I'm American. Ask me anything.

[classic33]

The borders of Austria, Switzerland and Germany arrive with precision at the lakeshore, only to dissolve when they hit the water.

No treaty agreement has ever been reached dividing the lake.

 

[figbat]

There’s Cueta too. And Campione d’Italia.

 

[Shadow]

Looked it up on Google Maps, I was wrong. Point Roberts, WA is on a peninsula south of the 49th parallel, but has no mainland access without crossing the Canadian border.

Correct.
When the 49th was decided to be the border nobody thought of looking at the details, so Point Roberts is separated from the rest of mainland US.

Another question tomorrow. Where is Uncle Sam (paging @anothersam) to enjoy these?

 

[Shadow]

Borders are weird. There's a Mexican town in the USA (or is it the other way around?) because the border was defined along the centre of the Rio Grande which changed course over the years since the border was agreed.

Can you recall, or look up, where that is?

I like the Saatse Boot or the Catalan town of Llivia surrounded entirely by France.

I'm too lazy; please elucidate!

 

[Shadow]

There's a Canadian Island on the east coast that has no mainland access to Canada, sort of mirror situation.

Canada is full of islands - as an aside it has the world's largest island within an island! - all without access to the mainland. Not understanding how this is a mirrored situation.

 

[Edwardoka]

There’s Cueta too. And Campione d’Italia.

It is impossible to encounter discussion of Ceuta without also mentioning Melilla.

Can you recall, or look up, where that is?

Río Rico, Tamaulipas (wikipedia)

I'm too lazy; please elucidate!

Saatse Boot (google maps) - a stretch of road that goes from Estonia, into Russia, and back into Estonia. The only way to get from the EU into Russia without a visa, although you're not allowed to stop on the road.

Llivia (google maps) - a landlocked enclave and exclave of Spain surrounded entirely by France

Kaliningrad (google maps) That bit of Russia no-one really acknowledges. A very interesting place historically, its state as a Russian exclave is rather controversial.

I will admit I only heard about Río Rico (and was reminded of Llivia, but knew of it before) because of a youtube channel called Half as Interesting and I only heard about Saatse because of a youtuber called Tom Scott

Kaliningrad/Konigsberg I know from playing too many historical videogames.

 

[Edwardoka]

Canada is full of islands - as an aside it has the world's largest island within an island! - all without access to the mainland. Not understanding how this is a mirrored situation.

I remember reading about that, isn't it an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island?

As for the mirror situation, it took me a moment but I think @C R was talking about Campobello Island, which has a bridge to Maine and so its island status is now questionable

 

[C R]

I remember reading about that, isn't it an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island?

As for the mirror situation, it took me a moment but I think @C R was talking about Campobello Island, which has a bridge to Maine and so its island status is now questionable

That's the one. Only land connection is with the US state of Maine.

 

[anothersam]

Another question tomorrow. Where is Uncle Sam (paging @anothersam) to enjoy these?

Holding out for the weekend. Only made it as far as hump day.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL3PgFBXioU

However, I too anticipate your upcoming questions, dear Mr Shadow.

If you are standing at the heart of downtown Detroit, MI and walked due south, what is the first country you would come across?

If only you could walk or even ride a bike, as you can from Wales to England across the old Severn Bridge, though it is preferred by the tourist board that you Stay In Wales.

“Why is it so darn hard to bike between Windsor and Detroit?” asked one would-be traveller plaintively, after the Ambassador Bridge

was bought by a billionaire and reconfigured to allow for more trucks and zero cyclists except on special occasions. [This needs fact-checking. Wikipedia says pedestrian/cyclist access was closed after 9/11]. Fortunately the Gordie Howe International Bridge, named after the ambassador of ice hockey (Canada’s national religion),

If a man asks for a tooth, give him another one also

will be accepting green traffic when it opens in late 2024. That's assuming the States haven’t gone feral and anybody still wants to come.

a stretch of road that goes from Estonia, into Russia, and back into Estonia. The only way to get from the EU into Russia without a visa, although you're not allowed to stop on the road.

