Go Fig <[email protected]> wrote:
    >But far more than that... we ALL should be concerned that this #1 attraction of
    >Paris did not take Credit Cards or EFT cards... as I believe was mentioned.

That certainly seemed to be the case in 2000. I wouldn't have expected ETM but was a
little surprised that they didn't take credit cards. Still, if you consider my
anecdote a little further, the couple had managed to make it to the middle of Paris
without using FF anyway
--
snail @ careless net ~ snail | Character is what you are in the dark! - Whorfin

In article <[email protected]>, Jani Patokallio <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Go Fig <[email protected]> wrote:
    > : Finland, like the U.S., is very dependant on foreign energy. Many of these
    > : payments are done in U.S. dollars... but that would depend on which country you
    > : buy from....
    >
    > Natural gas from Russia, uranium from Sweden (I think?), oil and coal from whoever
    > is selling it cheaply. No particular reason to use the USD for these, especially
    > now in the euro era.

Ok...but what about the years and years before that ?

jay Thu, Mar 21, 2002 mailto:[email protected]

    >
    > Cheers,

--

Legend insists that as he finished his abject... Galileo muttered under his breath:
"Nevertheless, it does move."

My info came from a docent at Bureau of Engraving & Printing, while on the tour.

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
(Hatunen) wrote:

    > On Thu, 21 Mar 2002 16:04:56 GMT, Go Fig <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > >As a sidebar: Fort Knox is a mystery to Americans... it is one of the few places
    > >in America where you can be arrested for taking pictures of
    > >it... but you cant even get close to it.
    >
    > Nonsense. I was stationed at Fort Knox when I was in the Army, and you can take
    > pictures all you like outside; the Dixie Highway passes close by. The depository is
    > located in a copse where the trees talk if you enter, but the copse is fairly
    > small. In fact, the officer's golf course is adjacent to the depository and a
    > sliced ball can easily land in the trees. The golfer will be watched as he
    > retrieves his ball but it is no big deal.

I was also told the if you breakdown/stop on that hwy... the military police will be
immediately dispatched.

In searching the web... I found only (1) pick of Fort Knox and ONLY the front... from
a U.S gov site... many pictures of all sorts of other Gov buildings... but none of
Fort Knox (the vault building). Do you have any from your time there ?

jay Thu, Mar 21, 2002 mailto:[email protected]

    >
    > On the other hand, the depository location at the T-intersection of Gold Vault Road
    > and Bullion Boulevard (honest!) can lead to, um, situations. An Army acquaitnance
    > got in big trouble one night when he and his friends got roaring drunk and simply
    > drove through the intersection and up to the gate. he says searchlight sent on, men
    > with machine guns came running out and a general movie-like situation came about.
    > Then, like a drunken fool, when the driver asked him to switch places becuase he,
    > the driver, didn't have a valid drivers license my friend cheerfully agreed.
    >
    > I have a 1950s topo map of the vicinity of the Gold Vault and it shows extensive
    > sinkholing near the vault (this area has karst geology) and legend had it that the
    > gold was in the many caves under that area. The other legend was that there never
    > was any gold in the depository, that it was a decoy.
    >
    > The move "Goldfinger" rather accurately shows the depository up to the moment they
    > blow up the main gate.
    >
    > >Moreover, there has only been one (that I know of) documentary film on it and a
    > >visit to it requires a PRESIDENTIAL ORDER.
    >
    > I'd like to see a citation for that claim. Of course, it is very difficult to visit
    > the interior.
    >
    > >In fact 'Conspiracy theorists' believe that much of it was transferred to the UK
    > >to keep the dollar artificially high back in the 60s. This documentary film was
    > >authorized, in part, to dispel those concerns... they showed the vault... with
    > >stuff that was at least gold in color.
    >
    > What documentary film?
    >
    >
    > ******* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *******
    > * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * ******* My typos are
    > intentional copyright traps ******

--

Legend insists that as he finished his abject... Galileo muttered under his breath:
"Nevertheless, it does move."

anonymouse wrote:
    >
    >
    > we were on a "group trip" with some people in the cattle business (mainly looking
    > at Chianina cattle in italy) and despite the loads of delicious local cuisine a few
    > people insisted on a 'STEAK' for lunch and dinner.

