Absolutely Anything Else

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

What's the American way?   How is "it" different to "another" way?

Some examples:

Google
Apple
Facebook
Twitter
AirBnB
Uber
etc....

All American companies. Good or bad, right or wrong, there is nothing, really, comparable (by scale or scope), company wise, in Europe. Mainly due to EU regulations. ....

These are all high visibility IT sector companies.   There are some very large companies in Europe of course but they are not in the IT sector.   I didn't do a survey on capitalisation or check state ownership but here's some I could name off the cuff:

BP
Unilever
Airbus
Shell
Fiat
Deutsche Telekom

fluffy2560 wrote:

These are all high visibility IT sector companies.

Er... um.... The IT/technology sector is the current main global growth sector. Who, really, cares about buggy whip manufacturers?

fluffy2560 wrote:

There are some very large companies in Europe of course but they are not in the IT sector.   I didn't do a survey on capitalisation or check state ownership but here's some I could name off the cuff:

BP
Unilever
Airbus
Shell
Fiat
Deutsche Telekom

Meh. For each of those, there is an American counterpart.

BP/Shell - ExxonMobile
Airbus - Boeing
Fiat - Ford
Deutsche Telekom - Verizon/AT&T
Unilever - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c … ted_States

FWIIW, all great European Companies. But, there is everything "old" here, and not much "new" in Old World businesses.  That was kind of my point....

One of the exceptions is Bayer. A European bio-technology company that I think "gets it". And how odd, and ironic, that many of their products are not even available in the EU, due to EU regulations....

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

These are all high visibility IT sector companies.

Er... um.... The IT/technology sector is the current main global growth sector. Who, really, cares about buggy whip manufacturers?

Eh?  I wouldn't call Airbus a buggy whip manufacturer.  Nor Deutsche Telekom or Fiat.

klsallee wrote:

Meh. For each of those, there is an American counterpart.

Yes maybe, and that's true of everything anywhere.  We could have a p***ing contest about it but I think there's just stuff flying about from all directions.  Who could have predicted Pokemon-Go or Angry Birds (neither USA companies) would have any value whatsoever!

The only person I think (currently) has a chance of becoming the Brunel of our times is Elon Musk who surprisingly comes from South Africa, effectively a 2nd world country.

klsallee wrote:

FWIIW, all great European Companies. But, there is everything "old" here, and not much "new" in Old World businesses.  That was kind of my point....

Well, you're talking about innovation.  There are plenty of historically innovative technology companies in Europe - the semi-defunct Nokia (inventor of GSM mobile), ARM Holdings (I used to work there), SES Astra, etc etc.

klsallee wrote:

One of the exceptions is Bayer. A European bio-technology company that I think "gets it". And how odd, and ironic, that many of their products are not even available in the EU, due to EU regulations....

Actually that's really an old company - all based on that ancient cure - Aspirin!

fluffy2560 wrote:

Eh?  I wouldn't call Airbus a buggy whip manufacturer.  Nor Deutsche Telekom or Fiat.

Sighs.... I separated out my comments to be generic and then specific. That comment on the generic came before replying to the specific. A clear, I assumed to anyone, rhetorical differences. But to make sure, I even, after your list, to highlight that fact, did say such like Airbus were all great companies.

And I am not one to call a buggy whip manufacturer a "great company".

I trust you understand it now.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Who could have predicted Pokemon-Go or Angry Birds (neither USA companies) would have any value whatsoever!

Anyone who understands "pop" culture could have predicted such things would be popular.

fluffy2560 wrote:

The only person I think (currently) has a chance of becoming the Brunel of our times is Elon Musk who surprisingly comes from South Africa, effectively a 2nd world country.

But moved to the USA and became a USA citizen because SA could not provide the culture he needed to succeed, being who he is. After all, this is a topic about what is the "American Way". So origins of individuals is not really relevant. It is where they can succeed. And the "American Way" does, it seem, offer a better, modern, model for such success.

luffy2560 wrote:

Well, you're talking about innovation.  There are plenty of historically innovative technology companies in Europe - the semi-defunct Nokia (inventor of GSM mobile), ARM Holdings (I used to work there), SES Astra, etc etc.

The operative word here is "historically". Sure that is nice history. But in the past. What is old. I am talking about the now and the future.

Quite frankly, IMHO, far too much of Europe is over concerned about the past.

