My whole thing is when people try to take things away from a country or from somebody, which is what certain members always do to the US and are even doing in this thread.

The thread asked a question, one that many people answered, and then some people had a problem with the answers and had to make their little comments about them.

People need to just give their five things and let others give theirs. What's so damn hard about that?

 

Over 50 languages! Impressive!

Since that number is so specific, I assume there's a list somewhere?

Oh, and if you could get on that 'quantification' thing, that would be good. Remember, we're not talking specifically about multiculturalism, we're talking about your assertions that the US was the best there is, ever was, and ever will be. Let's be clear about that.

I reckon it's become some people started to make some quite bald statements.

 

and Pittsburg is the smelting pot...
and California is smokin' pot...
and Detroit has gone to pot.

@JPT: Canadarm is frickin' awesome! Unlike a lot of the "Southerners" around here, I actually like our Northern Neighbors! Especially when they let us use their cool toys!

That pretty much sums up my sentiments. To proclaim something as being "American" is the same as saying "the world" or "mankind". This is because America is more than just a location on the globe. We're European, African, Asian, Australian, South American, and we've even imported some penguins from Antarctica. We're the underdogs that those guys kicked or forced out. We made our way here, planted our new roots, and grew - and that seemed to piss those guys off somethin' fierce. Imagine! An actress that came up with "Spread-spectrum frequency switching" used in secure transmissions, like today's cell phones (Hedy Lamarr {Austria}), or a couple of guys who split atoms under the squash courts at Chicago University (Fermi {Italy} and Szilard {Hungary}). All Americans. All from somewhere else. America isn't so much a place, as it is an attitude, a concept, an experiment, a statement, or a mentality that says, "Do something, be something - we don't care what - we won't mind".

So, for me to pick five things that are "American" only, is kinda hard, as most things thought of as American are actually multi-national endeavours. For instance, NASA had a former German weapons creator heading the show (Von Braun), with support from factories in the UK, Canada, France, West Germany (the wall was still up at the time), Belgium, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Spain, etc. Neil and Buzz were Americans, but they wouldn't have gotten the lunar surface all footie-printed without all that help. It was truly a global effort.

Just off the top of my head, though, I'd have to include:

1) Integrated circuit using silicon (Noyce at Fairchild). Previous attempts at construction weren't too good, and the one developed by Kilby (at TI) used germanium, which made it a novelty prototype. Noyce's design worked, and made it far cheaper and easier to mass-produce.

2) Microprocessor (Noyce, again, at Intel). Designed by Faggin (Italy) with help from Hoff and Mazor, Noyce's new company, Intel, was under contract from a Japanese calculator company (Busicom) to produce an IC "family" that they could program, as needed, to perform various functions. Intel came up with the first design, the 4004, and the rest is history.

3) Flash/high-speed/underwater photography (Harold Edgerton, UNL/MIT). This guy was all-American, and helped the war effort and scientific discovery at the same time. He invented the Xenon strobe flash, which replaced the one-use bulbs. The circuitry of which, being high-speed and high-voltage, was modified for use to trigger the first (and third) atomic bombs. Speaking of which, America had just sunk over $2 Billion to develop the damn thing, so it was prudent to see how it went off. Edgerton, again, developed a way to photograph the explosion at an extremely high speed, and they remain some of the most incredible photos ever taken. Once the war was over, he sat on his ass and collected... no, wait... he wasn't done just yet. While at an MIT party, he ran into "some Frenchy guy named 'Jocky'", and asked him what he did. When 'Jocky' answered, "I invented SCUBA (Aqualung), and explore the oceans", Harold mentioned he had just got done with the prototype of an underwater camera system. Thirty minutes later, they were both at the pool, 'Jocky' in the water, and Harold up above. It worked. Harold was hired, and Jacques Cousteau now had a way to show everybody what he was discovering undersea (some episodes of his shows have Harold on the bridge - he's the portly gentleman with grey hair and glasses). The Calypso crew was so fond of him, they called him "Papa Flash".

