Gee-og-raffy

[JSUCamel]

I done learnt me good gee-og-raffy. Pops, you so smart you make me look like that ol' spittoon under them coons.

http://biggeekdaddy.com/sitebuilder/images/Redneck_Map-803x573.png

[Frenzy]

Wait, i'm confused. Is Long Island Useless or Gay?

[Terez]

I love the Louisiana-shaped Water. :D

[irerancincpkc]

My state sucks! Benjamin Franklin? That's it? :D

[caladanbrood]

Heh, you and your amusing square states :D

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Hey! We're not Mexico!

Ok..Yeah, we are.


Se habla Espanol?

[caladanbrood]

Solo un poco:(

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Me, too. I keep wanting to answer in French.

[Zaela Sedai]

Hehe well Long Island did want to secede

[Crispin's Crispian]

Bigfoot? That's it?


OK, yeah. That's it.

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Well... lots of rain....

[Mort]

http://www.ilmatar.net/%7Enp/hate/america.gif

[Sarevok]

LOL

[Verin Mathwin]

Hey! Ohio is more than nothing... ok, maybe you are right. But we do have Cedar Point... does that count for anything?

[cathar]

Yay i have cows.

[Terez]

lol...you live in Montana? I think you're our only TL'er from there. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong...

Oh, and what's up with the gays in Iowa? I get CA and NY I guess...but Iowa? Am I missing something here?

[JSUCamel]

I remember back in high school when I had the epiphany as to why San Francisco is the gay capital of the world.

We learned in history class that way back in '49 during the gold rush, there were 12 men for every woman in San Francisco. So, assuming every woman was.. *ahem*.. fully occupied... that means at least 7 of those 12 men were left to their own devices... or each other.

Maybe the farmers in Iowa are the same :p

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Nope. It's the Iowa Writer's Colony. That's pretty much the only other thing there, other than corn.

[ShadowbaneX]

Imram was in Montana, iirc.

[Terez]

And apparently you're from Minnesota. Who knew? :)

[ShadowbaneX]

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

[tworiverswoman]

Japan?? Uhhh... well.... Hmmm.... ~looks around~

Did you know that Hawaii is the only state in the union in which WHITE people are a minority? It still isn't counted that way -- but it's true. White folk account for only 28% of the total population here. And 17.5% of the total population are foreign born.

Interesting.

[Frenzy]

Whites are a minority in California too. Then again, there isn't a majority in California right now. Give it 8-10 years.

[Terez]

Breed race! When's your next one due, Frenzy? :p

[caladanbrood]

How the English see the world:

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/4462/englishworldmn6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Goldeneyes]

Interesting that LI was pointedly not included in NY.

[JSUCamel]

Interesting that LI was pointedly not included in NY.

I've always thought of it as the impotent, flaccid penis of New York.

My personal favorite from my original map is Louisiana :P

[Terez]

I've always thought of it as the impotent, flaccid penis of New York.
You would. :p

[Crispin's Crispian]

Imram was in Washington. (That's what we call it here...none of that "Washington State" crap.)

I love the English map. "Bits..." LOL

[Sarevok]

One could make a map similar to the of England for the Netherlands :(

[Mort]

Once Sweden had Norway and Finland, and sometimes when we felt like it, we went to Poland and other places to teach them who was boss. Pissed it all away :(

[ShadowbaneX]

I thought he was in Montana before he moved to Washington.

[Frenzy]

He was in Idaho, iirc.

[Terez]

Bigfoot, cows, same difference. :p

[Ozymandias]

Once Sweden had Norway and Finland, and sometimes when we felt like it, we went to Poland and other places to teach them who was boss. Pissed it all away :(

So not true, Mort! You pissed nothing away! Quite the opposite, the Swedes are the noblest race on the planet. You signed the Treaty of Moss because you felt bad for the Norwegish, not because of pissing it away.

I love Sweden. So much.

[Gilshalos Sedai]

The Norwegish?


On behalf of Uno, I smack thee with the holy carp of death and destruction.

[Crispin's Crispian]

The Norwegish?


On behalf of Uno, I smack thee with the holy carp of death and destruction.

On behalf of my proud Norwegian grandmother (is there any other kind), I take yonder fish from Gil (hehe) and smack thee a second time.

Uff da.

