Driving in Europe is pretty cool!
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189mph?! Really?
commonsense
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Yeah, I was really going 189 mph. Actually, I saw 197 mph occasionally, but didn't catch it with the camrea on the GPS. I'm sure I went over 200. French Peugots are awesome! But it's a joke. I was on the French SNCF hi-speed train, on my way to LeMans. You can take a pee in the lavatory at 200 and the thing is hardly moving. And we can't even fix potholes over here.....
So wait, you were going 200mph in a French built car?! 
Not sure I would be brave enough.
Not sure I would be brave enough.
commonsense
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Yeah, I guess so. French built TRAIN car, I guess. It's so smooth and quiet, you wouldn't believe it. Actually, French built cars are pretty nice. I've rented Peugeots, Renaults, and Citroens and they're all pretty good. Hey, I've got a Fiat Abarth too, and it has never been in the shop in four years. But it's all built in North America, except the transaxle. Times change!
Ahhhhh, 200mph on a TRAIN....now I get it 
I actually hate traveling on the Autobahn. I thought it was fun when I was much younger, but now I'm not a fan. It would be great to have a stretch of no-speed-limit interstate near where you live to occasionally get out and really run, but it actually sucks to have to travel via road trip on the Autobahn. .
Last year my flight to Hamburg got canceled, and we took an immediate flight to Frankfurt instead so we could stay on our itinerary. An hour and a half drive to Kiel turned into a 5 hour plus drive through most of Germany South to North. The Autobahn is not like our interstates in as much as there are not hundred mile stretches through countryside. There are only certain actually rural stretches with no speed limit, and most of the time you are going through suburb looking areas where there is a speed limit . This means that you are constantly going from no limit down to 60 Kmph areas and then back up. Sometimes there's only a few miles of no limit before you reach a limit area, and the speed fluctuates all the time on a long trip. Cruise control is pointless. It's constantly accelerating and decelerating, navigating slower traffic and then getting blown away by performance cars. It simply requires way more concentration than the way we road trip over long distances, and I find it incredibly fatiguing over hours with little or no benefit in terms of time and progress.
I guess I just remembered it differently, because I thought it would be no big deal, and I could set the cruise on 90 and make the trip in a few hours. It seemed there were lots more areas with a speed limit this time. In fact I was wasted tired to begin with, and by the time we got to the ferry to Copenhagen I was totally exhausted. To me there is a big difference between driving a fun car to enjoy it, and trying to get somewhere. I would love to have an Autobahn nearby to drive the Cobra, but if asked to choose between the way they do long distance and the way we do it I think ours is much better. I'm only good for about 8 hours a day driving now, and five on the autobahn seemed like 24 straight on a US interstate. If I was intending to be doing a road race in a nice car it would be one thing, but in a crappy rental car you can have it. I'll putter along at 70 Mph and eat up the miles before exhausting myself like that. It's pretty clear why there are more manual transmission cars in Europe. They don't even know the meaning of "cruising".
Yes, it would be fun in a Cobra, but in the Land Rover sedan I had just trying to get from point A. to point B., and after a long flight, it was terrible. Long stretches of limitless highway would make a lot more sense here than it does over there.
Last year my flight to Hamburg got canceled, and we took an immediate flight to Frankfurt instead so we could stay on our itinerary. An hour and a half drive to Kiel turned into a 5 hour plus drive through most of Germany South to North. The Autobahn is not like our interstates in as much as there are not hundred mile stretches through countryside. There are only certain actually rural stretches with no speed limit, and most of the time you are going through suburb looking areas where there is a speed limit . This means that you are constantly going from no limit down to 60 Kmph areas and then back up. Sometimes there's only a few miles of no limit before you reach a limit area, and the speed fluctuates all the time on a long trip. Cruise control is pointless. It's constantly accelerating and decelerating, navigating slower traffic and then getting blown away by performance cars. It simply requires way more concentration than the way we road trip over long distances, and I find it incredibly fatiguing over hours with little or no benefit in terms of time and progress.
I guess I just remembered it differently, because I thought it would be no big deal, and I could set the cruise on 90 and make the trip in a few hours. It seemed there were lots more areas with a speed limit this time. In fact I was wasted tired to begin with, and by the time we got to the ferry to Copenhagen I was totally exhausted. To me there is a big difference between driving a fun car to enjoy it, and trying to get somewhere. I would love to have an Autobahn nearby to drive the Cobra, but if asked to choose between the way they do long distance and the way we do it I think ours is much better. I'm only good for about 8 hours a day driving now, and five on the autobahn seemed like 24 straight on a US interstate. If I was intending to be doing a road race in a nice car it would be one thing, but in a crappy rental car you can have it. I'll putter along at 70 Mph and eat up the miles before exhausting myself like that. It's pretty clear why there are more manual transmission cars in Europe. They don't even know the meaning of "cruising".
