[Zipperfish]

Ramsey wrote:

Also, the tragedy of Canada is they could have had British culture, French cooking, and American technology, but instead they got American culture, British cooking, and French technology.

Apologize!!!!

[Geryon]

Like I said I think the reaction was overblown, it pissed me off but I didn't join any Facebook groups of anything, not that I would have anyway since I hate Facebook and it is almost nothing but overreactions. I just thought you were misreading why people were annoyed, but it seems as though either people were annoyed for an entirely different reason than myself or that I misread what you said.

In either case

Ramsey wrote:

Also, the tragedy of Canada is they could have had British culture, French cooking, and American technology, but instead they got American culture, British cooking, and French technology.

that is just hilarious, even if I am a freak and like British cooking, well... to a degree anyway.

[Zipperfish]

Geryon wrote:

Like I said I think the reaction was overblown, it pissed me off but I didn't join any Facebook groups of anything, not that I would have anyway since I hate Facebook and it is almost nothing but overreactions.

I'd like to say "we" overreacted, "we" being generic Candians, but I have to admit "I" over-reacted. Who knows why. The fact that it was the much-hated FOX News probably figured into it. The fact that our soldiers prob'ly wouldn't even be there if weren't for the US, maybe.

Who knows.

[Zipperfish]

Pseudonym wrote:

Zipperfish wrote:

I don't think most Americans have the enough global awareness to be thin-skinned. I don't think they even realize when they are being parodied.

Are you serious? All we hear, day after day, is how much the rest of the world despises us and what we stand for. Imperialist power, greedy capitalist pigs, uncaring, unfeeling, racist, violent, dumb, rubes, cowboys, inconsiderate fools!
We don't give a damn what anyone thinks because no one says anything worth listening to anymore. America jumps in Europe and saves everyone's collective asses, pays to rebuild everything, gives up power, protects the world, and all we get for it is SHIT! We donate money and give foreign aid all over the place, and those same countries spit on us and burn our flag. We carry the world economy on our backs, and get blamed whenever the smallest thing goes wrong. I AM TIRED OF IT. Suck it up. We take more garbage from the rest of the world in a given day than anyone else gets ever. If we didn't have thick-skins, the world would be a smoking pile of rubble, so turn off all this damn condescending nonsense.

*twitches*

Sorry, that's been building up for a while.
America gets a lot of crap.
We don't deserve it.
Sorry about that Fox guy making a dumb joke at 3 AM.

Yeah, it was condescending. I was angry. My apologies.

[Pseudonym]

I was too. I know that many people do objectively appreciate America's contributions to the world, but you don't hear that much from the media in the States. It can wear thin. Canada doesn't seem to get much of a fair shake either, but what can you do?

[Amilam]

Ha! Respect Ramsey


Trust me, I hear what you're saying Geryon. Belittling an ally in time of war and great need is callous and unproductive to say the least. It's exactly the canard that Fox News is often using to complain about Liberals or the rest of the world. However, it obviously set off national sensitivities.

As someone living overseas every time nationalism gets brought into play I've heard the endless linty of why Canada is superior to America. Conversely I've seen countless Americans repeat the old rant about WWII. My point is simply if you're so sure your side (impersonal "you" directed at Americans and Canadians) is better than display that confidence by shrugging it off.

[Bodah]

Zipperfish wrote:

Pseudonym wrote:

Zipperfish wrote:

I don't think most Americans have the enough global awareness to be thin-skinned. I don't think they even realize when they are being parodied.

Are you serious? All we hear, day after day, is how much the rest of the world despises us and what we stand for. Imperialist power, greedy capitalist pigs, uncaring, unfeeling, racist, violent, dumb, rubes, cowboys, inconsiderate fools!
We don't give a damn what anyone thinks because no one says anything worth listening to anymore. America jumps in Europe and saves everyone's collective asses, pays to rebuild everything, gives up power, protects the world, and all we get for it is SHIT! We donate money and give foreign aid all over the place, and those same countries spit on us and burn our flag. We carry the world economy on our backs, and get blamed whenever the smallest thing goes wrong. I AM TIRED OF IT. Suck it up. We take more garbage from the rest of the world in a given day than anyone else gets ever. If we didn't have thick-skins, the world would be a smoking pile of rubble, so turn off all this damn condescending nonsense.

*twitches*

Sorry, that's been building up for a while.
America gets a lot of crap.
We don't deserve it.
Sorry about that Fox guy making a dumb joke at 3 AM.

Yeah, it was condescending. I was angry. My apologies.

Kudos to both of you.

[commanderkai]

fifeboy wrote:

I didn't write that.

Technically you didn't really write anything. You copied and pasted.

commanderkai wrote:

Like you said, NOT KNOWING is quite an excuse. For more information, see http://www.apa.org/monitor/mar05/math.html

Remember, you were the one who brought this up. Ya can't say

Quote:

I found the US education far superior. I know for a fact they were ahead at least a year in math...

and then get huffy when presented with stats.

Wow, somebody misunderstood my post. I said from MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Meaning that when I moved from Canada to the US between grade 2 and 3, the US system was ahead, when I moved back to Canada, Canada was behind, and when I moved back to the US, Canada was still behind.

