It's all subjective

"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge."
Bertrand Russel

I couldn't help but think about this quote when I read an article at The Independent under the subject This Britain. It is called "20 things everyone needs to know". I believed I'd already been vaccinated against most kind of lists (mind you, I've got my own 50 things to do before I die and 100 books to be read lists). However, curisosity killed the cat and I just had to take a peep. Who knows, I thought, maybe they listed the most important facts in History?

Big delusion...

The list is about the life's skills department. And yet they could come up with useful things, as they did with number 1: How to change a tyre. Considering that everyone who reads The Independent has got a car or plans to have one, well, that could be something important indeed. Specially if you are not a woman and find yourself looking at a flat tyre on a busy road. Or if you are, and find yourself doing the same depressing activity on an empty road.

But then they go on with the weirdest selection of the most unimportant things, like how to make a martini, how to apply lipstick, how to shave or how to use chopsticks. How to buy a diamond! For goodness sake, how could I have existed until now without knowing this??

The list goes on...

And all items were written by famous people...

However, considering Russel's quote, let's say that I did find it interesting to read about how to scramble eggs (a different technique, who'd've thought of that one?) and how to build a fire in a campside. Just need to buy a tent.