Yes, it would be fun in a Cobra, but in the Land Rover sedan I had just trying to get from point A. to point B., and after a long flight, it was terrible. Long stretches of limitless highway would make a lot more sense here than it does over there.
commonsense
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I have to strongly disagree and I drive the autobahn in Europe often. They know how to drive over there and are courteous. No assholes sitting in the fast lane. You don't have to drive around 'moving pylons'. The right lane is the slow lane. Middle lane intermediate and fast cars in the left lane. I hate driving interstates in America.
commonsense
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I drove 100 mph comfortably, when there was no construction. The part I was on, this time (in the southeast) was not very congested. My experience on the autobahn is total delight! I'm someone that's always in the left lane, here at home. To approach a car in front and have them magically signal and move to the center or right lane is just a thrill. They see you far enough ahead that you never have to slow down. It's like a choreographed ballet. The way it should be. If I was a cop over here, I would do nothing but cite lane blockers. The law says 'keep right except to pass' but these idiots think they're going fast enough and screw anyone behind. I'm constantly changing lanes to go around them. It's probably the thing in life that most drives me mad.
With due respect to all you guys out there who think 'America is the Greatest Country on Earth'--I respectfully disagree, Europe is the way it should be done. Virtually no crime, no poverty, no trash, almost everyone is middle class. You don't see mansions, but you also don't see shacks. Mobile homes and double wides? You're kidding. Asphalt shingles? You're kidding. Things are built to last. The Autobahn pavement is twice as thick as US interstate, with dedicated drainage underneath. It goes decades without being resurfaced, rather than a few years. And you also don't see all these BMW's and Mercedes. Everyone drives mid priced cars. But you almost never see a car older than maybe 3 or 4 years. I've been to Europe 36 of the last 38 years and have been to every country except Albania. If you haven't gone, you need to. It's really paradise.
With due respect to all you guys out there who think 'America is the Greatest Country on Earth'--I respectfully disagree, Europe is the way it should be done. Virtually no crime, no poverty, no trash, almost everyone is middle class. You don't see mansions, but you also don't see shacks. Mobile homes and double wides? You're kidding. Asphalt shingles? You're kidding. Things are built to last. The Autobahn pavement is twice as thick as US interstate, with dedicated drainage underneath. It goes decades without being resurfaced, rather than a few years. And you also don't see all these BMW's and Mercedes. Everyone drives mid priced cars. But you almost never see a car older than maybe 3 or 4 years. I've been to Europe 36 of the last 38 years and have been to every country except Albania. If you haven't gone, you need to. It's really paradise.
My whole family is from Denmark, and "Virtually no crime, no poverty, no trash, almost everyone is middle class", isn't true even there. If there was anywhere it ever was true it's Scandinavia, but it's still a stretch when Denmark was only Danes. At least it was much more true forty years ago than it is today. Now there are tenements and slums (government subsidized) in my hometown of Arhus every bit as bad as Darst/Webbe was here. No one goes there, including the police unless they have to. The Europe you're talking about is fading fast because the population of native Europeans is shrinking.
Socialism can work rather well when everyone shares the same language, culture, heritage, morals, values, goals, and beliefs. Once you introduce "diversity" into that delicate, cultural formula of one-size-fits-all it falls apart very rapidly, as it is doing before our very eyes in Europe.
I would rather drive through the worst parts of East St. Louis at night than certain suburbs of both Western and Eastern European cities. There, as here, it has everything to do with culture. Significant parts of Europe are simply no longer European. Even 20 years ago Amsterdam was, as you say, spotless. Now I continue to be shocked every year I go at the amount of trash and litter everywhere. They do a pretty good job of picking it up, but it reappears every morning by the ton, and it never used to be that way. I'm over there all the time, and it is changing fast.
It worked for them when they didn't have to protect themselves, and they were all the same. Enjoy what remains while you can, because it's all going to be gone very soon.
commonsense
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I agree with most of what you said.....except for East St. Louis! They don't have 350 million guns in Europe. But you're correct, immigration only works when immigrants adopt the culture of their new land--as millions of Irish, Italians, Germans, etc. did here. And I agree that Europe is going to spiral down, given the incredible immigration they're allowing. My parents were both born in London, in fact, I'm a dual national US and UK. My dad was born in the poorer East London town of East Ham. Today, it's all Pakistani and white women can't walk around many places without being told to cover their heads. Terrible shame. The Japanese have it right. They severely restrict immigration and the country is unified in almost all things cultural. But I spent almost a week in Amsterdam two years ago and it was almost the same as when I was there in 1971--at least the central core. And the rest goes for most of Europe. This time I was in Poland and the Czech Republic--where I hadn't been in 20 years. It's almost like Germany now. Clean, beautiful, neat, and safe anywhere except for petty crime. But, as you say, it won't last.
