The amazingly good things about the US

[theplayingmantis]

marcosgt said:

theplayingmantis said:

UK doing so well on obesity!

That's because too many people do what Yipper suggests and look to the US for the way to do things...

I think we'd do a lot better to stop trying to be the 51st State...

H
M

Edited by marcosgt on Wednesday 7th March 11:30

to venture further OT, no its because peiople are stupid, have no self respect/control, and then want to blame someone else for their problems. in days past evolution would have killed off such folk. now in the time of reverse evolution, where even the most lazy, feckless and scummy who may otherwise have been eaten by a sabre tooth tiger, survive. we are where we are. simply taking away NHS treatment for self infilcted (through a lifestyle of doing something that is known to be harmful, i.e. gobbling up everything in sight or smoking) afflictions would solve that issue in a stroke.

anyway back OT

[theplayingmantis]

not sure if your a golfer, but have you dont pebble/spyglass/spainish/cypress or any of the others on the peninsula?

• edit* for Marcos

Edited by theplayingmantis on Wednesday 7th March 14:04

[Kermit power]

theplayingmantis said:

not sure if your a golfer, but have you dont pebble/spyglass/spainish/cypress or any of the others on the peninsula?

[David Beer]

Love the USA, only got two states to do and doing them in June .
Camped overnight in all but 4 national parks, again two being done in June. Into Seattle and out of LA, taking in Moab which has to be my favourite area.
At Xmas flying into Miami, sail to Key West and then drive to LA for flight home.
55 trips in 20 years, so I really do love the USA, 135,000 miles done so far.
Apart from stunning scenery, really quite nice people too.

[Boozy]

Kermit power said:

Boozy said:

Have to disagree here, I live in the north east of the US and we’ve had rotten and I mean rotten cold this winter and now are being pummelled with snow, the drive up cash machine is a god send when you have three kids and don’t want to expose them to that and or the heat in summer or are in a rush. The notion in the UK that we have it because everyone here is fat and lazy is hysterical but expected. It’s time saving, safe and continent.

Whilst I can sort of understand your point - although if I lived somewhere with that level of snow, I suspect I'd have the appropriate clothing - the culture of driving every possible inch of the way certainly can't help America reversing out of its position as the unrivalled obesity capital of the world, can it?

To a certain point yes, however you can’t wrap your kids up in thick coats and strap them safely into a chair, that aside getting three kids in and out of a car at anytime is a total pain in the arse snow or not. I’d also argue people here are at least where I live by and large (no pun intended) fitter than where I’ve lived in the UK.

[Kermit power]

Boozy said:

To a certain point yes, however you can’t wrap your kids up in thick coats and strap them safely into a chair, that aside getting three kids in and out of a car at anytime is a total pain in the arse snow or not. I’d also argue people here are at least where I live by and large (no pun intended) fitter than where I’ve lived in the UK.

My kids are 15, 12 & 10. At no point in their lives have I particularly struggled to get them out of the car, nor felt the need to do so whilst I pop 50 yards to a cash machine...

[NRS]

Boozy said:

Kermit power said:

Boozy said:

Have to disagree here, I live in the north east of the US and we’ve had rotten and I mean rotten cold this winter and now are being pummelled with snow, the drive up cash machine is a god send when you have three kids and don’t want to expose them to that and or the heat in summer or are in a rush. The notion in the UK that we have it because everyone here is fat and lazy is hysterical but expected. It’s time saving, safe and continent.

Whilst I can sort of understand your point - although if I lived somewhere with that level of snow, I suspect I'd have the appropriate clothing - the culture of driving every possible inch of the way certainly can't help America reversing out of its position as the unrivalled obesity capital of the world, can it?

To a certain point yes, however you can’t wrap your kids up in thick coats and strap them safely into a chair, that aside getting three kids in and out of a car at anytime is a total pain in the arse snow or not. I’d also argue people here are at least where I live by and large (no pun intended) fitter than where I’ve lived in the UK.

I live in arctic Norway, with around 5-6 months of snow. There is no issues with walk to cash machines. They also leave babies outside in minus temperatures to sleep and they all seem to do fine.

[Frougal_Mcdougal]

Agree with the Op. Love the US, spent the last 4+ years at my previous company working in Charlotte, Raleigh, Houston, Delavan and Rochester. Absolutely loved it, even the Deep South despite any stereotypes.

Got into southern food, travelled up and down the east coast at weekends, got into bourbon, got really carried away during big sporting events and “tailgate parties”. Made some firm friends.

Once overheard hotel staff describing me as the “British African American” still makes me chuckle at the vocal gymnastics to say the right thing. For one moment I could dream I had the voice of sir David Attenborough and the looks of Denzel Washington...I wish

[Boozy]

NRS said:

Boozy said:

Kermit power said:

Boozy said:

Have to disagree here, I live in the north east of the US and we’ve had rotten and I mean rotten cold this winter and now are being pummelled with snow, the drive up cash machine is a god send when you have three kids and don’t want to expose them to that and or the heat in summer or are in a rush. The notion in the UK that we have it because everyone here is fat and lazy is hysterical but expected. It’s time saving, safe and continent.

Whilst I can sort of understand your point - although if I lived somewhere with that level of snow, I suspect I'd have the appropriate clothing - the culture of driving every possible inch of the way certainly can't help America reversing out of its position as the unrivalled obesity capital of the world, can it?

To a certain point yes, however you can’t wrap your kids up in thick coats and strap them safely into a chair, that aside getting three kids in and out of a car at anytime is a total pain in the arse snow or not. I’d also argue people here are at least where I live by and large (no pun intended) fitter than where I’ve lived in the UK.

