Nobody's So Smart Here

No doubt you'll be seeing something about a recent study showing people watching Fox News for their information are worse-informed than people with no exposure to any (well, at least electronic) news source. It's good for a quick snicker from some people and a bunch of steam from others. The deeper story is that nobody look particularly smart in this.

The study from Fairleigh Dickenson University asked eight current events questions -- four on domestic issues, four on international news -- to get a feel of how certain groups would likely answer them. And, yes, the people watching Fox News ranked the lowest in average number of correct answers, and those listening to National Public Radio came out on top.

Here's the problem: For either the international or domestic questions, no group hit a mark of 40% correct. Yeah, that's right; even the NPR group hit only three of eight. Overall, only 3% managed to get eight questions correct, and another 11% hit seven right.

Basically, no group  won out in pass/fail. There's not a lot of joy in declaring that you're the least stupid.

Wondering about those questions? Here they are, grouped by topic (they were in mixed order for the actual survey. Note that many of them are open-ended, and not multiple-choice ... meaning that you actually had to come up with your own answer and not guess.

INTERNATIONAL

1. To the best of your knowledge, have the opposition groups protesting in Egypt been successful in removing Hosni Mubarak?

2. How about the opposition groups in Syria? Have they been successful in removing Bashar al-Assad?

3. Some countries in Europe are deeply in debt, and have had to be bailed out by other countries. To the best of your knowledge, which country has had to spend the most money to bail out European countries?

4. There have been increasing talks about economic sanctions against Iran. What are these sanctions supposed to do?

DOMESTIC (depending on party affiliation, different #2 questions were asked). 

1. Which party has the most seats in the House of Representatives right now?

2a. In December, House Republicans agreed to a short-term extension of a payroll tax cut, but only if President Obama agreed to do what?

2b. It took a long time to get the final results of the Iowa caucuses for Republican candidates. In the end, who was declared the winner? 

3. How about the New Hampshire Primary? Which Republican won that race?

4. According to the figures, about what percentage of Americans are currently unemployed? 

If you want to see the study, go here. It's pretty stunning to see the question that 30% of those "leaning Republican" and 28% of those as independent (and 11% of Democrats) got absolutely wrong.

Dressed Up (and Someplace to Go)

ORLANDO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT -- If you want a smooth flight -- and the best chances of making your connection sand appointments all day -- take the earliest plane possible. Don't start thinking, that you'll miss all the crowds.

Because of its favored-city status among trade-show planners, Orlando remains one of my frequent destinations. I've made the march through its convention center halls at least 10 times in the last dozen years, and I'm sure I'm missing a few trips along the way.

I've become an expert at dealing with Orlando International Airport at 5 a.m. to catch early West Coast flights. It's a place where baggage check is best avoided, as the lines fill with cranky, tired children complaining about the end of their vacations to cranky, tired parents with wallets sucked dry by theme-park amenities. Or there's the foreign tourists attempting to bully clerks into accepting 100-lbs suitcases possibly containing several uncomplaining children.

There's no avoiding the long early-morning security line at Orlando, unless you use a retinal scanning service that's always sat without customers when I've been there. It's an average 15-minute process, which is a massive advancement from previous security iterations that took at least twice as long with lines stretching the length of the main terminal.

Snaking around the bollards and belts forming the line, you get to see the same people several times, which is no pre-breakfast great. Occasionally, though, there's a surprise, as you can be shocked by neatness.

I looked up in the line this morning to see a woman dressed to perfection in a blue worsted-wool suit. This was no fashionista, but instead a middle-aged lady at least 25 lbs over optimum body mass. The suit looked like she had it sewn before grabbing a cab to the airport; the outfit included a simple white blouse and a single-strand small-pearls choker. She looked fabulous and ready for business.

What' s sad, though, is how she stood out in the crowd. She showed simple, good taste with some smart clothes. For that, she wasn't unusual; she was an aberration.

I confess my membership in the Old School of Travel Fashion, where you put on something from the better side of the closet. There's a picture of me, circa 1972, in a snappy Robert Hall blue blazer and Peter Max clip-on tie as I waited to board a plane at Fresno International Airport. Yes, even when you stopped over in Fresno, you looked snappy.

You still find folks in their best, although it's usually some East Coast exec types in full grey-suit mode going from New York or Boston to Los Angeles on an early a.m. run, using the gained hours in-flight to bill a few more hours and get ready for an afternoon meeting. Occasionally, there'll be someone in first class in some fashionable attire, as part of the rare breeding always looking to keep up appearances.

Unfortunately, most of the crowd at airports resembles some kind of beach slumber party, with raggy T-shirts and fraying cutoffs for men, and a collection of frowsy sweatshirts and shorts for the women. For footwear, the main fashion seems to be flip-flops, or sneakers sans socks for the more-formal.

In a word: sloppy. Airport lounges are places where people look their worst in public, and usually add a lazy demeanor that treats flying as an onerous inconvenience. The journey from Points A to B can barely. E tolerated.

Granted, the corporate attitudes of some airlines doesn't help this, with a serial addiction to add-on fees and a skinflint approach that cuts out a 25-cent bag of pretzels on a three-hour flight. Air travel, despite being one of the continuing marvels of the modern world, is being cheapened daily in service to the level of buses.

That's why it's heartening to see, in the early morning hours at an airport, that someone still takes travel seriously. Maybe she didn't have a choice and went straight from the plane to business at that day's destination, but she still made the effort to look sharp for the journey.

I don't wear the dress shirt and tie anymore, but I always wear good chino or dress pants, along with comfy-but-sturdy shoes and a better-class golf shirt (with pocket for ticket and ticket stub, in case of deplaning). And, yes, a sport coat, for the notch up from casual Friday wear. In today's fashions, it's outright dressy.

And, for me, it's entirely appropriate. After all, I've someplace to go.