American made?

The telgraph, the television, computers, the Internet, Mickey Mouse, Frank Sinatra, Cheez Whiz, Elvis, the atom bomb, the hamburger, penicillin, the birth control pill, Mohammed Ali, the polio vaccine, the ball point pen, nylon, ice cream, just to name a few American innovations.
 
My Honda was designed and built in the U.S. It's a damn good vehicle.

For cameras, there isn't anything short of a Graphic that I'd bother about.

Farm products, aircraft and entertainment are what Americans really excell at. In other areas quality "Craftsmanship" was never at an industrial level in this country. There are boutique and cottage industries where the craft matters but very little in the corporate world.

With executive, sales and marketing folks changing positions every two or three years in this country, that something can be sold with a good margin is more important than whether it's actually serves the customer's need very well or for very long. Afterall why create anything lasting, when you can get yours, and retire early.
 
Hi Dan,

danwilly said:
The telgraph, the television, computers, the Internet, Mickey Mouse, Frank Sinatra, Cheez Whiz, Elvis, the atom bomb, the hamburger, penicillin, the birth control pill, Mohammed Ali, the polio vaccine, the ball point pen, nylon, ice cream, just to name a few American innovations.
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some of these are actually quite debatable, as you're possible well aware 🙂 -- including (to various degrees of debatableness), but not limited to, ice cream, ball point pens, the telegraph, computers, penicillin and possibly others.

Philipp
 
Well, I'd take my father's "tweaked" Cold Government Model 70 (M1911A1 ACP) over any russian pistol, I prefer an M16 to an AK-47 in all matters but stopping power at range (too bad any given factory-direct AK can't hit the broad side of a barn), older Stanley and Starret tools in the shop, and two Ford cars and a Chevy S-10 pickup in the driveway. Bosch and Lomb microscopes from the late 20's were some of the best (but not anymore). Did I mention I haven't shot a roll of film not made in Rochester, NY in 3 years? Sam Adams isn't too shabby, and neither was Rolling Rock all that bad (I haven't tried it since the plant was moved from the incredibly dirty Alleghany River in Pittsburgh to the equally nasty Deleware in New Jersey). Then again, I'm not much of a beer drinker. As for imports, I haven't tried many except Fosters, which in the words of an exchange student from Canberra, "Fosters; Austrailian for s***!."

Also important: 1967 Shelby Mustang GT-500. 'Nuff said.

You forgot about Hollywood. Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Star Wars (the old ones, to hell with the new ones), and a gazillion other films that don't come to mind.

As for Paris Hilton, I, Robert Clark, on behalf of the people of the United States of America, would like to apologise to the rest of thw world for that terrible weapon we have unleashed to kill the brain cells of all pre-tenage girls everywhere. We're sorry, our bad. 🙂.

However, I would like to give an official, "You're welcome" to Monaco for our gift of Grace Kelly, and to France for our gift of Jerry Lewis (it's not a loan, PLEASE keep him🙂).

I now expect an apology from Canada for Bryan Adams🙂. "Now, now, Canada has apologised for Bryan Adams on several occasions." (Name the film that it is from, and the full names of the four main characters, WITHOUT LOOKING, and you win a prize).

Enough for now I guess,
Bob
 
Whats a slide rule. 😛 Is that like using punch cards on the computer? 😀

and who the hell put Paris Hilton!?!?!?!?!?!

Regarding beer's I tried to try some Polish ones while in Poland this past winter, but it was about impossible to explain to the bartender that I wanted a dark beer! I ended up with something Irish and red! Tasted pretty good though. I do not recommend the irish pub off of old town square in warsaw though.. I have no idea what they do to Guinness but wow.. My girlfriend was almost covered in it after I about sprayed it across the table!

EDIT: Jeep.. Duh. I drive one! There are some days I swear I am an idiot...
 
Bobbo said:
I now expect an apology from Canada for Bryan Adams🙂. "Now, now, Canada has apologised for Bryan Adams on several occasions." (Name the film that it is from, and the full names of the four main characters, WITHOUT LOOKING, and you win a prize).

Enough for now I guess,
Bob
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Too easy... South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut...

Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflowski, and Kenny McCormick.

"With Canada dead and gone there'll be no more Celine Dion!"




Someone mentioned ball point pens, but the biro was really an italian invention. Most of the world's great fountain pens were definitely american.

Pinball is something else that America excelled at.
 
I thought tv was invented by Logie Baird in Brighton? And computers by Charles Babbgage? And the internet by Sir Tim Berners-Lee? And wasn't the ball point pen invented by a Hungarian called Laszlo Biro?

But anyway, Californian wines have beaten the French in yet another blind taste test. Harley's are glorious, but make more sense in sparesly populated America rather than over crowded Britain or Europe. I'd still have one, though. Space travel must be mentioned. But we could go on all day. Lots to be proud of.
 
UGh! NOT sam Adams...

UGh! NOT sam Adams...

pesphoto said:
What about Sam Adams Beer? Though I agree most american beers,not so good.
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While Sam Adams beats the average swill we call beer by a small margin, one needs to try brew pubs and micro breweries (local) to find excellent beer. I like Victory Hop Devil from PA, Burning River Pale Ale from Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland, and Arrogant Bastrad from Stone Brewery in Southern California.