Reminds me of when I hitched into and back out of Berlin

View: https://youtu.be/kwprznh3d-o

before the wall came tumbling down. People would line up in an orderly queue and wait for a ride through deepest darkest East Germany.

Why are the American media even worse that ours for making stuff up, ignoring inconvenient facts, and driving the narrative to increase shareholder value instead of simply reporting events?

Because one of the chief things still manufactured in the US is consent, and the Fourth Estate has proven to be an effective and reliable middleman both editorially

the authors propose that the mass communication media of the U.S. "are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function, by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and self-censorship, and without overt coercion", by means of the propaganda model of communication. The title derives from the phrase "the manufacture of consent", employed in the book Public Opinion (1922), by Walter Lippmann (1889–1974). The consent referred to is consent of the governed.

and advertorially.

View: https://youtu.be/SXZ--rSMyfw

JFK would latter obtain consent from Marilyn Monroe to blow out his candle

Top neologism dood!

Thanks. Neologism of the day: neurotica. Coined (then abandoned) by birthday boy Sigmund Freud,

it later became a comedy short,

View: https://youtu.be/BBudj4wu0wA

a film,

View: https://youtu.be/MafYdP8dkKI

and a song too dreadful to embed. (“Life is a diamond you turn into dust” – way to crush the spirit, dudes).

Now if you’ll excuse me,

I have urgent business to attend to.

 

[anothersam]

Corrections:
Neurotica was a sci-fi anthology series, not a film. It was also a comedy series. And a band, and a novel, and tonight’s password for the private club in the village, featuring a barber pole dancing hairdresser.

View: https://youtu.be/MEzxFsNON6A
It’s on YouTube so it must be true

 

[Blue Hills]

Drago said:
Why are the American media even worse that ours for making stuff up, ignoring inconvenient facts, and driving the narrative to increase shareholder value instead of simply reporting events?

Am I allowed to answer?

>>

OK I'll give my answer and sam can jump in.

I believe there was a change in US broadcasting laws (overseen by the FCC I think) that abolished the previous need to attempt to meet some sort of impartiality/giving different parties on an issue an opportunity to have their say.

Can't remember when - earlier this century/late last?

 

[Shadow]

Río Rico, Tamaulipas (wikipedia)
Saatse Boot (google maps) - a stretch of road that goes from Estonia, into Russia, and back into Estonia. The only way to get from the EU into Russia without a visa, although you're not allowed to stop on the road.
Llivia (google maps) - a landlocked enclave and exclave of Spain surrounded entirely by France

Thanks for these - fascinating.

I think @C R was talking about Campobello Island

That's the one. Only land connection is with the US state of Maine.

Thank you both for the confirmation. I am ashamed and astonished not to know this. I do now!

 

[Shadow]

As we all know, there are plenty of places in the US that took their names from European places e.g. Paris, TX. Today's little teaser is the reverse: which town in Europe took its name from a city in the US?

 

[Edwardoka]

As we all know, there are plenty of places in the US that took their names from European places e.g. Paris, TX. Today's little teaser is the reverse: which town in Europe took its name from a city in the US?

Oof. That's a difficult one. That's like finding a needle in a bag of needles. Europe is a pretty big place, and afaik every town in USA is either named after a European city, a person, a description of a geographical feature or a Latinisation of a native word/name. Doesn't really narrow it down.

I'd guess it's either one of the early colonies and a twin town that was created or grew as a result of Transatlantic trade or the Spanish name of an American who was sainted, but I could be wildly wrong.

There's plenty of villages with names like Philadelphia or New York (particularly in North East England) but a town... no, I can't think of one.
https://goo.gl/maps/xk5CQ7U1yf99Xm4L6

(Also, Philadelphia is Greek and New York is named after York so doesn't count)

 

[Drago]

Why have Americans started to do that rising intonation thing at the end of sentences? Is it because you watch loads of Aussie soaps? Whatever, just stop it.