I live in arctic Norway, with around 5-6 months of snow. There is no issues with walk to cash machines. They also leave babies outside in minus temperatures to sleep and they all seem to do fine.

It’s abour making your life easier which is one of the things they seem to do well here, which to the original question is why we live here, it works for us but won’t for others, to each their own and all that.

[RDMcG]

My reason for starting the thread was more about balance than suggesting that everyone move to the US..of course there are negatives ( as there are in all of the seven countries in which I have lived), but I often see some very stereotypical stuff here that would lead you to believe that the US is a nation of enormously fat helpless people with guns who have no culture and eat hamburgers.

Such people exist and equivalent people exist in many Western nations. However, in my experience the people I meet in business are generally effective, smart and very hard working, understand the world as a whole, have travelled, and have the same bell curve of intelligence as any other society. There is an inventiveness and entrepreneurial spirit in the US that seems to continually churn out new ideas and new businesses, which is why so much investor value is created by American companies.

I could equally start the thread titles "amazingly bad things about the US", and list the negatives, but moat of them show up without my adding to them - as I said, just a small attempt to restore some balance and completely appreciate that its not everybody's cup of tea, ( or coffee for that matter). Appreciate the posters who added a lot more than my brief list.

[SystemParanoia]

Frougal_Mcdougal said:

Agree with the Op. Love the US, spent the last 4+ years at my previous company working in Charlotte, Raleigh, Houston, Delavan and Rochester. Absolutely loved it, even the Deep South despite any stereotypes.

Got into southern food, travelled up and down the east coast at weekends, got into bourbon, got really carried away during big sporting events and “tailgate parties”. Made some firm friends.

Once overheard hotel staff describing me as the “British African American” still makes me chuckle at the vocal gymnastics to say the right thing. For one moment I could dream I had the voice of sir David Attenborough and the looks of Denzel Washington...I wish

how did you avoid being killed to death ?

[Dr Jekyll]

Have we had right turn on a red yet?

[paulguitar]

Frougal_Mcdougal said:

Once overheard hotel staff describing me as the “British African American”

That made me smile, they must have been really confused!

[jamoor]

Yipper said:

Think a lot of the anti-US sentiment on here (and elsewhere) is down to jealousy and inferiority.

The US is 40-600% richer than the UK, depending on how you calculate it, and that makes a lot of British (and other) people feel small and inadequate.

The US is just a phenomenon of money and nature and there are few countries in the world that match it. We should be working out why the US is so good and copying more of it.

We can say the same about china too.

Plus there's the speed of development too, and transport is much faster and cheaper. I guess communists can do some things right.


Now if only they allowed foreigners to drive.

[JuniorD]

Great thread.

I love the US and could never get bored of it. I've visited countless times (though so far have only managed 16 states) and went to university there for just over a year. It quite simply has everything under the sun. Anything is possible there. There are so many great things - the landscapes, the space, the music, the entertainment, the history - but if I had to single out one thing in particular, for me personally it has to be American women.

[Tallow]

Boozy said:

Have to disagree here, I live in the north east of the US and we’ve had rotten and I mean rotten cold this winter and now are being pummeled with snow, the drive up cash machine is a god send when you have three kids and don’t want to expose them to that and or the heat in summer or are in a rush. The notion in the UK that we have it because everyone here is fat and lazy is hysterical but expected. It’s time saving, safe and continent.

I've got to step in here and agree with Boozy. I thought drive thru ATMs were stupid until I actually used one. They are awesome time savers when you're in a rush (and no, I'm not obese! )

[geeman237]

I've lived in the US 14 years now, in the South too....It's been quite the adventure. I've only visited a few states. I could probably ramble on a lot but I won't
A lot of America in the suburbs etc is very "vanilla", same chain stores etc, house styles, cars etc. and you can visit one side of the country to the other and somethings be exactly the same. This is a bit of a huge generalization though.
Drive thru ATMs. Lazy? Perhaps, but American is so damn BIG that they have the space to build banks with drive thru ATMs etc. The country has grown up with the car and as such so much urban planning has had a lot of focus on the car and driving everywhere. Pedestrianisation is often a low priority here at times. Drives (no pun intended) me a bit nuts that I have to drive about 2 miles to get out of my housing estate to get a pint of milk when I could jump over my 6 foot back fence and walk to the store in 10 mins. I also think its a bit ironic that its the land of freedom and choice yet the huge big box stores like Walmart and Lowes (Wickes)/Home Depot (B&Q) are often the only choices and everyone defaults to them (see "vanilla" comment above).
I have made some great friends here, but finding many that have wordly experience is a bit of a challenge; of course its different if you live somewhere like NYC etc.

[Matt Harper]

Just the sheer size of this nation. I departed JFK at 8.30am this morning - 4-6" of snow overnight and after a 6+ hour flight, landed in San Diego CA - 70 degrees and sunny and I'm still in the same country. Finish work here tomorrow evening and then red-eye it back home to Orlando FL - another 6 hours in the air - but still within the contiguous US. It's a big, big place.

[Frougal_Mcdougal]

SystemParanoia said:

how did you avoid being killed to death ?

Lol I’m not entirely sure! 😱 I did show some real respect to law enforcement in my one interaction and accent probably helped...As the op says it’s a mad place in many ways but there’s so much to like

[Truckosaurus]

My favourite part of visiting the USA is that you can sit at a bar and chat with the bartender and other customers which is rare in the UK.