Not that history is not important (it is very, very important), but the focus is wrong (IMHO).

luffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

One of the exceptions is Bayer. A European bio-technology company that I think "gets it". And how odd, and ironic, that many of their products are not even available in the EU, due to EU regulations....

Actually that's really an old company - all based on that ancient cure - Aspirin!

Interesting history of Bayer. But, again, historical, and misses my point.

I mentioned Bayer only because they have adapted and stayed agile for the modern world. So they have survived now are growing and prospering. That was my point. Not every company has been so agile.

And Bayer is merging with Monsanto (an American company -- actually Bayer if buying Monsanto). If you love or hate Monsanto is not my point, but the fact that Bayer "gets it" to buying such an American (essentially an ag-biotech) company shows that Bayer "gets it" regarding the "American Way" (i.e. technology and innovation).

No, I am not trying to have a p****** contest. Just answering your question what is the "American way and how it differs from any other way".

So in short, the "American Way" is believing in a meritocracy. In theory, your success is based on personal merit. Not "who you know" (which is, in contrast, an all too common a limiting factor in Europe). For example, often to get much done easily in Hungary of any significance, you have to "know a guy". That really does get tiring after a while.

One thing which is still true in the US is "knowing a guy" to be able to get in a good casino as a worker.
Sometimes you have to actually pay under the table to land a good job.
I confess, I did that with my  second casino gaming job, was well worth it too. Made back my investment in the first week. Never had to go the hard route of working downtown with super low life players.
I first worked for 3 days at a "break-in" casino, was so horrible I decided to pay for a job to save myself the pain. The beginners style casino had allot of abuse going on, the floor man swore at all his dealers, what a jerk, I quit the next day after one of his rants at all of us.
Vegas is corp. now days but here and there a few "old boys" from the day hold high power posts and do tell HR who to hire.
I opened a brand new casino in Vegas, was lucky enough to be put on day crew without having to deal any game other then blackjack.
We had to audition on several games to get hired after several personal interviews with the managers.I told them I felt weak on a few of the games they offered, roulette for one, too many really good and fast dealers compared to me. They let me go super slow and deal a easy breezy game to qualify with HR for hire. Once hired, I never had to deal with that game, if they like you they work with you.
Worked with a lovely lady from Turkey who was so good at dealing that game it was embarrassing to relieve her for a break.
She had some wild stories about dealing in Turkey, scary stuff really.
If you have the personality, style or look they want and know a guy, it usually works out that you get hired.
It's all about image  and not always about what one knows.
My gaming instructor had been a dealer in London during the 1960's. All about image, she worked in evening dresses and high heels only to deal to one "Whale" high roller a night.
Learned allot from her about attitude at work. Cool as a cucumber and no emotion on the table.
These days of course I wouldn't even try as Vegas only hires young people unless you know someone higher up then just a guy.
We had a 84 year old women working as a dealer in one casino, wonder how high up her juice was.
Of course Vegas is not main stream USA.

From: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 99#3522262

Jennifer_BudaVar1014 wrote:

Why the Europeans are letting in all these unsafoury characters is beyond me, you just dont open your borders and let anyone in in masses.

I am sure everyone else on the planet (such as native Americans, Africans, Asians) felt this exact same way during European immigration, expansion, empire building and colonialism. Made the mistake of first being welcoming.

But of course, when Europeans did this, with European immigrants then showing up and claiming they now owned, for example, the African's land, that was "okay"... for the Europeans. And of course, the European immigrants showed up waving a flag and pointing a gun, both of which made it extra "okay". And when massacring the natives was all just part of the process.

Was not right then. And with the shoe now on the other foot, it is still not right.

But.... like the saying goes, karma is a b****.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Of course Vegas is not main stream USA.

What do you make of that "Pawn Stars" show? I can't work out whether it's a sitcom or genuine staff working in a pawn shop.  In either case, I'm sure it's a long way from reality.

fidobsa wrote:

In either case, I'm sure it's a long way from reality.

