ebonyandivory wrote:
APOLLO 11 bitches! July 16, 1969
(No offense intended by the b-word btw)
Lets meet the chief architect of that program, I wonder where the hell he came from?
Oh, thats right.
Don't mistake me for a Nazi sympathizer or something to that effect, I'm not. However, much of the technology we enjoy today was derived from 60s aerospace tech/the space race, which more or less rode entirely on stolen Nazi science. Saying MOON ROCKETS, MURCIA, berkeley YEAH, is grossly oversimplifying things and not giving credit where it is due.
Wernher von Braun really did not give a crap who he worked for. He had an obsession to go into space and to the moon, that was his master.
The British were pretty wildly inventive in WWII, the Germans were also (who are strangely not British). The British really have not done a LOT since then though... America kind of took over.
The "engineering" brilliance of the US in WWII though was it's industrial might. America ramped up an insane amount of production capability in a few years.... that takes some engineering.
The Germans had another engineering issue. They used a large amount of effort creating the best version of what they were making rather then striking a compromise and lean more toward quantity rather then quality. The Russians were VERY much in the quantity over quality camp.
In reply to aircooled:
Russian "quality" in the 40s is a bit different than German or American quality, in that its not really about fit, finish, ease of use, or anything like that, its all about how long can an illiterate conscript abuse it before it fails. In that metric, its excellent.
klopperoo has a thin skin. 
FWIW, the Brits pulled off some real engineering coups during WWII, such as that bouncing bomb dam buster.
From my travels about the automotive spectrum, every country has excellent engineers, for instance the Lotus 907 in my J-H was probably the world's most advanced passenger car engine of its era and still holds up well today. The problem worldwide is the goddamn bean counters.
The Germans are a bit of a special case, though; they just pile on too MUCH stuff regardless of cost.
For my money, the Japanese have figured out the balance between engineering and bean counting.
alfadriver wrote:
As for the traffic light, I had read it was originally in New England somewhere- but it's not really modern.
Cleveland is not in New England. Or the old one either.
Knurled wrote:
alfadriver wrote:
As for the traffic light, I had read it was originally in New England somewhere- but it's not really modern.
Cleveland is not in New England. Or the old one either.
London England 1868 outside the Houses of Parliament.
Robert Goddard, rocket boy. Robert Goddard.
Jeremy Clarkson talks E36 M3 about american stuff like this as well. I always assume it's tongue in cheek nonsense because they know they are our little brothers.
Joe Gearin wrote: It seems most of these English shows (Top Gear also) insult the U.S. on a regular basis. inferiority complex I assume.
kinda like on top gear this week they showed the sinkhole at the corvette museum and jeremy commented that the damage totalled $37?
total inferiority complex. they can only ever wish they were talented enough to build the stuff we do. it makes me laugh to no end that the wheeler dealer guys claim they're putting out top notch stuff at the end of the project. i definitely do better repairs in my home garage. the TVR chassis swap got me. they did all that work, yet spray bombed all the rusty suspension bits on that shiny new frame. they love to re-use a bunch of stuff that most of us would change, even being a bunch of cheapskates with visions of $2000 all in racecars.
however, i do love my top gear and the wheeler dealers are interesting as far as tv goes. much better than the spike tv lineup of 30 minute commercials for 4x4 parts.
Wow, talk about a zombie thread ...
I started this thing in 2010 fer chrissake.
Yes TG etc. makes fun of America, but America is always making fun of 'Bobbies', Fish and chips, stiff upper lip, rain, Lucas electrics etc. All massively annoying, out of date, exaggerated, not true, whatever, but American's love it. I have a massive desire every time someone hears my accents and says something dumb is an imitation accent like 'Oh, hello! do you meet many Bobbies down the jolly old pub' to rip their sphincter out through their mouth, but I just smile condescendingly instead. Grow a skin guys.
mtn
UltimaDork
3/7/14 10:13 a.m.