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Well, I do have one of those, too. And a half Norwegian grandfather.

But I think Uno counts more. ;)

[Crispin's Crispian]

Well, I do have one of those, too. And a half Norwegian grandfather.

But I think Uno counts more. ;)

You never met my grandmother. ;)

But that's why Uno got to go first.

[Davian93]

Was all that before or after Peter the Great whipped the Swedes into the ground?

[Mort]

Was all that before or after Peter the Great whipped the Swedes into the ground?

Now now... we gave the russians a good fight! :) We were pretty deep into russian territory at one point and crushed russian armies. The big problem was that we fought ALOT of people, the polish, danes-norweigians and the russians. Pretty interesting read about The Great Northern War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_The_Great#Great_Northern_War) At least for swedes :)

We lost Finland to Peter the Great during the reign of King Charles XII, our hold on Norway was always a little shakey, Charles XII died there (speculations say it was an assasination from one of his own guys, but no one knows for sure I think). For anyone wondering, this was the beginning of the 1700s

It's safe to say that back in the day, Sweden wasn't as nice as we are today :D

[Brita]

I'm a quarter Swedish! Maiden name Tornblom. Do you know any Tornbloms Mort?

[Mort]

I'm a quarter Swedish! Maiden name Tornblom. Do you know any Tornbloms Mort?

Nope, can't say I do, but it does sound like a typical swedish surname :)

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Funny thing is, I'm also 1/8 Swedish. That Norwegian grandmother was half Swede. (Kilgren was her maiden name.)

[JSUCamel]

Hilarious.

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Smartass.

All it means is, I shouldn't go around just bashing one side. I get to bash both. ;)

[Uno]

We lost Finland to Peter the Great during the reign of King Charles XII, our hold on Norway was always a little shakey, Charles XII died there (speculations say it was an assasination from one of his own guys, but no one knows for sure I think). For anyone wondering, this was the beginning of the 1700s

It's safe to say that back in the day, Sweden wasn't as nice as we are today :D

Finland was a Swedish province until 1809, when it was ceded to Russia, becoming a Grand Principality (usually rendered "Grand Duchy" in English) attached to the czar.

After the various confusing Nordic dynastic unions of the late medieval period, Norway and Sweden were only in union between 1814 and 1905, and it was almost exclusively a personal union, vested in the person of the king, whose title was king of Sweden and Norway (in Sweden) or king of Norway and Sweden (in Norway).

This last of the Nordic unions was at any rate a pretty bizarre creature. In Sweden, the king still enjoyed a high degree of personal rule, while in Norway, the elected parliament dominated politics. Granted, the kings of the nineteenth century were fairly liberal monarchs, but it's open to question whether a union between countries with such different political systems was really viable in the long run. Norway's 1814 constitution originally gave the king a high degree of personal power, but that was because it was written in expectation of a purely Norwegian monarchy. During the union with Sweden, on the other hand, it was widely believed by Norwegians that the king put Swedish above Norwegian interests. For that reason, the Norwegian parliament steadily chipped away at the king's personal power, culminating with the introduction of a parliamentarian system of government in 1884.

Beyond the common king, there were very few political institutions shared by the two countries. The military remained separate, as did legislation, taxation, and coinage. Foreign policy was somewhat coordinated, but, of course, foreign relations fell under the traditional prerogative powers of the king. Hell, during the last decade of the union, the supposedly united countries were actually fortifying their common border in anticipation of a future war, so from about 1895, it was a question of when and how, not if, the union would be dissolved.

[JSUCamel]

Yeah, and the Germans owe me reparations, since I'm Jewish and my grandfather was in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. But part of me doesn't care -- exactly 1/74th of me doesn't care, since I'm 1/74th German.

I once cussed out a Norwegian, but it's okay, because my great, great, great, great grandfather was from Norway.

Once, this driver pissed me off, so I cussed him out and called him a n***** for cutting me off. It's okay, though, because I'm 1/32,843 African. I'm sure he'll understand. After all, we're kin!

I guess those times when I crave sushi, it's the 1/547th of me that's Japanese, and those times when I get obsessed with death and want a nice burial, that's my 1/8,426th Egyptian side.

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Wow, you're just a mess, Camel.

