I'm just wondering how someone from the largest English-speaking country in the world got that one word so completely wrong 
Yes, Botswana's come up a couple of times recently ...
By the way, can a mod please correct the spelling in the title of this thread? It's driving me barmy!
By the way, can a mod please correct the spelling in the title of this thread? It's driving me barmy!
Hey Racer
I suppose a short answer to why the US gets so much discussion is something like: the US imposes itself on the rest of the world like no other country in history through its foreign policy, military interventions, economics and its enormous mass-media including films, TV shows & channels, huge music industry, the www and so on. What America does has an effect all over the world, for better or worse, so naturally it comes up in peoples' conversation a lot. While it's true that China certainly has the potential to greatly influence world affairs with its large population, strong military, booming economy and ever-growing financial strength, at the moment it still keeps largely to itself so doesn't often crop up in everyday conversation. America doesn't keep to itself much at all (especially since October 2001 - before that Bush was actually being labelled an "isolationist" with regard to foreign policy), so it naturally gains the lion's share of attention.
Right now, what Sarkozy, Putin and even Hu Jintao do in their own lands doesn't have as much potential to affect the rest of the world as much as the actions of a US president, especially when the US is fighting wars with two countries and continually ramping up the rhetoric about a third. US elections always gain a lot of attention because of the power a US president has. They're also bloody hard to ignore - US election campaigns are huge, loud, full on fanfare and emotion and shouting and seem to go for years!
As for the world's concern over obese American gun-nuts driving 2 mile-per-gallon monster trucks to work (forgive the hyperbole there
), a lot of people see that kind of thing as a worrying indicator of American culture or maybe a microcosm of the entire nation - America in a nutshell if you like: heavily armed, overly consumptive, arrogant. Of course, that's an overly simplistic stereotype and it's completely unfair to judge a nation by a small proportion of its citizens, but right or wrong that's how lots of people see the US.
I suppose a short answer to why the US gets so much discussion is something like: the US imposes itself on the rest of the world like no other country in history through its foreign policy, military interventions, economics and its enormous mass-media including films, TV shows & channels, huge music industry, the www and so on. What America does has an effect all over the world, for better or worse, so naturally it comes up in peoples' conversation a lot. While it's true that China certainly has the potential to greatly influence world affairs with its large population, strong military, booming economy and ever-growing financial strength, at the moment it still keeps largely to itself so doesn't often crop up in everyday conversation. America doesn't keep to itself much at all (especially since October 2001 - before that Bush was actually being labelled an "isolationist" with regard to foreign policy), so it naturally gains the lion's share of attention.
Right now, what Sarkozy, Putin and even Hu Jintao do in their own lands doesn't have as much potential to affect the rest of the world as much as the actions of a US president, especially when the US is fighting wars with two countries and continually ramping up the rhetoric about a third. US elections always gain a lot of attention because of the power a US president has. They're also bloody hard to ignore - US election campaigns are huge, loud, full on fanfare and emotion and shouting and seem to go for years!
As for the world's concern over obese American gun-nuts driving 2 mile-per-gallon monster trucks to work (forgive the hyperbole there
), a lot of people see that kind of thing as a worrying indicator of American culture or maybe a microcosm of the entire nation - America in a nutshell if you like: heavily armed, overly consumptive, arrogant. Of course, that's an overly simplistic stereotype and it's completely unfair to judge a nation by a small proportion of its citizens, but right or wrong that's how lots of people see the US.
Last edited by Hankstar, .
Nice necro post.
Buy a license & try the whole thing - or just read the LFS website. You'll see that "just a racing simulator" is exactly what Live For Speed is.
Buy a license & try the whole thing - or just read the LFS website. You'll see that "just a racing simulator" is exactly what Live For Speed is.
Crumbs, Niko's moved in too! That's it, I'm going home to "Other"...
Aussie V8 Supercabs Four-door 5L V8, 600+ hp, 1500kg.
Supercars (Fez/Lambo) - Two-seat MR layout, 6L V12 or V10, less than 1000kg.
Aussie Racing Cars - spec series with one seat, 1200cc 125hp engine, 450kg. Magic
I dunno really, there are so many tintops I'd like to see in this game I wouldn't know what to pick...
Four-door 5L V8, 600+ hp, 1500kg. Supercars (Fez/Lambo) - Two-seat MR layout, 6L V12 or V10, less than 1000kg.
Aussie Racing Cars - spec series with one seat, 1200cc 125hp engine, 450kg. Magic
I dunno really, there are so many tintops I'd like to see in this game I wouldn't know what to pick...
I had a similar feeling of inevitable dread watching Bush strut around that carrier in his flight suit, smirking like he was playing as Han Solo in some ****ing playground. I - hell, anyone with any common goddam sense knew there were years left in this ridiculous adventure and it made me sick to know that Shrub was telling a bald-face lie to his entire armed forces and six billion other people - and it made me even sicker that enough people were swallowing to allow it to continue.
