Norris hates America: The thread of the musical sensation

[the King]

Could be worse. At least you're not Canadians.

Canada is superior to America in every way except for weather.

Also except for the price of beer and gas.

You know the essentials.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Gas mileage is better in Canada because they use kilometers not miles.

I would move to Halifax in a heartbeat.

[flex wood]

Gas mileage is better in Canada because they use kilometers not miles.

Is it still called mileage then?

[ZeroAX]

Oh, and ZeroAx, full integration into the United States is believed to definitely occur by the third generation of a family living in the United States. The original immigrants may never fully integrate, but their grandchildren will.

Also...really? American alcohol sucks? I think you should reconsider that by examining our contributions to the world of whiskey. And American wine is quite respected, even beating out Western Europe for awards. Yes, our beer industry has problems, and they're even worse than you think (seriously, American beer history is disturbing). But there's a lot more alcohol here than just that.

We wish we could intergrate them fully by the 3rd generation. We simply FAIL at it. But I also know of people who were fully intergrated into the US from the first generation. I think it should be super easy for Europeans who are willing to live like Americans to intergrate that fast.

hahahahaha. Come on dude. American wine? And your whiskey, yes it's good, but Europe (aka the Scots) have you outclassed.

Hm. What's wrong with your beer industry?


maybe, but you simply can't compare with Europe when it comes to alcohol. Don't forget how many French/Italian wines, German/Dutch/Czech beers, Scottish whickeys, Russian Vodka exist. And let's not even mention the obscure Balkan drinks.

In Greece alone we have 3 (though pretty similar) region specific drinks (you probably only know of ouzo). Though honestly they taste like crap, I have no idea why tourists (or my fellow countrymen for that matter) drink it


EDIT

Now if it's about gun, I think we invented a type of sword about 5 centuries ago

[jfrost]

Hm. What's wrong with your beer industry?

Some people over there actually drink light beer. I'm not kidding, I saw that with these eyes of mine that the earth will one day devour.

[ZeroAX]

Hm. What's wrong with your beer industry?

Some people over there actually drink light beer. I'm not kidding, I saw that with these eyes of mine that the earth will one day devour.

As in low calories, light beer?

[Forlorn Drifter]

Yes, and all the real men in America shake their heads in shame.

[ZeroAX]

Yes, and all the real men in America shake their heads in shame.

At least you still have the biggest burgers in the world mate. /pat on back

[Ack]

Oh, and ZeroAx, full integration into the United States is believed to definitely occur by the third generation of a family living in the United States. The original immigrants may never fully integrate, but their grandchildren will.

Also...really? American alcohol sucks? I think you should reconsider that by examining our contributions to the world of whiskey. And American wine is quite respected, even beating out Western Europe for awards. Yes, our beer industry has problems, and they're even worse than you think (seriously, American beer history is disturbing). But there's a lot more alcohol here than just that.

We wish we could intergrate them fully by the 3rd generation. We simply FAIL at it. But I also know of people who were fully intergrated into the US from the first generation. I think it should be super easy for Europeans who are willing to live like Americans to intergrate that fast.

hahahahaha. Come on dude. American wine? And your whiskey, yes it's good, but Europe (aka the Scots) have you outclassed.

Hm. What's wrong with your beer industry?


maybe, but you simply can't compare with Europe when it comes to alcohol. Don't forget how many French/Italian wines, German/Dutch/Czech beers, Scottish whickeys, Russian Vodka exist. And let's not even mention the obscure Balkan drinks.

In Greece alone we have 3 (though pretty similar) region specific drinks (you probably only know of ouzo). Though honestly they taste like crap, I have no idea why tourists (or my fellow countrymen for that matter) drink it


EDIT

Now if it's about gun, I think we invented a type of sword about 5 centuries ago

Yeah...Top 10 Wines 2012 in Wine Enthusiast Magazine, 5 were American. The no. 1 wine of Winespectator.com? American. Top 7 spots for wineries in the world, according to Insider Monkey? 2 are American, including the #2 spot (admittedly the #1 was Tuscany).

And as lovely as the Scots are with their whiskey, we gave the world bourbon, rye, wheat whiskey, malt whiskey, and corn whiskey. Then again, we've got more Scots than Scotland and more Irish than Ireland, so I'm really not surprised.

As for beer, it's never had a good run in the US until relatively recently. As the nation expanded, the production of whiskey and other types of distilled spirits was easier in a frontier setting than the production of beer, though breweries did form. By the closing of the frontier, there were several thousand breweries spread across the US. But Prohibition began rising, so some breweries began devoting more time and money to non-alcoholic products, known as "near beer." Once Prohibition began, the number of breweries dwindled as those that survived did so through a combination of near beer, producing other products that used alcohol (such as cleaning or medicinal supplies), selling off materials needed for brewing, bootlegging, or even selling unrelated products such as ice cream. The Great Depression further took a toll on breweries, leaving only a couple hundred alive by the mid-1930s, and many only barely so. Even after the end of Prohibition, many counties and towns remained dry, some of which remain so to this day, and states were slow to ratify the 21st amendment. Once World War 2 started, many of the principal components were used in the war effort, as were many of the men working as brewers. However taxes and arguments towards the health benefits of beer caused the government to allow brewing to continue, with 15% of all beer set aside for the military. And the beer industry joined together for national morale-based advertising, which helped lead them back to prominence.

The big winner of those troubled times was Anheuser-Busch, which struggled through the period but then began buying other breweries as soon as it could. Anheuser-Busch became the largest brewer in America in 1957(Anheuser-Busch currently controls about 47% of the US beer market. Another 30% is controlled by Coors Brewing Company). By the 1970s, competition over prices and market control lead to nameless beers going for dirt cheap but really not being worth creation.

However, the craft beer movement finally started gathering steam in the United States in the 1970s, with the first microbrewery opening in 1976 by Jack McAuliffe in California. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed H.R. 1337 to legalize the home production of small amounts of beer or wine for personal consumption. The number of breweries has since grown from 42 in 1978 to around 2750 in 2012, which is around the height during the colonial and frontier era.

Are there good beers in the US? Yes. But between Anheuser-Busch, Coors Brewing Company, and their investments into several microbreweries, roughly 80% of the market is controlled by those two companies. So it's an uphill battle for us to really have a good representation.

[Menegrothx]

Oh, and ZeroAx, full integration into the United States is believed to definitely occur by the third generation of a family living in the United States. The original immigrants may never fully integrate, but their grandchildren will.

Isn't that true for every country really? It really depends on whether the children are born to a family of 2 immigrants of the same country, who live in an area with a lot of immigrants from the same country, or is the child 50% native 50% immigrant. My experience might be limited, but generally the children of 1st generation immigrants are fully integrated/Europeans when they have one native parent.

Are there any gypsies in America? They seem to be an exception, they've been around for centuries and they're not integrating anywhere in Europe to my knowledge. It's probably same thing with some of the muslim immigrants (depends on country of origin), though they've been around for a lot shorter time (in most countries at least). Their children are caught up between 2 different cultures, and they have to choose between abandoning their family or refusing to assimilate to the host culture.