Europe is a country

[TwilightOdyssey]

That was painful to watch ...

[jt]

:D We live in a world wear how we look is regarded as far more important than what we no. Education & intelligence are not highly regarded or even sadly rewarded in this society. This means that even basic things most of the rest of us would take for granted are now becoming rare. The young blonde American woman probably lives in a world where what she wears & how her hair looks & does she look like this film star, model, TV personality is far more important to her than anything else. She was only interested in being on TV because she thought it would make her famous it has but not for the right reasons. Its a sad state of affairs for our modern world i`m afraid. Still at least i`m on a forum that has thankfully intelligent human beings making for a far more interesting world !  :D

 :D  8)

[MacBeth]

:D We live in a world wear how we look is regarded as far more important than what we no. Education & intelligence are not highly regarded or even sadly rewarded in this society. This means that even basic things most of the rest of us would take for granted are now becoming rare. The young blonde American woman probably lives in a world where what she wears & how her hair looks & does she look like this film star, model, TV personality is far more important to her than anything else. She was only interested in being on TV because she thought it would make her famous it has but not for the right reasons. Its a sad state of affairs for our modern world i`m afraid. Still at least i`m on a forum that has thankfully intelligent human beings making for a far more interesting world !  :D

 :D  8)

That is true...

a funny but really depressing test is to ask people around you what temperature water boils or freezes, you are going to be really surpriced how many people do not know the answer. I always thought that is common knowlegde, but it isn't.

[maverickf1jockey]

sorry to shite on you two but the boiling and freezing points of water are not always the same. The measurement is of distilled water and under controlled conditions. Impurities in the water and environmental factors can all affect these processes.

And 'no' as in knowledge should always be spelt with 'K--W'.

[Nadz1lla]

Well now you're just being pedantic!  :lol:

We are talking about simpletons though, so even they should be able to throw a guess at 100 degrees etc as per the first classroom lesson on the subject, but some can't even manage that. It's very sad.

[Kilby]

sorry to shitee on you two but the boiling and freezing points of water are not always the same. The measurement is of distilled water and under controlled conditions. Impurities in the water and environmental factors can all affect these processes.

Better include air pressure in the list of variables, thats one of the techniques they use produce instant coffee as it dosn't (allegedly) damage the flavour the way boiling @ 100C would. (though for most instant coffees it removes the flavour instead)

Rob...

PS I have given up on spelling and grammar on interweb, partially due to the number of non native english speakers (putting me to shame) but mostly due to native english speakers who can't spell (or put 3 words together)

[Tellboy]

My son did an 'exchange' year in Fullerton University in California (some poor bar steward had to spend a year in Swansea University in exchange  :( ).
Even at that level of education he was amazed at the lack of general knowledge about Europe - typical comment from classmate.."Europe, don't they speak Spanish there?", "Isn't Europe part of France?"

P.S Useless info - Fullerton is where Leo Fender started the Fender company. Unfortunately my son did not have time to show me the Fender museum when I visited him... but made up for it by taking me to the Mumbles when he got back to Swansea  :lol: (and of course the student union bar)

[Ratrod]

Probably, the majority of people are pretty thick. Look at what people like to watch on TV, or what kind of music people listen too or how they vote. (I'm not even going to mention religious dogma's people believe.)

[horsehead]

The french aren't so smart either  :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0CjrNgK0zw

all of gallelio's work un-done by 1 frenchman :lol:

I think this argument may run & run.

[plastercaster]

That is true...

a funny but really depressing test is to ask people around you what temperature water boils or freezes, you are going to be really surpriced how many people do not know the answer. I always thought that is common knowlegde, but it isn't.

sorry to shitee on you two but the boiling and freezing points of water are not always the same. The measurement is of distilled water and under controlled conditions. Impurities in the water and environmental factors can all affect these processes.

I don't think that those that appear to be totally stupid when asked the freezing/boiling points of water are actually standing around thinking "well actually, it depends on air pressure and impurities in the water, and does he want the temperature in Celsius, Fahrenheit, or Kelvin? Is it worth mentioning that water can become gaseous below 100c, or remain liquid above it? should I embark on an engaging tale on the importance of van der Waal interactions and Hydrogen bonding allowing water to be a solid, liquid or gas across a relatively small range of temperatures, and therefore playing a crucial part in the development of life on earth?"

no.
they are thinking, "how am I supposed to know?" and "what has this got to do with football?"  

hmmm... I'm sure that most of the french audience was only joking about the sun orbiting the earth- but it does worry me that that was a £2000 pound question.

[jt]

:D Your right of course my spelling is appalling. I make no bones about it but it doesn`t change my point of view. It also doesn`t affect my intelligence level. My point / comment was that in this day & age education isn`t regarded particulaly highly. Its also not financially rewarding either all this has helped to kill off the aspiration culture & has helped drive the celebrity culture. So now all we get is F**kwits all over the TV making huge sums of money & most cant walk & chew gum at the same time. This is what most young people now see as being important ie, how do i look, i must be on the TV etc etc. The young lady on the original clip is unfortunately typical of this obsession in our culture.

 :D  8)

[blue]

she was a contestant on american idol.

not exactly a cultural and intellectual melting pot, i'm sure you'll agree!

[Muzzzz]

How about an equation some of these dumb people will understand...

vast numbers of highly unintelligent people
+
compulsory voting in federal elections
=
Prime minister Kevin Rudd  :)

Actually, while I think of it, my sister turned 18 this year and voted in the election (PS, we live in Australia) and while she was at the polling booth, she overheard 2 girls talking:

Girl 1: I think I'm going to vote for the Greens
Girl 2: Oh ok... why's that?
Girl 1: It's my favourite colour.

 :o

[Kilby]

How about an equation some of these dumb people will understand...

vast numbers of highly unintelligent people
+
compulsory voting in federal elections
=
Prime minister Kevin Rudd  :)

Any relation to Phil Rudd ? (just trying to see the silver lining) ;)

[MacBeth]

sorry to shitee on you two but the boiling and freezing points of water are not always the same. The measurement is of distilled water and under controlled conditions. Impurities in the water and environmental factors can all affect these processes.

Well, its clear, that you can get different results by changing the environmental facs, but there is a quite common answer that they teach you at school. Which is, talking in °celsius, 0 for freezing 100 for boiling. And its not "depends on how high you turn up the oven" or things similar.