Completley random facts EVERY American should know

[Az]

Completley random facts EVERY American should know: all those modern fashion models are of the anorexia type.

"Oh, noes! Please help me Hueij, I am starving!"

[Winston]

The country with the world's highest rate of immigration is the Vatican.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Thue
The current US economy with giant budget deficits, low tax rate and tax cuts, and trade balance deficit, is not sustainable in the long run without changes.

The balance of trade is sustainable but Bush's budget deficits are not.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


For a couple of years, yeah.

Actually a couple of months. They started their revolution in 1845 and pretty much took over most of the state when the Mexican-American War started in 1846 and the people decided to give up being an independent country and to become a state in the US. That was the original idea any way or as they called it "to play the Texas game".

[Robert]

Originally posted by Thue
There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in the runup to Gulf War II, and George Bush knew or should have known it. The weapons of mass destruction were used to mislead the American people to support the invasion of Iraq, which George Bush and co. wanted for other reasons.

What most ignorant people don't know is that what the public opinion names "Gulf War II" actually was "Gulf War III"

Gulf War I = Iran - Iraq 1988
Gulf War II = Iraq - Quweit - America 1991
Gulf War III = Iraq = USA UK 2003

that's a random fact every american should know, I think

[Robert]

Originally posted by Ecthelion
Germany is the dominant country among all of Europe.

While France is the wannabe dominant country among all of eur... uh the world.

[child of Thor]

When visiting the uk(especialy London), be prepared to learn what the coins are worth as we have loads of coins and use them often.

Dont judge it on the size of the coin(as a big coin can have less value) , but on the opposite side to the queens head read the denomination on the bottom of the coin - it will tell you how many pence it is worth.

We have 100 pence to 1 pound, so its like your dimes/dollars in that respect.

[el freako]

Originally posted by Oerdin
The balance of trade is sustainable but Bush's budget deficits are not.

I'm not sure that the trade balance is sustainable either, as it stands if it were to remain at 5% of GDP then the US's net indebtedness would eventually rise from 30% of GDP to 105% and the current-account deficit would hit 10% of GDP (due to interest payments on that debt)

I'm not sure that those levels are consistant with having a globally-dominant economy and currency (although it might be that you were implying that losing those would be an acceptable price to pay for having a sustained deficit of this magnitude)

[Hueij]

Originally posted by Az

Completley random facts EVERY American should know: all those modern fashion models are of the anorexia type.

"Oh, noes! Please help me Hueij, I am starving!"

First things that come to mind when looking at the poor thing:

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Also, Polo's writings were not necessarily true. Nor did Polo bring pasta to Italy from China.

This is turning into the "Debunk your pet urban legend" thread, which I guess is an improvement!

Did you watch the 3-part special of Marco Polo on National Geographic?

[Urban Ranger]

Oh, completely random fact: the moon is not made out of green cheese.

[Micha]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Belgium is where the Luxemburgers' spam goes when they click Delete.

Fact:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Schumacher both insist on being spelled with *SCH*, not *SH* and certainly not *SK*.
- The NVA in english refers to the North Vietnamese Army, while in German it refers to "Nationale Volksarmee" (the army of the DDR, aka Eastern Germany).
- If you cannot spell the word "Wehrmacht", don´t use it.
- Not every German woman has a moustache.
- Invading Europe will not lead to more friendly relations.
- Not every single European is a pervert. It´s only about 96% of them.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by CyberShy
What most ignorant people don't know is that what the public opinion names "Gulf War II" actually was "Gulf War III"

Gulf War I = Iran - Iraq 1988
Gulf War II = Iraq - Quweit - America 1991
Gulf War III = Iraq = USA UK 2003

that's a random fact every american should know, I think

No, you have it wrong. The Iran-Iraq war was from 1980-1988 the Gulf War was Iraq vs UN in 1991 and the Second Gulf War was Iraq vs Coalition 2003.

Before you call other people ignorant you should get your facts straight.

[Micha]

Originally posted by Oerdin
No, you have it wrong. The Iran-Iraq war was from 1980-1988 the Gulf War was Iraq vs UN in 1991 and the Second Gulf War was Iraq vs Coalition 2003.

Before you call other people ignorant you should get your facts straight.

Officially, both versions exist. From Wikipedia:

Other common names for the conflict include the Gulf War, War in the Gulf, Iraq-Kuwait Conflict, UN-Iraq conflict, Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Desert Sabre, 1990 Gulf War (for the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait), 1991 Gulf War (1990-1991), the Second Gulf War (to distinguish it from the Iran-Iraq war) and Gulf War Sr. and First Gulf War (to distinguish it from the 2003 invasion of Iraq).

[Robert]

Originally posted by Oerdin


No, you have it wrong. The Iran-Iraq war was from 1980-1988 the Gulf War was Iraq vs UN in 1991 and the Second Gulf War was Iraq vs Coalition 2003.

Before you call other people ignorant you should get your facts straight.

I used the years in which the wars ended for simplicity.
Officially the 2nd Gulf War was indeed Iraq vs UN, though in fact it was the US and a little help from some other countries.

Like the 3rd Gulf War was indeed officially Iraq vs the coalition. Though in fact it was Iraq vs US and UK.

Though the 2003 war was bouth officially as in fact the 3rd Gulf War.