Well, I suspect quite a few Americans from the no-longer-so-wild West consider their
"daily steak" more basic than their "daily bread". (You did say these were "people in
the cattle business" - cattle ranchers, one presumes?) And people who are used to
such basic fare often regard haute cusine with suspicion, even at home. Perhaps you
haven't hosted a dinner party where one or two guests demanded to know exactly
"what's in it?" before they'd eat the meal you'd prepared for your guests! (I
understand food allergies, and try to avoid any food to which I know one of my guests
is allergic, but these people were not allergic, just rude - needless to say, they
didn't get invited a second time.)

[email protected] wrote:
    >
    > I can understand the surprise over the breakfst though. On our first visit to the
    > US we were staying in a nondescript chain hotel and the room price included
    > breakfast. The check-in staff pointed to a corner of the lounge area and said you
    > help yourself to breakfast which would be laid out there in the morning. When we
    > came down we saw some coffee and sticky chocolate doughnuts and thought great
    > that's morning coffee sorted, but where is breakfast? That's when we learned what
    > strange things Americans eat for breakfast.

W-e-l-l-l.... not ALL Americans! (Myself, I'm rather partial to the "full English"
variety - especially if it includes grilled mushrooms and tomatoes.) I don't stay in
hotels in the U.S. much (when I travel here, it's usually to visit relatives) but
when my Mom died and I had to go back to Minnesota, the Holiday Inn Express (!) where
I stayed provided a fairly adequate "do it yourself" breakfast - fruit juice, dry
cereal, toast.... you didn't HAVE to opt for the chocolate doughnuts unless you
wanted them. And a great many Americans (even outside of New York City) have gotten
into the bagel and cream cheese habit.

hamilton wrote:
    >
    >
    > American breakfast, like English breakfasts are traditionally served with eggs,
    > meat etc. Those would be advertised as a 'full breakfast' and quite a few fairly
    > cheap US motel chains serve them.

Without additional charge? Tell me where, I'll be sure to stay there, next time I
travel within the U.S.!

On Thu, 21 Mar 2002 23:12:56 +0000, Keith Anderson
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >On Thu, 21 Mar 2002 22:51:33 GMT, [email protected] (snail) wrote:
    >
    >>hamilton <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>><[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>> "K.Kosuge" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >>>> > argument of with, "That is NOT a continental breakfast! I should know, after
    >>>> > all--I'm FROM the continent!"
    >>>> It was a fake! I've never heard any British claming to be "from the continent"!
    >>>However, they do have their fair share of a**holes and snotty tourists who
    >>
    >>Yep, as do we all.
    >>
    >>>offended or embarrassed by my fellow yanks as tourists, the British give us a run
    >>>for the money in snottyness when things are not to their exacting
    >>
    >>There's a stereotype in Oz of a whinging pom complaining about how hot it is.
    >>Though I haven't met anyone who fit the stereotype.
    >>
    >There's a good Aussie joke about us whinging poms
    >
    >Q What's the difference between a British Airways jet and a Quantas jet landing at
    >Alice Springs?
    >
    >A The British Airways jet keeps whining even after they've turned the engines off.
    >
    >
    >Keith Bristol UK

What's that saying they have, 'As full as a pommie complaints box'. I like that!
--==++AJC++==--

"Evelyn Vogt Gamble (Divamanque)" <[email protected]> writes:

    > "K.Kosuge" wrote:
    > >
    >
    > > At any rate, arrogant loudmouths come in all nationalities. I checking into a
    > > hotel in Honolulu when a gentleman from the UK (judging from his accent) charged
    > > up to the desk ranting loudly about the free "Continental Breakfast" set up in
    > > the lobby. He berated the poor desk clerk unmercifully for way too long. Then he
    > > capped his argument of with, "That is NOT a continental breakfast! I should know,
    > > after all--I'm FROM the continent!"
    >
    > You did say "free" breakfast, didn't you? There's a saying in English (I don't
    > think it originated in the U.S.): "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" - that
    > would seem to cover the situation. If you're not paying for it, anyway, why not
    > just go elsewhere, if it's not to your liking? (But of course, the poor desk-clerk
    > couldn't say that, much as he might have liked to.)

