mrken30

It's easier to use a pan than try to use a coffee maker to boil water. Not many hotels in the US have kettles. Which reminds me big culture shock was how slow toasters are in the US. I managed to find a 1200w toaster after an extensive search, only takes 2 to 3 mins.

dc koop

Young people aren't concerned about healthcare and don't want to spend the money on it. They need cars, college fees and money to buy homes.
Americans of all ages don't like high taxes and many politicians consider a national healthcare system as Euro style socialism so there you have it.

SultanOfSwing

I read something once about 110V being shitty for boiling water. At any rate, the water round here is so hard the element would have limescale on it almost instantly

I just bought a stove-top whistling kettle when I moved out here for the four times a year I remember I have tea bags and fancy a cup. Works perfectly for me.

dj6372

I've changed my mind, my biggest culture shock is Californians inability to drive in the rain, yes I know I whined about this previously but come on its effin rain, people driving on the freeway with main beam, foglights and driving at 20 mph! in drizzle arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

dc koop

The problem with the roads is that after so long without rain they're as greasy and slippery as hell when the rain does fall so hauling ass at 50 or more in any kind of rain means you'd better keep a very safe long distance behind the car ahead and in California it's always the fault of the driver who rear ends another.

Beaverstate

Very true. Not as bad as back in the 70's when so many cars were constantly dripping oil with no rain for 5 months to wash it away. The first minor rain of the fall and the roads were little better than ice covered.

dj6372

Very good point, but we had 2 days of torrential rain last week to wash off the shite, and this was drizzle, I mean no need for wipers drizzle!

MidAtlantic

Around here they drive faster the harder it rains and then, on the rare occasions that we have ice or snow, they drive faster still. Get past the danger more quickly seems to be the logic.

RoadWarriorFromLP

Well, feel free to join the National Guard because that's the modern militia.

One of the motivations for relying on a militia system was the fact that the fledgling US didn't have the money to pay for the gear, so the early Militia Acts were a sort of tax that mandated that able-bodied men go scrape together some money to buy their own stuff. That is no longer necessary or practical, obviously.

Another motivation was that militias also served as the local posse, i.e. they helped the local sheriff to round up runaway slaves and find accused criminals. Fortunately, the former is no longer an issue and we now have professional police forces for the latter.

In any case, one of the lessons of the War of 1812 was that relying upon militias for defense was a lousy idea. So the idea of having only a small standing army was tossed out the window due to practical considerations; we don't want to rely on a bunch of amateurs who are all talk and no walk to protect the country.

dc koop

Most drivers slow down when it first rains, even if it's a drizzle but after a day or two if it's still raining speeds tend to return to near normal. That's my experience although in this part of the world it's unusual if the rain lasts more than one day at a time.

mrken30

There was me blaming Oregonians, but it's probably the migrant Californian that drive 20 mph in the rain.

dc koop

Yes I once saw what happens when people drive like maniacs in the rain. I used to do a bit of driving in Vermont years ago and it rains more than a bit in that State. A VW Bug passed me as if I was standing still and I was doing around 45 at the time in a heavy downpour. Two miles further on the traffic slowed down, people were out of their cars gathered around a wrecked vehicle which had collided head on with a power pole. It was the VW, both drivers gone straight through the windshield, both dead. I suppose neither of them were wearing seat belts. Pretty awful to look at.

dc koop

Oregon was one of the last States to drop the ridiculous 55 MPH max speed limit which became law in the 70s due to the alleged "gas shortage" crisis.

There used to be a sign at the border aimed at Californians which said something like "The state of Oregon still observes the 55 MPH limit"

They don't much like Californians in Oregon anyway

lansbury

That is an exaggeration. We don't like them at all.

mrken30

There still is a 55 mph limit on highways through cities. I5 is 55 through Portland.