Scudworth posted:

I've spent many months in America staying at friends houses all over the map, getting more of a feel for day to day stuff than a usual tourist does, and I will tell you the #1 craziest poo poo about the USA -

They wear shoes indoors.
In houses.

Jeb Bush 2012 posted:

e: As a US citizen who lives here now but grew up elsewhere, one of the weirdest things about America is the tendency for people to describe banal stuff like "the peaceful transfer of power" and "social mobility is not 100% absent" as if they were particularly American things

Jeb Bush 2012 posted:

OP the actual greatest thing about being american is the ubiquity of garbage disposals in sinks, those things own

Tony Montana posted:

in Australia it's just Liberal and Labour and that's it. They do what you'd think they do, Liberal is smart people with degrees pushing for more private ownership and Labour is government handouts and strikes and basically lower-class rubbish, you can probably guess which side I am on)

Tony Montana posted:

Is your reference American? I am not American. See, assuming someone is going to know what you're talking about because it's AMERICAN and what else is there? is some really classic American stereotypical poo poo. I have no idea who Jastiger is, perhaps that's a reference from your culture and your culture isn't my culture. Some of it is, plenty of it is not.

Tony Montana posted:

Labour

Tony Montana posted:

Labour is the party that wants more money for schools but aint so hot on the details on where to spend it. Labour famously decided Australia should have the NBN, which is fibre to everyone's doorstep. Which is a loving ridiculous and stupid idea and that is a lot of the reason it's still not done. Look worldwide, nobody else does this poo poo. It's a bunch of professional bullshitters playing at being in charge. Liberal on the other hand would encompass much of the IT profession (we negotiate our own salaries, get that loving union away from me, etc) and the Liberal plan was a mix of technologies, wireless, fiber and others used in the most effective way.

LogisticEarth posted:

If you live somewhere where the police response time can be upwards of 20 minutes, then it's probably not a bad idea to have a firearm of some sort.

LogisticEarth posted:

To me, I feel like being able to get good groupings with a 30.06 at 100 yards with iron sights makes me a more competent person, and a better citizen.

LogisticEarth posted:

It's all about the ability to project lethal force in a defensive manner. No, I would not just pop some kid running away with my TV. But if you are in a situation where you may be dealing with an intruder or otherwise, you get your family together and retreat into a safe room until help arrives. To me, at least, it's perfectly rational and not at all psychotic to want to be able to defend yourself in a generally effective way. Right now firearms are the best way to do that without ouright hiring private security.

LogisticEarth posted:

Well, military service is the obvious one.

LogisticEarth posted:

But also just general community defense. The ability to be dangerous when you need to be. Not violent or aggressive, but dangerous enough to be useful if you need to help protect family friends and neighbors.

LogisticEarth posted:

it's not unfathomable that the police won't always be there.

LogisticEarth posted:

Knowing how to effectively defend yourself and those around you is just as important as knowing first aid and CPR, and basic emergency preparedness. Again, this is not always about using a rifle to solve every problem, the same way you're not treating a compound fracture every day. But it helps to know how to do something when and if it's required.

LogisticEarth posted:

It helps to realize that most folks do not in fact want to go all Die Hard, and just consider gun ownership as a part of their everyday life.

Jenalia posted:

Anyway, this has gotten long and I'll stop there. Hope that's enough of a foreign perspective! Also hope I didn't make all the Americans mad, it was just a list of some of the things I found odd.

God Hole posted:

Where I'm from, it's generally expected to provide at least 15% tip for the wait staff at a bare minimum. If your waiter goes above and beyond, for example, smiling, showing knowledge about different drink specials, food recommendations, jokes, comfortably assured they didn't spit in your food, it's pretty much a given you'll provide more than that.

Tar_Squid posted:

I should probably google how they managed to get all the guns that people already owned pre-ban.

LogisticEarth posted:

Over a short amount of time, of course, my wife familiarized herself with firearms and the fear melted away as she realized it was just a tool and not some inherently murderous object.

God Hole posted:

It's probably safe to assume you've never been through a situation where the rule of law disintegrated for an extended period of time, like say the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina where there were no emergency services available in some areas for days.

God Hole posted:

If nothing else, having a firearm in such emergency situations diminishes the helplessness one would experience in securing food (yes sometimes you have to kill your food).

LogisticEarth posted:

I was about to go back and quote myself from a few pages ago where I explicitly acknowledged that, yes, the ability to be more lethal and dangerous was both the point of knowing/owning firearms, and explained why that was a legitimate thing. But then I noticed I was responding to you in the first place so the point must have sailed over your head.

LogisticEarth posted:

Nobody is conflating the two except you. You're putting the "gun" in the forefront, and we're putting "defense". The police are there to first and foremost enforce the law, and also protect life and property.

LogisticEarth posted:

The reason I and others keep talking about "police response times" or emergencies where there's a lack of police coverage, isn't because we expect the police to come in and blow away the bad guys for us. It's because the police have a a habit of either making the bad guys high tail it, or having enough backup to resolve things.

LogisticEarth posted:

If they're not available, then it's up to you to defend yourself and your property until things are resolved one way or the other.

LogisticEarth posted:

And you mentioned that you'd be more worried about disruption of ambulance and firefighter services. I completely agree. Which is why I have a first aid kit, and know CPR to do my best until the EMTs arrive. And why I have a fire extinguisher and know methods to escape a burning building until the local volunteer corps show up. Why not have the same level of preparation for personal protection?

honda whisperer posted:

To put it another way, would you lay down on the floor in your own home? Would you lay on everything you walked on today (purely from a cleanliness standpoint)?

Rent-A-Cop posted:

Every county I've voted in just used a big piece of card with the candidates/issues on it and yes/no bubbles next to each that you fill in.

Rent-A-Cop posted:

We will also have local stuff like local tax issues, county/town charter revisions, etc.

Rent-A-Cop posted:

In November I voted for US President, US Senate, US House, Florida Senate, Florida House, four state constitutional amendments, state and local judges*, County Council, Sheriff, Mayor, school board, a smattering of municipal posts, and a bunch of municipal stuff like revisions to the town charter.

Rent-A-Cop posted:

Local races vary pretty wildly in how contested they are. There's a lot of getting out and shaking hands around here. The local guys really pound the pavement and do a ton of events because party affiliation doesn't seem to matter that much.

fantastic in plastic posted:

I couldn't find a record of the county election online, but we elected people like water commissioners and judges.

fantastic in plastic posted:

In Oregon, we elected the Governor, Oregon Secretary of State, a Senator, a State Treasurer, and the state Attorney General.

fantastic in plastic posted:

We elected someone in the federal election, too, as you know. In terms of how they were covered, the Portland mayor's race attracted citywide attention because there were a lot of candidates and the previous mayor was not well-liked. We also heard about the governor and Senate races, at least a little.

fantastic in plastic posted:

Each state's bureaucracy is totally different, though - Oregon doesn't have a Lieutenant Governor, while many other states do, for instance. We also don't elect every department head directly -- We The People are fine with government cronies running, say, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, but when it comes to things like state treasurer, we want more control. I don't know whether that's true everywhere, but I suspect it is.

Dominoes posted:

chitoryu12 posted:

America has a ridiculous amount of space, so it gets taken advantage of.