My wife and I took a driving trip from Pittsburgh back to St. Louis this past fall. And it could make you cry. Nothing but abandoned mill towns, boarded up houses, derelict downtowns (mostly because of Walmart). I told her there's no reason to even make driving trips around the Eastern US anymore. Nothing to see. I watched Anthony Bourdain on TV last night and he visited Western Massachusetts, which used to be one of the most beautiful places in the country. Now there are hundreds of heroin addicts in every small town. Abandoned needles everywhere. Homeless people living under rail bridges. Huge increases in crime to feed their habits. It's not even safe to take a New England driving trip in the fall anymore. You need to be careful where you go in Southern Missouri. There are meth labs everywhere and if you take the wrong dirt road, you could be in trouble.
I don't know what the world is coming to. But I know why. Overpopulation. Computers, automation are replacing almost all the jobs. McDonalds, all over Europe, have replaced counter staff with tablets where you order yourself. 1/2 the employees gone, in every restaurant. It's coming here. In a perfect world, we would all be having 1 child or less, to reduce population to the jobs available. But, instead, the world population is still doubling about every 30 to 40 years. The rich don't mind. The richest 1% of Americans had their net wealth increased 188% just last year. They now control about 80% of the wealth in America. The 20 richest Americans are worth the same as the poorest 150 million.
One of the main problems in America is the rich pay hardly any taxes. California was collapsing and Jerry Brown got in office and just raised taxes on the rich. Problem solved. California went from something like a 30 billion deficit to 10 billion dollar surplus. They'd be the 6th biggest economy in the world, if they were a country. They just passed France. The rich wouldn't even notice it if their taxes were raised.
My wife and I took a driving trip from Pittsburgh back to St. Louis this past fall. And it could make you cry. Nothing but abandoned mill towns, boarded up houses, derelict downtowns (mostly because of Walmart). I told her there's no reason to even make driving trips around the Eastern US anymore. Nothing to see. I watched Anthony Bourdain on TV last night and he visited Western Massachusetts, which used to be one of the most beautiful places in the country. Now there are hundreds of heroin addicts in every small town. Abandoned needles everywhere. Homeless people living under rail bridges. Huge increases in crime to feed their habits. It's not even safe to take a New England driving trip in the fall anymore. You need to be careful where you go in Southern Missouri. There are meth labs everywhere and if you take the wrong dirt road, you could be in trouble.
I don't know what the world is coming to. But I know why. Overpopulation. Computers, automation are replacing almost all the jobs. McDonalds, all over Europe, have replaced counter staff with tablets where you order yourself. 1/2 the employees gone, in every restaurant. It's coming here. In a perfect world, we would all be having 1 child or less, to reduce population to the jobs available. But, instead, the world population is still doubling about every 30 to 40 years. The rich don't mind. The richest 1% of Americans had their net wealth increased 188% just last year. They now control about 80% of the wealth in America. The 20 richest Americans are worth the same as the poorest 150 million.
One of the main problems in America is the rich pay hardly any taxes. California was collapsing and Jerry Brown got in office and just raised taxes on the rich. Problem solved. California went from something like a 30 billion deficit to 10 billion dollar surplus. They'd be the 6th biggest economy in the world, if they were a country. They just passed France. The rich wouldn't even notice it if their taxes were raised.
Sorry, I can't stop thinking/being bothered about this.
I'm pretty well traveled, and have also lived and worked overseas in first and third world countries. I've also worn a uniform and carried a rifle in places no one goes on vacation. Everyone is entitled to their opinion (at least in America they are), but you can firmly put me in the camp of believing this is the greatest country not just on earth, but in all of known human history. I've bet my life upon that belief. It isn't just by the numbers either. In fact, I'd argue that most of the other developed nations of the earth would not be 1/10th as nice or as free as they are without us, or they may not even exist at all.
I had better stop or I'm liable to get very worked up. In a week that has established our republican democracy has been transformed into a feudal system of vassals/nobles, where the nobles are above the law, I should not be debating American Exceptionalism.
I'm pretty well traveled, and have also lived and worked overseas in first and third world countries. I've also worn a uniform and carried a rifle in places no one goes on vacation. Everyone is entitled to their opinion (at least in America they are), but you can firmly put me in the camp of believing this is the greatest country not just on earth, but in all of known human history. I've bet my life upon that belief. It isn't just by the numbers either. In fact, I'd argue that most of the other developed nations of the earth would not be 1/10th as nice or as free as they are without us, or they may not even exist at all.
