all, but that’s immaterial. Her statement was that on any given day of the year, you got more hours of sunlight in Indianapolis than you did in Chicago. Which, as I said, means Indy is averaging over 12 hours of daylight per day per year. Impossible.
But she refused to believe me and said she should know because she lived there.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
I can top that one. I was once talking about the (American) Civil War with a co-worker and he asked me which came first; The American Revolution or the Civil War? It boggled my mind. I’ve tried to imagine what his mental map of American history looks like but I can’t.
This topic makes me feel pretty stupid. There are several things posted here that I did not know.
I reserve the right to blame HISD for all lack of knowledge on my part. Except for math, I learned a heck of a lot more by reading fiction (that is seeing a reference to something, not understanding it, and looking it up) than I ever learned in school.
Also, beatle. Did you friend come from HISD originally? Because of the 4 HISD and 1 CFISD schools that I attended (and several US History courses) not ONE mentioned WWII or even WWI. In fact, most ended after the Civil War. To this day, I don’t completely understand what happened in any war of this century.
Cessandra
Why sex is better than religion: No need to rest on Sundays!
The Germans wanted to expand their backyard a bit, and promote the Arian race while they were at it. Some other countries got mad, they formed an Allied Force, and kicked some German ass. The End.
(Yes, that’s a joke. I do take WWII seriously. There’s no other option, being from Holland and all.)