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geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: RiGS on Sun, 03 July 2011, 17:47:26

Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: RiGS on Sun, 03 July 2011, 17:47:26
According to a new poll by Marist, more than a quarter of Americans couldn’t correctly identify the country from which the United States declared its independence...

26 Percent Of Americans Don’t Know U.S. Declared Independence From Great Britain (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/07/01/259417/americans-dont-know-independence-from-great-britain/)
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: RiGS on Sun, 03 July 2011, 17:58:21
(http://deskthority.net/download/file.php?id=432)

Do you see the green spot in the middle of Europe?
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: keyboardlover on Sun, 03 July 2011, 18:09:49
Yes, Italy.
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: litster on Sun, 03 July 2011, 18:11:55
gotta blow something up on July 4th!  Fireworks!
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: RiGS on Sun, 03 July 2011, 18:15:57
First of all Italy is not middle Europe.

Second, you really need these handy glasses.

(http://i.pinger.pl/pgr177/27f409480026244e4d922b41/Pink+glasses.jpg)
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: The Solutor on Sun, 03 July 2011, 21:25:25
Quote from: RiGS;372711
First of all Italy is not middle Europe.

 

Roma caput mundi.


Everything else is off center by default.... :)
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: vils on Mon, 04 July 2011, 12:40:49
Meanwhile in Hungary:
(http://thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/reagan-statue-e1309389124400.jpg)
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: vils on Mon, 04 July 2011, 12:46:32
Quote from: RiGS;372704
Do you see the green spot in the middle of Europe?
You do know that that map are based on self-reporting?
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: vils on Mon, 04 July 2011, 12:51:30
Quote from: The Solutor;372815
Roma caput mundi.
You mean città dei ladri?
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: vils on Mon, 04 July 2011, 12:53:54
[video=youtube;oa-q-ztyZZw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa-q-ztyZZw[/video]
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: Wibox on Mon, 04 July 2011, 13:04:46
Remember to be safe with your fireworks!
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: keyboardlover on Mon, 04 July 2011, 13:19:01
How do you light them at that point?
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: The Solutor on Mon, 04 July 2011, 13:19:13
Quote
You mean città dei ladri?


ha ha ha

Looks like you loose the British domination, but also the British humor...
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: vils on Mon, 04 July 2011, 13:28:19
As a speaker of Queen's english I would have spelled that humour.
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: The Solutor on Mon, 04 July 2011, 14:00:28
Quote from: vils;373164
As a speaker of Queen's english I would have spelled that humour.

 
I' speck just a president's Italian, piky grammar and easy spelling, rather than easy grammar and random spelling...
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: vils on Mon, 04 July 2011, 14:03:04
Google translate?
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: The Solutor on Mon, 04 July 2011, 14:06:31
Quote from: vils;373207
Google translate?

 
Just a browser, made in Oslo and not in Oxford (and with the US English dictionary installed).
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: aggiejy on Mon, 04 July 2011, 19:02:05
Happy 4th!  Beer and BBQ here... proper celebration.  

Though, I celebrate it a few times week living in Austin and all.
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: Pylon on Mon, 04 July 2011, 21:22:15
Some photographs.

(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6021/5903051817_f5325eb072_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10037058@N08/5903051817/)
Fireworks (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10037058@N08/5903051817/) by Pylon757 (http://www.flickr.com/people/10037058@N08/), on Flickr
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6058/5903060225_f9d2f27018_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10037058@N08/5903060225/)
Happy July 4th! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10037058@N08/5903060225/) by Pylon757 (http://www.flickr.com/people/10037058@N08/), on Flickr
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6006/5903052101_a2fa750da3_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10037058@N08/5903052101/)
Fireworks (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10037058@N08/5903052101/) by Pylon757 (http://www.flickr.com/people/10037058@N08/), on Flickr
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6036/5903051495_4fd95f70c4_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10037058@N08/5903051495/)
Exploding transformers...err...fireworks (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10037058@N08/5903051495/) by Pylon757 (http://www.flickr.com/people/10037058@N08/), on Flickr
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Mon, 04 July 2011, 22:30:25
Nice photos. I really like the 2nd one, it has a good composition.
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: RiGS on Tue, 05 July 2011, 05:29:24
Haha. The last one is the best.
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: RiGS on Tue, 05 July 2011, 05:59:51
[video=youtube;Ims4woMN2p4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ims4woMN2p4[/video]

