Shameless....it'd be nice to at least have a 'smiley' on such a comment...

OK?....

34,000 square Kms

That's not even 5% of the land area of Texas... Guess the Aussies are better than exaggeration than Texans, though... and that is an accomplishment.

Maybe I'll start smiling when you start backing off of the Anti-American remarks.

Maybe you need to chill a little....

Maybe I do.

But this is the second time in the past few days that I've seen you making claims about Aussies vs Americans that turned out not to be accurate, and this after I don't know how many other sly digs and outright slurs upon the character, culture, intelligence, etc of "merkins" (your term in at least one post for Americans). And, by the way, I do know what a merkin is.

I have the greatest respect for your knowledge and work ethic, Jafo. No one works harder than you do from what I have seen here. But it really does get tiring reading your repeated aspersions toward Americans on these boards. Yet you and others don't hesitate to remonstrate with people regarding intolerance of other cultures. Good natured digs are one thing, but over time they wear thin.

The funny part is, to me at least, I've been to your country several times, and had nothing but good experiences. Training with the Australian Paratroopers is still one of the fondest memories of my military service. They were a terrific bunch, almost as crazy as we were. And there was a great deal of ribbing back and forth, but it wasn't a constant theme.

So maybe I do need to chill... but perhaps I'm not the only one.

Well...while you're out there chillin'...just remember I have never called an American a 'merkin'....not once...and I have no idea what one might be.

I do call them 'Merrycans' in as much the same way as Aussies are often referred to as 'Arsees' as in 'arse' as there appears to be a pathological inability to pronounce 'Aussie' as in 'Oz' a-la 'The Wizard of Oz'.

Australians tend to be as lazy as they can get away with and will often abbreviate even simple words to something more ridiculous so 'Yanks' is just the one syllable way of saying the four syllable 'Ah mair ric kans'....and why we are 'Aussies' or 'strail-yans' because we're halving syllables yet again.

Most of what you find offensive is not that at all, and when an attempt to be 'US-friendly' with vocabulary you get your knickers in a twist yet again.

BTW....the rhyming slang for 'Yank' [probably stemming from embitterment during US shore-leave in WW2 in Australia [over paid, over sexed and over here]] is 'septic' as in 'septic tank' - 'Yank'....oh. and 'Yank' comes from around the same period 'I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy'.

 

As for Texas and cattle Stations...the anecdote dates back many years....20 or 30, so it may get a bit hazy and that link may not be the correct target, anyway....

 

Anythin' else ya wanna know 'bout Are-sea lingo?....

 

Just exactly how is it putting down the US to say that there is more land someowhere versus somewhere else?

By the way. Bill Clinton added a 50 cents per gallon tax when he was in office. Bush had nothing to do with it.

In a way, Jafo kinda reminds me of a Texan. Yeah, we may tend to brag a little about where we are from. But what can I say? We're proud of it.
And we have a self-deprecating style of humor and a sharp wit.

Jafo, I'm making you an honorary Texan!

Thanks, pictoratus ...apparently Are-seas and Tech-sans have a lot in common....

I had to jump in here although I try to avoid the politics. There is enough oil in Alaska to sustain us Americans infinitely, yet it is being exported while all that is sold here is imported. I say (and have always said) that if we would use our resources for ourselves we would be much better off.

Jafo, Alaska is the only part of the US that is comparable to "Oz". The state itself is the greatest resource in the US.

Thank you all, these are my humble opinions............

The most annoying thing about gas prices in England is that, for every £10 of gas you put in your tank, something like £9:50 goes to the government in tax. That is just scandalous in reality. Our government always hits the easy targets with tax, like motorists. We also pay "Road Tax", which is supposed to be used for the upkeep of the highways, but the roads here are a joke, the roads in my area can destroy a car in 9 months.

We also get hit with hundreds of other stealth taxes too. that old saying is so true in this country........."The rich get richer as the poor get poorer".

By the way. Bill Clinton added a 50 cents per gallon tax when he was in office. Bush had nothing to do with it.

Federal excise tax on gasoline is about 19¢ per gallon state tax averages about 23¢ per gallon in California there is an additional 7.5% sales tax.
The tax increase while Clinton was in office was .05¢. 

 

There is enough oil in Alaska to sustain us Americans infinitely, yet it is being exported while all that is sold here is imported.

Alaska exported 8.5% of it's oil in 1999, I doubt that has increased to 100% in the last 5 years. We import about 54% of our oil.

 

Economic woes in Venezuela are impacting US imports more than problems in the Middle East. US imports from Venezuela were down 19% in 2003, and Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, and Saudi Arabia are the US's main suppliers, at about 15% each. (That's % of imports, not useage.)

 

the true price of gasoline has fallen more than 40% from its inflation-adjusted price of $2.77 per gallon in 1981.

/me is trying to think of something good that the "Are-seas" and "Tech-sans" don't have.... can't come up with something... but hey atleast we need to build dams arround our holland to keep the water out...

http://www.users.bigpond.com/rorycotter/page2.html hehe

The increase in price at the pomp is Worlwide, not just US, and is due to the increased price of the unrefined barrel. The justification for the increased price of the barrel is attributed to the current instability in Irak.

http://energy.er.usgs.gov/products/papers/World_oil/oil/ World of Petroleum. Big US Oil needs to spend their monies and use their technology in Russia to develop this resource. It would reduce the world''s reliance on oil from unstable regions like the Middle East and Venezuela and pump much needed money into Russia''s economy. That''s just my two-cents
[Message Edited]

which is why they are now looking at africa as a potential resource, and getting more involved in the peace processes there.

hybrid technology all around would be wonderful, and i'm glad to see it's catching on here. The Clean Air Council in Philadelphia was able to pursuade SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) to begin using hybrid buses, in addition to its 'clean air diesel' buses.

In terms of gas prices, I think that north america is capable of sustaining itself on its own oil and gas resources. Between Canada (2nd largest country!!! ) And the U.S., we should have enough anyways. That would cut down on prices at the pump majorly woulndt it?

that's why i buy Hess gasoline and only Hess gasoline. they don't import from the mideast, first of all, and they are one of the leaders in searching out new consumption technologies and resource areas. and it's good gas!

.....I'm sure it's just me, but this thread at times seems to be digressing into 'Penis Envy'

Where's yer woody?

By the way. Bill Clinton added a 50 cents per gallon tax when he was in office. Bush had nothing to do with it.

Yeah? It was 1.40$, and it pretty much stayed there during Clinton's terms. Only this year it skyrocketed up to 2.29.

There is enough oil in Alaska to sustain us Americans infinitely

Not quite. The oil will run out eventually. That's why we really have to move on.

Alternative fuels you guys may not have thought of:

http://www.gobiodiesel.com/tiki-index.php?page=FuelTypes Diesel replacement

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/meCh1.html Gasoline replacement

#48 by Skinner CerebroJD - 5/19/2004 1:40:03 PM Where's yer woody?

I'm afraid to show it in this thread....somebody will do a comparison study

Seriously though, I think nuclear power is the way to go, fusion or fission.

Problem with the nuclear is what to do with the nuclear waste? Big problem.