Good afternoon.
You’re probably not here. You’re probably doing what I am doing at the moment, which is outside in unseasonably cool weather, stuffing my face with pulled pork sandwiches and some drumsticks I sous vide for the last four hours and seared violently on the grill. So if you are really here, here’s a couple items of interest.
For those still looking to improve their BBQ game with tips from this guy.
For those that needed something to confirm their biases towards costly, and awful decision making by the defense industrial complex…this link is for you.
For all you drunkards…here’s one for you.
For the seasteaders…somebody for you to hate.
For everyone that hates Elon Musk….
For those of you that aren’t going to click and go straight to discussion, here’s a topic nobody agrees on: how to grill a frozen hamburger patty.
Throw it to the dogs and make your own?
That’s only if it’s already cooking, the first time it hits the grill pressing it down helps create a good crust and a uniform patty. Since the meat is still cold there is no juice to squeeze out.
Relevant.
So, I followed Suthen’s advice and yes, the twigs are definitely broken, and we have had an extraordinarily large amount of rain, so that all makes sense.
But there was also a crippled rabbit out there.
Not being a sadist (with at least three cats roaming around), I was going to put it down and bag the carcass for the trash people, when I thought I should probably make sure that’s not illegal here. When I asked the deputy I could get ahold of, she acted like I was insane. Instead, she had me box up the thing and take it to a crazy cat lady-ish wildlife rehabilitator.
The moral of the story is: Never take Suthen’s advice.
I don’t know what exactly was wrong with the rabbit. I’d guess a broken back, but there were no signs of trauma.
It’s a rabbit FFS. Every time I visit my brother we go out on his property, bag one or two then wrap them in bacon and sit around getting drunk while they sizzle on the grill.
Someone reviewing Watership Down make a remark that stuck in my head. “In researching this review I discovered that Rabbits are the Snickers bars of the animal kingdom.”
Ha. That is a good one. Yep, they are born to be lunch.
Well if rabbits are Snickers, squirrels must be the Almond Joys/Mounds bars of the animal kingdom.
Sometimes you feel like a nut
Oh my God.
I cringed.
I personally think rabbit is one of the more delicious meats — like pork but tastier. But I’m not going to eat something that has unexplained paralysis.
Probably a wise decision. If it were from a disease or parasite, you don’t want that in your system
If you ever make another Quebecoise safari, in Quebec City there is a restaurant called “Le Lapin Saute” (the jumping rabbit). They specialize in rabbit dishes and are great.
I hated Gatineau. The language barrier, thin as it was, caused a great deal of stress. Useless signage and customer service personnel whose english fuelency probably didn’t even extend to “I’m afraid I don’t speak English” make me nope out of there almost as fast as I fled the sleazy Knight’s Inn Texarkana.
It’s funny. I’ve been outright lost in foreign countries without problem, because the signage was all in English.
But I almost lost it in a grocery store down the block from my hotel because the signage was in French (with teeeny-tiny english subtitles that avoided being found) that said I did not belong. It didn’t help that there were turnstyles on the entrance and I couldn’t help but woner if I’d wandered into a wholesale club, or broken some unwritten rule of etiquette. I ended up putting everything back and seeking out another place with more language equality just to manage to buy some plastic forks and a bottle of syrup.
All meats should be cooked well-done. Wild meats cooked extra extra extra well done.
It would be embarrassing to be the first person to contract Creutzfeld-Jakob from a rabbit.
“All meats should be cooked well-done.”
Even meats like beef and lamb?
Especially beef and lamb. There should be no sign of translucence left at a bare minimum. The pink can be debated, but I’d rather it just have disappeared at time of serving.
I’ll go vegetarian first.
*checks the last round of meats on the smoker*
What’s the point of pretending to cook the meat if it ends up the same temperature and texture as if you started gnawing directly on the cow?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFgAORdRUf4
You take culinary advice from someone whose day job is taking hits to the brainbox?
Anyway, I’m off to go get something to eat. I’ll likely get stuck in traffic.
I’m hoping you are being a bit hyperbolic there UnC. There is a huge difference between a medium-rare beef steak and a medium-well one, both in taste and texture.
I’m not pretending to cook anything. My brisket was on the smoker for hours (IE. cooking), and its texture and taste will be quite delicious. There is a point where every meat goes from raw tasting and rubbery to a perfect bite and flavorful.
Plus, if cows ran around at 145 degrees Fahrenheit, I’d let one wander around my house to keep it warm in the winter. Then I would gnaw it occasionally. As long as they take a dump outside, of course. Prosit!
I took six hours of invertebrate zoology and each with a lab. It changed my life and especially my eating habits.
Lookit college boy here.
I think I’ll sit this one out and see where it goes.
Normally, I think you are one smart guy Suthen, but that statement sent you back 3 squares (minimum).
The secret to grouse is to barely cook them (pheasants too).
I’m OK if you want to go the sous vide route cook them low and slow, but to burn those poor birds is unconscionable.
I’d rather die young from some parasite, than live to be 104 eating dry game.