"Reality" TV is actually scripted to some degree.

http://www.today.com/popculture/just-ho … 2D80554998

I have driven past that Pawn Stars shop many times.
Never noticed a line waiting to get in.
My bro went inside when he was visiting town.
It is a normal pawn shop but when they are filming, there has to be a script.
I sort of doubt the owners and Pawn Stars themselves are actually working a 9 to 5 shift these days.
Vegas is full of pawn shops.
When my husband was driving a taxi in Vegas years ago( tons of tales with that job!)
He often took people to pawn shops to sell items . He waited while they got their money and then dropped them off at different casinos.
Louis Vuitton suitcases and other large bags were often what people pawned.
Sometimes he drove people to pawn shops to pick up their pawned items  butmostly it was only to drop off for gambling debts.
I used to have a older Asian man playing my blackjack table everyday and I mean everyday that I worked.
I am not joking, some people spent more time in the casino then I did as a employee! They were there when I started work and they were still there when I left at night.
Anyways, I once got a tiny bit personal with my older daily player and asked how he could afford to keep playing and losing everyday.
He said in the 1960's he bought up lots of land all over Vegas. When he got on a losing streak, he would sell off a few lots of land.
What a waste! Guess it's true, the losers are paying for all those lights.
Had another daily player on my baccarat table. A beautiful Chinese lady, she often came in with her equally pretty sister and brother. Always they were perfectly groomed in high style. Their father it seems owned a shop and supported them in high style. The ladies wore designer clothing and the bro a perfectly fitting suit to gamble in.
One day she came in alone to play, she was the only one at my table. She was losing like "normal" and out of the blue started to cry and called me by name, saying please let me win. Right..
Seems she had just lost over $50,000 at another casino and was trying to make back her winnings.
Wonder if she had to sell off some of her items at a pawn store before letting her dad know about her big daily loss.
Hard to feel sorry for losers who think nothing of throwing away so much on so little, $50,000?
Too bad for her that she didn't lose that $50,000 at our casino, she may of been given a free lunch or pizza.
Of course that was just her daily loss, wonder how much per years some of these people lose?Sort of makes one crazy to think about so as a pro dealer we usually don't think of money as money, one reason cash is  converted into checks( chips) so people do not realize they are actually throwing away cash money.
Walk outside a casino and see a few homeless people, wonder if they were high rollers at one time too?

Back to Vegas stories.
It has been over a decade since I have actually stood behind a table( Thank God!)
Pawn Stars is real and not real at the same time.That's show business and Vegas. They I imagine they close down the shop for real business during film days otherwise it is a normal small business. When my bro went into that shop the owners were no where to be seen.
One of my crazy Vegas friends was one of the first female games dealers in town. Back sometime in the 1960's.
She said working for the "old boys" was a ton better then these days of corp. ownership of the casinos and all the regulations.
In the day, workers knew if they didn't follow the "code" they may wind up in the desert 6 feet under.
Everyone was making money but no one dared cheat the casinos. no need for  corp. regulations they took care of cheaters themselves.
One story I heard from a old crusty craps instructor was how dealers used to be allowed to drink alcohol on the breaks. As breaks were every 40 mins in the old day for 20 mins.time people were flying high.
One casino he had worked at downtown in the 60's had a dealer who got so drunk on his break that when he came back from break he tapped out a dealer at the wrong casino!

Just heard the sad news about the bus crash in Italy with the school kids from HUngary aboard the bus.
Heartfelt sorrow.
I have no words really, just so tragic and such a waste of young life.

Really sad to die in those circumstances.

I am in pain just thinking of those kids in the hospital and the families of those lost.
They sent their loved children off for a good time and the worst nightmare any parent could face happened.
I have cried and said a prayer but what else can we do?
I do not wish to make the negative vibes any stronger but I also wish to take on any pain I can to relieve the pain of these parents and children.
I wish we could all hug every last one of them.
Sad day indeed.

No-one has posted here in a while so I'm just thinking of stirring it up by wondering (and this isn't really political, it's about entertainment so permissible) if anyone had noticed an upswing in good comedy and satire since The Donald was elected?  Links?

BTW, my American colleagues purport to be anti-Donald but since I know they are Republicans,  I suspect they MUST Be closet Trumpists.   What is the term for Trump supporters? Trumpettes? Trumpeteers?

I vote Trumpeteers. Sounds like it makes a lot of noise but accomplishes little, and the users have to blow real hard...Blowhards?
Other terms for Trump supporters would be moderated for language in these forums.

Most of the good Trump / recent political comedy I've seen is from SNL.

Vicces1 wrote:

I vote Trumpeteers. Sounds like it makes a lot of noise but accomplishes little, and the users have to blow real hard...Blowhards?
Other terms for Trump supporters would be moderated for language in these forums.

Most of the good Trump / recent political comedy I've seen is from SNL.

