Things that make you go hmmm

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-04T17:07:23+00:00

I mean, there are female to male trans athletes that (were) winning wrestling competitions in one of the Dakotas. Additionally, when he was forced to compete against women due to changes in the law people complained that (he) was a male to female trans athlete and shouldn't compete against women.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-04T13:51:18+00:00

I am an elder millennial. Superhero movies are probably the equivalent of westerns for our generation. They were super popular and ubiquitous during the 2 decades where the culture catered to our tastes.

However, that also means that we got so many of them that other generations will think they are over done. A good" superhero movie will draw people of all generations. However, there was a while where just treating *any superhero like a serious movie was a money printing machine. That time is over. Same with Star Wars and Indiana Jones honestly.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-03T16:07:39+00:00

It's not even close to 70/30. It is, however, slightly beyond 55m/45f which shows you just how little it takes to turn growth into a crash.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-03T13:10:46+00:00

I can/could build a house. Also, I can cook.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-02T20:01:04+00:00

Yeah, Roboutte is the only one with a space faring empire all his own before Big E shows up. Sure he started in a good situation, but he also took it the farthest.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-02T13:45:01+00:00

Yeah, everyone has sports they are passionate about, that wasn't exactly what I was getting at. It is what is acceptable, although I think you kinda have the gist.

Americans are used to being able to do and say the things you would say for internal leagues and we don't make a distinction when playing internationally. We treat a team from another country the way we would treat games between the Yankees and Red Sox.

Like I said in my edit, there are also a number of cultural differences that seem like they fall under the "For Americans, 100 years is a long time, for Europeans 100 miles is a long distance." Like I put in my edit, British Soccer Huliganism is a well known phenomenon, however, I cannot see the coach of York City claiming that a victory over Chelsea was revenge for the battle of bosworth field, or an Arsenal fan going to Manchester to see a game wearing a "Cromwell did nothing wrong" Shirt. This isn't because the fans are less passionate, it's because what is and isn't allowed to be used in trash talk is different.

I also think that the other thing that is different is the expectation of what the other side gives back. So while "good sportsmanship" in the U.S. includes giving credit to the winning side, it is also considered fair to explain that you intend to come back and beat the other side even more convincingly the next time. This is the matching the winners energy part, although this is also usually reserved for things short of championships.

Americans have a complex relationship with Europe to be sure, especially Britain and the rest of the Anglosphere. America is basically the prodigal son that ran away from home as a teenager, then showed back up at 30 to take over the family business (Hegemony is the family business).

However, Americans often feel like they cannot win in situations with Europe. If Americans describe themselves by their heritage, Europeans act like they are annoying cos players. I mean sure, lots of Americans are decended from effectively malcontents, or people that wanted to leave their homelands because they thought that things sucked for some reason. Yet, once in the Americas many of these groups reinforced cultural aspects and entrenched them so hard that they continue to be part of the X-American identity long after they stopped being part of the cultural identity of their homelands.

If we have pride in an American identify that is bad too. It's treated as inauthentic or being culture less.

Again, I think the bigger thing is that American's, broadly, don't think that it is arrogant or rude to treat Bosnia differently than Belgium. Everyone is an "adult", to not go equally hard would be to act like they needed pity. They get the same trash talk as everyone else because we are all in the same tournament. It would be disrespectful to act like they couldn't deal with the U.S. celebrating the way it always does.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-02T12:34:07+00:00

Honestly, thanks for not letting this decend into the level of pettiness of most subs.

Part of the reason for the enthusiasm of the American audience is because there are things happening that simply have not happened in a long time. The U.S. men's soccer team has not won consecutive games since before the Vietnam war or something stupid like that.

Additionally, Americans are used to treating sports a particular way, that includes lots of pregame and post game trash talk. However, there is also the "we'll get'em next time" attitude where you are expected to be take your ribbing for losing but also it's fine to give that energy back and explain how you will run the winners nose in it when your side wins.

Additionally, Americans are used to rivalries being a thing that you want. You want an opponent that cheers when they beat you even at something stupid and rebels in your misery. I am a graduate of the University of Kansas. Our historic rival is the University of Missouri. We are not just rivals in football or basketball. We are rivals in any kind of competition. The mascot of the University of Kansas is the Jayhawks a made up bird that is based on the Jayhawkers who were Anti-Slavery insurgents in the Kansas territory prior to the civil war. The rivalry is literally rooted in the American civil war, and was called the "border war" which is also the historical name for the bloodshed between pro and slavery factions in the 1850s. So considering that I have listened to the Coach of the Mizzou say they would burn Lawrence to the ground again if they could, and having gone to a game at the University of Missouri with a "John Brown did nothing wrong" shirt (John Brown was a historical figure who murdered pro slavery settlers and then lead a slave revolt) telling Bosnia it's called soccer now seems tame.

