Smart people live in Seattle

[Jim]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The smartest city in the United States is Seattle - 52.7 percent of its residents age 25 or older have completed a bachelor's degree or higher.

 

The education rankings were released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

The brainiest cities in the United States

Top 25 cities with more than 250,000 population, ranked by percentage of bachelor's degrees among residents 25 and older

 

Seattle's also been ranked as the most literate city in the United States by Central Connecticut State University, beating out Minneapolis, Washington and Atlanta. That rating was based on such things as the number of booksellers, libraries and newspaper circulation - as well as educational attainment.

 

Many brainy people have flocked to the Seattle area to work in what's called the "knowledge economy."

 

Companies headquartered there and in surrounding towns, including Microsoft, Amazon, Cray, Washington Mutual and Costco, all use heavy doses of information technology. Even another of the area's biggest employers, old-line Boeing, is also a glutton for technological solutions.

 

Seattle also has more than its share of residents with advanced degrees: 20.5 percent. Only Washington, D.C., has more holders of advanced degrees. Many there work for the federal government, as well as for the think tanks and other nongovernmental organizations that form the heart of capital working culture.

 

And good

[counterfeitfake]

The relationship between intelligence and posessing a degree is more complex than merely one causing the other.

[lI1|1!]

doesn't say much for the rest of the country.

[catbirdseat]

This little factoid makes the existence of cc.com's Spray contingent all the more amazing to behold.

[foraker]

My comment to a cashier after watching her deal with four goobers in front of me:

 

"High school dropouts or software engineers....sometimes it's hard to tell the difference isn't it?"

[Lionel_Hutz]

Countdown to Fairweather's rebuttal re: metro-effete, arrogant, latte-sipping, Seattlites 5...4...3...2...1.....

[BachelorTravis]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The smartest city in the United States is Seattle - 52.7 percent of its residents age 25 or older have completed a bachelor's degree or higher.

 

The education rankings were released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

The brainiest cities in the United States

Top 25 cities with more than 250,000 population, ranked by percentage of bachelor's degrees among residents 25 and older

 

Seattle's also been ranked as the most literate city in the United States by Central Connecticut State University, beating out Minneapolis, Washington and Atlanta. That rating was based on such things as the number of booksellers, libraries and newspaper circulation - as well as educational attainment.

 

Many brainy people have flocked to the Seattle area to work in what's called the "knowledge economy."

 

Companies headquartered there and in surrounding towns, including Microsoft, Amazon, Cray, Washington Mutual and Costco, all use heavy doses of information technology. Even another of the area's biggest employers, old-line Boeing, is also a glutton for technological solutions.

 

Seattle also has more than its share of residents with advanced degrees: 20.5 percent. Only Washington, D.C., has more holders of advanced degrees. Many there work for the federal government, as well as for the think tanks and other nongovernmental organizations that form the heart of capital working culture.

 

And good

 

So how is that monorail coming along smart people?

[JayB]

I'd bet the demographics are pretty similar for most Western Coastal cities from SF to Vancouver.

 

Foraker's anecdote reminds me of the time I met a girl with a B.S. in physics who was - I think - in a transitional period, working behind the counter at an espresso bar, and obviously hating it.

 

My comment: "What's it like working in a position where your IQ is at least three standard deviations higher than your average customers?"

[counterfeitfake]

What she heard: "What's it like in your pants?"

[RogerJ]

My comment: "What's it like working in a position where your IQ is at least three standard deviations higher than your average customers?"

 

That's a great pickup line? Did you get laid?

[minx]

yes--a BS in physics is such a useful degree

[mountainmatt]

[JayB]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The smartest city in the United States is Seattle - 52.7 percent of its residents age 25 or older have completed a bachelor's degree or higher.

 

The education rankings were released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

The brainiest cities in the United States

Top 25 cities with more than 250,000 population, ranked by percentage of bachelor's degrees among residents 25 and older

 

Seattle's also been ranked as the most literate city in the United States by Central Connecticut State University, beating out Minneapolis, Washington and Atlanta. That rating was based on such things as the number of booksellers, libraries and newspaper circulation - as well as educational attainment.

 

Many brainy people have flocked to the Seattle area to work in what's called the "knowledge economy."

 

Companies headquartered there and in surrounding towns, including Microsoft, Amazon, Cray, Washington Mutual and Costco, all use heavy doses of information technology. Even another of the area's biggest employers, old-line Boeing, is also a glutton for technological solutions.

 

Seattle also has more than its share of residents with advanced degrees: 20.5 percent. Only Washington, D.C., has more holders of advanced degrees. Many there work for the federal government, as well as for the think tanks and other nongovernmental organizations that form the heart of capital working culture.

