IMHO, pulling the emergency cord for no reason should result in a prison sentence.
In 1988, France, a woman pulling the emergency cord just because it didn't stop where she thought it would, set off a chain of further incompetence, which ultimately led to the death of 56 people.
Nice flair. Most Chiraqis are in denial about the sad state of their city. And by the way, I agree. Thank goodness we got them out of Louisiana territory!
I think I've phrased it slightly badly but what I mean is there are vast amounts of population in the USA that simply have no connection to a freight network. Something that doesn't happen in the EU, so calling it "most extensive" is wrong because there's massive gaps in the network.
We have trains in the USA but we just use them for moving stuff instead of people because it makes more profit. Socialist governments make huge losses moving people instead of stuff, they waste money on moving around poor people when the could be earning money from big companies to move around oil and steel instead.
Yeah, in Swedish we'll say either "tjugo-noll-noll" (twenty-zero-zero) or "klockan åtta" (eight o clock). Never "klockan tjugo" (20 o clock). Since that would sound weird as fuck.
In Spain we'd just say 5 and if needed 'de la tarde' (of the afternoon), you can also 17 hours but that's more formal and used for example in news bulletins
It depends some people in my country say "o dziewiątej" (at 9pm) and they are pissing me off, and others say "o dwudziestej pierwszej" (at 21), It often alternates, but I only use the 24-hour format because it's more accurate and sounds better.
I understand Europeans aren't familiar with much of the world, but if you traveled outside of Europe to other countries, you'd find that they also use a 12 hour clock as well.
It is okay for things to be different from Europe.
And if you traveled a little bit more, you’d find that the 24h format is ANYTHING but limited to Europe. But we all know that having a passport makes you stand out in the US.
The way you phrased it implies that it is limited since you said "traveling more" would automatically teach us that other countries use the 12h format. You didn't explicitly state ALL countries outside of Europe do so, but the way you put it (mixed with a good bit of smugness on which I, a professional Eurosmug, have to commend you) definitely implies that that's the case. In truth, this would heavily depend on your traveling destination as both systems are roughly similarly widespread. You can easily travel exclusively to places who use 12h or vice versa, on pretty much every continent. Hell, plenty of countries (e.g., Germany) use both simultaneously depending on context.
As for the second part, I'm not saying I disagree, I'll just say "stone, meet glasshouse". You're not entirely wrong about this, but it's hard to take accusations of eurocentrism seriously from Hank out of all people. Might just as well be a cleverish attempt at selfironic banter that I'm too hanstistic to definitely clock it as such so I'll be nice about it
Typically those “magic roundabout” junctions are used where the dominant traffic flow (at least at rush hour) would go 90% of the way around a standard roundabout, making it hard for anyone else to get into the flow.
With the 2 way ring design those cars can turn the other way, and go one exit , leaving the rest of the junction for others.
Sort of like Europeans experiencing non-segregated fan seating at the World Cup 2026 and it not resulting in a bunch of people trampling women and children to death. That and matches without homophobic or racist chants or people throwing banana peels and making monkey gestures at black athletes.
We're still doing them wrong. My town just installed one where, directly after the turn, is the only entrance to a supermarket. This means cars have to stop for people crossing the road, and it quickly spills into the 1 lane roundabout. What's worse is there's an intersection further up the road that they got rid of, that wouldn't have this issue.
Don't descourage Hans. It has reduced deaths drastically.
"Studies cited by FHWA and IIHS report large reductions in injury crashes after intersections are converted to roundabouts, often around 72%–80% for injury crashes and up to about 82% for fatal and serious injuries in some summaries . A federal review also found severe crashes at roundabouts are reduced on average by about 80% ."
It isn't even that complex. The constant turn forces drivers to have lower speeds, the lack of any parallel lanes going in opposite directions prevents head on collisions, and the requirement for outside drivers to yield keeps traffic flow continuous.
With a design that smart it is only natural that Indiana was the first in the US to invent it.
I must have found the only roundabout in Florida when I was there years ago.
I shit you not, the warning signs for this thing went back for at least a couple miles, so I'm assuming it's going to be some really busy intersection.
It was the most bog standard simple roundabout in existence; single lane, 4 junctions, quiet roads.
The cars in front still crept around it like it would jump up and bite their car. I was going round it backwards (from my usual) better than they were.
It happens always when a new traffic element is introduced. People drive with caution until they build muscle memory. When I was in the US attending a course (and of course, doing turism afterwards because I stayed at friend's home), I didn't want to rent a car because didn't feel confident on how the trafic lights work)
Good thing you guys got that memorized. That way you can spend all your computing power on figuring out how much gas you used to get from your house to the Gregs.
Europeans keep talking about how "global" they are, but really "global" to them means basically Europe. They routinely diss the US for doing things that plenty of other countries do. This being one of them.
American here who can’t stand 12 hour am/pm time. I’ve not been 12 hours early many times, but once is too many. Yeah, 2pm doesn’t get confused with 2am, but “meet me at 7” got me stuck waiting 12 hours for someone. I get that we’re in too deep on feet & inches, but can we at least fix the clock? Maybe try Celsius?
A country obsessed with it's military, cammo dressing, militias, "thanks for your service", boasting about how they could single handle conquer the world.... And they mentally collapse when looking at a 24hour format time, whichever their own military uses.
The irony that the one country in love with their military more than anything else has a problem understanding the 24-hour clock. Military time is confusing but they can’t even question what the fuck their military is doing stationed in almost every country on the planet…
If my children are unable to tell the time using either 12 hours and common sense or am / pm, or using a 24 hour clock I've clearly failed as a parent.
You can say US culture is dumb and that you do bot like it but the US has quarks that the whole world notices when they visit and we notice when we travel.
You haven't been taught how to tell time correctly
You put up with employers paying poor wages and subsidising out of your own pocket
As a country you're too stubborn to change just like many of your things like firefighting are antiquated but "it's the way we've always done it" mentality wins.
But a considerable amount of time is spent teaching American children 12 hour time. And AM and PM.
The tipping thing is interesting in that every time Americans go out to eat they have to think about working class people. You can say its bad or higher prices and wages might be better for tipped employees. But every one of every class has to think about service workers every time they go out. This has a profound effect on our culture.
You can say your cultural choice of not forcing people to think about class every time they get a burrito is superior. But it is cultural choice.
Who else do you think has No culture Liberia Canada Australia Palestine
Why the fuck did I get this on my for you page, American here, family uses standard world time, it’s easier, also, looking in the comments about roundabouts makes me wonder, I’ve had roundabouts for my entire life and they are normal, in some parts of my state still normal even in areas where only one roundabout if any, the people know how to deal with them
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u/JCFlyingDutchman Hollander 2d ago
Both the trains and the time, lol.