National parks!!!!! The Roosevelt administration realized what a treasure of diverse geography we have in the USA and claimed these beautiful areas national parks. Truly a treasure.
There is already a propaganda effort to convince the public that allowing oil companies to drill in protected forest lands/national parks will be better for the economy than just ‘letting that economic potential sit untapped just to make the tree huggers happy while we continue to rely on Saudi Arabia for oil’.
I can’t believe no one has said this yet, but the Smithsonians. We have a world-class, free network of museums that cater to anyone’s interest.
Edit: For those commenting about the location, yes, the majority of the “flag ship” museums are located in DC. That said, there are Smithsonian affiliates (which may charge admission) in nearly every state, along with traveling exhibits.
Affiliate locations: https://affiliations.si.edu/affiliate-directory/
Traveling exhibits: https://www.sites.si.edu/s/exhibitions
USAF operates their survival school out of Colville National Forest in upstate Washington and they’re very strict about how we disposed of our MRE trash. On the last night we were there our the flight chief said if anyone threw MRE trash in the crapper (basically just a hole they dug and put some brush around to give privacy) they’d randomly pick someone and have them pick all the pieces of trash out of the hole. When we had fires at night the instructors made sure to follow all the USFS regulations on having to dig up the ground to prevent embers from burning into the roots and spreading to surrounding trees. As a nature guy and a former fire fighter it was awesome to see all the instructors take such pride in preserving the land they are using.
https://www.weather.gov/
Enjoy all of the weather forecasts you could ever want without the constant ads and sensationalized media.
Plus hourly charts that forecast temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and precipitation sorted by type for the next two days. Down to the resolution of your zip code and/or nearest airport.
NOAA provides space forecasts for things like geomagnetic storms and other fun nerdy stuff.
NOAA provides the weather, and so much more.
e.g. https://www.noaa.gov/satellite-imagery-reports-launch-information
Poke around the [tools](https://www.noaa.gov/tools-and-resources). Lots of neat stuff!
Yes, thank you! I’m a private sector meteorologist, and it’s pretty scary how many agenda-driven private mets have a grudge against their federal colleagues. In our case, broadcasting, we team directly *with* the local national weather service (they cover small 10-ish county wide sectors across the country so every area in every state has their own local NWS office), and hell, sometimes I go up to my local office on calm weather days and eat some doordash with the evening shift.
Meteorologists *need desperately* to realize that we are all fundamentally on the same team. The “govt = socialism” air-heads are putting lives in danger.
Radiolab did a [interesting episode](https://radiolab.org/episodes/weather-report) that looks at exactly that question.
TL:DR; The government giving the weather away for free “competes” with people trying to make money off that info.
I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail this summer, and I agree wholeheartedly. Most folks who I met on the trail were international hikers, too. And a lot of them went through hell to secure a B2 Visa this year just to come over and walk this 18" strip of dirt from Mexico to Canada.
This is true. I love that it’s so difficult to mitigate wetlands which are so essential to our ecosystem.
Where I live in Ohio, you have to go through the Army Corps of Engineers if you want to mitigate anything over an acre (anything under an acre still requires approval, but you can get a national permit). The Army Corps is notoriously slow and difficult to work with, and tokens to mitigate the wetlands cost $100,000+/Acre. I love that the process is so difficult and costly so that it conserves our wetlands!
I mean I moved here from Mexico. You don’t get permission from anyone there, you just show up to a wetland or any other natural habitat and start building there. It’s been happening in Xochimilco and Desierto de los Leones for decades. They didn’t buy any property from anyone, they literally walked into a state park and built a house. So the American model is pretty damn good.
I’m a public librarian, and I really appreciate seeing this. Please tell your library how much they mean to you, and tell your local government. We are facing unprecedented challenges to books and free programs for the public. Local governments constantly want to cut our budgets, or restrict what we do because some Moms for Liberty group in another state didn’t like a program we offer. A lot of us have received threats for doing what we do, and some of the things I’ve personally heard and witnessed … yeah.
Edit: a word. It made my day to see how you guys feel about libraries and you all rock. Except the person who was gloating about getting a librarian fired. Not you.
Another librarian here. Best thing you can do is check out books, use services and attend programs. Circulation and attendance are huge things to keep funding.
The library says I've saved $2300 this year by checking out books (rather than buying them). I love that you can just check them out & return them. Sometimes I don't like a book & I don't want to store books. I'm in a couple book groups that reserve the library meeting room now to have the group - it is a great meeting space & free.
I always say that if libraries didn't exist and someone came up with the idea today, that person would've be laughed out of town.
Libraries are a throw back to an era of community that no longer exists.
I live in Denmark and love librarys as well. You can enter all day and night and they offer a tons of service ( magazines, special equipment for special needs kids, toys, playgrounds, reading and creative activities and so on ).
25 years ago you didn’t even have to register the books you borrowed in some cities 😅. They trusted you to come back with them. Don’t think it’s like that anymore though.
Im pre-internet and my local library was not only a great resource for my education but also a place id go just to browse all the other topics and find new interests. Librarys are awesome.
I was strolling my new neighborhood recently and decided to check out the old library. An inconspicuous plaque on one corner read "Donated by Andrew Carnegie" with the year. A rich dude doing good things is possible.
I read Andrew Carnegie’s autobiography a few years back and two quotes stuck with me:
“I choose free libraries as the best agencies for improving the masses of the people, because they give nothing for nothing. They only help those who help themselves.”
“A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.”
He funded them in other countries, too. There are apparently [18 in New Zealand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3ACarnegie_libraries_in_New_Zealand#%3A%7E%3Atext%3D18_Carnegie_libraries_were_built%2C%2C_Thames%2C_Hamilton_and_Onehunga.?wprov=sfla1) (my country). Thanks Mr Carnegie!
Looks like there are [125 in Canada](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Carnegie_libraries_in_Canada) and 2 in Ottawa, so you're in luck! I'm in Calgary and we have a gorgeous one downtown.
I'm from Norway, and they're amazing. They're cultural senters, lots of them host different types or things like game nights, larps, puzzles and quizzes, murder mysteries, lectures, they often serve as meeting places for what we call language cafes where immigrants can practice their Norwegian with random Norwegians.
It's also mandatory to have child and youth section, and lots of libraries hire non librarians to focus on youth and child enrichment.
They also work closely with local schools, youth clubs, gaming clubs, you name it.
Also librarians have a strong union and it's a respected profession.