[JSUCamel]

Just one of my personal pet peeves. Ancestry gives you no rights, as far as I'm concerned, and it annoys the living shit out of me when people tell a really offensive black joke and then qualify it with "It's okay, my grandmother's aunt was black."

Sorry, that shit don't fly with me.

[Mort]

Just one of my personal pet peeves. Ancestry gives you no rights, as far as I'm concerned, and it annoys the living shit out of me when people tell a really offensive black joke and then qualify it with "It's okay, my grandmother's aunt was black."

Sorry, that shit don't fly with me.

Haha, people do that? :D

[caladanbrood]

Well I'm 1/4 Danish, so I can claim some scandinavian heritage. Of course, the other 3/4 being English, I can also claim descent from the majority of europe, or at least all the places that have invaded us over the years... so probably a tiny little bit more than 1/4 danish:D

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Dude, I tell I racist joke, I can always say, it's OK, my brother in law is black. [/tongue-in-cheek]

[Terez]

I hear that one so often, from racist people. But then, I've known girls that date black guys that still talk like they're racist...

[Bryan Blaire]

I'm not anything -ist. I hate everyone equally.

[Ozymandias]

If I tell a racist joke... I stand by it. People need to have thicker skin. I don't mind most Holocaust jokes. As long as you know its a joke, well, thats why its called a joke.

I mean seriously. So your great great great grandfather was a slave. I'm suitably sympathetic, but most people take it extremely personally when personally, they had nothing to do with it. At some point I'm geussing most of us were slaves under the Romans or something like that

[JSUCamel]

THANK YOU!

Thank you.

thank you.

ozy.

[Gilshalos Sedai]

And then the Goths sacked Rome and then the Moors invaded Europe....

Everybody got screwed over somewhere.



Americans are only interested in geneology since we don't really have a history of our own. The natives left nothing really permanent behind (or rather, we didn't let them) and the European-American 'history' only goes back 400-500 years. As selfish we as a people are, do we really want to forget most of our ancestors came from another part of the world? That the people we screw over in our 'diplomacy' were our cousins, sisters, brothers, aunts or uncles, or even parents?

I'm interested in only why my ancestors came here, some voluntarily, some not-so-voluntarily. What on earth would make you leave everything you know in a relatively civilized part of the world to come and risk starvation, disease, and predation to literally carve out a nation from the wilderness? (And wipe out the natives you found there that weren't truly a threat, they just happened to be where you wanted to live?) Were things THAT awful in Europe 400-500 years ago? Will they get that awful again, so that my decendants will be on Alpha Centauri centuries from now, wondering how badly the shit hit the fan here on Earth that Bryan and I or our children fled to the stars?

[caladanbrood]

The house I used to live in is older than America. This makes me chuckle;)

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Were the doorknobs really low and the lintels shorter than in modern houses?


When I lived in New Jersey, there were some older houses. Some as old as our country, some had even housed the Revolutionary "army." The owner of one of the old houses used to give a tour on Halloween to her neighbors. It still had some of the original wall stencilling that had been preserved over the centuries.

[Davian93]

Now now... we gave the russians a good fight! :) We were pretty deep into russian territory at one point and crushed russian armies. The big problem was that we fought ALOT of people, the polish, danes-norweigians and the russians. Pretty interesting read about The Great Northern War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_The_Great#Great_Northern_War) At least for swedes :)

We lost Finland to Peter the Great during the reign of King Charles XII, our hold on Norway was always a little shakey, Charles XII died there (speculations say it was an assasination from one of his own guys, but no one knows for sure I think). For anyone wondering, this was the beginning of the 1700s

It's safe to say that back in the day, Sweden wasn't as nice as we are today :D

I'll agree that Chuck 12 did a good job all the way up to the point where Russia crushed him at Poltava. He was considered one of the great warrier kings of Europe til that point. Of course one could also argue that Russia did what Russians do best and that is to retreat until the enemy has exhausted itself with the vast reaches of the Rodina and then crush them.

Charles XII let his arrogance and supreme belief in his own tactical genius and the ability of his troops blind him to the logistical nightmare that Russia is and was. He did give it a good fight though.

[caladanbrood]

Were the doorknobs really low and the lintels shorter than in modern houses?
Well you had to duck sometimes (I didn't I was a kid) but it wasn't too bad. Of course there are some buildings where I live that are at least twice that age. One of them in now a cinema, in fact:D