Comprensive look at American English dialects

You could get lost in these maps and data regarding American English dialects for hours. I learned many things, so as the fact that there are 16 vowels (not just a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y), and 24 consonants. I invite you to check this out. dialect map And the fact that we haven's pulled things into a homogeneous language, despite all the years of electronic mass communication demonstrates, I believe, that we are inherently tribal--that we are wired to strive to be like our local tribe and different than those who we perceive to be outsiders.

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Inside Denmark’s fixing rooms

Within Denmark's fixing rooms, addicts are provided the drugs (such as heroine, methadone or cocaine) they would otherwise break laws to obtain. Nurses supervise. England is debating whether to open its own fixing rooms.

In Copenhagen's fixing room, eight people at a time, and another four in a van parked up in the courtyard, inject, in the knowledge that they are being watched over by nurses and are taking their drugs in a clean environment using sterile needles, a dose of saline solution, a cotton bud and a pump, all provided by staff. . . . Year on year, burglaries in the wider area are down by about 3%, theft from vehicles and violence down about 5%, and possession of weapons also down. "From the police perspective, I can see the benefits," said Orye. "It feels calmer."

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All communications among Americans are subject to surveillance

Glenn Greenwald gathers the evidence for concluding that all (not some, not most) telephone and email communications among Americans are subject to screening by the U.S. Surveillance State.

That no human communications can be allowed to take place without the scrutinizing eye of the US government is indeed the animating principle of the US Surveillance State. Still, this revelation, made in passing on CNN, that every single telephone call made by and among Americans is recorded and stored is something which most people undoubtedly do not know, even if the small group of people who focus on surveillance . . . Some new polling suggests that Americans, even after the Boston attack, are growing increasingly concerned about erosions of civil liberties in the name of Terrorism. Even those people who claim it does not matter instinctively understand the value of personal privacy: they put locks on their bedroom doors and vigilantly safeguard their email passwords. That's why the US government so desperately maintains a wall of secrecy around their surveillance capabilities: because they fear that people will find their behavior unacceptably intrusive and threatening . . .

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About Americans

I know that this article at Bananenplanet is filled with generalizations, but many of them rang true to me. Thoughtful article that suggests that Americans need to look in the mirror. Here are some of the main points:

  • We Know Nothing About The Rest Of The World
  • The Quality of Life For The Average American Is Not That Great
  • The Rest Of The World Is Not A Slum-Ridden Shithole Compared To Us
  • We’re Paranoid
  • We’re Status-Obsessed And Seek Attention
  • We Are Very Unhealthy
  • We Mistake Comfort For Happiness

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