Adrian_Thompson wrote:
Yes TG etc. makes fun of America, but America is always making fun of 'Bobbies', Fish and chips, stiff upper lip, rain, Lucas electrics etc. All massively annoying, out of date, exaggerated, not true, whatever, but American's love it. I have a massive desire every time someone hears my accents and says something dumb is an imitation accent like 'Oh, hello! do you meet many Bobbies down the jolly old pub' to rip their sphincter out through their mouth, but I just smile condescendingly instead. Grow a skin guys.
With the exception of Lucas, really? I don't even know what 'Bobbies' are... And I enjoy Fish and Chips enough that I'm excited it is Lent so I can get some at more places. As for stiff upper lip, I'd say that is a compliment, one who has courage and bravery when faced with adversity. And it rains in Seattle too.
But I can find no defense for Lucas. That joke will always be around
BTW, watch this interview between Eric Bana and Clarkson and he mentions the fact that Americans take jokes too seriously, while the Aussies take the jokes at their expense in stride and can give it back properly.
http://videos.sapo.pt/Uss6B79ligwLejUUSZLw
Top Gear UK has even praised the US on a few occasions, like when discussing the idiot in Texas who drove his Bugatti above 200mph, on the public road, got busted for it and just got a ticket. They all wondered why they still do the show in the UK? As much as they initially hated their American cars (in the two episodes they made here) they grew to love them, but acknowledge that they simply don't work in the UK as they are too large for the roads there.
Honestly, its great to be proud of your native or chosen country, but at the same time, one should be able to acknowledge the faults and embrace them. Clarkson certainly likes to make fun of the rather idiotic things that his own country does, as well as others. Why can't more of us do the same?
Insert Lee Greenwood song here. (I keed. I keed.)
Adrian_Thompson wrote:
..but America is always making fun of 'Bobbies', Fish and chips, stiff upper lip, rain, Lucas electrics etc. All massively annoying, out of date, exaggerated, not true, whatever, but American's love it....
Yeah, I don't see that at all, other then Lucas. The TV hosts in America seems to be about 50% British accented and in general the English accent seems to carry the connotation of smart / sophisticated in the US. A seemingly very high percentage of popular actors in US movies are also from the UK.
My observation would be pretty much the opposite. The US population seems to view British people at a bit of a higher esteem then others.
I grew up watching Monty Python, so I am well aware you people have issues
The leading engineers in the oil and gas industry are americans. Everyone says how much they hate Haliburton but that company does some very interesting work. It really is too bad that the Deepwater Horizon had to blow up.
What rubs me wrong is the smugness of the british. If you come to the US check that at the door. Everyone gives the French hell for falling to the Nazi without enough of a fight, but the bottom line is the French were literally bled dry after WW1. The fighting during WW1 was in France and destroyed their countryside and killed millions of their men. If the Brits didn't have the Channel they would have fallen also.
Amazing how one post from a troll in a zombie thread can cause pages of arguments.
klopperoo wrote:
...I only pointed out how american technology was inferior to europe, especially the UK...
Yup, their technology is certainly way better then the US. We just sit over here wishing we could do things like they do in the "rope".
(English trolls are weird, kind of polite and insulting at the same time)
BTW - you might want to post you comment in this thread:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/i-needwant-to-buy-a-good-argument/80470/page4/
This section of the board is supposed to be for car related topics only. Of course you blokes do drive on the wrong side of the road, so maybe it seems correct to you..
Yeah, well WE won the American Civil War.
klopperoo wrote:
Since we created the industrial revolution and the jet engine and civilisation and democracy and police and we kicked french ass many times and kicked ur ass in the war of 1812, gives us the right to , reply to aircooled:
Isn't democracy one of those Greek words? I think it and civilization predate the UK by several millennia.
In reply to klopperoo:
Every one of your nine posts has been in this thread. Most of them antagonistic and trollish. I am seriously considering deleting your account at this point.
In reply to EastCoastMojo:
I dare you. 
