Yes. Will I boast if I say that I honestly don't know just 3 things on this list?

Back when I was at school, we had all the subjects as mandatory, chemistry, physics, biology, history - there was no choice like you get today. So yes, I happen to know the weight of the air,or the lightest/heaviest types of wood. And if you like researching things(in my case - spending hours on wikipedia) questions like the one about optical lenses are easy.

And I am pretty sure that's what Edison was looking for - people who are curious about stuff and research it themselves. Common knowledge in my opinion,because in an ideal world I would like everyone to be that curious about the world that surrounds them.

I wouldn’t say you were boasting, I’d say you were lying. You happen to know off the top of your head that: African black wood is the heaviest lumber. That’s the first thing you thought of? Really? What wood kerosene barrel would have been made of in the 20’s. What the voltage of a street car was in the 20’s. Where Spitsbergen is (unless you have been there or in the area). What war material Chile exported to the USA in WW1. What the highest rise of tide is in North America . What state has the largest amethyst mine. Who invented the modern paper making machine (modern in the 20’s). What ingredients are in the best white paint. What the populations of Germany, Japan, England, Australia, and Russia are. What part of Germany you get toys from.

Uh-huh. You should go on Jeopardy, you would make Ken Jennings look like a clown.

First one,yes. Second one - I actually used to work in a wolframium mine in Panasqueira, Portugal,when I was 17 and learned A LOT about mines in general in my spare time. Kerosene has been used a lot in mining lamps,so yes, I did read about it. I did research about one of the first electric cars in the UK,that was used widely as a milk delivery truck - back from the same period, so I happen to know the voltage. Why did I need to be near Spitsbergen to know where it is? I used to know a guy who was a fisherman on the Barents Sea - he would tell stories of where they went, hence Spitsbergen. Also, I live in Europe, so I am fairly comfortable with pointing out where stuff it. I mentioned before, we had all the subjects at school, there was no choice like you get now. Write a couple of essays about WW1,you will come across random stuff like the war material exported from chile, guaranteed. Highest rise of tide I remember from looking up the tides when I was wondering as a kid how comes that Netherlands is not flooded by tides constantly, so I read a lot about it. No, I don't know which state has the largest amethyst mine, one of those 3 I didn't know from the top of my head. I know what is used in the white paint nowadays - I guess that counts,since I have no way of knowing what could be the best answer in the 1920. The same goes to population - but again, living in the middle of Europe helps with that. And toys are easy if you live in a country that imports loads of things from Germany,having a border with it.

And no, I am not interested in Jeopardy.

"All of those are what I would call common knowledge that an average human being should know."

"I actually used to work in a wolframium mine"

Credibility shot.

It wasn't about what you know it was about what he knows. The problem in judging people the way you do is that you assume that everybody else lives like you do and spends their time like you do. Some people digest facts for a living, some people digest facts for a hobby. Some consider learning a life long vocation, facts, skills the lot. So don't be surprised if someone has an encyclopaedic knowledge about seemingly (to you, at least) useless facts.

Apropos useless facts, did you know shellac was made from insects?

I love researching things. I spend way too much time on Wikipedia and watching documentaries. That doesn't mean I remember small details about everything.

For example: I remembered reading about the topics relating to some of the test questions, but was unable to answer most of them.

Remembering a bunch of relatively useless facts does not make you a capable professional.

Feel free to post the answers to the questions.

Given some of them are disputed (heaviest type of wood is one of about three depending on who you ask and when (some are nearly extinct and like all natural things, vary considerably)), some require knowing knowledge from Edison's timeframe (what planet was recently found to be enormous size - certainly wasn't Jupiter - possibly Neptune) and a couple are opinions (what country and city produce the finest china), I feel like there is a lot of leeway in the answers, but knowing all but three seems unlikely.

Considering in the 1920s the US was in the middle of converting horse drawn street cars into electric, and this is an application for EDISON, I certainly hope you would know that answer.

Kerosene was the most important fuel used up until the 1920s, so I'd imagine most people would have seen kerosene barrels personally. A few would have derived the type of wood via curiosity.

A street car? What's that? I've seen them in movies. I guess in the nineteen-twenties, knowledge about street cars might have been much more likely to have been in the minds of engineers that Edison would want to hire.

They still exist. In Toronto, streetcars are still one of the major forms of public transit in the downtown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_streetcar_system

Yeah, I was exaggerating for effect. The point being that they are rare. They have double-decker ones in Hong Kong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHFizrDGlUo

How old are you, gambit?

22

Today is not 1921, mind you.