Re: [OT] Brits try to identify the 50 US states on a map

On 2025-02-07 03:53:04 +0000, moviePig said:

On 2/6/2025 8:23 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

On 2025-02-06 1:19 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

On 2025-02-05 6:07 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:

 That was actually something we had to do as a test in either late grade school or early high school.
 So I could’ve done it 55 years ago, but I doubt I’d get more than half of them now. I’d be able to fill in the borders like doing a jigsaw puzzle, but the middle would remain empty.
 This is the perfect example of the stuff we complained about learning in school that we would never ever need to know and we were right.

 I wonder if we were wise beyond our years or just too lazy to want to
work that hard for something that didn't seem useful to know....
 In any case it really isn't particularly useful to be able to identify
all 50 states EXCEPT for random quizzes like this one. Education systems should not be geared towards teaching useless stuff.

 But boy howdy are they ever.
 Like “to be or not to be“ from Hamlet. We had to memorize it and got points for each line of it we could write down in a pop quiz. But none of it meant a thing to us.

 We had to do a Shakespeare every year of high school and I don't
remember ANYONE enjoying it: we just did our best to endure it.
 I know that almost EVERYONE says he's the greatest writer ever - even
people I respect enormously like Solzhenitsyn - but I've never really
understood why Shakespeare is thought to be so brilliant.

 Ditto
...

 I don't know how many *try* to write Shakespeare-ianly nowadays, but I'm nevertheless guessing that nobody's coming close:

<snip>
There is a series of Star Wars books written as though by Shakespeare and available as audio books. I have no idea why or how close they are, since I've never even looked at them - it *is* Shakepeeare(esque) and therefore something I avoid it like the plague despite being a huge Star Wars fan.
  Original Trilogy
  - William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope
  - William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back: Star Wars Part the Fifth
  - William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return: Star Wars Part the Sixth
  - William Shakespeare's Star Wars Trilogy: The Royal Imperial Boxed Set
  Prequel Trilogy
  - William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace: Star Wars Part the First
  - William Shakespeare's The Clone Army Attacketh: Star Wars Part the Second
  - William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge: Star Wars Part the Third
  Sequel Trilogy
  - William Shakespeare's The Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh
  - William Shakespeare's Jedi the Last: Star Wars Part the Eighth
  - William Shakespeare's The Merry Rise of Skywalker: Star Wars Part the Ninth
<https://www.amazon.com/s?k=william+shakespeare+star+wars>
There is at least one Shakespeare(esque) Star Trek story as well.
   - The Klingon Hamlet
     <https://www.amazon.com/Klingon-Hamlet-William-Shakespeare/dp/0671035789>
Probably a whole load more such silly books as well.  :-\