Free, as included in the room price, does give him some justification for
complaining, if he was led to believe that it would really be something substantial.
On the other hand, "continental breakfast" does not imply anthing more than instant
coffee, a piece of toast with the cheapest jam. Anybody from the UK would be aware of
that, which is my reason to doubt this particular story.

But I do agree with the conclusion that arrogant loudmouths come in all
nationalities. I don't really see why this has to be proven. Any perception that any
nationality has a disproportionate number of them is most probably wrong unless
somehow backed up by measurements.

A biased selection (there are probably more loud Spaniards in Portugal than in the
Netherlands) or confirmation bias is far more likely explanations than the presence
of the actual phenomenon.

Not that it would persuade people who derive absolute truth from one short experience
ten years ago.

--
Fredrik Stax\"ang | rot13: [email protected]

On Fri, 22 Mar 2002 07:29:20 GMT, [email protected] wrote:

    >On Thu, 21 Mar 2002 23:12:56 +0000, Keith Anderson
    ><[email protected]> wrote:
    >

    >>There's a good Aussie joke about us whinging poms
    >>
    >>Q What's the difference between a British Airways jet and a Quantas jet landing at
    >>Alice Springs?
    >>
    >>A The British Airways jet keeps whining even after they've turned the engines off.
    >>
    >>
    >>Keith Bristol UK
    >
    >
    >What's that saying they have, 'As full as a pommie complaints box'. I like that!
    >--==++AJC++==--

hehehe!!!!! Haven't heard that one before!

On Thu, 21 Mar 2002, hamilton wrote:

    > In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
    > (Hatunen) wrote:
    >
    > > On 21 Mar 2002 12:49:22 GMT, Jani Patokallio <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >
    > >
    > > >Along these lines, an interesting catastrophe scenario was floated during the
    > > >days of Y2K hysteria. One of, if not the, largest holder of US Federal Reserve
    > > >bonds are Japanese banks. Now, a bond is essentially a loan, in which the buyer
    > > >gives money to the government and the government promises to pay it back with
    > > >interest. *If* the Japanese banks were caught in a liquidity crunch -- say, bank
    > > >runs during Y2K, although obviously this never happened -- they would be forced
    > > >to call in their bonds. According to the calculations of the doomsters, the US
    > > >government could not repay all the bonds held by the Japanese, and things would
    > > >soon become Interesting(tm) indeed...
    > >
    > > Bond holders do not call in bonds; the holder is stuck until maturity or until he
    > > can sell it to someone else. It's the bond-issuer that calls in the bond.
    >
    > yes -- but the US debt management depends on people buying up n ew bonds when they
    > come due. If the Saudis, Japanese and others who hold much of our debt decide not
    > to re-up, they could crash the system. W underdoubtedly has no clue as he sets
    > about resolutely increasing the debt once again, after we had just managed to start
    > paying it down in order to absorb future SS demand.

This has always been among the funnier 'disaster scenarios', that Japanese etc.
suddenly start to offload their US bonds in a big way. Result: dollar plummets and
the yen shoots up. Do the Japanese want that? No. The effect is the same if overseas
buyers begin a buying strike in dollar bonds. This would also have the effect of
pushing up US bond rates, which would adversely effect the US. But otherwise the main
effect would be that the US dollar drops in value, which mainly would affect
Europeans and Asians. This can in fact happen to a degree sometime in the reasonably
near future

Janne

On 21 Mar 2002, Jani Patokallio wrote:

    > Go Fig <[email protected]> wrote:
    > : Finland, like the U.S., is very dependant on foreign energy. Many of these
    > : payments are done in U.S. dollars... but that would depend on which country you
    > : buy from....
    >
    > Natural gas from Russia, uranium from Sweden (I think?), oil and coal from whoever
    > is selling it cheaply. No particular reason to use the USD for these, especially
    > now in the euro era.

Uranium comes from Russia, Canada and Australia, among others, and is priced in USD.
When Europe buys oil, even from the North Sea, it is also priced in US dollars.

Janne

"Deep Fried Mars" <[email protected]> writes:

    >> At any rate, arrogant loudmouths come in all nationalities.

    >Yeah, that they do.