I had better stop or I'm liable to get very worked up. In a week that has established our republican democracy has been transformed into a feudal system of vassals/nobles, where the nobles are above the law, I should not be debating American Exceptionalism.
I wouldn't argue with you about the problems. They are self evident. There is an ocean between us about the causes and what can be done to create solutions.
Problem solved? Seriously?
Will California Ever Thrive Again
I'm done. I just put the last steel band on my head to keep my head from exploding.
Problem solved? Seriously?
Will California Ever Thrive Again
I'm done. I just put the last steel band on my head to keep my head from exploding.
commonsense
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Hey, if we don't talk about this stuff, how will it ever get fixed?
And, by the way, to present my 'credentials' I have five years of college teaching experience--in US and World Geography--and have visited over 100 countries.
The problem with the USA is that the rich have hijacked the system. They don't need votes. They buy votes. And they do it by finding one or two stupid issues that don't affect the overall economy (or their wealth)--like abortion and guns--and get people to vote against their own self interest. How do you get people without health insurance to vote against it? Tell them that 'the liberals' want to take their guns and that they're baby killers.' So, 'the common people' ignore what's important--like jobs and the economy. Trickle down economics used to work when the rich spent their money in the US, but they just send it overseas to tax shelters, buying factories in other countries, buying real estate overseas, etc.
Donald Trump is a clown, but he has some good ideas. Fixing trade is one of them. I import inventory from China, for my business, and pay only 4.9% duties (because rich people in the US don't want to pay to bring stuff in--that would negate their moving factories overseas in the first place). When I sell to people overseas (60% of my sales are overseas--I bring more money into America than I send out), these people pay between 20 and 100% import duties. That protects their factories and jobs. Yes, it's 'socialism' but socialism is just controlled capitalism--and the system we should have in the US--like EVERY other developed country in the world. But the rich equate 'socialism' with 'communism' so the 'common man' will be against it. They're not the same thing.
Socialism is no more than a system that protects the common people from the rich.
The US Constitution has stood us in good stead for more than 200 years, but it's time for an update. The States can call a Constitutional Convention, at any time, and rewrite it. We need to change to a Parliamentary democracy--like the other 50 or so democracies have. In that system, there is 'only' what we currently call the House of Representatives. And the Speaker of the House is the Prime Minister. No Senate, No executive branch. A clown like Trump can't get elected in a Parliamentary democracy because the other members elect the leader, not some coal miner in Appalachia who has no clue about who should lead the free world.
And, by the way, to present my 'credentials' I have five years of college teaching experience--in US and World Geography--and have visited over 100 countries.
The problem with the USA is that the rich have hijacked the system. They don't need votes. They buy votes. And they do it by finding one or two stupid issues that don't affect the overall economy (or their wealth)--like abortion and guns--and get people to vote against their own self interest. How do you get people without health insurance to vote against it? Tell them that 'the liberals' want to take their guns and that they're baby killers.' So, 'the common people' ignore what's important--like jobs and the economy. Trickle down economics used to work when the rich spent their money in the US, but they just send it overseas to tax shelters, buying factories in other countries, buying real estate overseas, etc.
Donald Trump is a clown, but he has some good ideas. Fixing trade is one of them. I import inventory from China, for my business, and pay only 4.9% duties (because rich people in the US don't want to pay to bring stuff in--that would negate their moving factories overseas in the first place). When I sell to people overseas (60% of my sales are overseas--I bring more money into America than I send out), these people pay between 20 and 100% import duties. That protects their factories and jobs. Yes, it's 'socialism' but socialism is just controlled capitalism--and the system we should have in the US--like EVERY other developed country in the world. But the rich equate 'socialism' with 'communism' so the 'common man' will be against it. They're not the same thing.
Socialism is no more than a system that protects the common people from the rich.
The US Constitution has stood us in good stead for more than 200 years, but it's time for an update. The States can call a Constitutional Convention, at any time, and rewrite it. We need to change to a Parliamentary democracy--like the other 50 or so democracies have. In that system, there is 'only' what we currently call the House of Representatives. And the Speaker of the House is the Prime Minister. No Senate, No executive branch. A clown like Trump can't get elected in a Parliamentary democracy because the other members elect the leader, not some coal miner in Appalachia who has no clue about who should lead the free world.
And the reason for keeping political and religous discussions off a forum. One cannot express their emotions with typed words. I won't close this thread, but ask that the tone be taken down a notch or two please.
commonsense
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Hey. You can take it down. The whole subject is so depressing, I know. We have our cars for fun and entertainment and this is not the place to get into this. I appreciate that it didn't escalate, but let's move on. d
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