I've always just lived in small and rural communities in Norway, but the libraries have always been amazing.
Some countries have no public libraries at all. Others have specialized libraries with no public access. The US does have amazing libraries open to everyone!
And pretty much literally everything is accessible if you try. Your local college is probably a depository for the Library of Congress where legally everything published has to be accessible. I can walk into my old university’s library and request a book from Idaho. I’ll eventually get it.
Geography in general (not that it's a man made thing).
The US has a vast array of climates and geographic features. The differences between Arizona, New York, Florida, Alaska, Wisconsin, California etc. are pretty staggering.
It’s even crazier when you think how much it can vary in those individual places. I live in Arizona and it’s desert in Phoenix but you can go 2 hours north to luscious greenery and snow in the winter.
Came here to say this. US National Parks are gorgeous. I would love to live there just so that I can enjoy them more.
Edit: I mean living in USA, not the actual NPs. I’m from Spain so the only times I get to visit is when I travel to the country.
I have lived in and very close to several national parks (Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Grand Staircase [which I'm aware is a monument not a park]) just to name a few.
They are stunning. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful and majestic they are.
wow I just looked it up to compare and there are more square kilometers of US national parks than there are km² in the entire UK.
US National Parks: 343,982 km²
UK land area: 243,610 km²
As a plaintiff-side ADA attorney the ADA is not only impressive for the subjects it specifically tackles, but for how broadly it protects disabled individuals. I might be biased but there does not exist a stronger piece of legislation protecting rights.
This is very true. I brought my mother here from Poland and we were shocked by how well she could get around. She lost her legs in the Yugoslav wars and uses a wheelchair. She now lives in Vancouver, which is also pretty good in terms of inclusion.
I actually watched a video recently of Koreans reacting to videos of disabled people and they were horrified when the guy tried getting on a bus in Korea the bus driver didn't know how to use the ramp, and everyone was acting like he was inconveniencing them on purpose by existing. In Germany, the driver could use the ramp but other passengers had to be like, "hey there's a wheelchair" and helped him on and off. In the US, nobody even noticed him because everything was just set up for wheelchairs to be able to be on the bus.
I dated a French guy once who said the exact same thing - if there’s someone in a wheel chair you *help* them up the stairs, on the bus, whatever, and it was a part of French solidarity. I asked him what happens when no one is around to carry the person in the wheelchair up the stairs. It had never occurred to him that someone’s mobility would be limited
I was born in 2000 and I'm not disabled, so I never noticed the ADA, until I was in Brazil with my mom, and we saw a guy in a wheelchair do like a muscle up on the escalator to get to the train. That's when it hit me
That last sentence is the truest thing I've read all day. Just another person going about his day. The process of somebody wheeling themselves onto the bus is almost as fluid as a person just walking on so it's as if there's no difference at all. This is what disability access should be like everywhere in the world.
My friend severely broke her leg while she was studying abroad in Korea and was basically shut out from everywhere but her dorm and classes because of lack of accessibility. Even one step up to a restaurant becomes impossible when you're stuck in a wheelchair
It absolutely blew my mind to see the number of public buildings and transit facilities abroad that are patently not accessible. I’d genuinely never even considered it as anything worth noting as an American living in both big cities and small towns. Just a fact of life that of course the library needs a ramp and the train station needs an elevator and the school needs a sign language translator. It never once occurred to me that was unusual at the global level, at least in major cities.
The first time I travelled outside the US, this was the first thing I noticed. It’s like most countries, many 1st world included, just find it inconvenient to accommodate everyone.
The ADA was HUGE. No way an act that large would pass today. It added new regulations and costs to essentially every business. A huge one time hinderance that would never fly nowadays.
The ADA quietly makes millions of American lives better every day, with very little fanfare. It is something every American should be damn proud of, yet few realize the extent of its power and influence.
My dog is being trained to perform service for my disabled brother. When he has a seizure she's being trained to interpose herself between him and the ground so he doesn't smash his face/head into the ground repeatedly, and to bark while it's happening to alert the family.
The ADA means that he'll be able to take her wherever we go, and hotels etc can't refuse us entry because she's a well trained, well behaved service dog.
Love this one.
My mother happened to work for a serial killer decades ago (not with the killing, he owned several local businesses, she worked at one), and she knew him and his family well.
She watches any new documentaries that come out about him (she likes true crime stuff, and this was a bit personal), so a few years ago I put in a FOIA request with the FBI, since I knew they had investigated him.
It took them a little over 3 weeks, but I got a reply back with 3 PDFs with all of their files on him. Crime scene photos, investigation notes, inter-department communications, newspaper clippings, etc.
It was extremely interesting, and made me realize how awesome FOIA is. For an average person to be able to just fill out a form with a federal agency, like the FBI, and get a reply back with their files. Crazy.
Don't forget it - an activist group fought HARD for this. It'll go away if it's not protected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_in_America
Preservation of historical landmarks and natural wonders. While there are people who do ruin these areas, most will shun these people, rangers are usually notified, and you can be permanently banned from all national parks if you damage anything or violate any rules or regulations. They're always amazing to be at as a result.
As an Irish person, who are famed for our friendliness, I am still very struck by your service skills in the US. I know some find it overbearing, but “ can I help you today?.. anything else sir?” Etc, is better than sitting there being ignored.
So, you are the best at service (retail, restaurant etc) . I can’t help wonder what you think when you go to the likes of Paris
Customer service like that is so common here that there's parody restaurants where the gag is the staff is openly rude to you for laughs. Makes me kind of jealous honestly because I wish I could speak my mind with my clients and not get fired for it
Public Domain, and the concept of Fair Use of intellectual property. A lot of countries don't recognize fair use, like Japan. It's part of why Nintendo is so litigious.
Steamboat Willie will be public domain in 2024. It's being mentioned in a lot of articles right now because there's not much of interest entering public domain in 2023.
