What are the benefits of living in the USA? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

Country Music

Country music was good up until some point in the 70s or 80s when the record companies changed which kind of music they would put out. Classic country was unabashedly rural when rural America was still robust and sweet. It wasn't purely wholesome, but the songs were well-crafted and had a sharpness to them that is entirely missing from the pandering Garth Brooks-ified country of today.

ClemofNazareth wrote:

- no smoking in restaurants, elevators, hotels, busses, cabs, subways, pretty much anyplace other human beings might be inclined to breathe. Most European countries I've been to seem more like the U.S. thirty years ago as far as maturity of public health policies, especially as regards smoking. The UK has this pretty much everywhere.

- elbow room. Maybe not in NYC or LA, but pretty much everywhere else. - UK more 'cozy'

- roads and garages big enough for the cars that use them. - UK, gas prices so high big ass cars deemed impractical (don't think I've ever seen a Hummer (8 mpg))

- being able to drive just about anywhere I want without paying a toll (granted, this is less viable in the Northeast). A lot more toll free roads in the UK than the USA (though I do live in the NE), London is the only city I know that is tolled, none of the major highways are.

- air conditioning. - UK - not needed, its not warm or humid enough to justify the expense

- water (and other drinks) with ice in them at restaurants. See above, US beer is too damn cold, I have to tell them not to give me an iced glass.

- diversity. Other countries may talk a good game but we've been all-in since day one, and have more countries and cultures represented among our citizenship than anywhere else on the planet. Freedom to discriminate against anyone, UK has a pretty diverse population given that all the old colonies have shipped a bunch of people back, and the country is the better for it.

- Fahrenheit, pounds, miles, gallons and acres. Screw being like everyone else. All still used in the UK, and we actually have a proper pint not the wimpy 16oz thing you serve in the USA.

Ian

Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com

https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

Dayvenkirq wrote:

^ Help me out here: how is 16oz or a pint conducive to living in any country?

You've got to have a proper pint Beer

Ian

Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com

https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

Not much worse than having your roots severed.

That key should be burned, god knows what's growing on it.

Yeah the Deadhouse on Ashbury, they also lived on Downey. And of course Airplane's mansion on Fulton. The Haight has changed a lot even just since the 90s. There are big burger joints and ~ heaven help us ~ a few of those cheezy jewelry&watch shops you see in tourist districts; Y'know the ones with two vaguely middle eastern guys who smell like lamb and want to sell you a "Rollex" .

Oy.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy

Ooooh yeah, several mill depending on condition. I've also noticed more bars on windows, though the majority of houses are still unbarred.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy

^ My family has had property in Hesperia since the sixties. It's not far from Joshua Tree.

My sister's in-laws had a weekend house in Mojave and I spent many weekends there as well.

I've liked the desert since I was a kid.

TeleStrat wrote:

^ My family has had property in Hesperia since the sixties. It's not far from Joshua Tree.

My sister's in-laws had a weekend house in Mojave and I spent many weekends there as well.

I've liked the desert since I was a kid.

Liking the hot springs at Deep creek.

If you get the chance you should check it out, near the Bowen ranch

Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

ClemofNazareth wrote:

- water (and other drinks) with ice in them at restaurants. See above, US beer is too damn cold, I have to tell them not to give me an iced glass.

Yup - ale should be served at cellar temperature, which is around 11°C/52°F, which is still pretty cold and just as refreshing so is not quite the "warm beer" we are sometimes accused of. Cold beer numbs the taste buds, which at 3°C/38°F is still not cold enough for me to want to drink lager or lite beer.

However, my issue with having ice in drinks is two fold - one: you get less actual drink and two: when it melts it dilutes the drink. The irony there is if you order a mineral water, the ice is made from tap water so as it melts your expensive Evian or Perrier spring-water that has been filtered through limestone over 5,000 years is gradually being diluted with common or garden tap water that has been treated in a chemical plant after passing through 6 other humans further upstream in the water course...

Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

ClemofNazareth wrote:

- Fahrenheit, pounds, miles, gallons and acres. Screw being like everyone else. All still used in the UK, and we actually have a proper pint not the wimpy 16oz thing you serve in the USA.

The imperial gallon is also 20% more than the US gallon so an 8mpg Hummer would do 9.6 miles on a gallon of go-juice in the UK. Big smile

... the down-side of that of course is a UK gallon would cost $8.32 in the UK compared to $3.00 in the USA. This also means that when you buy a gallon of gas in the USA for $2.50 you're actually getting 20% less fuel than you would in the UK.

The only imperial measure that is used in the USA that isn't used in the UK is "cups" as we have always measured dry ingredients by weight rather than volume.

What?