I took my family to the local observatory, and met a guy who didn't know what caused the phases of the moon. He apparently thought it was the Earth's shadow the whole time. And he was a guy who was prolly in his late 30's, white-collar professional, kids, ... I was momentarily speechless. I thought they taught that in elementary school.
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Re: During the recent eclipse
Sat, February 23, 2008 - 12:39 PMMickey - Did you educate him? Or were you struck dumb by his, er, dumbness? ;-) -
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Re: During the recent eclipse
Sat, February 23, 2008 - 2:19 PMI was taught about astronomy basics in junior high science class, if I remember correctly. However, my memory is foggy on this one. I wasn't paying attention because I already knew it.
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Re: During the recent eclipse
Sat, February 23, 2008 - 8:27 PMI beat him senseless with a telescope.
But only after the astronomer on duty told him it was because of direct light & shadow. He still didn't explain the whole thing. -
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Re: During the recent eclipse
Sun, February 24, 2008 - 5:31 AMMickey - "I beat him senseless with a telescope."
What else can one do really? ;-)
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Re: During the recent eclipse
Sun, February 24, 2008 - 8:59 AMMickey - Though I have to admit I forget things I've learned all the time if I'm not actively using the knowledge. For instance, I know I learned why the sky looks blue but I couldn't remember why that's so now to save my life. Granted, if I don't know something I'll just honesty admit my lack of knowledge and go look it up or ask someone rather than pretend I know. Which, of course, doesn't preclude me misunderstanding things at times or being wrong. I'm just not that attached to being right for the sake of being right that it matters much to me if I'm wrong.
Hey, at least the guy didn't think the eclipse was a sign from the gods! ;-)
