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I'd expect somebody in the computer field to tinker around with machines

And herein lies the problem: CS is not "in the computer field", it is a branch of mathematics. The confusion stems from the unfortunate naming we use (in other languages it is more appropriately called something like "Computational Science" or "Informatics").
Or, in the words of Michael R. Fellows, "Computer science is not about machines, in the same way that astronomy is not about telescopes. There is an essential unity of mathematics and computer science".

A computer is a tool that a CS may use, not the subject of the field.

That said, most CS undergrads set out to become programmers, "software developers" or suchlike. They may use the knowledge from the CS program but their focus will often be the computers, not the math. Therefore, to be well-rounded professionals in their field of work, they will need knowledge and experience from several areas of study -- both abstract and concrete.

it's not like IRQs are windows 98 specific and are never used anymore.

They are pretty much specific to the PC-compatible architecture.

But that aside, such hardware-related topics are the domain of "Computer Engineering" field, a branch of EE.
I am pretty sure that Donald Knuth, arguably the most influential "Computer Scientist" alive, has no idea about IRQs.

I might not expect a biologist to be able to milk a cow, but they should at least have an idea where the milk comes from.

That is because the source of milk is general knowledge known by every child over the age of 3.

Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love" notwithstanding, math and science are getting more and more specialized. A molecular biologist, for example, doesn't even need to know what a cow is.

But even if your analogy was valid, I bet that your "CS guy" knew what an interrupt is, but was not familiar with the specific implementation of the cascaded 8259A PICs used in the PC/AT architecture at the time.

A person with a well rounded education is a person who can make useful judgements as a citizen.

Specialization is for insects

Everyone is going to specialize after leaving high school, but the well rounded students who might be a step behind on specialization will be two steps ahead with creativity.

It's funny but I've been picking up little tidbits of knowledge from all sorts of different areas and used to surprise people at work with random applicable factoids in various situations. I have never thought of myself as particularly creative. It's only after reading Doidges' book "The brain that changes itself" that I've understood that, while diversity of experience is necessary for being creative by applying approaches from an unrelated field to a given problem, that very creative people are also missing certain critical/filtering functions (as in critiquing one's ideas). My sister is much more creative than I, but she's more gullible and has sometimes come up with some doozies. This is why very creative people are often excentric. For me, the filtering functions work at a subconscious level, discarding ideas before thoughts ever breach the conscious level where they might be improved. I'm still wondering if there's someway to learn/practice turning the filtering functions on and off at will.

Hormesis.

http://www.elise.com/weblog/archives/000108hormesis_radiation_is_good_for_you.php

I'm dead against the TSA taking naked pictures of my family and myself, but not because of the radiation.

From various C&H cartoons, a bunch of his Dad's quotes are collected here: http://elise.com/quotes/a/ask_calvins_dad.php Q. Why does the sun set? A. It's because hot air rises. The sun's hot in the middle of the day, so it rises high in the sky. In the evening then, it cools down and sets. Q. Why does it go from east to west? A. Solar wind. Q. Why does the sky turn red as the sun sets? A. That's all the oxygen in the atmosphere catching fire. Q. Where does the sun go when it sets? A. The sun sets in the west. In Arizona actually, near Flagstaff. That's why the rocks there are so red. Q. Don't the people get burned up? A. No, the sun goes out as it sets. That's why it's dark at night. Q. Doesn't the sun crush the whole state as it lands? A. Ha ha, of course not. Hold a quarter up. See, the sun's just about the same size. Q. I thought I read that the sun was really big. A. You can't believe everything you read, I'm afraid.

Here's a relevant quote from Geore Bernard Shaw. Quote:

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him... The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself... All progress depends on the unreasonable man."

So you're asking the Free Software People to give up their principles in favor of expediency and thus promote no progress. I think not. I prefer to live in a world of Freedom than one ruled by expediency. Expediency might win a battle but in the end principles win the war. Considering the progress of GPL software for the past 26 years I would say they are doing a damn fine job of promoting positive progress. Better for the reasonable man to use free and open standards codecs than the Free Software People piss away their principles.

Specialisation is for insects.

Not only do you get the Calvin's Dad effect, but your children also lose out on learning to deal with structure. It doesn't matter how academically advanced you are if you have never had any real authority to deal with (not necessarily to obey, but at least to learn how to manipulate) or discipline in your life. And let's face it, parents who think they are the best combined teachers and child psychologists their children will have an opportunity to learn from tend not to be the greatest at being authority figures or disciplining their children. This is a Bad Idea(TM).

I think if you look at these links, it's fairly obvious your argument doesn't hold water. Specifically, I take exception to the numerous times you've stated (and I won't bother to provide specific examples of this, because I'm not your link boy) that sex with children is a normal and natural part of society.

A perspective on the benefits government mandated censorship in Ireland.

Would this qualify as child porn for purposes of internet filters?

Demonstrates that censoring child pornography is worth the potential collateral damage.

Artistic freedom is not unreasonably suppressed by the outlawing of child pornography.

As anybody with an IQ above 20 can plainly see, you believe that child porn is acceptable in society and should not be outlawed. It's OBVIOUS. I've PROVEN it. In actual fact, you are a disgusting pervert for thinking that raping children is not a big deal. Go ahead and try to demonstrate my argument wrong. You can't--the evidence I've cited is plainly irrefutable. I'm not going to do any more of your research for you. Read the pages I've pointed you to. If you can't see what I'm talking about, then you're not doing it right because you're a moron.

are you aware that your signature above is an adaptation or misquote of a clever thing said by George Bernard Shaw/a??

Enough time has passed that there are now some useful books about that era. One of the well written ones is Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile.

The Linux and Macintosh sytems were installed out of the box without any additional security patches. Windows SP 2 automatically downloads the latest security patches from the Microsoft website.

You forgot WordPress.

Moveable Type --> WordPress

Although I think WordPress is almost or at Stage 6.

For more info see this blog: http://www.elise.com/web/a/an_overview_of_the_webl og_tools_market.php

In August, WordPress had 4% market share of the blogging software community, whereas Moveable Type had 7%. Yes, I realize that Blogger (at 30%) and LiveJournal (at 23%) are the reigning kings, but I'm speaking of software you can install and host yourself; both Blogger and LiveJournal are hosted services.

Who said, "The reasonable man adapts to his environment. The unreasonable man tries to adapt the environment to himself. Thus, all progress has been made by unreasonable men"?

Google says it was George Bernard Shaw, who was rather the reaosnable man, or so I gather. ;)