Now that I think of it, both drives were for the same thing. Los Angeles -> Provo, Utah takes you through the barren wasteland of Nevada (and a tiny sliver of Arizona that’s very pretty). Driving from Seattle -> Provo takes you through the most boring parts of Oregon and Idaho.
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Oh, I’m sure that there are lots of interesting things to know about Jamaica, absolutely. Probably more than a single person not dedicated to this can ever take in completely. Probably not even then. But that’s true for all about 150 countries making up the Earth, its multitude of peoples and histories.
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195/196 countries actually. Unless you are saying that 50 of them really don’t have much history? 
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Well that’s the problem with school. The average student is not normally going to care about geography and history, and if they were to be forced to learn it it’s much easier to relate it in terms that they understand (aka: How it relates to where they live and how it impacted their country/region).
History was one of my least favorite classes and i found it horribly dull. As i’ve grown older i’ve come to really appreciate and even love it. I’m sure i could easily spend some time going down the rabbit hole of learning the history of Jamaica if given the chance.
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OK, in fairness Texas is quite different.
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This was life in Ohio for me. Mostly just strip malls, chain restaurants, and McMansions.
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I’m sorry - but if you can’t locate North Korea on a map, you shouldn’t be allowed to have an opinion on North Korea (policy, engagement strategy, fine dining, anything).
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You left out science. Once again, my favorite clipping, from 1992. Has been replicated more recently.
This just in: Earth revolves around sun!
CHICAGO (AP) More than 450 years after Copernicus proved the Earth revolves around the sun, millions of adult Americans seem to think it’s the other way around, a researcher reported yesterday.
On very basic ideas, vast numbers of Americans are scientifically illiterate," said Jon Miller of Northern Illinois University, who conducted a nationwide survey for the National Science Foundation.
In the July telephone survey of 2041 adults 18 or older, people were asked about 75 questions testing their knowledge of basic science. Miller said.
Asked whether the Earth goes around the sun or the sun around the Earth, 21 percent replied incorrectly. Seven percent said they didn’t know.
Of the 72 percent who answered correctly, 45 percent said it takes one year for the Earth to orbit the sun, 17 percent said one day, 2 percent said one month and 9 percent didn’t know.
The responses indicate that about 55 percent of adult Americans, or some 94 million people, don’t know that the Earth revolves around the sun once a year, Miller said.
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I was at a conference in Nevada for a week. For the entire week, I did not once step outside the conference center and hotel once. Most of it was because I didn’t rent a car and there was nothing close by, but there was really just no there there.
I’m not even sure if I should count Nevada in my list of states visited 
I think I need to go back and spend some time there, for real this time, but I don’t feel terribly bad that I haven’t done so yet.
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No worries. This sort of problem is where television can step in, helpfully providing facts and context that people missed in school.
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I don’t see any value in simply identifying anything on a map. If you’re thinking “this China is called North Korea, and they speak Japanese there”, then your ability to identify North Korea is just a parlor trick.
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Asked whether the Earth goes around the sun or the sun around the Earth, 21 percent replied incorrectly. Seven percent said they didn’t know.
Teach The Controversy ™
Of the 72 percent who answered correctly, 45 percent said it takes one year for the Earth to orbit the sun, 17 percent said one day, 2 percent said one month and 9 percent didn’t know.
This is a good question. We know that a year is a unit of time equal to 365 days, but we don’t know what a year or a day represent.
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I spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to figure out what was wrong with the displayed map.
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To be fair, it would make seeing my Jersey relatives far more convenient.
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Try living in the Midwest! You can drive all day and not even see a hill to break up the flatness.
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There’s some really interesting places in Nevada but depends on what activities you’re into. Hiking, prospecting, camping, shooting, visiting historical small towns, “ghost hunting”, etc. I’ve done a bit of everything and I think it’s a cool state but the interesting things are out of the way so it’s not things you’d normally get to do on a lark.
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I might want to go to Vegas to say I was in Vegas.
If I can find something interesting to do in Nevada that I can’t do anyplace else, then I will go to Nevada just to do that thing.
I think the problem was 1) I was in Reno, and 2) I was not at liberty to really do anything interesting when I was there.
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This was what I liked about Indiana. I could get on my bicycle and ride all day without getting tired.
It was so flat that addresses were numbered in a grid. Mine was something like 1234N 50E, no street name. Also, it was so flat that the location of 50E or any of the other E/W roads zigzagged a little near the top of the county to accommodate the Earth’s curvature.
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Vegas is fun but I suppose it’s overrated but I rather enjoy people watching though lol. Probably going to Vegas to visit friends later in the year.
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