h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Speaking as an Amurrican, I would like to point out that our country does not sufficiently appreciate a good cup of hot tea.

Lil

I've heard it said that the reason for this is that Americans don't know how to brew a proper cup. Now coffee, on the other hand...

An interesting aside.

Tea originated in China, and is considered the "official" drink of the UK.

Cocoa originated in South America, but is consumed in it's greatest quantities in Europe and Africa.

Coffee came from Africa, but folks in the US can't move without it.

Seems most of mankind prefers "someone else's" stuff. Nothing more, just a point of curiosity!

NM

Hey all you hate-lovers and eternal forummers :

Modest PLUG...:

http://www.h2g2.com/A228278

Thank You,

TM.

And French kissing is called 'Polish kissing' in France...
Or so I've heard!

- US

Interesting fact.. Thank you US for making my life a lil more enlightened =0)
~~~~~~~~~~~
~OOL

Well, I really don't know about the two countries becoming all that alike.I regularly watch the PM's questions bit and sometimes your parliament's go rounds and they are such great theater.Your Mr.Blair is quite the mixer.He really seems to relish sparring with those in opposition who, in turn gladly hand him his jibes back.In America, our president is such a boor he had a journalist banned from his presence because he didn't like the questions being thrown to him. Most of our senators are so slow of wit and sleep inducing that it is a chore to listen to them pat themselves on the backs.And this is party and system-wide.It seems, at least now that we here in America have taken a step back to your Kingly days and you have been seeming a bit more like our democracy of only a decade or so ago.

Joke

Q: What's the difference between capitalism and communism?

A: Capitalism exploits man. Communism is just the opposite.


Before anyone jumps on my back for being the typical "bratty, tracksuit and baseball cap with the top cut out and the visor of see through plastic wearing, non stop tv watching, pie eating(??) small minded visitor to Nantucket, or the clueless esque mall rat, or the bratty, racist six year old who hates fat kids, or the conglomerate ceo faty cat, or the little person who believes everything they're told" American---I heard this joke straight from the mouth of a Vietnamese man.

Communism? There's nothing wrong with it as far as I can tell. That is, there's nothing wrong with the theory, but its governmental implementation seems to be problematic (as with any other government system.) Speaking as an individual American, I believe that uncut versions of both capitalism and communism have their pros and cons. If I said something like that only 50 years ago, I'd be sitting in front of Senator Satan McCarthy right now. If you're asking me to explain the rationale of anti-communist Americans, I have no idea. Most of their reasons seem illogial to me, though this might be because I'm not a "Baby Boomer." Living with that kind of nuclear annihilation propaganda hanging over your head when you're a small child would f**k anyone up. See the video, "Atomic Cafe."

"If you're asking me to explain the rationale of anti-communist Americans, I have no idea." I think I can field that one...

- Fear of government is an indelible part of the American character. Communism is all about granting the government total power. It requires quite a bit of trust in your government. Stalin showed us all how misplaced that trust can be. And our own elected officials have only reinforced that distrust (Andrew Johnson, U.S. Grant, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton, just to name a few who held the presidential office).

- The American Dream is all about the acquisition of property, prosperity, and prestige through hard work and inspiration. Communism would kill the American Dream.

The anti-communist propaganda read that communism was dangerous to the American way of life. And underneath the rhetoric, they had something of a point. The anti-capitalist rhetoric in the USSR likely involved the same arguments the anti-communists used, reversed. A communist America would not be America as we know it. I'm sure everyone has their own ideas on whether or not that would be a bad thing. At any rate, the release by Kruschev of all the atrocities committed by Stalin effectively destroyed the US Communist Party, and did a far more effective job of it than Senator McCarthy (another example of worthless individuals in public office)could ever have done.