(Had to mis-spell one name due to the language filter.)

Mnayunk Prew Pub in Philly is also good, and many others I haven't tried yet...
 
Paris Hilton: I'm going celibate
'I'll kiss, but nothing else,' says heiress


Monday, August 7, 2006; Posted: 1:33 p.m. EDT (17:33 GMT)


LONDON, England (AP) -- Paris Hilton says she is sick of boyfriends and is celibate.

The 25-year-old who gained international fame when a former boyfriend posted a videotape of the couple having sex on the Internet denied leading a promiscuous lifestyle in an interview with the British edition of GQ magazine.

"I'm not having sex for a year. ... I'll kiss, but nothing else," says Hilton, who told the magazine she has had sex with only two men during her lifetime.

Of the videotape with Rick Solomon that became one of the most searched-for items on the Internet in 2003, she said: "I never received a dime from it. It's just dirty money and he should give it all to some charity for the sexually abused or something."

The Hilton Hotels heir and uber-socialite told the magazine she is "very shy" and relates to the late Princess Diana, who was hounded by photographers.

"I've been in cars trying to get away from speeding paparazzi before and it's horrible, so I can relate to Diana and the problems she had," Hilton is quoted as saying.

During the interview, Hilton also displayed some political illiteracy.

When asked about British Prime Minister Tony Blair, her response was: "Who? ... Oh, yeah, he's like your president. I don't know what he looks like."

Hilton also told the magazine she collects $500,000 in fees just to show up at parties and other events from Las Vegas to Tokyo. Her best-paying gig, she said, was a recent Austrian appearance.

"I had to say 'hi' and tell them why I loved Austria so much," she is quoted as saying.

And why does she like Austria? "Because they pay me $1 million to wave at crowds!"
 
It seems to me the ballpoint pen was invented by a Hungarian, Laszlo Biro -- and the British refer to it as a "biro," if I'm not mistaken. But it's true that the Parker Jotter is about the best-made ballpoint pen you can buy -- still made in the USA, I think.

I think we're talking not so much about American innovation, but rather the quality of American-made, American-designed, products. The proof of that inquiry would be how such products are viewed around the world -- we can be as patriotic as we want, but the test is whether the rest of the world agrees with us.

I'd mention Levi Strauss blue jeans as still the best you can get, besides having essentially invented the product.
 
mpt600 said:
I thought tv was invented by Logie Baird in Brighton? And computers by Charles Babbgage? And the internet by Sir Tim Berners-Lee? And wasn't the ball point pen invented by a Hungarian called Laszlo Biro?

But anyway, Californian wines have beaten the French in yet another blind taste test. Harley's are glorious, but make more sense in sparesly populated America rather than over crowded Britain or Europe. I'd still have one, though. Space travel must be mentioned. But we could go on all day. Lots to be proud of.
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I'll pipe in about Sir Berners-Lee: He is credited as the "father of the World Wide Web," which is not the same as the Internet. As I understand it, the Internet grew out of the Arpanet, which was a US Department of Defense project, so I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that it was an American invention. However, what we understand today as "the Internet" is made possible not only by a number of networks but also a number of communications protocols, not all of which (I'm guessing) were developed in the US.

Now how to bring this back on topic... oh yeah, if it weren't for Berners-Lee, we might be having this conversation about rangefinders on some obscure Usenet newsgroup. 😀

Cheers,
Jeremy
 
tkluck said:
I was looking at an Argus C3 and got to wondering why we never made a "good" 35mm camera in the USA.
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Ah! In the USA. Lots of good things made in the American continent, you know, America.

Rubbermaid is very well made. But Wal-Mart penny-pinching punched the living daylights out of it.

(edit--how can I forget?): Patriot Memory; super-reliable memory (at least for me). Made in the USA.

I remember the days when good pencils, good telephones, good clothing, good computers (back in the day-- remember Texas Instruments, HP?) even good vegetables that had vegetable flavour in them were made in the USA.

I wonder if the next voting ballots will read in fine print "Printed in PROC"?
 
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mpt600 said:
I thought tv was invented by Logie Baird in Brighton? And computers by Charles Babbgage? And the internet by Sir Tim Berners-Lee? And wasn't the ball point pen invented by a Hungarian called Laszlo Biro?

But anyway, Californian wines have beaten the French in yet another blind taste test. Harley's are glorious, but make more sense in sparesly populated America rather than over crowded Britain or Europe. I'd still have one, though. Space travel must be mentioned. But we could go on all day. Lots to be proud of.
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Where to begin? The TV was invented in its present form in the US, Charles Babbage invented the computer as much as Microsoft invented programming --he invented a logarithmic machine which is pretty much the precursor of what we today think of as computers, the Internet was not "invented", but the algorithms and protocols that are its foundation were created by various engineers and scientists, and, ok, yes, the ballpoint pen was invented by Biro.

Also, while Californian wines "beat the French" in "yet another" blind taste test: context context context. I really don't even know where to begin there. But proof of the ignorance of the profession of such blanket statements is this: show me a Californian wine that could even half-beat a Sauternes or Jurançon. Last time I looked those were French wines too, and they've never been "beaten" in any blind test by any Californian wine.
 
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