Yes, sounds good.  Blowhards, now there's a thought.

Anything more say, European than SNL?

I haven't found anything yet, but that's more because I'm trying to avoid the whole political discussion.  But I'll look around and let you know. I need a hobby this weekend!

I would call them Trumptards, identifiable by the hair on the palms of their hands. He certainly provides plenty of material for comedians on shows such as the News Quiz on BBC Radio 4.

On the BBC, "Have I Got News for You" is another I regularly turn to...  But I am not sure when it starts up again.

fidobsa wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Of course Vegas is not main stream USA.

What do you make of that "Pawn Stars" show? I can't work out whether it's a sitcom or genuine staff working in a pawn shop.  In either case, I'm sure it's a long way from reality.

I

How's this? https://youtu.be/DyX_WPSPqyI

Trump is British slang for a discharge of gas from the anus, something that hasn't escaped the UK's comedians.

Regardless of your feelings about the man on a serious level, the serious news shows love him as he's a very nice creator of stories, the satire news shows love him because he's easy to take the mick out of, and the comedians love him because his name and hair are equally easy to parody.
Lawyers are equally in love as they're making a small fortune out of all the high profile cases and taking him to court is a great photo opp and fantastic advertising for their law firms.

Basically, except for the threat of him starting a nuclear war with China, there isn't a downside to this guy.
Also - we have never seen such a sexy first lady .. or all of such a sexy first lady before.
Did you guys see her very nice breasts? A few isolated tribesmen in Africa and south America are the only people who missed out on those.
Mel Trump has made soft porn great again.

This son of two immigrants and his immigrant wife are great anti immigration models, making sure American never gets undesirable immigrants .... errrr

I have totally failed to listen to the UK's satire shows for a while but I'm going the the BBC site right now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcastshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/genre/comedy

Found another show.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAkp1sPndFs

I have just fully understood the phrase, "orange is the new black".

Fred wrote:

Trump is British slang for a discharge of gas from the anus, something that hasn't escaped the UK's comedians.

Nice one.

it's also a slang name for the game of Whist if I remember correctly (ok, Trumps, not Trump but could refer to group of them) and there was also the Top Trumps kids card collecting game.

Fred wrote:

Basically, except for the threat of him starting a nuclear war with China, there isn't a downside to this guy.

Actually he's just confirmed his one China commitment so he's kissing up to both the Chinese premier (forgotten his name) and Putin (along with Orban). 

The Economist has had some great front covers of late (kiss on Putin with a lipsticked Trump opposite) and super one on the front of Der Spiegel of Trumps decapitation of the Statue of Liberty.   Google them!  I am really amazed how clever some of these media punches are.

I'm considering at the moment if we'll see new words in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) for 2017 (or just Newspeak - 1984 has rocketed up in sales again):

Trumpism - saying something factually incorrect
Trumptastic - something that isn't great
KAC -  double meaning of the similar word kack or cack.  Weird how that sounds the same as Kelly Anne Conway's initials.
Ivanka - meaning to big up some tat  as in "I ivanka'd some stupid designer shoes and they are kac-like"

I reckon we are going to have a short period where the word Trump is going to mean any stupid thing and then this will just go down and be remembered for generations.

My disclaimer:  this not about politics in this thread, it's about celebrity gossip/entertainment.

Vicces1 wrote:

On the BBC, "Have I Got News for You" is another I regularly turn to...  But I am not sure when it starts up again.

Even better is "Mock The Week".  Covers all the news during the week. 

Unfortunately  all on holiday/break at the moment.

It's all mind control, setting everyone up against each other while they pull our strings from behind the curtain.
That's about as "political" as I will get.
Never trust the gov. was our motto in the 1960's, things really haven't changed in the past 50 years... same old carrot and stick routine.

