AAA: Ask America Anything

Worldly and otherworldly topics
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SomeInternetBloke
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by SomeInternetBloke » Sun Jun 06, 2021 9:23 pm

Also, is there a state or city that people tend to look down on the most? Or a state or city that is the most hated?

Not sure. Our D.C. demo is a terrific microcosm of global inequality. I appreciated its picturesque azure lake/ponds and greenly forested perimeter from my window in coach though.
"My favourite song from one of my favourite albums, Nena asking you to please, please let her be your pirate. So smooth and joyful, I have to listen to it three times if I listen once" - ashi

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Utisz
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Utisz » Sun Jun 13, 2021 6:54 am

I do have one or two more questions.

To the men of the U.S. and/or Canada, if you have like a jacket that zips all the way down, is the zip itself on the right or the left? To the women of the U.S. and/or Canada, if you have like a jacket that zips all the way down, is the zip itself on the right or the left? (Also accepting answers from other countries, and also buttons on trousers.)

Is it true in the U.S. that people really need to work two jobs to survive? Like I saw a documentary that was talking about an EMT (aka. a skilled worker), and he had to work two jobs just to have a basic standard of living.

Also do you ever use the metric system? Like would you be able to convert from MPH to KPH? Do any products use metric in terms of litres or grams? Or would you know your own height in metres, or you own weight in kilos? (What about Celsius?)

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Senseye
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Senseye » Sun Jun 13, 2021 4:05 pm

Utisz wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 6:54 am
I do have one or two more questions.

To the men of the U.S. and/or Canada, if you have like a jacket that zips all the way down, is the zip itself on the right or the left? To the women of the U.S. and/or Canada, if you have like a jacket that zips all the way down, is the zip itself on the right or the left? (Also accepting answers from other countries, and also buttons on trousers.)
I had to check, since I wasn't sure. And I found it is not consistent, some jackets have it on the left, some on the right.

As a side note, even though Canada switched to metric decades ago, and I do just about everything in metric, body height and weight units never really switched. Even I would have to guesstimate my height and weight in metric based on what I know it to be in imperial.

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Utisz
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Utisz » Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:22 am

Senseye wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 4:05 pm
I had to check, since I wasn't sure. And I found it is not consistent, some jackets have it on the left, some on the right.
That is just insane. I find it deeply unsettling when the zipper is not on the side I expect (the left). What is this madness?
As a side note, even though Canada switched to metric decades ago, and I do just about everything in metric, body height and weight units never really switched. Even I would have to guesstimate my height and weight in metric based on what I know it to be in imperial.
Same in Ireland btw. We also still keep to imperial for certain things, like you buy a pound of butter, but a kilo of sugar. For milk you can get a pint, but also a litre or 2 litres. But for sure height (feet/inches) and weight (stones/pounds) are still spoken about in imperial. I guess we can roughly translate easily enough between the two systems, with the exception of Fahrenheit/Celcius (that's a step too far for me at least).

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ashi
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by ashi » Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:27 am

There are two Canadas (both alike in dignity!), anglo- and franophone, the latter being significantly more metricified. We even have 24-hour clocks, a thing that apparently exists and you are allowed to use. This isn't quite what you asked, but I am still useless with imperial units and anytime I have to convert hogsheads to furlongs or whatever damn nonsense I feel like I am trapped in a Terry Pratchett novel.
Utisz wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 7:44 am
Is U.S. exceptionalism, in particular, a "real thing"? Do people really identify with the idea that the president is the "leader of the free world", or that the U.S. is generally the greatest country on earth? Or is it just something more romantic than brain-felt?
1000% The variance is by what margin one believes the US to be the greatest country, at what point it stopped being the greatest country, and whether or not it can return to the position. People will describe it as a racist, violent shithole police state with one breath and then insist it is better than most of the world with the next.
Aside from U.S. presidents and founding fathers, who are the most universally "admired" people in U.S. culture would you say?
Robber barons, sportsmen, and generally anyone who makes a lot of money no matter what they did to get it and how awful they are.

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Ferrus
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Ferrus » Mon Jun 14, 2021 4:32 pm

Utisz wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:22 am
Same in Ireland btw. We also still keep to imperial for certain things, like you buy a pound of butter, but a kilo of sugar. For milk you can get a pint, but also a litre or 2 litres. But for sure height (feet/inches) and weight (stones/pounds) are still spoken about in imperial. I guess we can roughly translate easily enough between the two systems, with the exception of Fahrenheit/Celcius (that's a step too far for me at least).
This is as far as I understand the same situation that obtains in the UK, Australia and New Zealand also (Jyng can correct me if I am wrong).

I would say though that the one thing that baffles people in the US are 24 hour clocks which whilst not as common in the UK than they are on the continent are still widespread enough in certain contexts - such as train timetables or plane tickets, for sometime as well as my father remembers his grandfather teaching him how it works as he was a train clerk - that most people who aren't idiots know how to convert between it and am/pm whereas in the US seems a source of confusion (and used mainly in the military as I understand).
Ex falso, quodlibet

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Julius_Van_Der_Beak » Mon Jun 14, 2021 4:45 pm

Utisz wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 7:44 am
Is U.S. exceptionalism, in particular, a "real thing"? Do people really identify with the idea that the president is the "leader of the free world", or that the U.S. is generally the greatest country on earth? Or is it just something more romantic than brain-felt?
ashi wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:27 am
1000% The variance is by what margin one believes the US to be the greatest country, at what point it stopped being the greatest country, and whether or not it can return to the position. People will describe it as a racist, violent shithole police state with one breath and then insist it is better than most of the world with the next.

I'd echo this. It's pretty common even among a lot of center-left types unfortunately; listening to them, you get the sense that Trump's greatest crime was that he acted in a manner unbecoming of the leader of the free world.

