No Shorts Allowed !!!

Originally posted by geochuck My Three older brothers were all in the 2nd world war two years before the U.S. came in. George How was that war working out for folks before the US came along? I bet an autobahn in Canada would be fantastic given so much open space available. Alas, we had to step in so you didn't get your autobahn but you do have one heck of a large tower in that CN Spire, a national treasure. And, thanks for the water from Niagra Falls so we can power our economy that, in turn, powers the world economy. I really care about the rest of the world. I enjoy visiting, depositing my dollars so that they can peg their currency to ours, trying to sneak home diseased animal and plant products and mocking their lack of sporting prowess. I'm gonna go take a dip at the pool. The US, or can I say Americans anymore, invented pools and water. We didn't invent the Speedo, that was a European invention on par with wooden dentures.

Originally posted by SwiminONandON Canada has far better hockey. We certainly don't kick the rest of the world's butts there. Hockey is no longer played. All the profits were being funnelled to Canada despite American having the vast majority of teams. So, we put that sport out to pasture. Curling is the next sport to go and cricket after that. After we eliminate irrelevant sports, we will turn our tax dollars to cleaning up Russia's decrepit, aging and unguarded nuclear stockpiles, just like we paid to get their submarine, that Kursk thing, off the ocean floor. As Americans, we have to prioritize cleaning up everyone else's messes - sports, nukes or otherwise. I always open doors for women. Most women appreciate it.

Hey in the Y.M.C.A. in Hamilton Ontario Canada you could not wear a swimsuit. Just barenaked allowed in the swim pool. They banned any kind of swim wear... George

Originally posted by hooked-on-swimming Geek, you must know a lot about second world war and the US impact on it...Hm, well, can you tell me when it was officially over(date?) and where Germans finally surrended?US did have some play in the war, but definitely not the major one. And, maybe the best thing about the greatest nation on earth - crack and crank are readily available. Taken it can produce bizarre historical revisions, by recent immigrants or even natives. I'm just proud we won the war for everyone else and then didn't kill 7 million of our own citizens thereafter in a fury of blood lust. Don't get me wrong, I'm pro-lust just not blood lust.

Alex, you are touching upon the topic that does not have a firm definition even now.Yes, most will say that there is a continent of America , although you will come across of North America and South America continents thing in some educational sources(altough I also disagree with that).Books will claim 5, 6 or 7 continents.Some even claim Eurasia to be a continent(Europe+Asia), since a continent is supposed to be ONE piece of land, and with that some claim that there is no ground to have Oceania(they will call that Australia).And one more thing:you forgot Antarctica. So it is a very unsteady topic, so there is no need to "make anyone look stupid" here.And mind you, that is coming from a guy who immigrated from Europe(Russia) 4 years ago, so you can count on my unbiased view. I do agree on some things that you brought up like "America will poke its nose into everyone's affairs" view(bombing Yugoslavia and war in Iraq as just few examples).I will also agree that a lot of Americans will claim USA is the best place to be, but when you ask them where they have been outside of America and what they know of other countries, the knowledge is limited(heck, I was once being almost PURSUADED by a girl here that Russia is not Europe , can you imagine my shock?And I come across people who will tell me that latvia, Lithuania, Estonia,Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus,Turkmenistan, etc. are not just weird regions of Russia, though they are separate independent countries of the former Soviet Union block with Russia as just one of them(15 total ), but I do not want you to generalize and bring that here, because I am sure most of us here are intelligent people... P.S. I do not know if you wanted someone else to answer that question, but I will take the role and hopefully not "discover America" for some by saing that America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator who made several trips to America with Spanish and Portuguese expeditions and was first to point that America was a new continent, and not part of Asia.

In fact if you could ask my grand-grandfather he would tell you that for a period of time when the man learned to fly there was a Continent known as Euro-Asiatic-African. About Americo Vespucio (same name but in Spanish), we know the same, but you may be right about name him in Italian as Columbus was also italian I supouse it is very much possible that Americo was the same. It is only that in my history book all the names about the topic are in Spanish. I wounder if any marine at that time knew how to swim.

Originally posted by SwiminONandON I still would love to know how the civil war is taught south of the mason-dixon line! First lesson - it's called The War of Northern Aggression.

Originally posted by hooked-on-swimming On the 8th of May Germans announced to be surrending, the 9th of May is the official date of the end of war.It is our national holiday and is called Victory Day.We hold big ceremonies in all the cities and give respect to the veterans of that war(not many of them left now) You're wrong, too. Don't forget about the war with Japan. The Japanese didn't surrender until August 15th.

The spanish did not discover "America" Leif Ericson was here before the Spanish. On the east coast a Viking settlement was destroyed by the natives way before others arrived. There have been Japanese remains found in the west arrived before most. There are even unconfirmed arrivals from Egypt but guess what? we are basically one big happy family Americans north and South This site has good info paranormal.about.com/.../aa080700a.htm The only terms I use for our neighbor, Is the U.S. or United States after all we all all Americans either North or South Americans. I just wonder were the Sasquatch here before the others came. George

This thread is getting out of hand, and darn funny. And really, Columbus discovered the Bahamas ... good job Chris! In actuality it is believed that he was a great navigator as he successfully navigated to the same area several times. Also, there was no question of the world not being round, just most people didn't think that there was land inbetween India and Spain. Yes, Columbus was Italian, many great explorers were. I BELIEVE Vespuci was too. The "map maker" (can't remember the technical name) spelled Amerigo Vespuci's name wrong and it became America. At least that is what I remember hearing. I fully agree that "Americans" are ethnocentric and egotisitical. We are brain washed to believe that we live in the best country in the world. That we have a right to intervene when anything bad is going down in another country, we also have a right to determine what is bad and what is ok (i.e., killing thousands of Iraqis bad, killing millions of Africans ok). We are blind to the fact that many countries hate us and don't agree with our politics. We are the bullies on the playground. We still have the idea that any brutal dictator is ok as long as he is our brutal dictator (and I don't mean George W.) I do think it is wrong that we call ourselves Americans. I have a good friend from Argentina who is completely offended by that and thinks that it shows our ignorance. I happen to agree. I was born and raised in the states and I am glad to have been. I do think we live in a great country in part because I can talk about what an idiot I think our president is and it's ok. This has gotten so political ... a shorts thread, who knew?! To end this on a lighter note senior year in college one of my best friends and I were studying and all of a sudden she puts down her book and says to me "Did you know that Columbus didn't sail over on the Mayflower." I think I laughed for about 10 minutes before I could respond.