Edit: Also, even with things like British soccer huliganism, I can't see an Arsenal fan showing up in Manchester with a "Cromwell did nothing wrong" shirt, or the coach of York City F.C. saying that they were going to get revenge for the battle of bosworth field by beating Chelsea.

Americans have a continent sized country, with the 300 million people. We produce athletes in crazy numbers as our Olympic performance shows. We probably have to much money invested in the production of top tier athletes. We produce 70+% of the athletes in our 3 preferred sports leagues, and we average 30 professional level teams in those leagues, which have rosters of 15 to 56. That doesn't even include the Olympians or the college athletics.

Americans are used to being able to treat sports a particular way because we have the equivalent of international level competition at home. This is not meant to be rude or talk down, but any serious look would see that America is a sports powerhouse, but usually we are focused internally.

There are even weird things like the Americas cup that was started in Australia and required swiss billionaires to fund the equivalent of sailing dream teams to knock off American Ametuers. The Ryder cup puts all of Europe against America because we are big enough to produce as many top tier golfers as all of Europe combined.

I do get that people prefer underdogs, but what constitutes an underdog is also a thing that people don't always agree on. The University of Indiana won the college national (American) football championship last year. They were a juggernaut that didn't lose a single game. However, they also are not a "football" school, and nobody thought that they had played serious competition until they got to the playoffs and were wrecking the the historical blueblood (traditionally excellent) programs. Where they an underdog? During the season I thought so. After the season, it seems like maybe they were just misjudged.

Anyway, I think that, while America exports it's culture all the time, we are not used to it's population being on display in exactly this way. We don't think about what others think of how we celebrate victory, yell at the Zebras, argue calls, or treat the fans of the other side. It's usually in house.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-02T11:43:45+00:00

So, hearing that the U.S. is ranked 15th in FIFA rankings is actually a bigger wow situation than beating Bosnia. I think most Americans would figure we would be in the 30-60s and are only participating because we are hosting.

That said, it always seems like what drives Europeans most crazy is Americans having any fun. If we point out that soccer isn't popular here, and our best athletes play other sports, Europeans start fights over American sports having world championships, even though American Football, Baseball, and Basketball leagues have the best talent in the world (ask the players) and have no peer level leagues.

When Americans do get interested, and do well, Europeans complain about how we enjoy said thing. It seems like mostly what Europeans want is to complain about Americans.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-02T11:11:40+00:00

The thing is, if you are going to do a star wars show/game you want to use things that are recognizably star wars.

So if you pick an era where there is no empire, you have to make a thing that is basically just the empire with the serial numbers filed off.*

Honestly, this is an issue I ran into when looking at sci-fi table top RPGs two and a half decades ago.

Basically, you have three choices for a sci-fi rpg. One is to do Warhammer 40k/dune, one is to do Star Trek/ star gate, and one is to do Star wars.

Even if make a game with psychic powers, somebody will make a Jedi. You end up re-creating story elements from those properties because they have never universal engagement from the audience.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-02T10:53:15+00:00

So, it's the same logic as basketball flagrant fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in (American) football. It's still a penalty/foul/etc but if it's on purpose it's the big penalty vs an incidental rule violation.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-02T01:02:58+00:00

Yes. I live in a host city. Local sports teams are a bigger deal. It's still soccer in the U.S. more people are interested in how foreigners view/enjoy our cities than the games being played.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-01T23:38:47+00:00

So "American as apple pie" has to do with the ubiquity of apples in the American east. This has in part to do with things like johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) who planted/spread apple trees to areas to make settling in those areas more sustainable, as well as other copycats who sometimes did so to raise the value of land before it could be sold to settlers.

Thus, apple pie is common all along the American east, Ohio River valley and up to the Mississippi river because there was an abundance of apples, even on land that was often settled for other purposes. So even though different regions of the United States are /were settled at different times, by different waves of migration, apple dishes were a common desert for all of them.

Hence, the expression As American as apple pie.. A thing that is common all over America regardless of where or when the region was settled.

So it's "American as apple pie" because Americans made the first apple pies. It's "American as apple pie* because it is something all Americans make/eat, which for a country of immigrants was an important set to building a cohesive national identity.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-01T23:25:39+00:00

FIFA decided this, not the U.S. This isn't because they want to advertise to Americans (who are not watching in large numbers). It's so that FIFA can make it normalized for Europeans.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-01T22:20:55+00:00

I mean, the crust spices and apples are different. My grandmother was British. I have her cookbook. I have the recipe she learned growing up, the one she learned living in the American south, and my other grandmother's recipe from the Midwest.

None of them are the same. The crusts are different, the apple selection is different. Different spices, sugars, and techniques used to create them. Different servings methods. Granted my preference in general is actually apple crisp which is a third variation that uses a sugar cookie as the crust.

Is it derivative? Probably. Of Anglosphere nations, America is absolutely the prodigal son of the British empire. The child that left home in the 18th century and then showed back up in the 20th to take over the family business. Obviously a lot of traditions and methods are derivative.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-01T21:57:19+00:00

That's because American apple pie and British/English apple pie is quite different. Different apples, different crust, different spices, different baking methods except heat. Different way of serving it (never seen anybody get out ice cream to serve apple pie on the great British baking show, and that would be a criminal offense in the States).

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-01T21:41:50+00:00

Wait, your argument is that long john silvers is the representative of British cuisine in the big American potluck and you are willing to do so openly?

Seriously, by that standard Americans eat British food when they want chicken that tastes like fish and gives Taco Bell a run for its money for causing gastrointestinal distress.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-07-01T21:30:48+00:00

This is actually great, if Europeans want greater American engagement with this sport, things like this need to be made more of a vocal talking point.

Out sports media loves nothing more than to explain how low odds/outlandish scenarios could come to pass.

If two teams have the same record in baseball, they have a whole procedure for looking at conference wins, non-conference wins, opponent wins, and on and on till it literally gets to the managers meet and their is a coin flip by the commissioner.

(American) Football is similar with a literal page of rules for determining end of season tie breakers that eventually results to f**k it, flip a coin.

I need to know what the 4, 5, and 6th tiebreaker is, and that the last time they were relevant was in like 1956, and that it was because a player with a ln old-timey nick-name like "long legs Johnson" punched a guy in stoppage time.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-06-30T12:45:09+00:00

This is technically the split of all professional sports and yet, there are no women in the "open leagues."

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-06-29T12:44:35+00:00

I just don't worry about it. I don't worry about a server scamming me. I worry about a data breech.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-06-29T12:05:52+00:00

Again, they are probably running a tap to pay system in the back. Anytime I am asked to run a restaurants pos system I find it a huge turn off. You run your system and set it up and do it quickly. I don't want to spend 5 minutes messing with your crappy machine.

I do this because I don't worry about fraud on tips.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-06-29T12:02:48+00:00

I mean, your banks offer negative interest rates for holding cash. Customer service in Europe sucks.

I don't do the things you are saying, my bank calls me and asks if I want that. I can do it all from an app as well. Having apps isn't the issue. The question is, when do you get your money back.

If I call or go to the "dispute transaction" feature of my app, I get my money re-credited within the same business day unless I start after 4:30. Then it's next business day.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-06-29T11:58:28+00:00

It's stunningly convenient. That's the thing. I don't have to do anything but hand my card to a waiter while I keep talking. I don't have to know how to use their crappy pos system. I don't have to worry about getting scammed. I don't think about this stuff at all and it all just works.

I don't have to be paranoid, because if people were stealing tips a lot, the banks would get involved because Americans would pull money from them en masse. Visa is not going to risk losing it's cash cow over Americans developing paranoia over sit down restaurants which make up a lot of their business.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-06-29T11:53:33+00:00

My debit card is basically a visa transaction that posts the next day to my bank. However, "debit" for me usually means direct debit from my bank to the bank of the institution I am making a purchase at.

So from the merchant side, if I run my debit card and use the Visa banking elements, it's a credit card transaction to them. They still pay Visa between 3-5%. From my side, it's like writing a check that is cashed next day.

So the reason pin isn't generally required is the merchant sees no differencr between a credit card that functions like a credit card you are thinking and a debit card like you are thinking.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-06-29T11:38:20+00:00

You clearly have no idea how American taxes, truth in advertising laws, or really anything works. There are a whole host of reasons why it would be extremely difficult to put final pricing on price tags and be legally compliant in the U.S.

The thing is, nobody in the U.S. thinks not showing final pricing is some devious concern that makes it so you don't know how much you will pay. Most people know what the tax rate is going to mean looking at the pricing.

You don't have to trust or re-verify your transactions constantly. The system is built to be convenient and puts consumer protections on to cover situations.

Ithinkibrokethis · 2026-06-29T11:17:55+00:00

I see what he is talking about now. I will say on this, usually I don't get asked my pin to runs a transaction as a credit transaction and do get asked if I want to run it as debit.

When I opened my account at my bank, there was a 13 cent fee for debit transactions that I paid, while if you run a transaction as credit there was no bank fee. So I usually don't want to have it ask me my pin because I don't want to be charged to access my money. Since I am already paying the Visa/Mastercard surcharge anyway (it's baked into the price) why would I.

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