silly questions

["Rauber, Joel Phys" <RAUBERJ@mg.sdstate.edu>]

Hi folks,

Having read the computer anecdotes (most amusing), I got to thinking that 
several of them are nowhere near as silly as you might think at first 
glance.  particularly if you remember the purchasers of these things at the 
mall, may be people who've never dealt with the computer before.  For 
example

> 7. Another Dell customer needed help setting up a new program, so a Dell
> tech suggested he go to the local Egghead. "Yeah, I got me a couple of
> friends, "the customer replied. When told Egghead was a software store,
> the man said, "Oh, I thought you meant for me to find a couple of
> geeks."

Where I live this particular chain does not exist for at least 250 miles (if 
not more) and few people (even computer literate ones) around here have 
heard of it.  So the customers response was quite reasonable.

On another note Leigh wrote

> Am I the only teacher in the world who has never said "There are no
> silly questions"? Having asked many myself (and having heard many more)
> I know that is untrue, so I never say it. I am often tempted to follow
> the solemn intonation of this particular absurdity by another with a
> counterexample consciously constructed to refute it.

I too have been found to state those words " there is no such thing as a 
dumb question", in my more private moments and to my colleagues I alter this 
to "there is such a thing as a dumb question, and those had better be the 
first ones a student gets answered and asked."

And for your amusement: I was corresponding with a friend of mine who was 
taking quantum mechanics about 10 years or so ago and their class came up 
the following.


The 3 stages of learning quantum mechanics:

1) You don't know how to calculate anything.  You don't understand what is 
going on. You are so frustrated you can't sleep at night.

2) You can calculate a few things, but you still don't have a clue what is 
going on and you can't sleep at night.

3) You can calculate a few things, but you still don't know what the hell is 
going on! You sleep like a baby.

cheers

Joel