No concept lies more firmly embedded in our national character than the notion that the USA is "No. 1," "the greatest." Our broadcast media are, in essence, continuous advertisements for the brand name "America Is No. 1." Any office seeker saying otherwise would be committing political suicide. In fact, anyone saying otherwise will be labeled "un-American." We're an "empire," ain't we? Sure we are. An empire without a manufacturing base. An empire that must borrow $2 billion a day from its competitors in order to function. Yet the delusion is ineradicable. We're No. 1. Well...this is the country you really live in:
[link]
(Has a big-ass list of ways in which we're far from #1)
"Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s.... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream, p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other industrialized country, and get less vacation time.
eta:
The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. [was]...37th." In the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80). Pay more, get lots, lots less.
[link]
A field ion microscope (FIM) image of a very sharp tungsten needle. The small round features are individual atoms.
Looks sorta like berry pie. Mmmm.... pie.
Did I scare everyong (except tommy) away? The link in my last post is really quite harmless.
ION, HMOG is it a nice day! Currently 71F with low humidity and forecast to drop into the
50s
tonight. And it's supposed to keep going this way for the forseeable future (if you trust extended forecasts). If this is the August we get as a result, I'll take the 2 1/2 days of inferno weather to kick it off. Without a doubt the strangest spring/summer I've even experienced.
Suddenly, I'm a little frightened about what autumn has in store.
Did I scare everyong (except tommy) away? The link in my last post is really quite harmless.
Yeah, it was very disappointing. I mean, it was good.
ION, how do good spellers remember how to spell 'disappointing'? I always wanna type 'dissapointing' or 'dissappointing.'
edit to add more bad spelling goodness.
ION, how do good spellers remember how to spell 'disappointing'?
We just...do? You remember the
pp
because of the
appoint
root, and you remember the
dis
because
diss
isn't a prefix.
Star Trek inspirational posters
Diplomacy is definitely my favorite poster. OMG funny.
I think Billmon has the perfect mixture of cynicism and "wait until the facts are in" attitude on the UK terror plot thing
[link]
Both Farscape and Angel say that the cavemen win.
But on Angel the caveman was a metaphor for Illyria, which would apparently win just about any fight that it saw coming.
If astronauts are like the pilots I've known, they would have a bottle of flammably-high proof alcohol handy and thus be able to win the fight by blinding the caveman and then setting him alight.
A field ion microscope (FIM) image of a very sharp tungsten needle. The small round features are individual atoms.
Holy crap! We can actually take pictures of individual atoms now? That's effin' cool.