Agreed. To each their own, but meat should be cooked properly. Some meat, like chicken, needs to be ‘fully’ cooked, not over cooked though. Meats like beef and venison, should never be cooked well done, though if that’s your preference have at it. I didn’t realize how good venison was until I learned my mother had been cooking it into shoe leather as a kid! Likely a remnant of the USDA pushing the idea that all meat must be cooked to a second death for your safety of course. That may have been true for some poorly cared for commercial livestock meat of the time, but wild game is the freshest, cleanest meat you can find. As long as that animal was healthy on the hoof, which is pretty easy to see if you are the one killing it, and you properly care for the meat after the kill, there is almost no chance you will contract any illness from said meat, even if you ate it raw, which I would never do myself, but only because I find it unpalatable, not because it would be unsafe.
Listen to this man, he knows what he’s talking about
OMFG! NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
All wild game should be rare. Well done game is simply inedible.
Eh, I’m the kind of guy whose steak is still a bit cold in the middle, but I wouldn’t take the chance with wild game.
Just add plenty of fat of your own (either by wrapping in bacon or using an olive oil marinade) and it won’t dry out. I’ve done this before with rabbit, elk, alligator, wild boar, and many others.
I used to hate Antelope. Was visiting my best friend and he prepared it for me. Nothing fancy. Medallions. Rare. I couldn’t believe the difference. I was simply overcooking it. That was 15 years ago.
Roughly half the meat my wife and I eat is wild game. All of it is prepared rare, to include all the birds. Average north of 100 birds a year. Never, had an issue. Not once.
Well done wild game = tough, dry and gamy.
The trick to antelope is sage. Lots of sage.
Mods please ban this horrible little man please
This is where I disagree with you and Trump.
My mom and dad love rabbit. I’m not a fan.
And yeah, eating things that die for unknown reasons isn’t smart.
Keep in mind that there are rabbits and there are hares. Domestic ‘rabbits’ and European ‘rabbits’ are actually hares. The wild cotton tail in NA is a true rabbit. I can’t remember but maybe jackrabbits are actually hares too.
In any case the hare is quite good. They are tender and meaty. Rabbits on the other hand have the texture of a leather shoe.
The poor beastie in Not Adahn’s story is likely a snowshoe hare, New York doesn’t have any other variety of lepus that I know of.
Eastern cottontail.
Huh, they do live around here.
I’ve never seen anything but showshoe hares.
*here being my normal place of abode, I didn’t check the place I am currently located.
Wait. What?
The rabbits I have enjoyed have been fat cotton tails. The worst? Snowshoe rabbits (which are just jack rabbits with a white coat).
Speaking of which, I have a hatred of jack rabbits that knows no bounds. Growing up we had a 4 legged hunting machine in a beagle. She would hunt just about everything, but she loved chasing rabbits.
Cotton tails will run in circles, so if she jumped one, you could stand still and eventually she’d run the rabbit by you. On the other hand, jack rabbits head out in a straight line for the next county. Jump one of those with my old beagle and you had better strap your track shoes on.
I grew up doing that with my dad. He was a huge rabbit hunter when younger. He had some awesome dogs. He still gets beagles as pets to this day. His latest, Lilly, has become a bit pudgy in her old age but she still loves to chase rabbits on his property!
Huh. I forgot about that. They are both masters at running until they find a rise or a ditch, getting in it or over it where y ou can’t see them and then changing direction.
My dad would just look at me and toss me the leash when the beagle got onto a jack rabbit.
I had to chase that dog for a mile to catch her.
Then I had to drag her back to where we were hunting.
That dog could hunt though. Her bottom lip would be red, raw and bleeding from trailing game and you still had to drag her out of the woods at the end of the day.
When I was a kid we’d go on a final hunting trip to NoDak when all the seasons were open. We’d hunt grouse, partridge, pheasants, and ducks. The most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard was that beagle wailing in the truck when we left her behind to hunt ducks. When we got back to the truck with the ducks she’d glower at us.
My dad laughed and told me it was good training for when I got older and got married myself.
So many good stories. I do miss having so much game nearby to hunt. Up here it’s grouse and snowshoe hare. Some waterfowl, but I never got into that. No cottontails, no pheasant, no grey squirrels (just the tiny red bastards). I used to love sitting on a stump in the fall and waiting for a fat grey or fox squirrel to show his head so I could pop him with the .22. I would also practice my stalking and still hunting on squirrels to get ready for the deer season. Ahh to be a kid again…
My first hunt. Dad took me gray squirrel hunting. I was 10 (illegal in PA). Shot two.
But the neighbor’s beagle tagged along with us and eventually got on a cottontail. Dad made me stand still for probably 10 minutes, but for a ten year old it seemed like an hour. Sure as shit, it circled back and came to a stop 15 yards away. My first bunny.
Things you’ll never forget…
One of the Koran’s proscriptions is don’t eat dead meat (an animal you found dead vice slaughtered).
That’s just common sense. Probably gained the hard way.
Isn’t that how the Black Death got its 14th century run on?
Some Chinese (somewhere eat out East anyway) folks ran across a bunch of dead marmots and thought “How convenient!” They are them and sent the pelts out West to trade them.
And thus the Plague’s great march along the Silk Road and Mediterranean trade routes began, making landfall in Italy somewhere.
Everything is illegal here. Just hit it with a shovel, bag it and dump it.
Nosy neighbors.
Also, do you have a rifle in a pistol caliber? When I was buying ammo they had a sign that said “no pistol ammo sales without a pistol license.”
Prior to the boating accident I had a carbine in 9mm.
You didn’t have problems buying ammo for it?
Not when I shot with it. I don’t know if the proliferation of shops asking for pistol licenses for carbine calibers is because of corporate or government reasons though.
Also, I don’t now why that happens. Trees get overwatered in the spring and the new growth tends to be weak. I have seen it before, I just don’t know why.
We’ve got a couple of bunnies that hang out in our alley. I think the local cats keep the population in check. Today I noticed one had two club feet (can’t think of another name). The rabbit’s foot part didn’t articulate and the little thing just stumbled around. I was just a couple of feet away and it just looked at me while munching a dandelion stalk. I live in town so firearms are out. The big Siamese that patrols the block will take care of it.
Something is keeping them in check. I used to have a pair of golden eagles that nested in my yard. I would see a rabbit now and then. Then the eagles disappeared. In six months the rabbits were worse than a plague of locusts. In addition to eating everything they spread ticks like mad. Fortunately the coyotes discovered the population explosion and got things back under control.
We have a fox or two that take care of the bunnies.
Our little town is surrounded by cattle ranches. Four-legged predators don’t make it past the outer ring.
I’ve probably told this story before … (if you want originality, skip my posts)
We have a pine tree in my back yard. For a while we had a rabbit that would have a litter of babies in a den in the roots of the tree. My mutt would happily dig them out when he found them in the spring and spend a few days pulling them out one by one and tossing them into the air before catching them. Eventually he’d swallow them and move onto the next rabbit. Fine. Nature isn’t nice. I get it.
One year our very nice neighbors came over and asked if we could put the mutt inside because they were having a birthday party next door and the kids didn’t need to see the mutt eat baby rabbits. (our kids were at the b-day party but they were more worried about cake than what their dog was up to).
So we put the dog in. Then my wife took the baby rabbits out of the den and put them into a box. All the kids at the party got to pet baby rabbits. My wife insisted that we put the rabbits back in the trees that line the back edge of our lot (outside the fence).
The next morning all the baby rabbits were gone and my wife (to this day) insists that Momma Rabbit came and saved them. She gets mad if I tell her that we probably still have a fox that stops by that tree strip because he remembers the “Night of Easy Rabbit Dinner”.
I just got back from camping and read Animal’s awesome article, then saw your questions, so figured I’d check if you were still here.
Tree maladies can be difficult to cipher. With incomplete information I’m guessing the tree that isn’t leafing out completely has what forest pathologists lump into a category called “decline”, with the genus as the modifier, as in maple decline. Mostly they don’t know why it happens nor how to prevent or fix it. It is believed to be caused by things Suthenboy has mentioned already, but not always something you can pinpoint. Search maple decline and you find lots of info.
The leaf drop is probably squirrels cutting off the leaf clusters to use for nest building and to eat the seed pods. They shouldn’t do permanent damage and it’s not likely they would cause the decline, but could contribute I suppose.
As for insects or disease causing the decline (you may hear the term dieback as well), it’s tough to say without an examination or a sample from the tree. You could climb up there and take a look!
Take note of where the decline is and in the winter view the spot with binoculars and check for bark sloughing off and a lack of buds during spring before leafout. That will tell you it’s not coming back. If you see buds, it was probably just an oddity of the particular year.
Bottom line: I wouldn’t be concerned (and likely nothing you can do anyway) unless the decline gets much worse. If that happens, plant some new trees and enjoy the old ones for the next few years before you have to take them down, preferably before they get too hazardous to do so efficiently.
Thanks!
The Truth About Climate Change – Dr. Patrick Moore
Worth a watch. He makes the case that co2 doesn’t drive temp, we are still in an ice age, and that carbon, as a building block of life is in everything and it was being depleted from the atmosphere to the extent that it could have resulted in the extinction of vegetation if humans hadn’t supplemented the atmospheric carbon by burning fossil fuels.
Science is never settled and the world is far more complicated than green marxians think.
The Marxists don’t give a shit about any of that. They are knowledgeable about science in the same way they are about guns.
It is about power for them. That is all. Nothing more. Everything they say and do is about gaining power over you.
But he’s a shill for the forest industry, he can’t be trusted.
/sarc
“that co2 doesn’t drive temp”
Yep. The data shows that temperatures drive CO2 levels. If you want a laugh, try looking at the studies that try to explain this away. I recognize hand waving when I see it.
“we are still in an ice age”
This is not disputed even by climate scientists. In fact, based on available data, we are in one of only a handful of major ice ages in the history of the Earth, which combined are only a small percentage of the Earth’s history. Permanent year-round ice somewhere on the planet is not the norm, it’s the exception.
“that carbon, as a building block of life is in everything and it was being depleted from the atmosphere to the extent that it could have resulted in the extinction of vegetation”
I don’t know if this is the case, but based on available data it’s true that CO2 is extremely low levels compared to what we believe it was at for most of Earth’s history.
