Is This A Simple Question?
<div class="IPBDescription">Well I thought it was</div> So I'm in the gym today looking at the TVs they have set up there. Pounding away on the treadmill I'm kinda bored so I pick the best program availible, Who Wants to be a Millionare (says alot for the other choices eh <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ). A woman comes on and goes through some early questions without much difficulty. Then she is given a question (for the grand prize of $1000 <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ) which is as follows:
Which star is closest to the Earth?
a) Alpha Centauri
b) Proxima Centauri
c) Sirius
d) The Sun
Now the answer screamed out at me the moment it came up. Yet this contestant went through TWO lifelines, (50/50 and Call a Friend) to get the answer. My fiancee and I couldn't believe that she hadn't picked it immediatly. Upon posing the same question to some IRC friends though some were stumped. So I ask, is the question really simple, or could it give some people trouble?
Which star is closest to the Earth?
a) Alpha Centauri
b) Proxima Centauri
c) Sirius
d) The Sun
Now the answer screamed out at me the moment it came up. Yet this contestant went through TWO lifelines, (50/50 and Call a Friend) to get the answer. My fiancee and I couldn't believe that she hadn't picked it immediatly. Upon posing the same question to some IRC friends though some were stumped. So I ask, is the question really simple, or could it give some people trouble?
Comments
Everyone has different experiences in life and learns different things; what might be an easy answer to you could be completely confuzzling for someone who's never paid attention to the stars. A lot of people won't even know that the sun is a star; they'll class planets as stars and stuff too =3
It's like asking a question about James Bond; not everyone's seen the films so they don't know that oddjob's weapon of choice was a razorblade bowler hat <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Plus, there's much more stupid people in that show. When a woman was asked "Who does Harrison Ford hunt in the movie 'Blade Runner'?", she answered "Elephants"...
And I can't believe someone else uses the word "confuzzling"... in the IRC group I regular at noone has heard of it and they mock me for it.
point?
lol's right though and it just tags on what I said; you can't expect everyone to have seen or learnt everything you have so calling them stupid just because they don't know what was hunted in bladerunner isn't really justifiable =/
Sure it's a 'classic' but it's still just a film; not something that redefined our very existance <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I always say confuzzling <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
j00 r n0t 4l0n3.
Reason being, I read the first part of the question, and expected: "Which is the nearest star to our sun?"
No money for me <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Ask him the release date for Half-Life 2 ROFL.
If you read the question, the answer is evidently the sun. If you are in a stress and a hurry, you are quite likely to get it wrong
You want to know a location of a star? Ask me! Alpha Centauri is about...20 LY away if I remember correctly.
That's the price of sleeping with a Starchart next to your bed for years.
No way a probe could have sent back data anyway, considering they are both a good thousand year trip at least, with a fully-loaded Ion Engine. It would only take 20 years for the data to come back to us though.
Plus Frank Herbert (R.I.P.) wrote in his book <i>Destination Void</i> that the Tau Ceti system is incapable, but he was just making a random choice, not based on actual knowledge.
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Well in relation to the topic, two questions later the question was "What was the name of the war Israel fought in 1967?". I instantly knew that the answer was the 6-Day War, however, many people without an education in modern history wouldn't know that. However, what struck me about the original question was that it just seemed so simple; I guess I assumed that everyone knows that the Sun is a star <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Of course, I also assume that people know who Hitler was, or what the USSR was, yet you'll easily find people who don't know the answer to either of those things.
United Soviet Socialist Republics
Adolf Hitler - Leader of the German country from 1932(?) to 1945, when he died by suicide.
Of course, here's a good one that only History people will know:
How many years was the Hundred Years war?
Strangely enough a women got in trouble for using a mobile search engine PDA type thing on that show 21, she was searching for the answers in her booth, she had it tucked under her shirt sleeve or something.
I think around 130 years. Seeing as my focus is 19th and 20th century military history I'm surprised I remembered that. If indeed, I did remember it correctly <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
How about an easy one for you: First use of gas warfare in 20th century. Year and location please <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
its a trick question
if you were running a race, and you over took the second place runner, what place would you be in? <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Yeah, 100 years war was about 130 years.
I'm doing world history, renaissance to modern right now.
I love history, it's my guilty pleasure (I used to read my high school's big blue history book when I was bored)
The U.S.A....that's that small little thing next to Russia, right?
O'Malley: A...I...What's the A stand for?
Church: Artificial
O'Malley: and the I?
Church: Intelligence
O'Malley:...what's the A stand for again?
Sorry, had that RvB quote in my head all day long.
Sirius is around 8-9 LY away from the earth.
Alpha Centauri (A and B) and Proxima Centauri (aka. Alpha Centauri C) are about 4 LY away from the earth. Proxima Centauri is marginally closer than Alpha Centauri A and B.
The Sun is 1 AU away from the earth.
1 AU << 1 LY
Are you sure tank? I remember my starchart having the Centauri's at about 20 LY away.
So what, he was 13 when he died? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
How the heck could you not know that the sun is the closest star? I've never even SEEN Blade Runner, and I know Ford hunts robots.
This is the right way of looking at the world: a person is stupid. People are stupider.
Yes, I am sure. And I checked it too. <a href='http://www.shatters.net/celestia/' target='_blank'>Celestia</a> is your friend. The only one there I was unsure about was Sirius, actually. Thought it was at 12-13 LY.