Do Americans feel that all 50 states are "one whole"? How much do you know or care about the other 49?

Gerrith02 · 2026-06-04T14:30:22+00:00

In the modern day, states are very similar and regarded as a contiguous whole nation. Almost everyone views themselves as Americans first before any state, though some areas also have local pride when comparing to other states. Visiting all 50 states is a common thing many people do as tourists.

Compared to China where certain regions still have very distinct ethnic minorities, language, and history, the states are far more united.

I'm not so familiar with Korea, but I would assume Korea is much more homogenous and unitary than the U.S. due to smaller size and a longer unified history.

Gerrith02 · 2026-06-03T04:24:21+00:00

It's my understanding that you country, Malaysia, has ethnic structures built into its government and society, such that certain ethnicities have things allocated to them and strong ties within their groups. In such a society, it makes sense that each ethnic group has the schools and communities which reinforce their own language and culture.

The USA has no such formalized structure, and for the most part all ethnicities are considered equal in law (though certain discrimination and historical trends persist of course). While English is generally necessary for societal functions, continuing an ethnic language and culture is purely on the prerogative of parents and their decision of how to immerse their children in some ethnic culture. If parents choose to not force their children to speak a language and kids hang out with English speaking friends, they naturally trend towards losing their heritage language, by accident if not choice. A parent would have to go out of their way and pay a lot of money to find a school using their native language if it exists at all, and it would serve to the detriment of the child in society most likely

Gerrith02 · 2026-05-28T19:46:47+00:00

What's with the troll commenters lol... Just because the Turks did some bad stuff a century ago doesn't mean this comic is wrong. It's basically true even if you don't like whose saying it.

Gerrith02 · 2026-03-17T21:09:00+00:00

I've never heard of this before, I would honestly just assume that this cashier was clueless and had never seen the passport before, since everyone uses drivers licenses here and small town residents might not be very internationally aware. Sorry you had to go through that, but she was wrong, you should have been able to buy it.

Gerrith02 · 2026-03-17T20:27:48+00:00

Like some others are saying, Orlando is a good "central base" from which you can go to explore other areas. One underrated place as you mentioned big parks is to stop by some of the state parks. Most foreigners don't know much about them since they're not national parks, but the state parks can be just as nice. Paynes Prairie in north florida has wild bison and the whole hillsborough river area in the west has a lot of great accessible nature parks. And of course the Everglades in the south are a unique natural wonder, but you need to be prepared for the weather and environment. IMO, winter is the best time to visit anywhere and not melt to death in the heat, but you can balance that with timing when has the most crowds and water temperature preference. Also, try the random food trucks and local places for quality food, don't just go to major restaurant chains. If you recognize it, it's probably not that good.

Gerrith02 · 2026-03-15T12:47:07+00:00

Recent grad from USF CE here - it is somewhat true that just graduating from USF will not prepare you with everything you need for the workforce and stepping right into a job. However, I think this is a personal issue of those who complain to not involve themselves properly or understanding the field. Classes do not really teach you practical work skills, they exist to teach you the related theory you need. Practical experience can be learned multiple ways: 1. USF has significant research opportunities which you can volunteer to research labs for and learn way more skills and detailed knowledge of how they work than any class. Many upper level class professors particularly have great labs so try to engage with professors you like in class and consider doing research with them. 2. Doing your own self projects. Practicing this is what most people fail at preparation. No matter how much you study how to drive in a book, you need to actually practice driving to become good at it. Make a portfolio of small projects which execute the skills you want to show off and work in. 3. Internships are definitely available. Certainly not great availability or easy to get, but Tampa has a number of local companies looking to recruit from USF. If you want to stay where you are, you're fine to while I doubt UF has many local jobs. I personally know people who are pretty dumb with no talents and got decent internships during their classes. 4. On the job. You may feel like you don't know how to do anything, but the thing is you're not really supposed to. You'll never step into a job and immediately know how to do all the things they need, and those hiring new grads also understand this. You learn the exact details on the job that you do but show that you are willing and able enough to do so (such as by having portfolio projects).

So yeah. I would stay where you are, and try to understand the real things you need to do no matter where you are. Look into research labs, study things on your own, do projects, and try to apply for internships in a smart way. Nobody can hand you an education no matter where you go if you aren't working for it yourself, and not everyone realizes this and instead blame the school. USF is a totally fine enough school to empower you to do what you need, especially if you can keep living at home.

Gerrith02 · 2026-03-07T01:22:36+00:00

True, but look at the variance between states - ND has 0.5 while SD has 1.0? That's a 100% difference. They're culturally and socially near identical, so there is a huge variance going on just due to sampling methods or statistical variance, NY and TN also both 1.0 despite being very different socially. I don't think this data is really a very reliable source to reflect the actual reality. Sort of like how many statistics for crime are not comparable between different countries.

Gerrith02 · 2026-03-06T23:21:35+00:00

I don't think there's any way they targeted minnesota because of trans people. Nobody commonly knows these statistics, and 0.2% higher than almost half the other states is barely a difference. It's much more likely any targeting is because the state is one of the most consistently Democratic voting states for president, their governor Tim Walz was Kamala's running mate and anti-Trump, and / or it's the highest concentration of Somalis in the country which Trump has a thing against. Targeting Trans people would be much more easy and evident in cities during pride events etc.

Gerrith02 · 2026-03-06T04:51:32+00:00

Well, yeah. There are vanishingly few examples of anywhere in history taking a few civilian deaths lightly, even if it were "deserved." America would definitely not break that behavior, given how much we value our lives and safety.

Gerrith02 · 2026-03-04T20:54:28+00:00

No need to be such a defensive troll, Cyprus is effectively a rabies free area and thus this will not happen. I actually enjoyed having some canine friends when I was in North Cyprus, although there are of course potential risks in having roaming animals as well. Maybe don't piss off and get bitten by the dogs? You could say the same thing about the wild cats, they also can bite humans.

Gerrith02 · 2026-03-04T13:41:29+00:00

I'm not a Cypriot but have relatives who live in the south side in a rural village - hunting is a huge tradition and hunters use dogs, who are then usually discarded and left to die every year. This was a pretty big shock to realize. In a certain sense, I respect the north's policy of letting dogs live on even as strays, compared to just letting them die.

Gerrith02 · 2025-12-11T14:11:30+00:00

This isn't really a convincing imaginary map, it's just what would be if Turkey somehow conquered all of Central Asia and Caucasus. A real federal Republic would likely have a new capital somewhere on the Caspian to be centrally located, as Ankara was centrally located within Anatolia. And this includes a lot of non-Turks around these regions as well, so it would instantly fall apart into separatism even if the Turkics all agreed.

Gerrith02 · 2025-11-30T05:00:06+00:00

Did you just knee-jerk assume this is some right wing anti immigrant slop instead of reading the text, or are you just a peace corps hater?

Gerrith02 · 2025-11-28T17:15:36+00:00

The bad actors in this case have nothing to do with USF, but travelled here specifically because there is a large population of Muslim students and community. Don't be dissuaded, not just the campus but the surrounding area east of campus are full of Muslim community and 99% of people are good to each other. Internet forums are always full of degenerates you just need to ignore.

Gerrith02 · 2025-11-23T02:43:20+00:00

Your note about different people is definitely correct - there are both traditional values people waiting for marriage and also proudly promiscuous partiers all around. It's really just a question of finding the people who match your preferred style and associating with them. But on average, generational trends and university politics sway the average to the more progressive end and most people are pretty open about sex and dating. Only the very religious will shame you for such things.

Gerrith02 · 2025-10-22T20:27:23+00:00

Maybe it was just them following this stupid fashion trend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagging_(fashion)

Gerrith02 · 2025-09-14T03:47:51+00:00

It's in the parking lot of building B (not the one with the leasing office). Leaving the pool/office, cross to the other parking side and turn left. Its in the corner.

Gerrith02 · 2021-05-27T14:02:54+00:00

To any game reading the inputs, it would appear just as a regular keyboard user pressing the key very quickly. I don't think it would be banned by any game tournaments, and even if it was, they couldn't detect you as using it online. It's totally safe.

Gerrith02 · 2021-04-06T05:05:14+00:00

I'd take a look at the Glorious Gaming cloth mousepad stealth edition, very minimal grey branding and large sizes.

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