I would say that the American empire has been in decline for the past twenty years, and Trump is an obvious symptom of that, but the majority of people can't even seem to conceive of that is a possibility. This isn't reassuring at all; I'm sure lots of people in Rome were in denial about its decline.
Utisz wrote: Same in Ireland btw. We also still keep to imperial for certain things, like you buy a pound of butter, but a kilo of sugar. For milk you can get a pint, but also a litre or 2 litres. But for sure height (feet/inches) and weight (stones/pounds) are still spoken about in imperial. I guess we can roughly translate easily enough between the two systems, with the exception of Fahrenheit/Celcius (that's a step too far for me at least).
Just multiply a celsius temperature by 1.8 and add 32!
Last edited by Julius_Van_Der_Beak on Mon Jun 14, 2021 4:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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starjots
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by starjots » Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:02 pm

Follow up on an earlier question.

Just did a quick trip to Walmart to buy some toys for our cats. I counted five (5) people on scooters. One guy did have a cast on his leg. It wasn't even particularly busy. After you're query, I can't help seeing them everywhere now.

The metric thing in the US is a continual source of continual minor aggravation. I have two sets of socket wrenches, one for each system. You never know what system the nut was made under until you try it out.

Also, we put in a little do it yourself irrigation system with 1/2" and 1/8" piping bought online. We had to add on and bought some additional 1/2" backbone tubing at the local hardware. When we added it, it leaked like a sieve at the connections because our 1/2 tubing wasn't really 1/2 inch. Our original system was actually metric and the add on imperial or vice versa, don't remember. But they all said 1/2 inch because god forbid you mention a millimeter in public. We had to tape wrap the shit out of a bunch of joins and that'll have to be good enough.

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Utisz
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Utisz » Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:31 am

ashi wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:27 am
This isn't quite what you asked, but I am still useless with imperial units and anytime I have to convert hogsheads to furlongs or whatever damn nonsense I feel like I am trapped in a Terry Pratchett novel.
16 ounces in a pound, 14 pounds in a stone, 8 stone in a hundredweight, 20 hundredweight in a tonne.

12 inches in a feet, 3 feet in a yard, 220 yards in a furlong, 8 furlongs in a mile.

5 fluid ounces in a gill, 4 gills in a pint, 2 pints in a quart, 4 quarts in a gallon.

Unless you're in the U.S. of course. Then there's 16 fluid ounces in a pint.
Ferrus wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 4:32 pm
I would say though that the one thing that baffles people in the US are 24 hour clocks which whilst not as common in the UK than they are on the continent are still widespread enough in certain contexts - such as train timetables or plane tickets, for sometime as well as my father remembers his grandfather teaching him how it works as he was a train clerk - that most people who aren't idiots know how to convert between it and am/pm whereas in the US seems a source of confusion (and used mainly in the military as I understand).
Is that for real?

Much worse than the hour though is the date. Like who the fuck thought that MM-DD-YYYY was a good system.
Julius_Van_Der_Beak wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 4:45 pm
Utisz wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 7:44 am
Is U.S. exceptionalism, in particular, a "real thing"? Do people really identify with the idea that the president is the "leader of the free world", or that the U.S. is generally the greatest country on earth? Or is it just something more romantic than brain-felt?
ashi wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:27 am
1000% The variance is by what margin one believes the US to be the greatest country, at what point it stopped being the greatest country, and whether or not it can return to the position. People will describe it as a racist, violent shithole police state with one breath and then insist it is better than most of the world with the next.

I'd echo this. It's pretty common even among a lot of center-left types unfortunately; listening to them, you get the sense that Trump's greatest crime was that he acted in a manner unbecoming of the leader of the free world.

I would say that the American empire has been in decline for the past twenty years, and Trump is an obvious symptom of that, but the majority of people can't even seem to conceive of that is a possibility. This isn't reassuring at all; I'm sure lots of people in Rome were in denial about its decline.
I guess that leads me to another question: do some people need to work two jobs to maintain a reasonable standard of living? We were watching a documentary on the opioid crisis (The Crime of the Century) and there was an EMT who said that he had to work two jobs just to keep his head above water. Like is that a real thing? That's fucking crazy. An EMT is obviously a skilled worker. The idea he would have to work his EMT job and do bartending or whatever is nuts. It wasn't like he was going around in a Lambo wearing a Rolex or anything either.
Julius_Van_Der_Beak wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 4:45 pm
Just multiply a celsius temperature by 1.8 and add 32!
Image
starjots wrote:
Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:02 pm
Just did a quick trip to Walmart to buy some toys for our cats. I counted five (5) people on scooters. One guy did have a cast on his leg. It wasn't even particularly busy. After you're query, I can't help seeing them everywhere now.
:happy:
The metric thing in the US is a continual source of continual minor aggravation. I have two sets of socket wrenches, one for each system. You never know what system the nut was made under until you try it out.

Also, we put in a little do it yourself irrigation system with 1/2" and 1/8" piping bought online. We had to add on and bought some additional 1/2" backbone tubing at the local hardware. When we added it, it leaked like a sieve at the connections because our 1/2 tubing wasn't really 1/2 inch. Our original system was actually metric and the add on imperial or vice versa, don't remember. But they all said 1/2 inch because god forbid you mention a millimeter in public. We had to tape wrap the shit out of a bunch of joins and that'll have to be good enough.
Yeah, that's the same in Ireland and even here in Chile. People have died because of this shit.

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Senseye
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Senseye » Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:28 pm

Google says the average EMT salary in the USA is $31K/annum. That should suffice for a single person, but it's a bit thin for a family. Get that spouse a job, I'd advise.

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