I postulate that the Earth developed humans to put CO2 back into the atmosphere. After all why else did no other species conquer fire? By trying to reduce carbon emissions, we are fighting against our ecological niche. Why do Environmentalists hate Nature?
Sounding awfully George Carlin-ish there, Cotton.
looking to improve their BBQ game
I have been watching a lot of stuff from this guy. He has every outdoor cooker known to man. And I bought his bbq rub. It’s legit.
For all you drunkards…here’s one for you.
Having one of these now.
I like the Korean booze marketing in that story. History repeats itself.
Why would the Koreans want whisky? They have SOJU. And soju tents.
My wife is too fancy for soju tents. My father-in-law (RIP) loved them and let me tag along with him and his drinking buddy from next door. Of course, I was an old hand at drinking in a soju tent from Team Spirit 88.
Nice! I like that.
Now for the weather, it’s a bit chilly in Los Angeles.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7072641/Rachel-McCord-pulls-shorts-flash-patriotic-bikini-bottoms-bra-beach-trip.html
That’s worth a salute.
Classy!
She was joined by her husband of six years Rick Schirmer, who has a website called Viral Brand that is focused on digital marketing.
Rachel herself released a book called Slay The Fame Game: Break Into Hollywood And Social Media Without It Breaking You back in 2017.
I bet they’re delightful people.
Here you go Rhywun
https://images.app.goo.gl/qsvkURUYTQkpmBF79
I guess the stars in those classy tatts could be considered patriotic.
I would have thought the interesting parts are lower than the tattoos.
The tatts detract from any of that.
For years y’all have been posting photos of all of these celebrity girls and honestly I have no idea who any of them are.
Suthen I have no idea who she is. I do know she is young, slim, and looks great in a bikini. Mission accomplished.
I made some pseudo-complaint like that to my brother years ago about some chick he was oggling and he responded.
“I don’t care what she is going to look like in ten years. I want to fuck her now.”
You are right. I don’t know who she is, and I don’t care. If I found out it would probably ruin it. She is easy on the eyes.
Now you’re getting it.
thicc ?
No. Not at all.
Thank goodness.
Enjoyed some veggie hot dogs, baked beans, and watermelon with daughter Number 2.I tried Hoegaarden witbier for the first time. For what little it’s worth, I enjoyed it.
You could do a lot worse on a hot day than a decent Hoegaarden.
USS Gabrielle Giffords
I’ll assume Navy personnel roll their eyes every time they say their ship’s name.
U.S. Southern Command in February 2019 announced that Detroit would conduct counterdrug operations.
How far the Department of War has entirely predictably fallen.
I can’t help but think they are stuck with the ships and need to do something with them. I remember reading several years ago the testing demonstrated these ships would not survive the missions they, theoretically, were designed for. The procurement has been a clusterfuck from beginning to end. I assume no one was punished.
The Navy has been doing counter drug operations since probably the 80’s. I know they were doing it in the 90’s when I was in the CG. They carried CG boarding teams to get around the law. Who even knows what law is now?
I know it isn’t new. It is still infuriating.
“USS Gabrielle Giffords”
Did it get a big hole shot through the bridge?
(too soon?)
Someone has to win the internet every day. Today it is Q.
Then advocate for the decommission of the entire US Navy? (I know this makes her sound almost like a libertarian!)
Dark humor, I laughed.
Nice.
Not too soon. She became fair game the second she decided to use her tragedy to influence gun laws.
At least she is not as bad as the POS from Georgia’s 6th district. I hope Ms. Lucy slips whilst standing atop her dead son’s corpse and cracks her stupid skull open. Maybe some of the stupid will ooze out.
The unnecessary war against vaping continues, brought you by Juul?
https://newsroom.juul.com/2019/05/17/t21/
What a bunch of sellouts.
Meh. Totally predictable, cover-your-ass move.
“We are committed to working with lawmakers to enact these effective policies.”
Kevin Burns, JUUL Labs CEO
Sounds like someone who’s just hung up from another “Nice business you’ve got there….” phone call.
“A new poll shows Americans want to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco and vapor products from 18 to 21.”
What the fuck is wrong with people?
A new poll shows Clinton has a 97% chance of winning the election.
Adults 18-21 unsurprisingly show the lowest support, but even they were at 49% support to 28% oppose. Juul selling out is just them reacting to incentives. It’s just that most people are slavers.
From what I was taught, any vessel not flying a flag of a nation state is subject to any nation states laws. I don’t see a big difference from a “floating island community” and an anchored vessel.
And thinking that the seastead city won’t immediately begin forming it’s own laws and ways of enforcement is an absurd fantasy.
I think it’s been long enough that Mammary Monday can commence!
https://thechive.com/2019/05/27/bikini-season-officially-starts-now-99-photos/
And I’ve been waiting ever since someone (me) this morning brought up Markie Post.
Likely NSFW
Well they sure don’t come from her head.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/i-dont-do-polls-elizabeth-warren-says-her-policy-proposals-come-from-the-heart
They misspelled “ass”.
She’s such a generous person with our money.
How heart-warming.
