The "Future": Perceived vs. Reality
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@tonyshowoff said:
If I ever made a list of things I hate about America, the top 5 would all be "it's too hot."
No kidding. I live in the hottest region of Spain, on the edge of a desert and everyone here complains about how hot it is. Are you kidding? No one here has or needs air conditioning. It's just not that hot. Even NY is crazy hot compared to this.
I was in Morocco over the weekend. Almost nowhere in Morocco (where there are cities, at least) is as hot as almost anywhere in the US.
The US is just amazingly hot.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@tonyshowoff said:
If I ever made a list of things I hate about America, the top 5 would all be "it's too hot."
No kidding. I live in the hottest region of Spain, on the edge of a desert and everyone here complains about how hot it is. Are you kidding? No one here has or needs air conditioning. It's just not that hot. Even NY is crazy hot compared to this.
I was in Morocco over the weekend. Almost nowhere in Morocco (where there are cities, at least) is as hot as almost anywhere in the US.
The US is just amazingly hot.
I used to say "how did European American settlers deal with this heat?" and people say "they didn't know any better." I'm pretty sure they knew what winter was and that Europe wasn't as unbearably hot. Also if people never knew any better, why'd people ever put air conditioners in their homes? I can't imagine someone in the US in the 60s or 70s when told about central heating and air said "I had no idea I was sweating bullets constantly in my own home/office" or "I never knew being colder was possible, as you see America is on the equator and I've never opened my fridge or been around in winter time or sat under a tree in the shade."
So I don't say that any more, since the answer seems to be "they were crazy or stupid," which would explain why their descendants think nobody else noticed how hot it was and/or that it was sometimes colder.
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At the time of early settlers, the Americas were much, much colder. This is often discussed in the "Valley Forge Question." Valley Forge in the history books is this brutally cold place where soldiers were freezing to death right and left. But Valley Forge is in balmy Philadelphia and is a luxury location that barely sees snow and never gets super cold.
It's because the Americas were very cold during that time period. The average temps are way, way higher today.
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@tonyshowoff said:
So I don't say that any more, since the answer seems to be "they were crazy or stupid,"
The real question is why would anyone leave wonderful Europe for unsettled America full of horrible weather and all kinds of dangers? It made zero sense. Which is most early settlers were cultists and megalomaniacs.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@tonyshowoff said:
So I don't say that any more, since the answer seems to be "they were crazy or stupid,"
The real question is why would anyone leave wonderful Europe for unsettled America full of horrible weather and all kinds of dangers? It made zero sense. Which is most early settlers were cultists and megalomaniacs.
Well, Europe was overpopulated, had polluted and undrinkable water, and at least in the case of the English settlers, London (among other English towns) was seen as a modern day Sodom. Plus it's easier to be a religious fanatic and do things like banning laughing or smiling on Sundays if you're in the colonies and not in England. Though puritanicals also ruined England too, so it really makes no difference, it's the primary reason that English and American culture (which are nearly identical) is so bland and boring (banning any interesting artistic interest, festival or holiday (even Christmas for about 300 years was banned), or group for years, and art that was allowed had to be essentially monochrome), and full of bizarre repression, though England is less puritanical than America, but still vastly more puritanical than much of the rest of Europe.
I think it's why America has so many bizarre counter cultures and cults compared to much of the world, and especially the western world, because Americans themselves have almost no cultural identity other than simply being American -- not that things like hippies, Mormons, wiggers/chavs, juggalos, etc don't exist elsewhere, but they're much more rare outside the English speaking world, and less extreme.
Things like the Janet Jackson "malfunction" thing or the baby magazine with the breast feeding woman just make me laugh and disgust me at the same time. In general though, it's lead to a culture where extreme violence is OK, so long as nobody's naked or cussing, and an idea that if a child sees a breast some place or hears someone say a curse word, they'll be damaged for life, but can watch violence on TV all day. I still laugh about this woman who made a huge stink in the media about this breast feeding baby on some parenting magazine, you couldn't see a nipple or anything, and she kept making a stink about how it was damaging to her 14 year old son, because he certainly has never looked at more revealing pictures anywhere else.
That and the weather are the two things I hate about America, everything else about America I really like, especially the food, and the people are generally pretty nice, even in NYC, at least compared to many Eastern Europeans.
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@tonyshowoff said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@tonyshowoff said:
how it was damaging to her 14 year old son, because he certainly has never looked at more revealing pictures anywhere else.haha. I am sure the kid hated seeing it
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Here is Spain people complain about people having to go to the English speaking world to find work and how awful it is because the English speaking world is full of drugs and drug culture so that the people who left Spain just fine come back as heroin and coke addicts. Spain sees anyplace that speaks English as a drug den and nothing else.
When I told them that beer was served without food (in Spain ordering a beer gets you a plate of food with it) they said "no wonder Americans are all alcoholics."
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@scottalanmiller Sounds like I'd be an even fatter alcoholic in Spain
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Doesn't affect me so much as all the snacks are meat and I'm a vegetarian.
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@scottalanmiller I... but.... Spain!...... Chorizo....... all the seafood............
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@scottalanmiller Paella and cured meats and wild sheep and and and head explodes
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all the fish here is served with the heads, tails, bones, etc. It's a bit disturbing and a pain to try to eat.
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You skipped the big one.... jamon iberica!
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@scottalanmiller All the fish served at my house growing up were usually gutted & cleaned with my help in the kitchen sink so I suppose it's really what you're used to.
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@scottalanmiller said:
You skipped the big one.... jamon iberica!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamón_ibérico
How are you not devouring this right this instant?!?!
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@MattSpeller said:
@scottalanmiller said:
You skipped the big one.... jamon iberica!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamón_ibérico
How are you not devouring this right this instant?!?!
Doesn't even look like food to me. Not in the least bit appetizing. The taste of meat is not a good one once you have been without it long enough.
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@MattSpeller said:
@scottalanmiller All the fish served at my house growing up were usually gutted & cleaned with my help in the kitchen sink so I suppose it's really what you're used to.
Still a bit different than getting that on your plate and gutting and cleaning while you attempt to eat. I'd rather do it before hand and get to eat rather than trying to pick out tiny bones and stuff while trying to eat at the same time. Eating is a logistical challenge with fish here.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Doesn't even look like food to me. Not in the least bit appetizing. The taste of meat is not a good one once you have been without it long enough.
Scott, once you were so awesome & I looked up to you. You display an awesome breadth and depth of knowledge and you're willing to share which is rare. Today..... today you've disappointed me. So intelligent and inquisitive and always questioning.... how could you end up like this? I feel like we should have an intervention.
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I've been a vegetarian since 2001!
