The Watering Hole: September 28 — Ask a Stupid Question Day

Posted on by

Happy Ask a Stupid Question Day, all y’all!!

This awesome day came about because teachers wanted kids to ask more questions in class.

According to holidayinsights.com, “[a]t the time, there was a movement by teachers to try to get kids to ask more questions in the classroom. Kids sometimes hold back, fearing their question is stupid, and asking it will result in ridicule.”

Actually, I think asking a stupid question, even on Ask a Stupid Question Day, might result in ridicule.

What’s your favorite stupid question?  Wait, is that a stupid question?  If I have to ask, is that a “yes?”  Oh dear…I think I’ve cornered myself.

Here’s my favorite stupid question:  Do we have any wine?

Srsly?  ;)

This is our daily open thread — It’s Friday!!

About these ads

156 thoughts on “The Watering Hole: September 28 — Ask a Stupid Question Day”

  6. The last question a corporate customer service representative asks after failing to resolve the issue they were called about:

    “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

  7. The stupidest question I encounter is the card swipe machine asking me if my total is correct. It is the bloody computer, so it should be telling me the total is correct!

  8. Stupid questions they left out of the Bible:

    Eve, after biting the apple: “What’s that thing for?”

    “Hey, Noah, when’s the rain gonna stop?”

    The people of Jerico to Joshua, “You, and what army?”

    Joseph, to Mary: “Who’s the father?”

    Jesus, on the cross: “Why me?”

    • Lot to Abraham: “Your invisible sky-wizard monotheistic god told you to do *what* to your todger!!??? – F**k that I’m off to Sodom and Gomorahh for Happy Hour – who’s with me lads??”

    • Mary to Joseph: “Are we there yet?”

      Noah’s family to Noah: “Are we there yet?”

      The Israelites to Moses: “Are we there yet?”

  9. QOTD:

    “Everyone wanted perfection, but come on: The last guy who was perfect they nailed to a cross. And he wasn’t even an official.” — Jeff Sadorus, replaced NFL replacement official, whining to the media.

  10. Anything Microsoft.

    “are you sure”

    YES!!! I’m goddamned sure!
    That’s why I’m trying to turn this stupid thing off.
    I’m sure that I want to turn it off.

  12. Knew a teacher who would write on the board, “There are no stupid question.” Later, when the inevitable stupid question came he would slowly, nonchalantly erase that.

  13. I use that phrase a lot, teaching information technology classes. So many students are fearful of thinking ‘can I ask that question and not appear stupid’?
    The real question is, are you _______ enough to need an answer but can’t ask out of some emotional fear of embarassment? And yes, some cultures have a strong inhibition to losing face by admitting they don’t know and have to ask.
    Invariably, when one student musters the courage to ask, it gets the answer to the question that ten students had.

    • That’s one of the traits of right-wing authoritarians. They think that Jebus, or God, or Zombie Raygun will kill them and send them to Hell if they say “I don’t know”.

    • Reminds me of a stupid question I asked many times while training people to use technical equipment and the software that went with it. The people I was training did not have English as their first language and I was very cognizant of that fact. The question was “Did you understand that?”. Almost every time the answer was yes. Both I and the students knew the real answer was no.

    • Worst tech question I’ve been asked:
      “When the data is in memory is it in hex or binary?

  14. Heard on local Reichradio:

    “Why are evolutionists so eager to find water on mars? We have never seen water anywhere in the universe but on earth. Get over it!”

  15. And you gotta love the dialog box that comes up when you try to save a document and it asks:
    Abort, Retry, Ignore.

    • Plenty of stupid questioners. The people who say, “How do you know fossils aren’t a hoax perpetrated by scientists?”

  17. An article in National Journal has been circulating around this AM.
    Ron Brownstein offers some sage insight into the conundrum of how the President, leading a nation that continues to struggle economically, can manage to defy the political adage of voters always voting their pocketbooks.
    One germain excerpt:
    “I came out of a blue-collar world; the way I came up, it doesn’t exist anymore,” says Maria Shaw, a child-welfare worker from Champaign Ill., who was laid off from her job recently but is supporting Obama. “I recognize that when you’re in a difficult position, you’re not going to dig out of it right away.”
    One suspects that Maria realizes that if the Republicons win, the cuts to gummint services they will enact will guarantee she never works in the public sector again.

      • Heck! Ask any football fan. I still think that unions and Democrats should use the whole sordid incident as an example of the consequences of union busting. There are a whole lot of people who care a lot more about football than political issues.

    • do they realize the cameramen, gaffers, sound techs and anyone on their studio crew are ALL union? i’ll bet the crew loves making those idiots look good every day….

  23. So in tuning into Current TV as I got ready for work, I entered the wrong channel number. I was only off by one, but unfortunately I landed on Fox Business News (FBN).

    Stuart Varney was on telling us how horrible the economy is right now. In the roughly 30 seconds I watched he covered:

    Liberal Media
    Took a swipe at the New York Times
    Mentioned that unemployment is at 8%
    Bashed Obama several times
    Tells us that 1.5% GROWTH in the GDP means the economy is shrinking
    Said the White House was lying about the economy
    Had the gall to say something to the effect “we only deal with facts here.”

    And then introduced his guest Monica Crowley (and two others, I didn’t catch their names). Because when it comes to business news and “facts”, Monica Crowley is who I’d turn to for information?

    Seriously. All this in 30 seconds.

    • And virtually every other 30 seconds throughout the entire 24 hour day is the same exact shit. The encouraging thing is that FBN has a very small audience and even FAUX Prime is losing viewers to MSNBC and other news sources. It’s too soon to tell but they might have jumped the shark.

    • Where he comes from – he would be called a ‘c**t’ and would be hard pushed to order a pint in a pub and leave safely.

  24. From Jim Webb’s introductory remarks before Obama’s Virginia Beach appearance. Webb, a former Republican Navy Secretary and actual maverick, sticks the knife into Willard:

    “Governor Romney and I are about the same age. Like millions of others in our generation, we came to adulthood facing the harsh realities of the Vietnam War.

    2.7 million in our age group went to Vietnam, a war which eventually took the lives of 58,000 young Americans and cost another 300,000 wounded. The Marine Corps lost 100,000 killed or wounded in that war. During the year I was in Vietnam, 1969, our country lost twice as many dead as we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan combined over the past 10 years of war. 1968 was worse. 1967 was about the same. Not a day goes by when I do not think about the young Marines I was privileged to lead.

    This was a time of conscription, where every American male was eligible to be drafted. People made choices about how to deal with the draft, and about military service. I have never envied or resented any of the choices that were made as long as they were done within the law. But those among us who stepped forward to face the harsh unknowns and the lifelong changes that can come from combat did so with the belief that their service would be honored, and that our leaders would, in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, care for those who had borne the battle, and for their widows and their children.

    Those young Marines that I led have grown older now. They’ve lived lives of courage, both in combat and after their return, where many of them were derided by their own peers for having served. That was a long time ago. They are not bitter. They know what they did. But in receiving veterans’ benefits, they are not takers. They were givers, in the ultimate sense of that word. There is a saying among war veterans: “All gave some, some gave all.” This is not a culture of dependency. It is a part of a long tradition that gave this country its freedom and independence. They paid, some with their lives, some through wounds and disabilities, some through their emotional scars, some through the lost opportunities and delayed entry into civilian careers which had already begun for many of their peers who did not serve.

    And not only did they pay. They will not say this, so I will say it for them. They are owed, if nothing else, at least a mention, some word of thanks and respect, when a presidential candidate who is their generational peer makes a speech accepting his party’s nomination to be commander-in-chief. And they are owed much more than that — a guarantee that we will never betray the commitment that we made to them and to their loved ones.”

  25. Not so much a stupid question as a stupid request for stupid questions, here’s a real-life, real-time example from my friend, Dr. Dave.

    A nominee for the best student email ever came in last night: “I have been looking through the essay questions tonight and was wondering if you could re-word some of the questions for me in simpler terms if its possible just so that it is easier to understand.”

  26. Good news email of the day.

    Gummitch — the results are in, and you voted Michele Bachman as the Worst. Republican. Ever.

    Maybe that’s not a surprise to you. But maybe this is: We have a real chance to beat Bachmann in November.

    A new poll shows Bachmann’s Democratic opponent, Jim Graves, only 2 points behind at 48-46. Contribute $3 to help Jim win.

    Michele Bachmann’s McCarthy-style witch-hunts has cost her with independent voters and made this race a potential pick-up for Democrats.

    Now she’s running scared. As soon as Jim Graves went on the air, Rep. Bachmann reacted with vicious attacks.

    Help Jim Graves defeat Michele Bachmann today: http://dccc.org/Fire-Bachmann

    Democrats 2012

    • So WillardRat is right there with favorability ratings similar to cholera, toenail fungus, etc…
      If you get a chance, go to the link, head toward the bottom, where the Bush photo sequence is, look at #2 of 17.
      Hilarious! Bush looks like he just swallowed his 7 pound perch, Laura looks like she’s stoned, and the Obamas look like their just enjoying their asses off!