That same premonition-like feeling cropped up a couple of years ago when Shrub first mentioned Iran and it's not going away ...
That same premonition-like feeling cropped up a couple of years ago when Shrub first mentioned Iran and it's not going away ...
Sometimes I get the feeling some Americans would like it that way
Hell, so would a lot of non-Americans 
I kid, my US friends, I like you guys ... I just think your government's a pack of dangerous loons and they're gonna get us all killed
My musing there was sort of rhetorical, I'm sure George would be horrified that he was right - or more likely sad that not enough people tried hard enough to stop it. But then he probably wouldn't be surprised at that, as the foundations were being laid during his own lifetime.
While Minitruth certainly doesn't exist right now (not as a large monolithic beauracratic entity anyway), there are certainly filters in place in all mainstream media outlets which ensure that viewpoints of power take precedence over anything that actually happens or matters. Orwell certainly wouldn't see a mirror image of his writings if he were alive today but he'd be having some pretty eerie deja vu
While Minitruth certainly doesn't exist right now (not as a large monolithic beauracratic entity anyway), there are certainly filters in place in all mainstream media outlets which ensure that viewpoints of power take precedence over anything that actually happens or matters. Orwell certainly wouldn't see a mirror image of his writings if he were alive today but he'd be having some pretty eerie deja vu
Stasi, Gestapo, KGB, Thought Police, Dementors, it's all the same to me 
Some people don't need to be made fun of as they're more than capable of doing it themselves
Nice :up: All hail Orwell!
I wonder if he'd be pleased on an egotistical level that he was pretty much right about politics, media and propaganda or utterly horrified to find that the human race hasn't progressed very much (and has become worse in a lot of areas) since his time...
I wonder if he'd be pleased on an egotistical level that he was pretty much right about politics, media and propaganda or utterly horrified to find that the human race hasn't progressed very much (and has become worse in a lot of areas) since his time...
WIP atm. I do believe it's in beta form after nearly two years. Takes time to make a 70km track but I think it'll be utterly legendary. Don't know about the IOM though.
I'm guessing it's either an ironic quote from a career politician, possibly a PM or president, or it's from someone I'd probably like to meet in real life A commentator like HL Mencken, RG Ingersoll or Mark Twain ...A combination of the physics, value and the development process :up:
Go on, you know you want to.
The best news: the lads have cracked the 7-car limit. The 66 Mod contains all variants of the various cars used in 1966, from the 2L cars, 2.4s, 2.5s and of course the 3 litre beasts with pretty much every works, factory and privateer car Play an offline season and the cars and drivers swap and change exactly as they did in 1966. Pretty impressive work for a third party mod for a game that was never meant to be modded :up: The tyre model has been improved as well and there are nice little physics tweaks such as improved draft distance and (my favourite) high-speed lift 
In a 3L car at a huge long track like Monza or Reims you can really feel the front end move around...
Also, the track length limit has been broken (a while back, nothing to do with this mod). No longer is the original 1967 Nordschleife the longest GPL track - look forward to full length Targa Florio and Isle Of Man circuits :yummy:
The best news: the lads have cracked the 7-car limit. The 66 Mod contains all variants of the various cars used in 1966, from the 2L cars, 2.4s, 2.5s and of course the 3 litre beasts with pretty much every works, factory and privateer car
Play an offline season and the cars and drivers swap and change exactly as they did in 1966. Pretty impressive work for a third party mod for a game that was never meant to be modded :up: The tyre model has been improved as well and there are nice little physics tweaks such as improved draft distance and (my favourite) high-speed lift In a 3L car at a huge long track like Monza or Reims you can really feel the front end move around...Also, the track length limit has been broken (a while back, nothing to do with this mod). No longer is the original 1967 Nordschleife the longest GPL track - look forward to full length Targa Florio and Isle Of Man circuits :yummy:
Not much discussion needed there - yes it can US voters would be done a huge favour if the whole country switched to a uniform paper-based voting system (or at least used secure machines that leave verifiable paper records). Right now every state (afaik - and perhaps each district) negotiates its own contracts with voting machine providers, which leaves the system wide open for cronyism and abuse (Florida 2000 anyone?). The purging of voter rolls (usually in conspicuously Democratic districts) is another topic but it ties in very neatly with the machine scam that's been perpetrated on Americans for years now.
I just don't see what's wrong with a paper ballot and a pencil - other than it's unhackable, which obviously is a bad idea if you're a Republican politician or electoral official. They're also dirt cheap and easy to produce which would take many from overt criminals like Diebold. If the US government (and government, not just today's, although they have benefited more from electoral shenanigans than any in living memory) were actually serious about democracy (like they say they were when they cluster-bomb neighbourhoods in order to spread it) they would take meaningful steps to ensure electoral fairness & accountability in all areas of the country, including a national, uniform, verifiable voting system which eliminated, as far as is practical, the kind of basically criminal activity that's been inflicted on Americans since 2000.