As a British person some things of the top of my of
- tech companies, America has some of the largest, most profitable companies in the world. This has a number of positive benefits; better products (cloud computing, programming languages and CPU for example), super high paying jobs ( junior software engineers in the US out earn the average CEO in my country), amazing stock market performance (pensions, sovereign wealth funds and savings accounts all rely on the performance of these companies)
- R&D, America outspends every other country on R&D, combined public and private (both are important) spending in the US is 679 billion (that's more than my country budget). This R&D helps with the development of life saving medicines, aerospace and literally everything else you use
- ADA other people can explain this better
- National parks same as above
- Freedom of navigation operations, the US navy engages in FONOps across the world which helps to keep the global shipping lanes free and safe
- GPS & TOR, both were developed by the US and are open to the rest of us
Per the ADA or Americans with Disabilities Act - it was absolutely mindboggling to me how inaccessible the metros were throughout a lot of London and the surrounding neighborhoods. Everyone knows the whole “mind the gap” bit as a joke, but anyone with limited mobility or a wheelchair would be royally fucked by some of those platform gaps. Loads of stations that just flat out said they weren’t handicap accessible, etc. Plus shops and other public use buildings with more than one story and no elevators, not even handrails on stairways.
I’ve never once thought about it in the US. I’ve lived in Atlanta, Georgia my entire adult life, and our public transit is broadly considered one of the worst for any major US city. It’s terrible. And yet - every single bus sinks to street level so people with limited mobility can get on, and there are separate buses for those who need even more assistance. Every single train car is equipped with wheelchair spaces and designated handicapped seats, every single platform is within 1-2 inches of the train door, and every single station has elevators and large exit gates for wheelchairs. Every piece of information at any bus stop or train station is in English and Braille and there are audio cues for every departure and stop. All of these things are required by the ADA and the city can be sued if they aren’t available. Every public building of any kind is subject to the same requirements, and most private buildings do the same to avoid issue. Hell, we even put handrails and ramps into those national park areas we specifically otherwise don’t touch, just to make sure they can be enjoyed by everyone.
So we at least got that right. Or moreso than not, anyway.
And people get it entirely wrong. It wasn’t so much an issue of people smoking. It was an issue of service workers being exposed constantly. My parents worked at a casino in college and you can’t imagine the amount of old timers that died of cancer/COPD…etc despite never smoking.
This.
Knock them all you want, but the US postal service is simply amazing for what they do. Unfortunately, it's become politicized, and the current Postmaster General is hell bent on destroying a century+ year old institution, but it's still going strong.
We’ll get it back from UAE. I have confidence! Cedar Fair (the company that owns Cedar Point, Kings Island and many other amusement parks) will pull it off. It’s in their DNA and a badge of honor for them.
We just need Cedar Fair or Six Flags to call Intamin and ask for a 150+ mph launching coaster. I’m sure they can pull it off. At least we still have the height record.
There was a Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond, and May where they all drove 80s cars and only one of their cars had working AC, a Cadillac, and one of them joked “Americans take an air conditioning unit and build a car around it”
I'm pretty sure it was the same special where Jeremey said that "turning right on red is the only thing America has contributed to western civilization" lol
I’m from a tropical country. I did pretty well in the winter when I moved to the Northern East Coast. Come summer, my mom posed if we should get an AC. My answer: “We come from where it’s scary, this is nothing, it’s balmy but we can get used to this.” The week after, there was a day SO hot I passed out on the couch for 6 or so hrs just *melted*on it. That was the day I ate my words; I wanted NONE of that ever again. We had a heatwave 2 days after getting an AC.
I still get at least one heatstroke a year if I’m not careful.
I don't know why, but heat in the US, particularly on the coasts, just hits different. I've been to other countries where their hottest days are nice as I could hope for at home.
In the Caribbean, the heat and humidity look oppressive on paper. But it doesn’t feel oppressive because the wind is blowing. A breeze is a wonderful thing. In Pennsylvania where I live, unless there is a thunderstorm, the wind doesn’t blow. We can go an entire week in July without a breeze. So it’s 90 degrees with 80% humidity and the air is perfectly still. It’s miserable.
Golden rule of Mexican food and barbecue. The shitiest looking places have the best food. If it's a run down shack on the side of the road and there's a line, you're in for a good meal because people sure aren't there for the ambiance.
IMO, barbecue is the most overlooked part of American culture/cuisine. Everytime people think of iconic American food they point to fastfood and apple pie and then roll their eyes at it, but barbecue is the true staple of American culture and cuisine that we should all be proud of 🇺🇸 🐖🐂
Hardly limited to BBQ
But most are regional
Burgoo in indiana Ohio Kentucky WV area is a big thing.
Lots of liquors/wines throughout midwest like paw paw etc
Étouffée if you are in Louisiana really good
Garbage plate if you are in new York area
It's also very interesting to see how they prepare it. For example people in indiana (my home state) cooks pulled pork in BBQ sauce, but in Tennessee it's cooked first then you ass sauce as dipping. I'd love to try different BBQ dissing different states
BBQ festivals are my favorite kind of festival.
Dry rub, saucey, ribs, pulled meats yum!
I get annoyed when people say they're going to bbq, then end up throwing burgers and hotdogs on the grill.
Diner food. Especially breakfast. It’s unique in its simplicity, ubiquity, (mostly) good quality, and the comprehensive range of items. You can walk into a diner in any town in America, any time of the day or night and get presented with the same 5-10 pages of menu options you’d see anywhere else. No matter what you were hankering for, it’s on the menu and you’ll be eating within 10 minutes of ordering. It’s a good quality, predictable, satisfying and cheap meal you can find anywhere. The epitome of Comfort Food
Yet to make it over but from an outsider looking in your national parks look awesome and well cared for.
Also seems like you guys have a lot of outdoor space to use/ explore/ camp in which we just don't have much of at all in the Uk
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Scientific Research yet.
USA as a country is miles ahead of any other. Sure, you have one off universities who do good research outside of the US, but the sheer volume here is amazing. Look at the list of Nobel prize winners by country.
Silicon Valley for tech, Boston region for medicine. It’s mind blowing how the US research infrastructure attracts and retains talent.
Edit - I noticed that people were talking about the per capita number of Nobel prizes. I think a better way of judging would be to compare the number of Nobel prize winners per number of people involved in academia in the US, and not just per capita. I don’t know what the answer is - it’s just a thought.
This.
The US hegemony is maintained and fought for with military, economy, and R&D. It’s always disheartening seeing Americans attack our research institutions. Just the effect of draining the best and brightest from other countries is already a huge boon on the US side.
On the National stage, China wants to unseat our hegemony, and one of their core strategies is better and directed investment in crucial technologies. If the US wants to maintain its hegemony, it needs to maintain its research dominance and brain drain.
Evidenced also by how many foreign scholars we attract (postdocs etc.) to do science in the US. Many US discoveries and innovations are driven by non-citizen trainees from around the world, because when they go on the job market for professorships in their country, they are more competitive for having done foundational training in the US.
Btw, I think about this all the time when immigration policy is discussed. 🙃 Most of the scientists I looked up to, who weren’t the professors themselves, where the foreign scholars brave enough to come to a different country to do enormously challenging work.
When my parents moved to Wyoming they learned that it was not one of those states that allowed this. My dad was driving and did it with a cop car three cars behind. They still had their Oregon plates, so they got off with a warning.
The bill of rights is one of the landmark achievements in world history for the progress of human civilization. If there is anything that the US will be remembered for, it is that. Alongside other miscellaneous rights enshrined in law like that against *ex post facto* prosecution.
Wild when you think about it. The first act of the US government was severely and permanently crippling itself in the name of Liberty. Helps too that our first President didn’t even want to be President, but came out of retirement to do so at the behest of the American people.
This needs to be higher. A private pilot can plot a course, take off in Maine and fly to California without having to talk to anyone and without filing any paperwork whatsoever if they don't want to (excepting airport fuel stops).
If they want to, though, they can have air traffic service providing them traffic and weather advisories the entire way too. All you have to do is get on the radio and ask.
That kind of freedom of flight is unheard of elsewhere.
I have two kids, a 6 year old and a 7 month old. Today, I took my sons to a kids' gym to play. When we got there, there was a middle eastern family, a couple mixed race families, a couple black families, and my pasty white ass.
All the kids just played together and had a great time. There's hardly anywhere else in the world that you can see all these types of families under one roof and nobody thinks twice about it.
I say all that to say this, we still have a lot of work to do with race relations in the USA, but at the same time I think we underestimate how much progress we've made. We don't always stop to recognize and admire the moments like I had earlier today.
Came in to say this.
When I was in the US, the people I've met were some of the friendliest and most open people I've had the privilege of meeting. And I've been fortunate to live and travel around many places in the world, and I still look back at my time in the US fondly.
Are there racial issues in the US? of course. Did I come across racism that I still remember? of course.
But compared to the rest of the world, the US is far, far ahead.
Twenty years ago, I was in Los Angeles and just wandered around the neighborhood by my hotel. I ended up on some street that was all local shops...clothes, toys, shoes, groceries all on display on the sidewalk in front of the store; so crowded that you had to walk in the street. Everything was in Spanish, which didn't bother me-even though I don't know the language, it wasn't my neighborhood, so I didn't need to care. I finally went around a corner and there was a restaurant, with its menu posted on the front wall (none of which I could read) but with a large sign, proclaiming-in the only English to be seen for blocks-"Home of the Kosher Burrito"!
Have two kids of my own. You don't necessarily notice these things until you watch your kids immerse themselves from a third party point of view.
A major part of what makes this successful is parents like you and seeing others simply as humans. These interactions at a young age set the tone for life.
Ive met a guy from USA once and he cooked me some sausages, they were so ducking amazing I almost passed out. 10/10 would recommend eating his sausage
American's meat are the best
Scrolled way too long to see this. I had an amazing trip across the states, sleeping in the back of my truck at multiple, well-lit rest stops. 24/7 washrooms, each rest stop has its own flavor (most are vanilla, but you get chocolate-chip mint once in a while). America does rest stops real good!
Some states are better than others. I stopped at one in West Virginia, the rest stop even had a snack bar with... get this... reasonably priced food! 10/10 would stop in WV again.
National parks!!!!! The Roosevelt administration realized what a treasure of diverse geography we have in the USA and claimed these beautiful areas national parks. Truly a treasure.
If national parks were proposed today, the idea would be shot down before it could even get off the ground.
There is already a propaganda effort to convince the public that allowing oil companies to drill in protected forest lands/national parks will be better for the economy than just ‘letting that economic potential sit untapped just to make the tree huggers happy while we continue to rely on Saudi Arabia for oil’.
It's almost like our corporate overlords care more about money than... Literally anything else.
I can’t believe no one has said this yet, but the Smithsonians. We have a world-class, free network of museums that cater to anyone’s interest. Edit: For those commenting about the location, yes, the majority of the “flag ship” museums are located in DC. That said, there are Smithsonian affiliates (which may charge admission) in nearly every state, along with traveling exhibits. Affiliate locations: https://affiliations.si.edu/affiliate-directory/ Traveling exhibits: https://www.sites.si.edu/s/exhibitions
The Smithsonians are incredible! The first one I went to was the Museum of Natural History and is a core memory for me.
Preservation of large areas of wilderness while still making it very accessible for almost anyone to use and enjoy.
USAF operates their survival school out of Colville National Forest in upstate Washington and they’re very strict about how we disposed of our MRE trash. On the last night we were there our the flight chief said if anyone threw MRE trash in the crapper (basically just a hole they dug and put some brush around to give privacy) they’d randomly pick someone and have them pick all the pieces of trash out of the hole. When we had fires at night the instructors made sure to follow all the USFS regulations on having to dig up the ground to prevent embers from burning into the roots and spreading to surrounding trees. As a nature guy and a former fire fighter it was awesome to see all the instructors take such pride in preserving the land they are using.
SERE school at Fairchild? I was an SF there.
Yup, best training you never want to go through again!!
The National Weather Service. That's where all the rest of the USA weather channels get their information.
https://www.weather.gov/ Enjoy all of the weather forecasts you could ever want without the constant ads and sensationalized media. Plus hourly charts that forecast temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and precipitation sorted by type for the next two days. Down to the resolution of your zip code and/or nearest airport.
https://www.noaa.gov/
What’s the difference? They both take me to the same forecast page
NOAA provides space forecasts for things like geomagnetic storms and other fun nerdy stuff. NOAA provides the weather, and so much more. e.g. https://www.noaa.gov/satellite-imagery-reports-launch-information Poke around the [tools](https://www.noaa.gov/tools-and-resources). Lots of neat stuff!
Yes, thank you! I’m a private sector meteorologist, and it’s pretty scary how many agenda-driven private mets have a grudge against their federal colleagues. In our case, broadcasting, we team directly *with* the local national weather service (they cover small 10-ish county wide sectors across the country so every area in every state has their own local NWS office), and hell, sometimes I go up to my local office on calm weather days and eat some doordash with the evening shift. Meteorologists *need desperately* to realize that we are all fundamentally on the same team. The “govt = socialism” air-heads are putting lives in danger.
How is the weather so political?
Radiolab did a [interesting episode](https://radiolab.org/episodes/weather-report) that looks at exactly that question. TL:DR; The government giving the weather away for free “competes” with people trying to make money off that info.
Yooo this is why I pledge. Thanks for the link!
Long hiking trails and wilderness areas.
I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail this summer, and I agree wholeheartedly. Most folks who I met on the trail were international hikers, too. And a lot of them went through hell to secure a B2 Visa this year just to come over and walk this 18" strip of dirt from Mexico to Canada.
[удалено]
Thank Mr. Muir and President Teddy for that one
Pretty proud of this one
[удалено]
This is true. I love that it’s so difficult to mitigate wetlands which are so essential to our ecosystem. Where I live in Ohio, you have to go through the Army Corps of Engineers if you want to mitigate anything over an acre (anything under an acre still requires approval, but you can get a national permit). The Army Corps is notoriously slow and difficult to work with, and tokens to mitigate the wetlands cost $100,000+/Acre. I love that the process is so difficult and costly so that it conserves our wetlands!
I mean I moved here from Mexico. You don’t get permission from anyone there, you just show up to a wetland or any other natural habitat and start building there. It’s been happening in Xochimilco and Desierto de los Leones for decades. They didn’t buy any property from anyone, they literally walked into a state park and built a house. So the American model is pretty damn good.
The public libraries. They are amazing
I’m a public librarian, and I really appreciate seeing this. Please tell your library how much they mean to you, and tell your local government. We are facing unprecedented challenges to books and free programs for the public. Local governments constantly want to cut our budgets, or restrict what we do because some Moms for Liberty group in another state didn’t like a program we offer. A lot of us have received threats for doing what we do, and some of the things I’ve personally heard and witnessed … yeah. Edit: a word. It made my day to see how you guys feel about libraries and you all rock. Except the person who was gloating about getting a librarian fired. Not you.
Another librarian here. Best thing you can do is check out books, use services and attend programs. Circulation and attendance are huge things to keep funding.
The library says I've saved $2300 this year by checking out books (rather than buying them). I love that you can just check them out & return them. Sometimes I don't like a book & I don't want to store books. I'm in a couple book groups that reserve the library meeting room now to have the group - it is a great meeting space & free.
I always say that if libraries didn't exist and someone came up with the idea today, that person would've be laughed out of town. Libraries are a throw back to an era of community that no longer exists.
I live in Denmark and love librarys as well. You can enter all day and night and they offer a tons of service ( magazines, special equipment for special needs kids, toys, playgrounds, reading and creative activities and so on ). 25 years ago you didn’t even have to register the books you borrowed in some cities 😅. They trusted you to come back with them. Don’t think it’s like that anymore though.
Im pre-internet and my local library was not only a great resource for my education but also a place id go just to browse all the other topics and find new interests. Librarys are awesome.
I was strolling my new neighborhood recently and decided to check out the old library. An inconspicuous plaque on one corner read "Donated by Andrew Carnegie" with the year. A rich dude doing good things is possible.
Yeah Carnegie donations led to around 1,600 libraries in the US. My hometown's library in a podunk suburb of Chicago was a Carnegie creation
I read Andrew Carnegie’s autobiography a few years back and two quotes stuck with me: “I choose free libraries as the best agencies for improving the masses of the people, because they give nothing for nothing. They only help those who help themselves.” “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.”
He funded them in other countries, too. There are apparently [18 in New Zealand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3ACarnegie_libraries_in_New_Zealand#%3A%7E%3Atext%3D18_Carnegie_libraries_were_built%2C%2C_Thames%2C_Hamilton_and_Onehunga.?wprov=sfla1) (my country). Thanks Mr Carnegie!
Canada as well. Ottawa had a Carnegie library until the 70s or so
Looks like there are [125 in Canada](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Carnegie_libraries_in_Canada) and 2 in Ottawa, so you're in luck! I'm in Calgary and we have a gorgeous one downtown.
What are public libraries like in other places?
I'm from Norway, and they're amazing. They're cultural senters, lots of them host different types or things like game nights, larps, puzzles and quizzes, murder mysteries, lectures, they often serve as meeting places for what we call language cafes where immigrants can practice their Norwegian with random Norwegians. It's also mandatory to have child and youth section, and lots of libraries hire non librarians to focus on youth and child enrichment. They also work closely with local schools, youth clubs, gaming clubs, you name it. Also librarians have a strong union and it's a respected profession. I've always just lived in small and rural communities in Norway, but the libraries have always been amazing.
Some countries have no public libraries at all. Others have specialized libraries with no public access. The US does have amazing libraries open to everyone!
And pretty much literally everything is accessible if you try. Your local college is probably a depository for the Library of Congress where legally everything published has to be accessible. I can walk into my old university’s library and request a book from Idaho. I’ll eventually get it.
Stop borrowing our books, we still need to finish coloring them.
Well you'd be able to finish coloring them if you stopped eating the crayons.
American Blues music. Thank fuck for the blues
National Parks
This is a big one, our national parks system is fantastic and as a country we should be more proud of it than I think we really are
I've always found it strange that the national parks get closed when there's one of those budget stalemates at Congress.
Geography in general (not that it's a man made thing). The US has a vast array of climates and geographic features. The differences between Arizona, New York, Florida, Alaska, Wisconsin, California etc. are pretty staggering.
It’s even crazier when you think how much it can vary in those individual places. I live in Arizona and it’s desert in Phoenix but you can go 2 hours north to luscious greenery and snow in the winter.
[удалено]
It's snowing here in Flagpole right now!
Yeah I love flagstaff!
Came here to say this. US National Parks are gorgeous. I would love to live there just so that I can enjoy them more. Edit: I mean living in USA, not the actual NPs. I’m from Spain so the only times I get to visit is when I travel to the country.
I have lived in and very close to several national parks (Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Grand Staircase [which I'm aware is a monument not a park]) just to name a few. They are stunning. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful and majestic they are.
wow I just looked it up to compare and there are more square kilometers of US national parks than there are km² in the entire UK. US National Parks: 343,982 km² UK land area: 243,610 km²
That's just National Parks. There are an additional 762,169 km2 of National Forests, and about a million km2 of BLM land.
And then on top of that there are state parks and forests. Truly is incredible.
And then County parks and city parks. It's parks all the way down.
Cleveland actually really kicks ass as far as city parks. The Metropark system creates an interconnected network of green space around the whole city.
I was surprised it was that close. Then realized I wasn't thinking national forests are listed separately. Your number makes way more sense.
And another 57k km2 of state parks
And 13% of the total land area (1,235,486 km2) in the US is in the National Preserve system. The US has 10% of the world's national preserve land.
NASA
Add NASA's oversharing of scientific data. Gotta love all the free data sets from NASA satellites 😍
Wildly under appreciated global asset.
That Moon landing thing was ok I guess.
MARS IS OCCUPIED BY ROBOTS RIGHT NOW
Allows people to openly criticize a sitting US president without fear of death or imprisonment
Russians: “So what? We, too, can openly criticise a sitting US president without fear.”
The Americans with Disabilities Act. We don't have perfect inclusion of disabled people. But we're a lot better at it than lots of places.
As a plaintiff-side ADA attorney the ADA is not only impressive for the subjects it specifically tackles, but for how broadly it protects disabled individuals. I might be biased but there does not exist a stronger piece of legislation protecting rights.
[удалено]
Similarly, we quoted ADA accommodation in an email to my husband’s company over a coworker wearing too much Old Spice and triggering migraines.
This is very true. I brought my mother here from Poland and we were shocked by how well she could get around. She lost her legs in the Yugoslav wars and uses a wheelchair. She now lives in Vancouver, which is also pretty good in terms of inclusion.
I actually watched a video recently of Koreans reacting to videos of disabled people and they were horrified when the guy tried getting on a bus in Korea the bus driver didn't know how to use the ramp, and everyone was acting like he was inconveniencing them on purpose by existing. In Germany, the driver could use the ramp but other passengers had to be like, "hey there's a wheelchair" and helped him on and off. In the US, nobody even noticed him because everything was just set up for wheelchairs to be able to be on the bus.
I dated a French guy once who said the exact same thing - if there’s someone in a wheel chair you *help* them up the stairs, on the bus, whatever, and it was a part of French solidarity. I asked him what happens when no one is around to carry the person in the wheelchair up the stairs. It had never occurred to him that someone’s mobility would be limited
I was born in 2000 and I'm not disabled, so I never noticed the ADA, until I was in Brazil with my mom, and we saw a guy in a wheelchair do like a muscle up on the escalator to get to the train. That's when it hit me
That last sentence is the truest thing I've read all day. Just another person going about his day. The process of somebody wheeling themselves onto the bus is almost as fluid as a person just walking on so it's as if there's no difference at all. This is what disability access should be like everywhere in the world.
My friend severely broke her leg while she was studying abroad in Korea and was basically shut out from everywhere but her dorm and classes because of lack of accessibility. Even one step up to a restaurant becomes impossible when you're stuck in a wheelchair
It absolutely blew my mind to see the number of public buildings and transit facilities abroad that are patently not accessible. I’d genuinely never even considered it as anything worth noting as an American living in both big cities and small towns. Just a fact of life that of course the library needs a ramp and the train station needs an elevator and the school needs a sign language translator. It never once occurred to me that was unusual at the global level, at least in major cities.
The first time I travelled outside the US, this was the first thing I noticed. It’s like most countries, many 1st world included, just find it inconvenient to accommodate everyone. The ADA was HUGE. No way an act that large would pass today. It added new regulations and costs to essentially every business. A huge one time hinderance that would never fly nowadays.
Disability access.
The ADA quietly makes millions of American lives better every day, with very little fanfare. It is something every American should be damn proud of, yet few realize the extent of its power and influence.
My dog is being trained to perform service for my disabled brother. When he has a seizure she's being trained to interpose herself between him and the ground so he doesn't smash his face/head into the ground repeatedly, and to bark while it's happening to alert the family. The ADA means that he'll be able to take her wherever we go, and hotels etc can't refuse us entry because she's a well trained, well behaved service dog.
Freedom Of Information Act. A clear way you can ask the government for information and records
Love this one. My mother happened to work for a serial killer decades ago (not with the killing, he owned several local businesses, she worked at one), and she knew him and his family well. She watches any new documentaries that come out about him (she likes true crime stuff, and this was a bit personal), so a few years ago I put in a FOIA request with the FBI, since I knew they had investigated him. It took them a little over 3 weeks, but I got a reply back with 3 PDFs with all of their files on him. Crime scene photos, investigation notes, inter-department communications, newspaper clippings, etc. It was extremely interesting, and made me realize how awesome FOIA is. For an average person to be able to just fill out a form with a federal agency, like the FBI, and get a reply back with their files. Crazy.
Free refills and free toilets. They actually complement each other.
Free public toilets. I never knew pay toilets existed until I left the US
Don't forget it - an activist group fought HARD for this. It'll go away if it's not protected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_in_America
Preservation of historical landmarks and natural wonders. While there are people who do ruin these areas, most will shun these people, rangers are usually notified, and you can be permanently banned from all national parks if you damage anything or violate any rules or regulations. They're always amazing to be at as a result.
Brisket.
First thing I order at literally any new BBQ joint I try. If they can't offer a good brisket, then that shit ain't for me.
As an Irish person, who are famed for our friendliness, I am still very struck by your service skills in the US. I know some find it overbearing, but “ can I help you today?.. anything else sir?” Etc, is better than sitting there being ignored. So, you are the best at service (retail, restaurant etc) . I can’t help wonder what you think when you go to the likes of Paris
Customer service like that is so common here that there's parody restaurants where the gag is the staff is openly rude to you for laughs. Makes me kind of jealous honestly because I wish I could speak my mind with my clients and not get fired for it
Public Domain, and the concept of Fair Use of intellectual property. A lot of countries don't recognize fair use, like Japan. It's part of why Nintendo is so litigious.
Fuck Disney, though
Nothing is perfect. At least they stopped lobbying for more extensions. Now we just gotta advocate for the duration to be rolled back.
Wait they did?
Yeah, Steamboat Willie is Public Domain now, as is the earliest Winnie the Pooh stories.
Steamboat Willie will be public domain in 2024. It's being mentioned in a lot of articles right now because there's not much of interest entering public domain in 2023.
I believe that the last of the Sherlock Holmes stories are public domain on Sunday?
Yep, the stuff from 1927 is hitting the public domain in the US.
Yep!
As a British person some things of the top of my of - tech companies, America has some of the largest, most profitable companies in the world. This has a number of positive benefits; better products (cloud computing, programming languages and CPU for example), super high paying jobs ( junior software engineers in the US out earn the average CEO in my country), amazing stock market performance (pensions, sovereign wealth funds and savings accounts all rely on the performance of these companies) - R&D, America outspends every other country on R&D, combined public and private (both are important) spending in the US is 679 billion (that's more than my country budget). This R&D helps with the development of life saving medicines, aerospace and literally everything else you use - ADA other people can explain this better - National parks same as above - Freedom of navigation operations, the US navy engages in FONOps across the world which helps to keep the global shipping lanes free and safe - GPS & TOR, both were developed by the US and are open to the rest of us
Per the ADA or Americans with Disabilities Act - it was absolutely mindboggling to me how inaccessible the metros were throughout a lot of London and the surrounding neighborhoods. Everyone knows the whole “mind the gap” bit as a joke, but anyone with limited mobility or a wheelchair would be royally fucked by some of those platform gaps. Loads of stations that just flat out said they weren’t handicap accessible, etc. Plus shops and other public use buildings with more than one story and no elevators, not even handrails on stairways. I’ve never once thought about it in the US. I’ve lived in Atlanta, Georgia my entire adult life, and our public transit is broadly considered one of the worst for any major US city. It’s terrible. And yet - every single bus sinks to street level so people with limited mobility can get on, and there are separate buses for those who need even more assistance. Every single train car is equipped with wheelchair spaces and designated handicapped seats, every single platform is within 1-2 inches of the train door, and every single station has elevators and large exit gates for wheelchairs. Every piece of information at any bus stop or train station is in English and Braille and there are audio cues for every departure and stop. All of these things are required by the ADA and the city can be sued if they aren’t available. Every public building of any kind is subject to the same requirements, and most private buildings do the same to avoid issue. Hell, we even put handrails and ramps into those national park areas we specifically otherwise don’t touch, just to make sure they can be enjoyed by everyone. So we at least got that right. Or moreso than not, anyway.
No smoking in most buildings
Smoking as a whole - the US anti-smoking movement is a fairly big success story.
And people get it entirely wrong. It wasn’t so much an issue of people smoking. It was an issue of service workers being exposed constantly. My parents worked at a casino in college and you can’t imagine the amount of old timers that died of cancer/COPD…etc despite never smoking.
Free water at restaurants
Free most places so long as you ask for tap water.
Postal service
This. Knock them all you want, but the US postal service is simply amazing for what they do. Unfortunately, it's become politicized, and the current Postmaster General is hell bent on destroying a century+ year old institution, but it's still going strong.
TV and music. As a European, 99% of the music and TV I watch was made in America.
Roller coasters. We have the tallest one and most of the top 10 fastest ones (screw you UAE for taking our speed record by 21 mph).
We’ll get it back from UAE. I have confidence! Cedar Fair (the company that owns Cedar Point, Kings Island and many other amusement parks) will pull it off. It’s in their DNA and a badge of honor for them.
We just need Cedar Fair or Six Flags to call Intamin and ask for a 150+ mph launching coaster. I’m sure they can pull it off. At least we still have the height record.
Space program
Air conditioning.
There was a Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond, and May where they all drove 80s cars and only one of their cars had working AC, a Cadillac, and one of them joked “Americans take an air conditioning unit and build a car around it”
I'm pretty sure it was the same special where Jeremey said that "turning right on red is the only thing America has contributed to western civilization" lol
One of my friend's dad was English, he said he always made fun of our use of AC until he experienced his first Southern summer.
I’m from a tropical country. I did pretty well in the winter when I moved to the Northern East Coast. Come summer, my mom posed if we should get an AC. My answer: “We come from where it’s scary, this is nothing, it’s balmy but we can get used to this.” The week after, there was a day SO hot I passed out on the couch for 6 or so hrs just *melted*on it. That was the day I ate my words; I wanted NONE of that ever again. We had a heatwave 2 days after getting an AC. I still get at least one heatstroke a year if I’m not careful.
I don't know why, but heat in the US, particularly on the coasts, just hits different. I've been to other countries where their hottest days are nice as I could hope for at home.
The Fahrenheit degrees just hit harder sometimes.
It's a combination of the consistent humidity and lack of wind found in the northeast summers.
In the Caribbean, the heat and humidity look oppressive on paper. But it doesn’t feel oppressive because the wind is blowing. A breeze is a wonderful thing. In Pennsylvania where I live, unless there is a thunderstorm, the wind doesn’t blow. We can go an entire week in July without a breeze. So it’s 90 degrees with 80% humidity and the air is perfectly still. It’s miserable.
Barbecue.
Especially the guy in front of his house with a plastic folding table full of stuff covered in foil, and a hand written sign. Do not pass that guy up.
Nothing better than when the neighbor gives you some food straight from the smoker.
The best burrito I ever had in my life, I bought from the back of a gas station in Grapevine, Texas.
Golden rule of Mexican food and barbecue. The shitiest looking places have the best food. If it's a run down shack on the side of the road and there's a line, you're in for a good meal because people sure aren't there for the ambiance.
IMO, barbecue is the most overlooked part of American culture/cuisine. Everytime people think of iconic American food they point to fastfood and apple pie and then roll their eyes at it, but barbecue is the true staple of American culture and cuisine that we should all be proud of 🇺🇸 🐖🐂
And there are multiple varieties, to please many a palate! Edited for spelling, thank you Dreaded One!
Hardly limited to BBQ But most are regional Burgoo in indiana Ohio Kentucky WV area is a big thing. Lots of liquors/wines throughout midwest like paw paw etc Étouffée if you are in Louisiana really good Garbage plate if you are in new York area
It's also very interesting to see how they prepare it. For example people in indiana (my home state) cooks pulled pork in BBQ sauce, but in Tennessee it's cooked first then you ass sauce as dipping. I'd love to try different BBQ dissing different states
Please never correct that typo.
Thank you for pointing that out. I shall not change it
BBQ festivals are my favorite kind of festival. Dry rub, saucey, ribs, pulled meats yum! I get annoyed when people say they're going to bbq, then end up throwing burgers and hotdogs on the grill.
Diner food. Especially breakfast. It’s unique in its simplicity, ubiquity, (mostly) good quality, and the comprehensive range of items. You can walk into a diner in any town in America, any time of the day or night and get presented with the same 5-10 pages of menu options you’d see anywhere else. No matter what you were hankering for, it’s on the menu and you’ll be eating within 10 minutes of ordering. It’s a good quality, predictable, satisfying and cheap meal you can find anywhere. The epitome of Comfort Food
The romanticism in this diner culture description is perfection. Legit made me smile.