Sometimes I can’t decide who the most despicable pol is but it is hard to argue against Warren winning that.
You should have more respect for our Native American elders.
rekt
The one that wins.
“We’ve found that 67% of people prefer that we don’t use polls so we’ve decided not to use them.”
I spent the afternoon buying furniture (light, sights, sling, c-grip, etc) and a case for my new AR pistol I got last week plus a gun belt and a much needed new range bag for my handguns. So productive.
Honestly, I still don’t get the point of an AR pistol.
Rifle ballistics out of a short package. What’s not to get?
That rifle ballistics are dependent on being shoulder mounted?
They’re not really, but it can be shoulder mounted. Anything over 2200 fps will give permanent wound cavity that you won’t get from a pistol round which 10.5″ barrel will do with most ammo. 7.5″ barrel not so much.
There are plenty of handguns with better terminal ballistics than 5.56 NATO.
The ballistic advantages of an AR rifle are distance and recoil management, which go out the window if it’s not shoulder mounted.
It just looks fun
https://www.vanceoutdoors.com/products2.cfm/ID/217519/8570/ruger-ar-556-5.56mm-semi-automatic-pistol-with-sb-tactical-stabilizing-brace
Well, OK, then. All I’m saying is that I can’t think of a practical use.
I feel the same way about Twitter. Lol.
*zing*
Ha!
Honestly, I still don’t get the point of an AR pistol.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/02/02/potd-kydex-holster-for-ar-pistol/
This is the point.
Guy at gun shop was trying to talk me into getting concealed carry license. He said I could carry the AR Pistol loaded in my car which you can’t legally do with a rifle. Its a home gun and a range gun for me though.
On one hand, I like the idea of an SBR. A pistol though…not so much. On the other hand, I do like the AR pistol idea better than applying for a stamp.
The “Stabilizing Brace” is adjustable.
I have this exact kit:
https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-10-5-5-56-nato-1-7-nit-classic-shockwave-pistol-kit-black-5165449175.html
It is awesome and super fun. Frankly, I see almost no reason to get an SBR at this point unless you want a particular kind of stock. And even if you’re uncomfortable shouldering it, cheek weld and actual pistol use work great.
That’s sweet.
The “Stabilizing Brace” is adjustable.
…until President Harris signs ATF Rule148734201 § 02
aka the “Eat Shit and Die Hillbilly” Act.
Or unless you want a verticle foregrip assuming oal is less than 26″.
“until President Harris signs ATF Rule148734201 § 02”
That’s why I bought it now.
I’m as pro gun as you can get, and I still don’t get the point of an AR pistol. I mean, I’m all for people having them, but damned if I can figure out why they want them.
*shrug*
Maybe they’re fun. I’d be willing to give it a shot or thirty to find out.
Except not in NYS.
Bazinga.
While I was in Dallas last year I took a day out to go to the range, rent a few guns and shoot them. Including a nice AR with a magazine that either held 31 rounds, or I miscounted my ammo. I’m betting I miscounted.
Isn’t that nice, being able to rent guns? To get an idea if you like a product before dropping hundreds of dollars on it?
Suddenly, a wild asshole appears.
“Unhinged reactionaries like Dave Rubin or Tim Pool aren’t “liberals”.
And “libertarian” is just a fancy word for “fascist comformist”.
It’s not like they oppose a massive police state rounding people up into internment camps. You guys ARE fascists, and it IS pretty obvious.”
https://twitter.com/DeviantBlue11/status/1132447512084832257
I’m sorry, what’s a “coMformist”?
A Mazi sympathizer.
Someone who wears a plush onsey with feet while listening to Dave Rubin podcasts.
“Again, they literally don’t oppose the actions of, say, Border Patrol or ICE.”
Umm, what?
“It’s not like Democrats oppose killing unborn babies.”
I can play that game, too.
I love free speech; it so efficiently identifies people whom I have no need to take seriously.
( * ) ( * )
^^^This guy gets it.
Titties or two guys?
If this is a Rorschach test, I’m definitely seeing the titties.
Better than two rectums.
“Can @politico explain to us how photoshopping money trees next to the only Jewish candidate for president and talking about how “cheap” and rich he is *isn’t* antisemitic?
Or are they just letting this happen because he’s a progressive politician they don’t like?”
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1132333655961919488
money trees?
Shhh, she’s adulting.
If only there were some real, bonafide examples of blatant anti-Semitism in her party that she could call out…
We’ll never know.
Suthen: thought I would provide a brief response to your comment on the last post, viz.: “I have run into furriners many times who expressed open contempt for Americans because of our culture….most often our habit of showing up promptly for work, being reliable, our obsession with keeping our word, working too much, respecting honesty, looking down on theft, etc. are mentioned.”
I’ll admit that when I first came to the US (and didn’t plan to stay more than a year) I had a lot of contempt for the US (although also mixed with awe and wonder). But, it wasn’t so much problems with the things you list – largely because most of those things were seen to be valuable and good in Australia.
My problem was more the perception that the US was kind of a bully, even to loyal allies like Australia. Some of the things that torqued me in the 1980s (I came to the US in 1990): US spy bases on Australian soil (Pine Gap and another place I can’t remember); persistent rumors of CIA involvement in the downfall of the Whitlam government in 1975; US refusal to condemn the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand; US adventures in other parts of the world; US refusal to disclose whether it was bringing nuclear weapons into Australia.
Now, some of these things make more sense to me now. Some of them I know are in fact true but I’ve come to see them as antithetical to US values. And, you can toss in other things that bothered me: the stupidity of American gun culture (as I then saw it); the rampant racism in the US (thank God we didn’t have that in Australia). But, the big thing was the idea of the US as a bully.
So, I’m not disagreeing with your original point but wanted to offer you another perspective,
Exactly what I’ve heard from non Americans a million times. It’s the bully image and it doesn’t really matter if it’s warranted or not.
Yep, and they do it right here to Americans so you have probably heard that from natives as well.
Your perspective seems perfectly rational to me. Most Americans agree with almost all of the things you listed, particularly the complaints about the FedGov. I sure as hell do.
The things I listed I observed in people who were not from any western or partly western countries. Most of them lived under a rock, never sat in a classroom a day in their life, never met more than 100 or so people in their life and in that same time never traveled more than a few miles from where they were born. At first I was in disbelief that there were people believing those things that were the polar opposite of what myself and everyone I had ever met thought were self-evident but after spending more time I came to learn that yes, people can be that backward, uncivilized, and plainly wrong.
The only ones of your complaints I would argue against are the gun issue and the racism.
I should have been clearer: I am no longer critical of the US gun culture and I don’t believe racism is the epidemic I thought it was.
But, then again, when I came to the US I was pretty far to the left. As in, I would have hated Obama because I would have seen him as a hypocritical sell out.
I should have been clearer also about who I was referring to. What prompted my comment was the discussion of Ilhan Omar. She comes from one of the cultures I was referring to.
Oh, and Americans were also loud. And parochial. I remember some couple in my hometown one day looking for the Haagen Daaz ice cream place. I suggested they try a local place which had great ice cream. Nope. Had to be H-D because they wanted the same as they got at home. Well, fuck you. Why travel?
https://youtu.be/6fZZqDJXOVg?t=2
/jk
As an American who travels, I disown this ice cream fool. I like looking for local or regional establishments because they’re not what I get at home. So I have no idea what was going through this Haagen Daaz person’s brain.
The food thing is funny.
People have all kinds of magical bullshit in their heads about food, sex, their own health…mostly because those are aspects of life we have the least control over or are just programmed into us I suppose…so they make up nonsense to fool themselves into thinking they have some control.
Oh, I put food on the list? I didn’t mean to. Food is different. Everyone else’s food is terrible and I don’t just mean outside the US, I mean outside Louisiana. This is a fact.
Mudbugs are not food. Sorry, not sorry. ?
They are, but slurping them out of the shell is no way to consume them. You’re supposed to have an army of workers removing the meat from the shell and packaging it for later use.
mo fo me !
I am not exactly sure why…diet? climate?….but crawdads are quite different from one place to another. I have never had any that tasted like the ones here in other places despite them being the same species. I am fairly certain it has to do with environment. As soon as you cross the Mississippi from the floodplain over to the Florida formation they are different. they are less robust and less tasty.
I can see why you think you don’t like them Sean, but you are wrong.
As an american who has traveled ya to the americans are loud and annoying. We came by that one honestly. Some of us aren’t that way and get just as annoyed at the loud and annoying ones as the rest of the world.
Wait, is that why none of the Canadians have realized I’m American? I’m not loud?
There’s so much fertile ground here that I have no idea which way to go.
just ignore them
Nobody from around these here parts uses hoity toity words like “parochial”.
Around where you are? Of course not, they’d say something in Japanese.
Everyone speaks English now because of Trump.
The Quebecis didn’t get that memo.
Is that where you are now? Tabarnac!
No more banilla Haagen Daaz?
I would have chosen the word pretentious rather than parochial. My translation of that asshole’s request was “No thanks, I am too good for non HD ice cream”
That’s like saying one’s too good for non-Doritos.
In defense of Haagen Dazs, their ice cream, or at least the classic flavors, have minimal ingredients and lack the fillers and extenders that most ice cream manufacturers, including regional and local ones, now have and ruined the taste & texture of ice cream. They also have just regular chocolate and vanilla, which seems to have escaped the hipsters making salted caramel frozen crap. And not all HD flavors are available everywhere. I’d kill for a cup of Rich Milk right now.
I meant to re to Suthen too as that re was to me. I have experienced all he listed but not by immigrants to the US but felt those things often while working overseas. We were hated. We were expecting something out of the ordinary in different cultures. I got it. That may have been what Suthen was talking about.
Some of the biggest hate I felt was being an American working in PNG. Not from the locals, but from Aussies and kiwis. Not because of different values, but because of nationality. Until they got to know me at least, (because I am a superb human being and a fine person) and even then I was a constant recipient of jabs. It was ok, I can jab back and have a thick skin and come from a society that has common sense enough to drive on the correct side of the road.
Were the jabs at least funny? I mean, it’s only right that they be funny.
Oh yes, many laughs were had. It was all good natured in the end once we got to know each other. Like I said I am a fine human being.
