Stupid questions, do they exist?

As a lecturer... I've been taught not to ridicule any question. In class whenever you're asked a question, you should answer it to the best of your ability with a smile, even if you have just explained the answer 5 minutes ago.

Sure some students don't understand what you are trying to teach. Hey that's what teachers are for. I mean in a classroom setting, if students asks about the subject you're teaching then that's fine. Ask away.

What about stupid questions? Well according to this article.. there are. I wholeheartedly agree (and admit that I've asked some stupid questions in my younger days). Basically questions are stupid if they are not specific enough ("please give me advice"). Another type of question that gets on my nerves are questions that lack background knowledge. Questions that require me to do a lot of readings and research (unless once again in a class setting, in which case it's my job to find out). Questions that can be answered yourself by a little bit of research.

One question in particular that I've been asked that comes to my mind (if you are the person who asked this question.. take note :) ) is "What is the newest wireless services in America". I should have told him to look for it himself.

Maybe teachers shouldn't say in class that "there are no stupid questions". Or maybe limit the scope "There are no stupid questions in this class.. outside this class however, if I think your question is stupid I will say so."

The Forbes 2000

The forbes 2000 lists for 2004 is out. 7 Indonesian companies are included in the list. Very dissapointing. Out of the seven, three of them are banks (mandiri, bca, bni). The other two are cigarettes (sampoerna and gudang garam), then the monopolistic telkom, and astra.

Apart from astra, none of them are really internationally acclaimed. Most of them I believe profit from the fact that Indonesia is a large country with a large population.

Another interesting aspect. The normal profit range is 10% of sales. Except telkom which has 40% profit compared to sales. :)...