What makes you genuinely proud to be (insert your nation here)

Blunderbuss · Post by **Blunderbuss** » Mon Aug 25, 2003 11:42 pm

Les the Sarge 9-1 wrote:Cleese is still great, but Rowan Atkinson is pure honest silly funniness hehe.

So what are these great films/tv programmes that John Cleese has done lately? If you can name some, I'll try and watch them (and possibly revise my opinion).

Blunderbuss · Post by **Blunderbuss** » Mon Aug 25, 2003 11:45 pm

Les the Sarge 9-1 wrote:Cleese is still great, but Rowan Atkinson is pure honest silly funniness hehe.

Talked with Shaun the other day, man talk about interesting. Give the man the flu and it hardly matters if we are using the same words from the same language hehe.

Okay then, what are these great performances that John Cleese has given in recent years? If you can name a couple, I will try to watch them and give my opinion.

Belisarius · Post by **Belisarius** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 12:16 am

Good heavens, Blunderbuss. Not only a double post, but a six-fold repeat.

Blunderbuss · Post by **Blunderbuss** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 12:39 am

Belisarius wrote:Good heavens, Blunderbuss. Not only a double post, but a six-fold repeat.

This is really embarrassing! It was taking ages to display my post and I kept getting a timed out message. I guess I must have repeatedly clicked on the post reply icon in my frustration. I am in a bit of a foul mood today (see my Panzer General 3 thread), but it's no excuse. I humbly crave pardon <rubs hands together and cringes> for my utter carelessness. Be assured, however, that I shall immediately throw myself down the stairs as an act of self punishment.

Les_the_Sarge_9_1 · Post by **Les_the_Sarge_9_1** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 12:47 am

Blunderbuss you as the owner of the post enjoy the right to delete them if you wish it eh

Blunderbuss · Post by **Blunderbuss** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 1:03 am

Les the Sarge 9-1 wrote:Blunderbuss you as the owner of the post enjoy the right to delete them if you wish it eh

Right, I'm back from casualty. Superfluous posts deleted (until you just mentioned it, I didn't know posts could be deleted). Anyway, I've left one post.

I forgot about Arthur C. Clarke! Surely the greatest living science fiction writer. I realise he lives in Sri Lanka and may have had a slightly murky past, but in my opinion he's a genius who should get more recognition for his work in this country.

Brigz · Post by **Brigz** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 4:24 am

I guess what makes me feel most proud about the USA is that dispite all the negatives I hear (and see), so many people want to come here. I don't think that's bad, I think it's a good thing. And I don't think it's just because of the money and jobs (two extremely large misconceptions) but because it really is a great place to live. There are some who abuse the privileges we have here, but by far most of us get along exceedingly well. We are certainly not perfect, but the diversity of the people, cultures and geography just can't be beat. I lived in Japan for three years (and loved it) and of course have been to Mexico many times, so I know what it's like to live in another country.

I really do love this country. It's my home and I'm very proud to be an American.

BrubakerII · Post by **BrubakerII** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 12:13 pm

Kung Karl wrote:Whats wrong about being proud of somthing about your nation? You don't have to be a rasist or similar just because you are proud of your country.

Karl I agree your comments entirely. Indeed many of us are capable of having interesting rational discussions about such things. The problem is, the internet being the great evener-outer that it is, allows anybody to say anything they like without any real social rules applying, and discussions about pride in nations soon devolves into slanging matches about differences in cultures, religions, etc.

If Les was intending to start a 'happy' positive thread, then I am all for it. Woot! I shall list some of my thoughts and lets see if it starts a hassle or not

Things that make me 'proud' (I hate that word) to be Australian -

The outback
The multi-culturalism
The ability to pull together in crisis and stand by our mates
The beer!
The relative lack of population density
The social security principles
Our relatively democratic political system
Our relative lack of religious conviction (and associated problems).

Things that make me cringe to be Australian -

Our tendancy to whinge and complain
Our inability to solve our internal racial matters
Our shifting alignment on the world stage
Our move toward full privatisation of government infrastructure
Our failure to adopt world best practise in environmental practices.

I look forward to hearing from others.

Brubaker

Belisarius · Post by **Belisarius** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 1:17 pm

OK, I'll give it a shot.... no complete list

What I like about Sweden/being Swedish

Our nature - the lakes, coasts and forests
The law-given right for everyone to freely access nature, even on private property, as long as you don't damage crops/plantations.
The social security
University courses and programs are tuition free
The quality of our houses - second only to Germany, IMO.
Our dedication towards international affairs
Our food :p
Our athletes

Our style - we have very talented designers
Our management models - each employee is naturally given a degree of responsibility and self-management you won't see south of the Baltic. (and it probably won't work anywhere else, either)
The increasing cultural diversity

-----
What I'm not so happy about

25% sales tax on everything except food, books and some services
32% income tax *cringe*
Mediocre road network except for the west coast and Stockholm region
Expensive fuel
Our prejudice and reluctance towards our fellow EU members (a remnant of the Cold War and our neutrality, I believe)
The segregation between immigrants and "native" Swedes, which is the result of an, IMO, totally misguided immigration policy.
Crippling our defense for cheap political gains
The shortage of affordable apartements in the "big" city regions.