When were you in PNG and what were you doing?
Also, this story popped up today: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/papua-new-guinea-pm-peter-oneill-resigns/11151922
I was working oil and gas exploration. I think it was Aug 2016 when the boss called and said the oil company pulled the plug. It coincided with the crash of the price of oil. I was due to go back to the crew in Sep. Lifes a bitch.
Port Morseby is one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
“In urban areas, particularly slum areas, Raskol gangs often require raping women for initiation reasons[…]In rural areas, when a boy wants to become a man, he may go to an enemy village and kill a pig to be accepted as an adult, while in the cities ‘women have replaced pigs.’ [gang leader Peter Moses], who claimed to have raped more than 30 women himself, said, ‘And it is better if a boy kills her afterwards, there will be less problems with the police.'”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raskol_gangs
This is zero surprise.
Of course they will. They have invested squillions in PNG.
Shouldn’t that be “reins”? Or did the mask slip and they’re hoping for a monarch?
Yeah, same here. At first I thought it was odd but it became too much fun trading jabs. I usually returned with “What? I can’t understand you. When are you people going to learn to speak English?”
Two points of evidence to show that you are wrong.
1) Navigation, which precedes land-based negotiation, states that the vessels will pass each other on their respective rights which is shown by the red (port) and green (starboard) lights.
2) Look at any cowboy movie ever made. The stagecoach driver sits on the right-hand side so that he can work the brake with his (dominant) right hand.
I have an “NRA Life Member” pin on my badge lanyard so on the rare occasions I have to travel internationally for work, it forestalls a lot of conversation. Which is fine by me. Why would I want to talk to anyone anyway?
When I travel as a tourist, I love making new friends and am fine with good natured jabs. If I sense any mean-spiritedness, I just tell them to fuck off and find other new friends.
I find my Annuit Coeptis signet ring has a similar cooling effect on Chatty Kathies.
Working all over for decades in multinationals, I’m friends with the best-read and most experienced and traveled folk from every corner. Respectfully, what they say/write has nothing to do with anti-Americanism. I’m related to a million dumb Americans, but their (our?) daily offenses aren’t real issue . . . not even remotely.
The real issue is personal and collective shame; examples:
a/ Arabia, China, whatever was once a millennium ahead of Europe (for those who see the US as largely British, a case that’s hard to argue against), but now huge swathes live in poverty, in conditions that have not advanced except that they now are Iron Age plus cell phones.
b/ Western Europe is the heart of the Renaissance, of the Enlightenment, and yet most of them have kings or oppressive parliaments and bureaucracies. They can’t move without filing a form; they can’t start a lawn service without a permit.
c/ They can’t reconcile their intellectual prowess (Mercedes, Nokia, DesCartes, Kepler) and high academics (literacy rates, multi-lingual skills) with the wealth of the average mono-lingual high-school grad.
d/ Land isn’t an option: they live in cities, in apartments; they are still subjects on someone else’s land. The US is covered in, for example, successful minorities who love the land and live on what they own; the urban poor can’t be hung on the American condition because so many Americans are comfy on their acreage, mowing the yard, raising tomatoes, and making reasonable commutes to work.
They come over to get their expat professional ticket punched, get huge cars and houses that they can’t have back home. Then they bitch about how terrible Americans while terrified every single hour of the day that they’ll be transferred back to the plant in Wales or Poland and goodbye cheap food, cheap space, and autonomy.
This isn’t a perfect answer and doesn’t apply to everyone, but it’s more than a little of what’s going on.
I think you hit some pretty good points there.
We used to have a Scandinavian dude around here who submitted an article on the difference between living in Sweden and the US. It was very enlightening. He may still be around but under another name. I hope so.
*An example of what I meant in my first comment last thread: An injun dude I met in the Beni lived as a member of a tribe that was totally communist. All their huts were in a ring around a central cleared area and everything that the tribe had was ‘given’ out to the members. No one did anything whatsoever without everyone else knowing about it and approving.
He had a white hot hatred for Americans because…we won’t give them any cars. I was young and stupid and couldn’t figure out what he was talking about until I got just how communist they were. Mind you, that guy had never seen a paved road in his life and we had to explain to him how far America was by pointing and saying “It will take you three years by canoe that way”. Trying to explain what a factory is and what it takes to run one would truly be an exercise in futility.
Holger-da-Dane, who as the name implies was Danish.
My wife was just fussing at me this morning.
“I think. you need to get checked. Your memory is shitty these days.”
the rampant racism in the US (thank God we didn’t have that in Australia)
Try telling the Aboriginals (and the lefties in the media bubble) there isn’t rampant racism in Australia. 🙂
Yeah, I should have noted that was what I believed at the time, not what I believe now.
Beds are Burning is a lie!
All I’ve heard in my part of Japan were just concerns about the gun culture and school shootings. I tell them that my dad owns a few guns, I’ve shot a few times in my boy scout and college days, and school shootings are rare.
I tried to show some pistols to the Japanese girls in the apartment next door around 1988. They were terrified and could not be educated or reasoned with.
We had Japanese exchange students live at our fraternity house, and they LOVED going shooting with us.