    >On a slightly different note, last time I flew out of Heathrow, there was an
    >American couple that insisted that they should be able "jump the queue" because they
    >were late (that was ugly). Less than 24 hours later, I saw a Brit in Thailand
    >complaining loudly that "these people don't know how to queue" (even uglier!). I
    >once stepped right up to a cash register without realising the was a long, long
    >queue behind me. No-one said a thing, but much tongue-clicking took place!!!

    >The queueing thing in Britain seems to be taken very seriously!

I suppose they suggested you join the _far_queue_?
--
/"\ Bernd Felsche - Innovative Reckoning, Perth, Western Australia \ / ASCII ribbon
campaign | I'm a .signature virus! X against HTML mail | Copy me into your
~/.signature / \ and postings | to help me spread!

K.Kosuge <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>. ..
    > On Thu, 21 Mar 2002 10:02:30 +0100, "Gianandrea Gobbo"
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > >
    > >"K.Kosuge" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > >news:[email protected]...
    > >> At any rate, arrogant loudmouths come in all nationalities. I checking into a
    > >> hotel in Honolulu when a gentleman from the UK (judging from his accent) charged
    > >> up to the desk ranting loudly about the free "Continental Breakfast" set up in
    > >> the lobby. He berated the poor desk clerk unmercifully for way too long. Then he
    > >> capped his argument of with, "That is NOT a continental breakfast! I should
    > >> know, after all--I'm FROM the continent!"
    > >>
    > >
    > >It was a fake! I've never heard any British claming to be "from the continent"!
    > >
    > You can believe me or not, but, it wasn't a fake story or a troll. I'm the one who
    > posted & it really happened. Heard it with my own two ears, April 2000 at the
    > Waikiki Royal Suites Hotel. The reason I remember it so clearly is because it was
    > such a dumb thing to say! Karen

Karen - didn't you say: "...a gentleman from the UK (judging from his accent)..."

Perhaps your judgement was mistaken? I think you might be surprised at how well
non-Brits speak English with a British accent - or how many British born ex-pats
there are on the "continent".

Just a thought.

That aside - I find quite unusual in Europe, and moreover in Britain, to NOT
have a full breakfast when breakfast is included. Where does the term
"continental" breakfast come from and does it really mean a cup of coffee and a
sweet role to a European?

amp

Janne Salonen wrote:
    >
    > On 21 Mar 2002, Jani Patokallio wrote:
    >
    > > Go Fig <[email protected]> wrote:
    > > : Finland, like the U.S., is very dependant on foreign energy. Many of these
    > > : payments are done in U.S. dollars... but that would depend on which country you
    > > : buy from....
    > >
    > > Natural gas from Russia, uranium from Sweden (I think?), oil and coal from
    > > whoever is selling it cheaply. No particular reason to use the USD for these,
    > > especially now in the euro era.
    >
    > Uranium comes from Russia, Canada and Australia, among others, and is priced in
    > USD. When Europe buys oil, even from the North Sea, it is also priced in US
    > dollars.

Actually, all these commodities with market-based prices are in the same situation.
There are not truly anchored to a single currency. In other words, you can express
today's price in any currency you want and it won't make one iota's difference.

It's just that for simplicity and communication, people quote the price in USD.

(Currency only truly matters when some stuff somehow has a managed, i.e. fixed price,
in a specific currency. USD 35/ounce, for those of us old enough to remember, for
instance. Or OPEC targets.)

"Janne Salonen" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected]...
    > On 21 Mar 2002, Jani Patokallio wrote:
    >
    > > Go Fig <[email protected]> wrote:
    > > : Finland, like the U.S., is very dependant on foreign energy. Many of these
    > > : payments are done in U.S. dollars... but that would depend on which country you
    > > : buy from....
    > >
    > > Natural gas from Russia, uranium from Sweden (I think?), oil and coal from
    > > whoever is selling it cheaply. No particular reason to use the USD for these,
    > > especially now in the euro era.
    >
    > Uranium comes from Russia, Canada and Australia, among others, and is priced in
    > USD. When Europe buys oil, even from the North Sea, it is also priced in US
    > dollars. Janne
Yes it's true that much of the trade is "priced" in U.S dolllars. So are also much of
the wood and paper export from Sweden ,and I guess Finland. But the fact it's
"priced" in USD doesn't necessary mean it's paid in USD but rather in the equivalent
in respectively country. An export order to UK may be priced in USD but paid in GBP.
L.P