I personally have not watched SNL since , can't even remember when , maybe stopped in the early 80s'. Got boring and just silly.
I have only voted in US elections twice, my husband talked me into voting so we went in together to vote, always voted Independent , they never win however...
I do hope Trump is a good president because it would be just foolish to wish that he fails, like burning down your own home.
My parents and their family never voted from what I know. Of course my mom's family on her mom's side was not allowed to vote until 1924. Native Americans didn't get the right in their own country until 1924 and some states such as Utah gave the right in 1956, New Mexico it was 1962.
The world is not a fair place, never has been so learning to live below the radar and just being happy to get by should be good enough for most of us.
We can't all be super stars or mega wealthy.
Most wealthy people I have known were not happy, always double guessing if people were using them etc.
I do know that under Obama many people in Las Vegas were not secure in their jobs. At least in the casino industry, people only were given part-time hours a few days a week, had to have at least 2 jobs to pay the bills. Often the job would let people go before 120 days employment so as to not have to offer them any health coverage. Then that Obama care would tax people if that didn't have some sort of health insurance coverage which they had a hard time paying with those silly part-time jobs.
How can people honestly go on with their lives, get married, have children if they aren't sure they will have a job the next week or not.
Let's hope Trump even does half of what he said he would do.
In any case, I am living outside of the US and not going home until I see things change for the better.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Anything more say, European than SNL?

With some European countries having laws against insulting heads of state, maybe not:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/worl … ?ref=world

fluffy2560 wrote:

1984 has rocketed up in sales again

And the Sinclair Lewis book It Can't Happen Here, sales have also increased. It is less well know, but worth a read.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

1984 has rocketed up in sales again

And the Sinclair Lewis book It Can't Happen Here, sales have also increased. It is less well know, but worth a read.

Nice one for the dystopian novel list.  I was vaguely amazed to read that Wikipedia description:

"Inspired by the book, director–producer Kenneth Johnson wrote an adaptation titled Storm Warnings in 1982. The script was presented to NBC for production as a television miniseries, but NBC executives rejected the initial version, claiming it was too cerebral for the average American viewer. To make the script more marketable, the American fascists were re-cast as man-eating extraterrestrials, taking the story into the realm of science fiction. The revised story became the miniseries V, which premiered May 3, 1983.

I rather liked the series V.  I could never have linked that to other showbiz celebrities like Trump.  I immediately thought that ....anything is too cerebral for a Trumpeteer....

The cultivated carrot is believed to originate from Afghanistan before the 900s, as this area is described as the primary centre of greatest carrot diversity (Mackevic 1929), Turkey being proposed as a secondary centre of origin (Banga 1963). The first cultivated carrots exhibited purple or yellow roots. Carrot cultivation spread to Spain in the 1100s via the Middle East and North Africa. In Europe, genetic improvement led to a wide variety of cultivars. White and orange-coloured carrots were first described in Western Europe in the early 1600s (Banga 1963). Concomitantly, the Asiatic carrot was developed from the Afghan type and a red type appeared in China and India around the 1700s (Laufer 1919; Shinohara 1984). According to this history, it makes sense to envisage that colour should be considered as a structural factor in carrot germplasm.

That little history lesson being explained, something orange went from Afghanistan to America and became popular. Ner, mummy and daddy were immigrants from other countries and that particular carrot isn't actually popular.

Fred wrote:

...That little history lesson being explained, something orange went from Afghanistan to America and became popular. Ner, mummy and daddy were immigrants from other countries and that particular carrot isn't actually popular.

I have slightly irrelevant contributions  to that posting:

Carrot Mania in Australia

In Serbia, carrots are also known as Sárgarépa.  I was surprised to see that on a label on the supermarket.   Export of Hungarian (maybe) to other lands.

Posts are so subtle.
Slovenia as far as I know exports porn stars but not carrots.

Fred wrote:

Posts are so subtle.
Slovenia as far as I know exports porn stars but not carrots.

Oh, I got the message. I was just expanding it by idling adding irrelevancies  in the carrot theme.

Well, yes indeed, Slovenia exports much - washing machines for one thing (Gorenje brand) but not only "escorts", also speech plagarists.  People can be many things.

I suppose we could claim and it's  a total stretch that Melania is a "local girl made good" although I doubt even HU nationalists would claim that Slovenia is historically part of Hungary.   Also doubt anyone from the UK would want to embarrass themselves through "claiming" ownership of Trump's Scottish heritage.

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

I'm told quite a bit of thrusting went on but that could just be a rumour.

Fred wrote:

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

I'm told quite a bit of thrusting went on but that could just be a rumour.

I suppose being 70+ and having sufficient thrust is quite an achievement in itself.   

Look at Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones. Still rockin'.

Mick Jagger, now that's a topic I know allot about...
Still a bit jealous of my deceased older sister, she had a big wet one placed on her smacker in 1966 by old Mick himself...
One of her claims to fame... The old groupie!!
She said it was ,"wet, sloppy and smelled of booze"  still...