I'll probably come up with more examples, both good and not-so-good.

riverbravo · Post by **riverbravo** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 6:00 pm

I'm a Yank in case some of you dont know,Im a rebel yank if that makes any sense to you Euro's.

I like the fact that the country came together after 9-11.

I dont like the fact that it took somthing of that magnitude for people to set aside their differences and realize we are all Americans.

I also like crawfish and bar-b-q.......were else you gonna get that?

LarkinVB · Post by **LarkinVB** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 6:56 pm

Being born in a country is purely random and no personal achievement an ego can be proud of IMHO. Therefore I look at myself first and foremost as a human being and feel lucky to be born into germany instead of bangladesh or somalia but there is nothing I feel proud of.

Golf33 · Post by **Golf33** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 6:32 am

BrubakerII wrote:Things that make me 'proud' (I hate that word) to be Australian -

The outback
The multi-culturalism
The ability to pull together in crisis and stand by our mates
The beer!
The relative lack of population density
The social security principles
Our relatively democratic political system
Our relative lack of religious conviction (and associated problems).

Things that make me cringe to be Australian -

Our tendancy to whinge and complain
Our inability to solve our internal racial matters
Our shifting alignment on the world stage
Our move toward full privatisation of government infrastructure
Our failure to adopt world best practise in environmental practices.

Great list Bru. I would add, to "things I like":

the most venomous spiders & snakes in the world
the nastiest sharks in the world
a level of cynicism that prevents us going 'rah rah we're the best'
Sydney Harbour
Darwin and Kakadu

To "things I don't like":

the loss of interest and care about politics (unfortunate byproduct of the cynicism I suspect) which is damaging our democracy
inconsistent courts (Pauline gets a well-deserved 3 years while Mal Colston gets to die a free man; he should have carked it behind bars)
Western Sydney

Cheers
33

Belisarius · Post by **Belisarius** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 10:18 am

riverbravo wrote:I also like crawfish and bar-b-q.......were else you gonna get that?

I have yet to see a good b-b-q here, but crawfish are in abundance. In fact, we're right in the middle of crawfish season.

(I suppose you mean the freshwater kind....we got the seawater kind as well which in my opinion is tastier)

riverbravo · Post by **riverbravo** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 7:14 pm

Belisarius wrote:I have yet to see a good b-b-q here, but crawfish are in abundance. In fact, we're right in the middle of crawfish season.

(I suppose you mean the freshwater kind....we got the seawater kind as well which in my opinion is tastier)

Saltwater crawfish?

BrubakerII · Post by **BrubakerII** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 6:53 am

riverbravo wrote:Saltwater crawfish?

What the hell is 'crawfish'? Is this similar to a lobster/crayfish? In Aus I think we have such a creature called a yabby:

Yabbie page

Is this what a crawfish is?

riverbravo · Post by **riverbravo** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 7:57 am

BrubakerII wrote:What the hell is 'crawfish'? Is this similar to a lobster/crayfish? In Aus I think we have such a creature called a yabby:

Yabbie page

Is this what a crawfish is?

That would be a crawfish!!

NefariousKoel · Post by **NefariousKoel** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 12:08 pm

Yeah... crawfish... us hillbillies called them crawdads.

But IMO... if it can breathe in water, then it can suck my azz. I only caught them for the fun of it. Of course, I only killed bull frogs for the fun of it and a whole population of them in decay - stinks. I couldn't believe people ate that shiz. :rolleyes:

Gimme good 'ole steak any day. No sucking the meat out of the azz end of a crustaceon that lives under moss coated rocks. Bleh.

BrubakerII · Post by **BrubakerII** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 2:39 pm

Certainly have fond memories of sitting with a bit of soap tied to a string hanging in a local creek.. :sleep:

riverbravo · Post by **riverbravo** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 11:24 pm

BrubakerII wrote:Certainly have fond memories of sitting with a bit of soap tied to a string hanging in a local creek.. :sleep:

What would you be doing that for?

I would keep my soap on a rope in Australia also....I heard stories

What kind of fishing is done with soap?

BrubakerII · Post by **BrubakerII** » Sun Aug 31, 2003 4:28 am

riverbravo wrote: I would keep my soap on a rope in Australia also....I heard stories

:p

Our local 'crawfish' live in frreshwater and as kids of course it was fun to catch them. The easiest way to do that was with a bit of old meat in a butterfly net or similar - they loved the stuff. But if your ma didn't have an old smelly chop around the next best thing was soap. For some reason Yabbie's love it - maybe the animal fat. So you'd tie some soap to a bit of string and dangle it in a creek (keep your toes back

) and when the yabby came out for a bit of a poke at it you'd try to get it to grab it (a territorial thing) which then made it easy to lift it up out of the water. Easy eh? In theory.

Of course now I am older and wiser (or older anyway) I would use yabbie pots which are essentially like lobster/cray pots. Chuck these into a creek/river and sit back and catch the zzz's :sleep: