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

James, you are lucky to have got so far back! I can go only as far back as ca 1870! Info missing in the middle.

The only branch of my family tree I can trace with any accuracy ... and for any length of time ... is that from my mother's mother's side. We have documents. The rest of the family is a mystery before the time they came to the U.S. I don't know if this is because they were leaving their homelands for difficult reasons, or because they wanted to sever ties and become "American", but I don't even know from what part of the various countries my ancestors originated. It's a pity, as I'm interested in geneology, and can't go past the mid-1800's because of this.

Sorry to butt in but I wuz watching the CBS evening news tonight & they had a story about two semi-naked statues at the Department of Justice being hidden.
Question: is this PC going a step to far

Answer: Yes.

I've always been puzzled why we can't show classic works of art on television (Michaelangelo's David, fer instance) because of the realistic portrayal of genitalia.

And *that's* 'What's Wrong With Americans'! Ta-da!

<>

We can't? (You are US right?) What's going on there - how afraid are we of the body? Sheeesh.

As for the UK check out F19585?thread=163451

How about this then.
The EU has for some time been working on their own GPS system called Galileo, but recently the good old US of A has been trying to stop it. WHY???
The stated US objections are:
1.GPS(operated by the military)is all you need
2.Galileo might just might interfere with GPS-M(the military channel)
3.It might be used by non-US forces
The un-stated objection is that the US can't turn it off as and when they choose,as happened to certain channels during Gulf War mk1.
For a country that claims to embrace competition, it has once again acted in a very anti-competitive manner.
The term Hydraulic Despotism springs to mind.
Rod

Look at how massively the US has positioned itself against European Union, fearing a new superstate. It was fine to encourage union while the Soviet Union was there so their were economic rivals in Europe and so US has a buffer state it could fight WWIII in.

Sorry - didn't have anything to do with the two items above. Obviously they didn't confer with me before doing whatever the US government wanted to do. I am happy to hear (or not to hear) that none of the other countries in the world ever do anything wrong, and that it's just always us.

I don't know how you guys lucked out to be in countries that never do anything that you disapprove of, and I got stuck in the US...

Are you trying to say we don't play well with others?

Oh, and by the way....COME ON! England is well known for it's past conquests, are you telling me that if you (England) controlled the entire European land mass, and we (the US) were trying to form a union with Canada, South America, Africa and Australia that you wouldn't be a bit concerned???

(Oh sorry, I forget that we're the only country that ever does anything wrong)

We just happen to be the big guy currently. But who knows when that might change? You guys were the "big guy" for centuries... Centuries from now someone else will be the "big guy". I do not assume that America will always be a super power. It seems that we are now, and we've only been here for about 300 years - a drop in the bucket compared to how long England was a super power, and unfortunately, I don't see our government doing anything that would let that status slip in the near future...(they're too greedy!)

My government knows, (as has yours, and Russia's, and France and Spain's governements in the past) that you play differently when you are the big guy on the block. Is it fair? No. Should it be changed? Probably. Will we ever have world peace? Not as long as there are humans around that are driven by power, greed and self-gratifying purposes (and don't most humans - and all politicians suffer from these vices every now and again?)

I think our only hope is that mankind's reasoning abilities improve over the next several generations, oh yeah, and that we don't blow up anything before that happens.

Yes Michelle, but at least we gave the world such beatiful things as Cricket, Football and Syphillis.

Whereas the American contribution to the rest of the world seems to stop short at Jennifer Aniston, Baseball and s**t Hamburgers.

As much as I'd like to disagree with you and argue with you, I think you are correct. But that's why people dislike the Septic Tanks - Like it or not. That's why we Brits get quite a bit of grief wherever we go. It's all about National Identity, and countries that don't think that England is full of football hooligans tend to think that we are still in the age of bowler hats, stiff upper lips and colonialism.

Stereotypes are always good for a bit of a laugh, but not too many people take them seriously when they actually meet people from a different country - Do they?
All the Best Anyway
GWL

Syphillis... I was wondering who to thank for that!
And don't forget about Weird Al Yankovic...that was a major contribution of the US (and I'm soooo happy the rest of you survived that contribution!)

I didn't realize you played football in the UK (Ha Ha! Now don't get upset! I was just making fun of what we call football, and what you call football. Actually I like the UK version much better... not so much standing around, lining up and patting each other on the bottom!)

There is a theory that syphilis may have been carried back to Europe by early explorers/invaders of South America. Analysis of ancient New World skeletons seemed to back up this theory, and there seems to be little or no undisputed evidence of the presence of the disease in Old World remains before 1500.

The US is against the EU? First I've heard of it.

You're not one of these people who are left-wing but in favour of policies of the EU and the Euro are you? You *do* realise it's every bit as capitalist as NAFTA, don't you?

Ooh, details please! Whenever I hear about "PC gone mad" (a favourite phrase of the 50-something NZer with a grudge) he's usually complaining that he (and 90% of the time it *is* he), cannot make sexist or racist jokes. Truly. That's what they think 'PC' is - when originally (correct me if I am wrong) if was a self-deprecating joke made by '60s "lefties"... (I'm too young to have been one of them, so I don't know).

Hello, Michelle _ have a lot to say, how to say it? Mmmm.

1.In a sense, what England, Spain, France and other former powerws did, is irrelevant. It's what Dubya and his followers are doing now, in pursuit of world domination, that bothers us. (Me, for one and no doubt others.) Guantanamo Bay, the status of prisoners there, threatened escalation of the War on Terra to Iraq and Somalia.. it goes on.

2.Politicians. It seems to be an American thing to automatically slag off pols, because they are pols. Or- is that just a libertarian/objectivist thing? Are sincere politicians with good intent, conceivable to you?

3. Mankind. If you *mean* 'man qua man'(male) as Ayn Rand used to say, then I ma tempted to say I don't hold out much hope for 'his' reasoning abilitiy. But if you mean mankind=people, the species not the gender, then, that's another matter.

Re: post 613
Syphillis originated in the middle east (being related to a disease found in camels) & wuz spread by the Romans throughout the Roman empire.

Interesting facts about syphilis, I'm just surprised I got the speling rite.
I was originally going to put smallpox, not knowing too much about the origins of disease, it was more the point that we (the English) were responsible for the spread of good and bad aspects of our culture throughout the world when we had a great deal of power.

I'd just like to say to Zagreb that I fear the US is very much against the EU. I was recently on holiday in Africa, and saw a newspaper article which seemed to be quite clear on this. It also claimed that the US is seeking to weaken the EU by claiming it is unfair/illegal to exclude ex-communist states such as Poland and the Czech Republic. By including these states it will weaken the rest of the EU's financial powers by bringing these countries in line economically with the rest of the EU.

Something along these lines anyway.