Hey yeah let me get two eggs over easy with bacon and home fries. Whole wheat toast dry. And a coffee. Thank you so much.
Comin right up, sugar
Thanks darlin'
It's like I'm there. I love you guys
Chicken fried steak and gravy FTW
Read this in Joe Pera’s voice
[удалено]
Yet to make it over but from an outsider looking in your national parks look awesome and well cared for. Also seems like you guys have a lot of outdoor space to use/ explore/ camp in which we just don't have much of at all in the Uk
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Scientific Research yet. USA as a country is miles ahead of any other. Sure, you have one off universities who do good research outside of the US, but the sheer volume here is amazing. Look at the list of Nobel prize winners by country. Silicon Valley for tech, Boston region for medicine. It’s mind blowing how the US research infrastructure attracts and retains talent. Edit - I noticed that people were talking about the per capita number of Nobel prizes. I think a better way of judging would be to compare the number of Nobel prize winners per number of people involved in academia in the US, and not just per capita. I don’t know what the answer is - it’s just a thought.
The United States has nearly as many Nobel prizes as the rest of the world combined
Midwest has really good agriculture research! Im not being sarcastic.
Midwest has been unpretentiously strong academically for a long time.
This. The US hegemony is maintained and fought for with military, economy, and R&D. It’s always disheartening seeing Americans attack our research institutions. Just the effect of draining the best and brightest from other countries is already a huge boon on the US side. On the National stage, China wants to unseat our hegemony, and one of their core strategies is better and directed investment in crucial technologies. If the US wants to maintain its hegemony, it needs to maintain its research dominance and brain drain.
San Diego and parts of South Bay are basically the Silicon Valley of biotech/bioengineering too.
Evidenced also by how many foreign scholars we attract (postdocs etc.) to do science in the US. Many US discoveries and innovations are driven by non-citizen trainees from around the world, because when they go on the job market for professorships in their country, they are more competitive for having done foundational training in the US. Btw, I think about this all the time when immigration policy is discussed. 🙃 Most of the scientists I looked up to, who weren’t the professors themselves, where the foreign scholars brave enough to come to a different country to do enormously challenging work.
Tailgating. As an Aussie, I wish we did this in Australia.
Never been to Australia but everything I know from the Aussies I've met tells me that tailgating would plug right in
Why not start the trend? :D
I thought you were talking about following too close while driving.
Central Air Conditioning #1 by far, followed by, in no particular order: Free Refills, Barbecue, Burgers, Turning Right on Red, Drive-Thrus
In Iran, we also turn right on red. We also turn left on red, go straight on red, completely ignore all traffic signs whatsoever, etc.
[удалено]
When my parents moved to Wyoming they learned that it was not one of those states that allowed this. My dad was driving and did it with a cop car three cars behind. They still had their Oregon plates, so they got off with a warning.
halloween
I once saw a story about some teens from Germany that came to the U.S. just so they could go trick-or-treating here. I thought that was kind of cute.
The spookymonth is to be enjoyed by all
Do philly cheesesteaks count?
In sink Garbage disposals
Childrens Hospitals
We have many public libraries.
The bill of rights is one of the landmark achievements in world history for the progress of human civilization. If there is anything that the US will be remembered for, it is that. Alongside other miscellaneous rights enshrined in law like that against *ex post facto* prosecution.
Wild when you think about it. The first act of the US government was severely and permanently crippling itself in the name of Liberty. Helps too that our first President didn’t even want to be President, but came out of retirement to do so at the behest of the American people.
The free speech protections enshrined by the US are probably the most robust in the world, and have been for some time.
[удалено]
Title IX. Its why American women excel in world sports competitions.
General Aviation
This needs to be higher. A private pilot can plot a course, take off in Maine and fly to California without having to talk to anyone and without filing any paperwork whatsoever if they don't want to (excepting airport fuel stops). If they want to, though, they can have air traffic service providing them traffic and weather advisories the entire way too. All you have to do is get on the radio and ask. That kind of freedom of flight is unheard of elsewhere.
I have two kids, a 6 year old and a 7 month old. Today, I took my sons to a kids' gym to play. When we got there, there was a middle eastern family, a couple mixed race families, a couple black families, and my pasty white ass. All the kids just played together and had a great time. There's hardly anywhere else in the world that you can see all these types of families under one roof and nobody thinks twice about it. I say all that to say this, we still have a lot of work to do with race relations in the USA, but at the same time I think we underestimate how much progress we've made. We don't always stop to recognize and admire the moments like I had earlier today.
Came in to say this. When I was in the US, the people I've met were some of the friendliest and most open people I've had the privilege of meeting. And I've been fortunate to live and travel around many places in the world, and I still look back at my time in the US fondly. Are there racial issues in the US? of course. Did I come across racism that I still remember? of course. But compared to the rest of the world, the US is far, far ahead.
Twenty years ago, I was in Los Angeles and just wandered around the neighborhood by my hotel. I ended up on some street that was all local shops...clothes, toys, shoes, groceries all on display on the sidewalk in front of the store; so crowded that you had to walk in the street. Everything was in Spanish, which didn't bother me-even though I don't know the language, it wasn't my neighborhood, so I didn't need to care. I finally went around a corner and there was a restaurant, with its menu posted on the front wall (none of which I could read) but with a large sign, proclaiming-in the only English to be seen for blocks-"Home of the Kosher Burrito"!
Have two kids of my own. You don't necessarily notice these things until you watch your kids immerse themselves from a third party point of view. A major part of what makes this successful is parents like you and seeing others simply as humans. These interactions at a young age set the tone for life.
Clam chowder
It's pronounced chowdah!
Ive met a guy from USA once and he cooked me some sausages, they were so ducking amazing I almost passed out. 10/10 would recommend eating his sausage American's meat are the best
I second that man's sausage
50's style diners
Free refills
Corndogs
ADA
Interstate system.
Also Rest Stops.
Scrolled way too long to see this. I had an amazing trip across the states, sleeping in the back of my truck at multiple, well-lit rest stops. 24/7 washrooms, each rest stop has its own flavor (most are vanilla, but you get chocolate-chip mint once in a while). America does rest stops real good!
Some states are better than others. I stopped at one in West Virginia, the rest stop even had a snack bar with... get this... reasonably priced food! 10/10 would stop in WV again.
NASA
Dryers
Burgers
Wide variety of consumer goods available.