 

And good

 

So how is that monorail coming along smart people?

 

Working in research environments has served as a pretty stark illustration of how much we tend to overestimate the importance of intelligence. IMO a genial disposition, a positive outlook, and a strong work-ethic are way, way more important determinants of what kind of a life you'll have than what your IQ is. Intelligence never hurts, but there's quite a few miserable people cruising around who neglected to cultivate any other attributes.

 

I also think that most people with advanced degrees get used to working with idealized systems to explain whatever phenomenon it is that they're studying, and succumb to the temptation of trying to apply this kind of framework to society, and are frequently dissapointed by the results.

[foraker]

My comment: "What's it like working in a position where your IQ is at least three standard deviations higher than your average customers?"

 

That's a great pickup line? Did you get laid?

 

Who needs pickup lines when you're married? For that matter, who needs pick up lines? Probably only those without any real conversation skills. Anyway, do you really dream about getting laid by a software engineer? My condolences....

[JayB]

My comment: "What's it like working in a position where your IQ is at least three standard deviations higher than your average customers?"

 

 

That's a great pickup line? Did you get laid?

 

I think that she was also the kind of chick that gets angry just knowing that there are people in the world that have my political outlook, so I don't think that there was much potential there.

 

However, the fact that she was clearly very intelligent and having to put up with complaints about the foam on a $5 coffee drink being too dense and the million other petty insults and slights that come along with working a gig like that made me sympathize with her plight. I hated those kind of jobs as a teenager, and the hatred intensified with every passing year of education. I'd probably have to slug down a half-dozen paxil every morning before work if want or privation ever forced me back into a customer service job again.

[foraker]

I also think that most people with advanced degrees get used to working with idealized systems to explain whatever phenomenon it is that they're studying, and succumb to the temptation of trying to apply this kind of framework to society, and are frequently dissapointed by the results.

 

You mean, like the Cato Institute or Brookings or the Heritage Foundation? Hmmm.....

[JayB]

My comment: "What's it like working in a position where your IQ is at least three standard deviations higher than your average customers?"

 

That's a great pickup line? Did you get laid?

 

Who needs pickup lines when you're married? For that matter, who needs pick up lines? Probably only those without any real conversation skills. Anyway, do you really dream about getting laid by a software engineer? My condolences....

 

Rumor has it there's a sub-population of mousy chicks out there that pull the full Van-Halen-Hot-For-Teacher-Video-Maneuver when they're out of the public eye. Wouldn't know myself, but maybe that would be enough to get someone past the intoversion and vintage glasses...

[JayB]

I also think that most people with advanced degrees get used to working with idealized systems to explain whatever phenomenon it is that they're studying, and succumb to the temptation of trying to apply this kind of framework to society, and are frequently dissapointed by the results.

 

You mean, like the Cato Institute or Brookings or the Heritage Foundation? Hmmm.....

 

Yeah - that's one variant of the species. Pretty much any proposal for the betterment of society that begins with "Assume ideal behavior..." is off to a mighty bad start. The French Revolution is one of the better examples that I can think of. Thankfully most of the founders of this country had no such delusions.

[Mr_Phil]

there's quite a few miserable people cruising around who neglected to cultivate any other attributes.

Welcome to cc.com.

[olyclimber]

 

I think that she was also the kind of chick that gets angry just knowing that there are people in the world that have my political outlook, so I don't think that there was much potential there.

 

 

aren't those the best kind?

[lI1|1!]

if want or privation ever forced me back into a customer service job again.

 

JayB, barista from hell. i'm going to have to savor that thought a bit. you ask for a double grande and he starts giving you philosophical arguements as to why you really wanted a chai.

 

[minx]

if want or privation ever forced me back into a customer service job again.

 

JayB, barista from hell. i'm going to have to savor that thought a bit. you ask for a double grande and he starts giving you philosophical arguements as to why you really wanted a chai.

 

 

there'd be some cost analysis or supply/demand argument about why chai is a better choice.

[JayB]

if want or privation ever forced me back into a customer service job again.

 

JayB, barista from hell. i'm going to have to savor that thought a bit. you ask for a double grande and he starts giving you philosophical arguements as to why you really wanted a chai.

 

 

Smiles on the outside and tirades/ulcers on the inside is more likely. Just like everyone else who makes your coffee.

[Alpinfox]

Rumor has it there's a sub-population of mousy chicks out there that pull the full Van-Halen-Hot-For-Teacher-Video-Maneuver when they're out of the public eye.

 

pics?

[Alpinfox]

 

Oh look. I found one.