Shame you couldn’t meet these señoritas.
Damn link got eaten, https://youtu.be/kSuzQA4CZb4
Hah. Great minds and all that.
I see you too are a man of culture.
https://youtu.be/kSuzQA4CZb4
“Mysteries of the abandoned” on the Sci channel is fascinating. Plus great scenerey.
I hope it is on Netflix. I’ll look for it!
Here’s your daily nut punch.
https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/cops-gone-rogue/watch-texas-cop-shoots-unarmed-18-year-old-sitting-on-couch-through-open-door-zyKPIDJ9qkKpqkz1az3v6A/
“there is a suspicion of some type of behavior that led to the death of the young man on the couch”
That’s almost as good as “some people did some things”.
https://twitter.com/stclairashley/status/1132454871486095361
LOLOLOLOL
Excellent.
That was great.
That was pretty good:)
Genius.
“My husband is wearing these socks to work today.”
https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/1131941557257613314
What self loathing man married that harpy?
I think male castration/emasculation fetishes are analogous to female rape fantasies.
Small feet. Nuff said.
I think those are hers.
https://www.wikifeet.com/Alyssa_Milano
Wikifeet?
Wiki.
Feet.
?!?!?!?!
How can you be surprised at that?
I guess I shouldn’t be, but I am.
Rule 34
Your husband is getting MRSA.
Heh.
While she’s on sex strike he’s using those socks to… never mind.
“Modern day African Americans wage labourers have it far worse than they ever did during chattel slavery, so many following below the poverty line. Chattel slavery was terrible, so it has no moral legs to stand upon. It’s a reality, that being said, that wage labour is worse.
The KKK are still supporters of wage labour. That’s where we differ. I’m just saying, literally all I’m saying, is that chattel slavery is a preferable form of capitalism to what we have now.”
https://twitter.com/times_tribal/status/1132645482650464256
“Only 1.2% of former chattel slaves said their masters raped them. Chattel slaves, overall, had lower rates of being raped and sexually abused than modern day African American wage labourers. 100% of a chattel slave’s labour value is extracted, but they’re given stuff back.”
https://twitter.com/times_tribal/status/1132628176520196096
wut
Gotta be a troll. Please let that be a troll.
private sector efficiency !
less than an hour after her family announced a $50,000 reward for information, rescuers found Ms. Eller with a broken leg, sunburns and scrapes, and a torn meniscus in her knee
I’d like to think that if I ever went missing my family would post a $50k reward. In reality they would probably just offer a buy one get one free chick fil a sandwich coupon.
Sheet, my family can’t afford a $50,000 reward.
I’m worth even less than Tim Fortugno
Funny how the policies that hurt women, come from the people who claim to be fighting the most for women.
https://mobile.twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1132366961944485888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-22583686512368685460.ampproject.net%2F1905140117570%2Fframe.html
BREAKING: BuzzFeed sucks ass.
https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedNews/status/1133065921373843456
Aren’t they bankrupt? Shouldn’t they be closing their doors?
To break up my eight hour drive to Thunder bay, I randomly picked a town about halfway along the route as a stopping point.
My mouse clicked on White River. Zooming in I saw there was a White River Heritage Museum.
Here is the entirety of the “About us” page for the White River Heritage Museum:
I mean, if that is all you can find to fill out the page, maybe your town doesn’t really have so much an “Amazing History” as an “Interesting Factoid”.
Oh, bother.
Haha, that reminds me of my freelance writing days… I used to take a lot of requests for profiles of towns for real estate websites. They usually wanted 500 words, and that was easy to fill up if the town was large and famous.
What was really fucking hard was writing it for little podunk towns with no interesting history and nothing going on. I remember almost pulling my hair out trying to spew out 500 words about Dumfries, Virginia.
The tiny town my parents retired to was the home of Jell-o. You could go a looooong way on just that.
My hometown (and current residence) is where the first barcode scanner was used. It was in 1979 at what was then the Marsh supermarket.
Now it’s exclusively a liquor store… Actually the one with the best selection around.
Ok, social question for upstaters:
Is there some convention about not competing very hard/letting other people win?
Not that I’m aware of.
Not one that I am aware of.
Why do you have pansy neighbors?
No, I went to the fun shoot and literally won every game. And I’m terrible. Like there was a guy running a custom bullseye pistol and couldn’t hit a 1″ circle at 10 yards.
This is not because of some odd social custom.
And that guy with the custom sounds like he assumed money could replace skill when the gun won’t shoot any better than the operator can.
And the guy running it told me that this was supposed to be a no-pressure fun shoot. I don’t know if he was rebuking me or trying to be welcoming to the new guy.
Where you from, Not?
Oklahoma, but I lived in Texas for 14 years.
I can see gunnin’ being one thing New Yorkers aren’t very good at.
But these are upstate rednecks with weird accents that have been shooting all their lives. I honestly don’t get it.
I did win brownie points for going up to the guy who had just bought a Whitney Wolverine and asking him “is that a wolverine?” He freaking beamed.
No idea, dude. I’ve never shot in my life.
She’s into you.
Sailor Rations in the 18th Century