And we're back to nasty politics
As if there's another kind anyway.
US voters would be done a huge favour if the whole country switched to a uniform paper-based voting system (or at least used secure machines that leave verifiable paper records). Right now every state (afaik - and perhaps each district) negotiates its own contracts with voting machine providers, which leaves the system wide open for cronyism and abuse (Florida 2000 anyone?). The purging of voter rolls (usually in conspicuously Democratic districts) is another topic but it ties in very neatly with the machine scam that's been perpetrated on Americans for years now.I just don't see what's wrong with a paper ballot and a pencil - other than it's unhackable, which obviously is a bad idea if you're a Republican politician or electoral official. They're also dirt cheap and easy to produce which would take many from overt criminals like Diebold. If the US government (and government, not just today's, although they have benefited more from electoral shenanigans than any in living memory) were actually serious about democracy (like they say they were when they cluster-bomb neighbourhoods in order to spread it) they would take meaningful steps to ensure electoral fairness & accountability in all areas of the country, including a national, uniform, verifiable voting system which eliminated, as far as is practical, the kind of basically criminal activity that's been inflicted on Americans since 2000.
And we're back to nasty politics
As if there's another kind anyway.
Last edited by Hankstar, .
You should know they just released the 1966 season mod over at RSC...best mod ever, hands down :up:
We mostly grow our own weed in Oz, Racer. Importing it is a colossal waste of time and money and besides, it's always more rewarding to consume something you've grown with your own two hands. Support your community - buy local!
Indonesia, New Guinea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Antarctica, Mars doesn't matter where the guns are from. There will always be a black market for everything. But the harsh gun laws we have here are a big disincentive for acquiring illegal weapons. Committing your average 7/11 stickup with a legal weapon is bad enough, you might get a handful of years inside; do the same crime with an assault rifle and it becomes Federal and you get a few more years slapped on you for your firearms offenses.
About that Texas restaurant killer: did he own his guns legally? Did he buy them at home or travel to a state with relaxed gun laws? Did he buy them on the black market? Had he ever been charged with or convicted of firearms offenses or violent crimes before or did he have a history of mental health problems?
The "if only we had our guns on us when that guy went psycho" argument always has to be challenged by asking questions like "where and how did that psycho get his guns and was there any kind of law, restriction or procedure that could have prevented him - or anyone - getting those weapons in the first place?"
Next we should remember that it obviously isn't the gun's fault how it gets used, and ask "what, if anything, could have prevented this guy's meltdown?" A thorough look at his history may be able to spot turning points in his life where he could've been helped, or at least stopped before he went too far. It's far too simplistic to just throw guns at a gun problem. If the problem is lots of people getting shot, I fail to see how adding more guns even begins to address it.
Indonesia, New Guinea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Antarctica, Mars doesn't matter where the guns are from. There will always be a black market for everything. But the harsh gun laws we have here are a big disincentive for acquiring illegal weapons. Committing your average 7/11 stickup with a legal weapon is bad enough, you might get a handful of years inside; do the same crime with an assault rifle and it becomes Federal and you get a few more years slapped on you for your firearms offenses.
About that Texas restaurant killer: did he own his guns legally? Did he buy them at home or travel to a state with relaxed gun laws? Did he buy them on the black market? Had he ever been charged with or convicted of firearms offenses or violent crimes before or did he have a history of mental health problems?
The "if only we had our guns on us when that guy went psycho" argument always has to be challenged by asking questions like "where and how did that psycho get his guns and was there any kind of law, restriction or procedure that could have prevented him - or anyone - getting those weapons in the first place?"
Next we should remember that it obviously isn't the gun's fault how it gets used, and ask "what, if anything, could have prevented this guy's meltdown?" A thorough look at his history may be able to spot turning points in his life where he could've been helped, or at least stopped before he went too far. It's far too simplistic to just throw guns at a gun problem. If the problem is lots of people getting shot, I fail to see how adding more guns even begins to address it.
Bitch Hillary or Barack or Hick-a-bee or McCain out all you want, just know it won't matter who you "elect" to rule you because you're going to get screwed either way. The only difference is whether they look you in the face while screwing you and tell you it's for your own good and will protect you from "turrsts" or promise to end the screwing while they screw you even harder as soon as your back is turned.
I do actually James, it's called vodka.
I'll be back Kev, you'll see ... and with comparitively few brain parasites!
I'll be back Kev, you'll see ... and with comparitively few brain parasites!
Al, I meant Phil Collins as in "Phil Collins' Split From Genesis, Solo Career And Subsequent Domination Of The 1980s Airwaves While Peter Gabriel's Solo Stuff Was Heaps Better" hadn't been invented yet. That should have been obvious.
And there's far too much LOL'ing going on in here. Keep it down, damn punk kids :geezer:
And there's far too much LOL'ing going on in here. Keep it down, damn punk kids :geezer:
I'm not staying, but I will be testing water samples ...
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG