>>HeHe. It's funny, in High school I felt the same way, but then I got a job. About a year ago I had to track down the requirements for architectural licensing in about 20 states. Guess who I had to call, the state capital. As I was looking on a map to find the capitals, I swear I could hear my geography teacher faintly laughing.
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> Yeah, but why memorize things when it's so easy to look them up? It took me about 5 seconds to find them. www.altavista.com, search for "state capitals" :) I've found most people in the "real" world (ie. not school) don't really care HOW you got the answer, just that you did and it's right. They should teach the skills of how to find answers to problems, not just memorization (which I really suck at if it's something I'm not particularly interested in).

Of course, it's always nice (not to mention impressive) if ytou can pull out a fact or some bit of knowledge as it's being discussed or as it's needed (you don't always have a net connection in a boardroom or a client's office!).

Some have great memory, I'm cursed with mathematics... If anyone has a quick math question (specially those "skill testing" questions in contests), who do you think gets the big question and no prize handed to them??? ;)

Hugo