I was riding somewhere with my dad when I was 11, I guess, and started explaining to him how to prepare a specimen for a scanning electron microscope, and he was sort of freaking out, because he worked at a lab where they were used.
“Where did you learn that?” 🤨
“Michael Crichton in Andromeda Strain.” 😃
(Novel, not the film.)
I had a similar story regarding two ancient armies meeting on the battlefield. One had horses as a resources and did NOT use them in warfare. Asked why not, and got a blank stare back and he honestly did not have an answer for that. I don’tthink he ever did figure out the why of it. I was instantly upgraded as a thinker kid in a grunge/metalhead crowd. Lol!
I never feel any embarrassment from admitting that I learned something useful from something seemingly silly, like a movie or comic strip, for example. After all, my outlook is this: nothing is truly a waste of time unless you get absolutely nothing from it, and really, you can learn from pretty much anything if you stay perceptive.
If only that were accurate. Calvary units in Europe and Northern Africa existed for hundreds of years before the stirrup was known there. Not until after the Fall of the Roman empire did the use of stirrups become widespread in Europe and Africa.
I read that same novel!
… sounds like Rees-Mogg and Davidson too …
I know which book that was
It’s Sid Meier’s Civilization for me
Favorite post of the day. Absolutely brilliant when you can apply star trek to real life. Comes up a lot for me actually 🤔
Actually..cavalry was around long before the stirrup!
Adam Richards
That’s probably where the history teacher learned it too, don’t worry.
Goes back to “Everything I learned about life, I learned from watching Star Trek!”
My view of the afterlife is based on Wounded Sky by Diane Duane.
We learn much about real life from fiction, and science fiction in particular.
Star Trek: Way more science than your average science fiction.
Carl Traynor
I was riding somewhere with my dad when I was 11, I guess, and started explaining to him how to prepare a specimen for a scanning electron microscope, and he was sort of freaking out, because he worked at a lab where they were used.
“Where did you learn that?” 🤨
“Michael Crichton in Andromeda Strain.” 😃
(Novel, not the film.)
The Horse would predate your invented interaction with an Educator.
Love it.
Then there was the Maxim machinegun that ended the reign of the horse mounted calvary in 1914.
We were once asked about what amber was.
The girl whom aced everything and was hugely devoted to her studies gave an incorrect guess. I half-raised my hand, never liking to speak up.
“It’s fossilized tree sap.”
When the teacher said I was correct, the other girl whirled on me and asked so angrily, “HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT.”
I thought she was already mad, but y’all should’ve seen her face when I explained that I’d watched ‘Jurassic Park’ almost every day when I was little.
Logical. Flawlessly logical.
well that’s all right. In-between spouts of techno-babble, Star Trek does try to get educational from time to time.
Ethan Kumm
Reading is fundamental. 🤷🏿♂️
I had a similar story regarding two ancient armies meeting on the battlefield. One had horses as a resources and did NOT use them in warfare. Asked why not, and got a blank stare back and he honestly did not have an answer for that. I don’tthink he ever did figure out the why of it. I was instantly upgraded as a thinker kid in a grunge/metalhead crowd. Lol!
I never feel any embarrassment from admitting that I learned something useful from something seemingly silly, like a movie or comic strip, for example. After all, my outlook is this: nothing is truly a waste of time unless you get absolutely nothing from it, and really, you can learn from pretty much anything if you stay perceptive.
My vote is for the Longbow. Long before gunpowder, the longbow leveled the playing field making heavy armor obsolete. Took down heavy cavalry as well…
Have you ever seen a teacher cry?
😁
My daughter answered a few questions thanks to the Simpsons and Family Guy.
Good one!
Stories teaching us stuff, as they were always meant to do
Natives did that without stirrups though.
If only that were accurate. Calvary units in Europe and Northern Africa existed for hundreds of years before the stirrup was known there. Not until after the Fall of the Roman empire did the use of stirrups become widespread in Europe and Africa.
Science fiction is good for the brain.