  31. I swear this is a true story of a stupid question

    I was in a restaurant and as the waitress came by I asked, “Excuse, but could you tell me what time it is?” And her answer was, I swear, “You mean now?”

  33. A guest on Ed Schultz was just saying how ‘prepared’ Mitt Romney is going to be for the debate. I think the reason they have had to spend so much time on debate prep, is because he hasn’t got it down at all. If he had, he wouldn’t still be contradicting his campaign, such as the other day when he said Obama hadn’t raised taxes, after they have repeatedly claimed he had.

    • During the primary debates Romney just bullied and lied his way through them. President Obama will catch him on lies and if Romney tries to bully him it will look really bad for him.

    • I can’t wait for these debates. Rmoney will likely try to get the moderator to kowtow to his corporate brilliance, only to discover that no one actually thinks that’s important. Rich people buy their way into personal acceptance and obeisance.
      Not this time.

  34. It’s Friday night and Zooey has to ask this question, ” Do we have any wine?” We’re falling apart here people!

  35. Our business in in a heavily Republican district and I swear because of Romney/Ryan constant harping about how bad the economy is business is way down. It’s like they’re all waiting until Romney wins the election to spend their money because everything will be better then.

  37. Afghan troops get a lesson in American cultural ignorance

    “Some would argue that we’re too late, but any time is the right time to promote understanding of each other’s culture,” [Michael W.] Gore said. “The Golden Rule goes a long way in any culture in helping to foster tolerance and understanding.”

    Nasib wasn’t quite as buoyant. “Unfortunately, it’s too late,” he said. “It should have been done early.”

  40. Stupid Question 1: Will you marry me?

    Followed shortly thereafter by Stupid Question 2: What was I thinking?

  41. An attorney who has no conception of evidence or cause and effect. I can’t seem to find anything in here that would even remotely support his contention that homosexuals getting married would affect his marriage in any way. I wold love to watch him try this “logic” in front of a judge but my guess is that his actual expertise, if any, is drawing up wills and contracts rather than trying cases.

    http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/171613511.html

  43. The weather geeks completely blew it in my back yard. The ten percent chance of rain just went to one hundred. I thought it seemed too humid for ten cents worth. Good thing I didn’t have the car disabled out there. I have needed to replace my oil cooler seals when I can get a round tuit here. Maybe next Friday.

  44. Fox finally got it’s wish…notorious for live coverage of high speed car chases, one ended badly, with the suspect blowing his brains out on live TV….apparently Fox had a glitch in their 5 second delay.

    yes, sadly, it’s in you tube….as is Shepherd Smiths apology…??…

    • ~”And we really messed up. And we’re all very sorry. That didn’t belong on TV. We took every precaution we knew how to take to keep that from being on TV. And I personally apologize to you that that happened. Sometimes we see a lot of things we don’t let get to you, because it is not time appropriate, it is ininsensitive, it is just wrong. And that was wrong. And that won’t happen again on my watch. And I’m sorry.”~

      yeah right…..the mouthbreathing knuckle draggers that watch Fox 24/7 will be so thrilled with a live braining, you’ll be hoping for one a week!

      • In Chicago probably a decade ago they stopped doing car chases because too many innocent people would be injured. When we’d stay in Los Angeles I was alway surprised that the news would run the car chases. Fox has no excuse.

  46. Taylor had her first day at an elementary Chicago charter school near Chinatown. The kids all talk about how many of their siblings have been killed.

    • The real story is that he is dismayed that Mittens is losing. Just in case there was any doubt; we can now scratch Chris from any list of impartial newscasters.

  48. Bob Shrum, on The Ed Show, quoting an unnamed Republican friend: “Romney’s problem isn’t that people don’t like him, Romney’s problem is that people think he doesn’t like them! That’s what the 47% is all about.”

  49. Another campaign coup for Marie Ann-toinette:

    WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Ann Romney told a Nevada television station her biggest concern if her husband, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, becomes president was his “mental well-being.”

    In an interview Thursday with television station KTVN, Mrs. Romney was asked what her biggest worry was should Mitt Romney be elected to serve in the White House.

    “I think my biggest concern obviously would just be for his mental well-being,” she said. “I have all the confidence in the world in his ability, in his decisiveness, in his leadership skills, in his understanding of the economy. … So for me I think it would just be the emotional part of it.”

  50. A girl in my high school belted this out during an assembly, and had the whole room on our feet, since none of us knew she could sing. Problem was, she wasn’t interested in singing. Too bad…

Comments are closed.