4) Multi-track audio recording {AMPEX, Bing Crosby, Les Paul, 3M). German companies BASF and Magetophon had developed recording, but AMPEX, with 3M (Scotch), developed the "tape" as we know it today. After demonstrating it to Bing, AMPEX was off and running once Bing used it to pre-record his radio broadcasts. Once Les Paul got hold of an AMPEX unit, he set about having it modified for recording multiple tracks, and helped develop "Sel-Sync", which allows one to hear what has already been recorded while adding another track. This led to one of the first "overdubbed" albums to go gold: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Before this, all the musicians had to band together and get it right for the whole tape/track. Now, they could just record the part they needed (or record as schedules permitted), and if the given member screwed up, they could just re-record that part, without affecting the others. MTR revolutionized an entire industry, and brought us better music.

5) Video tape recorder (AMPEX Quadruplex). Not only could Bing pre-record his radio shows, he could now do Xmas specials. More importantly, video news events could now be recorded for posterity, such as the Kennedy funeral, the aforementioned moon landings, sporting events, and Jacques Cousteau in a speedo.

bj
Man, I'm starting to sound like a Cracked article!

 

Yes I'm quite sure there is a list somewhere. Though given the amount of immigrants who arrive in this area yearly, it probably is a bit of a fluid list. They come to this area, move on up eventually, and possibly move out. It's a place of opportunity for those who don't have any. Just checked. 73 to be exact at the local high school.

I never said that. I said "there could never ever be another US and there never has been". That's the truth, whether anybody likes it or not.

Lol I wasn't directing that at you.

Just at those who have to nitpick at the 5 things others post.

Certain people won't let anybody ever give credit to the US, just like certain people won't ever let anybody give credit to Europe or Canada. It's wrong no matter which foot the shoe is on.

 

The US invented the tail gate party. Does anything else matter before a football game?
http://www.milehighreport.com/2010/11/5/1796254/the-tailgate-party-a-brief-history

 

73 languages, or 73 immigrants? Sorry, you weren't quite clear - or I'm being dim!

My apologies. This bit here:
"a country that no other country could or will ever replicate or live up to"
...sounded synonymous to 'best', but it wouldn't be the first time I was mistaken.

Of course, this isn't really about whether or not the US is whatever people say it is, it's an exercise in accountability. If people are going to say the US is something that 'no other country can live up to' then I want to know on what scale, by which benchmarks, and using what units of measurement such statements are made.

 

73 languages. We have entire neighborhoods filled with immigrants. It's nothing compared to Philly though, which is nothing compared to New York. Every ethnicity and language in the world is present in New York.

Best at what the US is, by far. Not "best" in general. I do think the US is the best country in the world for that reason, but I'm not making an argument about that. What the US is and what makes the US great comes out of the good and the bad, and no other country has ever had the factors that caused it to happen, nor will another ever.

 

1. end wars 2. make cars...60s n 70s 3. rock n roll

 

Really? End wars? Which ones?

better cars are made in Europe.

the 60s and 70s were not created by the US but rather by the Gregorian calendar.

Rock and roll - yes.

 

Better cars are not made in Europe. Different cars are made in Europe. You can't ever make a muscle car like the ones we turned out in the heyday of the American automobile. We all know that Europe is the best at making sports cars.

 

A muscle car could not take corners at speed, a serious flaw in any car. Not only sports cars but the high end luxury cars are popular with Americans as are the supercars.

 

Name a better made american car than what the europeans make?.

 

Muscle cars are still only made by American companies. That was my point.

You're best at the type of cars you make, but not at every type of car.

We invented an entire new type of car.

 

Ford Mustang
Chevy Camero
Dodge Charger..
Best cars ever!

 

You know, we let you all go on and on all day long about how great your continent is all over the forum and don't say much at all about it, yet you can't even give us one damn thread to celebrate the great things about our country.

Even the things we are clearly superior at, you have to argue with.

 

Which is?.

 

You obviously haven't noticed that 90% of the threads on here are about the US.....Oh and by the way, you're always slagging europe.

 

Nobel peace Prize 2008

Barrack Obama.

Nuff said about the validity of these prizes!

 

As stated repeatedly above.. THE MUSCLE CAR

Regardless of what most of the threads are about, the majority of threads in this section become about "How great Europe/Australia/NZ/SouthAfrica/Canada are and how awful the US is"

And oh by the way... no I'm not, sorry. I'm always defending the US and fighting against the delusional posts some make based on the myth of "European Exceptionalism"

I've got no problem with Europe or the people of their continent, nor with Canada or the people of their country, nor with Australia, New Zealand, South Africa (which belongs to Africans), etc. I'm not going to let you go saying whatever the hell you want though or revising history.