Once again, this was my personal experience. I'm not getting huffy and puffy, you are.

Also, the link you showed states nothing about which schools in what districts the test took place. This applies even to the Canadian statistics because statistics can be skewed easily, depending on WHERE you took those tests. An inner city NYC or LA probably will not hit the same standards as Richmond Hills in Toronto. I'm not sure why this is so complex to understand.

Anybody can gather statistics on anything, and then twist the results around to get anything you want. If I gathered all the statistical information on the political biases of the members of this site, I can easily make this site seem more left or right wing, all depending on the sample. If I gathered my data from a sample consisting of Streaker, OPP, Derby, and Rev Blair, this site will seem almost Marxist. If I gathered it just from ridenrain, Bart Simpson, myself, Psuedo, and whoever else, I can make this place seem to be more right than Rush Limbaugh.

[jedizero]

If I may?

America is one of the larger countries in the world. And whereas Canada is a *very* large Country, alot of it is also un-inhabitable. The reason the 'statistics' seem so heavily skewed against America, is because there are so many people *in* it. Say you ask 2 people if they like pizza. One person says yes. The other says no. Since you have only asked 2 people. You can say in your polls, 1/2 people love pizza. America has a crapton more people than Canada. Therefore there will obviously be more people with lower grades. If Canada had the exact same number of students, then I'm sure they'd be about the same rank. If this was a few select schools, then again, these are a few select schools, and not a show of America as a whole.

There are, as it is said. Three kinds of lies. Lies, Damn lies, and Statistics. They can be made to say *ANYTHING*.

Come on guys, Can't we just get along? Give peace a chance and all that crap?

[Amilam]

Let's settle this once and for all with an old fashioned math off!

[Geryon]

Amilam wrote:

Let's settle this once and for all with an old fashioned math off!

Awww crap I'm a Classics Major....

[Amilam]

Geryon wrote:

Awww crap I'm a Classics Major....

You should have thought of that Sir before you alllowed your fellow countryman to besmirch the honor of our 15 year olds standarized mathmatical aptitude!

I'll see you with sharpened number 2 pencils at dawn!

[Zipperfish]

I think that the substandard quality of the American education system is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that no American has ever invented anything of importance.



(Smilies courtesy of Oscar)

[fifeboy]

commanderkai wrote:

fifeboy wrote:

I didn't write that.

Technically you didn't really write anything. You copied and pasted.

Technically, I still didn't write that, as it was you who wrote it I made no claim to have written the other part as I gave a reference.

[Psudo]

Lemmy wrote:

I was in Florida recently, and I heard two things on American TV that really made me scratch my head: 1) When reporting on the plane that crashed into the Hudson River in New York, the media blamed the incident on "Canadian Geese", not "Canada geese", but Canadian. The media literally played this incident up as a Canadian conspiracy to kill American airline passengers. Did they think the geese were holding Canadian passports and were just visiting the Big Apple on vacation? American birds would never attempt such a dangerous activity as to fly around airports. 2) A cold weather blast rolled in and the American media blamed the weather on Canadians, like we intentionally blew cold, arctic air into the southern states purposely to fuck-up their beach weather.

I am in awe of your satire.

Zipperfish wrote:

But there schools are nothing like ours. Completely different animals. The focus there is on punctuality, attendance and sports. Martial types of things.

I agree. But, then, I readily despise the US public education system. In difference to Cmdr. Kai, though, I don't have a foreign experience to compare it to. I agree with pretty much everything you've said in the later posts about US education, too. However--I don't know how typical this was--in my high school everyone who was at least nearly average took Honors courses. Smart kids took college-level Advanced Placement courses.

Zipperfish wrote:

Americans see themselves as peaceful, but their history, culture and education system belie this. My conclusion anyways.

I really don't think Americans consider themselves peaceful so much as freedom-pursuing. We do have that Quaker/Amish tradition of pacifism, but it's not mainstream. To use myself as an example (though I don't know how typical of one), I never really consider the question in terms of "to fight or not to fight", but in terms of what is being fought for vs. the costs. Rather than martial, I see that as something akin to fiscal.

Pseudonym wrote:

You call them Canada geese, and not Canadian Geese?

It's not France bread, it's French bread. It's not Belgium waffles, it's Belgian waffles. It's not the Britain Isles, it's the British Isles. It's not America bison, it's American bison. So why would it be Canada geese instead of Canadian geese? "Cause we said so." is an insufficient rebuttal, regardless of who claims the title of "we".

Zipperfish wrote:

maybe they resent stuff like changing the name of French Fries to Freedom Fires

I have to admit, that was stupid and pointless. I never once called them freedom fries, even ironically.

Ramsey wrote:

Also, the tragedy of Canada is they could have had British culture, French cooking, and American technology, but instead they got American culture, British cooking, and French technology.

... minus the nuclear power plants. Love that joke! Classic.

Amilam wrote:

Let's settle this once and for all with an old fashioned math off!

Get your MathML-enabled browsers ready! The competition starts in...
√25
16³/32²
3!/2
log 100
(x+1)(x-1)/(x²-1)
NOW!