h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was on the tube in London, and a couple of women (locals) across from me were commenting on the fact that they don't have anything like the tube in America. *sigh* It happens everywhere ...

Not entirely relevant but: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4761294.stm

International version http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/americas/4761294.stm (I think)

I'm British, and I could name four out of the five.

Me too, got stuck on the petition for redress of grievences though.

That was the one I missed.

"they don't have anything like the tube in America"

Hmm... interesting comment. In some ways, it's possibly true. I rode the subway in Manhattan a few weeks ago, and while it's many things, "like the Tube" it is not, for all sorts of reasons. For one thing, the NY subway (at least the parts I went on) is what it says - a subway, *just* under the street. By contrast, getting out of some Tube stations feels like ascending from the bowels of the earth. For another, the NY subway "feels" about thirty years old. It's a bit shabby in places, but it basically comes across as being a late 20th century thing, whether it is or not. The Tube, on the other hand, always feels like some sort of holdover from the Victorian era. This is probably as much to do with the chaotic layout of the city it serves, compared to the rigid structural layout of NY and other US cities. One can ride a subway train on Manhattan for nigh on seven miles in more or less a straight line. Is there *anywhere* on the Tube like that in the middle of London?

Sorry, just some rambling...

SoRB

Ah, but could you name all five of the Simpsons as well, Elentari?

I could, and I haven't had a television for a year now.

The sort of comparisons made in that news story really don't stand up to scrutiny though - it's just tabloid sensationalism. The Simpsons are on TV every day of the week, sometimes twice or three times a day. Can you say that the five freedoms of the Bill of Rights get that much exposure? Not having been through the American school system I don't know this for sure, but I imagine that the BoR is something that's taught to every American kid, and is something that ought to stick for life, like SOHCAHTOA or 'divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived'.

Arrrgh! you have to tell me what SOHCAHTOA was - I remember memorising it and now I can't remember what it is *for*.

This will bug me for ages...

Er, is it geometry?

It's to do with sin, cos and tan, isn't it ?

"I imagine that the BoR is something that's taught to every American kid"

Maybe... and maybe not.

There are plenty of kids who just miss out, because they've switched school districts one or more times during their school years. Different school districts require different things to be taught during different years.

If you move often, it's very easy to miss out on something that seems so basic, while at the same time being taught the something else over and over, because the school district you happen to be in at the time requires your grade to be taught another topic that year.

It's also possible for a school district to re-structure their course requirements so that a class manages to get through all 12 years without ever touching on certain topics.

Then there are those who quit school as soon as they reach the legal age to do so, and thereby also miss certain teaching. Again, it must also be pointed out that there are kids who are so determined not to learn anything of any importance that certain things could be taught 6 times a year every year for all 12 years and they *still* wouldn't have a clue about it.

ooohhh it *is* geometry. Opposite Hypotenuse? Adjacent to Hypotenuse(which may be spelt wrong, can't remember)? *prods memory*

SohCahToa:
Sine of an angle = the side opposite/the hypotenuse
Cosine of an angle = the side adjacted/the hypotenuse
Tangent of an angle = the side opposite/the side adjacent

And then Tangent of an angle = Sine of the angle/Cosine of the angle

Personally I always found the SohCahToa thing more bother than just learning the relationships. But then if you go past GCSE you use trigonometry in a whole load of different ways that mean even if you went totally blank on it you could work it out pretty sharpish.

Just to make that a little easier to understand

SOH
Sine = opposite over hypotenuse
CAH
Cosine = adjacent over hypotenuse
TOA
Tangent = opposite over adjacent

When I said that all American kids are probably taught about the Bill of Rights, what I meant was that it's probably part of the syllabus for all American kids. Some will miss out on it for varying reasons, I imagine.

As an American I completely agree with this. I remeber my freshman year of high school (age 14) and one girl was asked to find Italy on a world map. there were not nearly enough groans as she hunted around South America for the European country shaped as a boot.
People here after Sept. !! 2001 were picking on south asian peoples because they were wearing turbans. Clearly to the uneducated these people Islamic fundamentalists.
Also the overheard conversation which I will remember to my death and probably in the words of the comedian Lewis Black be the cause of my anyurism is this:
Head shop owner: Yeah I just came back from Tibet where I picked up loads of amazing stuff for my store.
Neo-hippie girl: Wow I would love to go to Tibet and open up a store just like this.
I know that it has nothing to do with geography but I had to share it.

Thanks, Wuzicon.

"Ah, but could you name all five of the Simpsons as well, Elentari?" Oh yes. I'm a fan.

A friend of mine and I this morning spent history class pairing the Simpsons with the five freedoms:

Homer = speech
Marge = religion
Bart = assembly
Lisa = petition the government
Maggie = press (because it was left over)

We're supposed to learn the Bill of Rights in grade 8 and in grade 11 in my school district. But who ever remembers something taught in school, as opposed to something watched on tv?

You didn't get out of Manhattan, did you SoRB? Most of the "subway" in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx is elevated. I've also been on the Metro in Washington DC, which does a bit of above and below ground passage. The subway in NYC just turned 100 years old. I never got the impression that it felt new ... especially compared to somewhere like Washington! I guess the "chaotic" layout of London would compare more to downtown Manhattan. The roads there don't make a lot of sense. They hit close to midtown before they finally started making the roads straight.

No I didn't, but I did know that the trains there are elevated... from Spiderman... (seriously...)

It felt "newish" to me, just an impression is all. I spent most of my time in downtown Manhattan, and believe me, you might not think the roads there "make sense" but to someone used to British cities and towns they are unbelievably well-organised and straight.

Take a look at this, for instance: http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=350000.666264171&Y=312000.409882124&width=700&height=400&gride=349240.666264171&gridn=312412.409882124&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=freegaz&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&local=&localinfosel=&kw=&inmap=&table=&ovtype=&keepicon=true&zm=0&scale=10000&upleft.x=8&upleft.y=6

My home town. Still think downtown is "chaotic"?

SoRB

This really is an enjoyable thread. I am ashamed to say that I had no idea what the five freedoms were, although in principle I could have guessed. It just goes to show that they are taken for granted, which is what a constitution should be, at least in such fundamental things. I am sure most Americans would know that they are allowed to express their opinions freely in newspapers etc., without realising that this is one of the freedoms in their constitution.

Didn't know you were a Midlander, SoRB. Great stuff!