How can anyone think that he is a nutcase?
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: quadibloc on Tue, 05 July 2011, 07:29:23
What I would like to know is how many simply "weren't sure", and of those that didn't give that answer, what the other choices were. At least 74% correctly identified the country.

Just getting "England" or "the United Kingdom" mixed up with Great Britain, though, shouldn't really count.

Of course, if anyone thought that the movie "Independence Day" was based on real, historical events, then they would really have problems.
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: quadibloc on Tue, 05 July 2011, 07:40:15
Quote from: RiGS;373603
How can anyone think that he is a nutcase?
Well, when he says good things about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, he is telling the truth. When he says that TIME magazine and the major TV networks are trying to tell Americans that religious freedom and other basic rights are out of date, that's when he goes wrong.

Yes, things have changed since the days of the Founding Fathers. In our large, crowded, anonymous cities, and with the police being tasked with protecting women and children from domestic violence, as well as having to deal with the extreme violence of drug pushers, it's not surprising the Second Amendment is being questioned. And the realities of national defense in a nuclear world have meant that Americans pay more taxes than they once did, and that America has a standing army in peacetime.

But the solution isn't an absolute rigidity in running the country as if it were 1800. The answer is for Americans to ensure that their politicians and Supreme Court justices understand the principles behind the Constitution, so that such amendments as are needed from time to time won't have the cumulative effect of eroding away the liberties of Americans.
 
His concern is legitimate. How he presents it, and the details of his position, are what are doing his concern a disservice.
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: Lanx on Tue, 05 July 2011, 17:39:29
we had seafood bbq on the 4th and my dad does the cooking (when i visit home), so never having done seafood i wanted to cut up and kill the lobster myself and my dad showed me how he does it. My nephew heard this and wanted to do it too, luckily we had 3 lobsters so it was perfect. ripping the head off while it's alive was a bit nasty, the scary part was cutting the lobster in half (raw) too. Cuz i guess when you stick a meat cleaver into it, it reacts and "pushes up" i was like "whoa, the knife went up, you didn't tell me that dad". He also had us cutting the claws in half, damn those claws are near impossible to cut in half.

Didn't want to bring fireworks from pa to ny, for obvious reasons so it was a celebrationless day.
Title: Happy 4th of July!
Post by: RiGS on Tue, 05 July 2011, 19:25:22
Quote from: quadibloc;373639
Well, when he says good things about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, he is telling the truth. When he says that TIME magazine and the major TV networks are trying to tell Americans that religious freedom and other basic rights are out of date, that's when he goes wrong.

Yes, things have changed since the days of the Founding Fathers. In our large, crowded, anonymous cities, and with the police being tasked with protecting women and children from domestic violence, as well as having to deal with the extreme violence of drug pushers, it's not surprising the Second Amendment is being questioned. And the realities of national defense in a nuclear world have meant that Americans pay more taxes than they once did, and that America has a standing army in peacetime.

But the solution isn't an absolute rigidity in running the country as if it were 1800. The answer is for Americans to ensure that their politicians and Supreme Court justices understand the principles behind the Constitution, so that such amendments as are needed from time to time won't have the cumulative effect of eroding away the liberties of Americans.
 
His concern is legitimate. How he presents it, and the details of his position, are what are doing his concern a disservice.

 
I suggest you to read this article (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-elite-are-not-even-trying-to-hide-how-much-they-hate-the-u-s-constitution-anymore).
It pretty much summarizes where I stand.