A woman was spanking her child on a bus when another passenger seemingly criticized her. She picked up her cell phone and made a call, when the bus reached her stop she calmly got up and got off the bus when a group of men around 20 or 30 years old started yelling into the bus. One of the men pulled some sort of assault rifle out of the  leg of his pants(I think thats where it was concealed) and opened fire on the bus. A crowded bus…in broad daylight…in the middle of a busy street.

The entire altecation was caught on the buses camera system. Amazingly no one was actually shot which really says a lot about the marksmanship of the shooter.

I’m a firefighter in one of the worst neighborhoods in Philly and I grew up in a small town in Scotland. So when I tell you that European tourists would do well to avoid the “inner cities” of America, they should probably listen. It really is as bad as they say in some of the poorest cities. Philly, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh etc. etc. While the violence may not be directed at the tourist, it is way too easy to find yourself in the wrong neighborhood and get youself caught in  some crossfire. 

The U.K, France, Ireland, Portugal and Canada all consume only 300 calories less than the U.S., us being at 3700 per day

I know. We have BBC America on the television. We have access to BBC online. We can see that people in the UK aren’t any thinner than people in the US.

In many [most?] jurisdictions in the U.S. you can use deadly force to defend yourself IF a reasonable person in your position would believe that a deadly attack is either in progress or imminent.

Unfortunately, in some jurisdictions, a Klansman is considered a ‘reasonable person’.

This story was a lighthearted and amusing look at cultural differences and different perceptions until some muppets declared war. For shame.]

or me anyway, feeling uncomfortable is just as bad as actually being in danger.

Very true, because being scared leads to bad decision-making, and also is visible to others. When I first started visiting NYC even midtown Manhattan terrified me (I grew up in small towns).  And though I was not robbed, certainly I was approached by at least a half dozen scammers/beggars/questionable-merchandisers every time went. I’m not approached by anyone anymore. I assume they’re all picking up on the fact I’m relatively more comfortable now.

On the other hand, I’m pretty comfortable in rural areas, forests, etc., that freak out some of my ‘city slicker’ friends. One example that I didn’t even notice until someone pointed it out to me is that growing up in a small place, with a father who hunts, is I am not bothered by hunting paraphernalia… someone walking down a country road with a rifle and cammo clothes, or hearing a shot in the distance, does not raise my stress level. And in the country, the presence of strangers is much more worrisome from a safety perspective than the absence of strangers (the exact opposite of urban environments, where emptiness of humans is a bad thing).

True, but it’s also not up to the customer to top-up unfair wages.

If you don’t tip, you’ve basically walked out without paying. It’s legal, but you just took the service without paying for it. And in most cases, you took it from someone who lives on the edge and certainly doesn’t have luxuries like health insurance.

As far as overt friendliness, as a frequent traveler internally in the US, I can assure there is a HUGE variation amongst the US. Southern California is noticeably friendlier than the North East, and the Midwest is friendlier still (at least to people like me; obviously I’m not qualified to speak otherwise). The South can be friendly but is what I would call ‘high maintenance’, in that there seems to be a certain amount of required pleasantries before you’re allowed to start asking for things.

All that said, I’ve found even people in NYC, who have a relatively well-deserved reputation for being cold and inpatient, are genuinely helpful is you ask for directions for example. I think different places, rather than being truly more or less pro-social, simply have different ‘minimum required social interaction’ standards. Some places, usually more rural, if you pass someone on the street and don’t acknowledge them in some way (with a wave, or a hello) you’re being rude. In other places, that would be taken as a prelude to a scam or other unpleasantness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/22/florida-britons-shot-dead-trial

Here are a few of the more interesting ones, in order of appearance.

1. American toilets have high standing water inside the bowl so if you wipe without standing up you end up dipping your hand. Ewwww…

2.Instead of a white arrow on a blue background, America has signs that say ‘Right Lane Must Turn Right’, which is not very clear or practical, imho.

3. Pools > gardens.

5. Sparrows aren’t as fat as in Europe.

6. Everything is bigger (except the sparrows of course)

8. People talk to each other about each other and their money.

9. Everything from actual flags to toilet bowl covers can be star-spangled.

10. There are no proper sidewalks and if you try to take a walk people look at you weird :(

11. Movies on tv are edited to make room for ads and even the tits on a tattoo of a naked girl get blurred out. Wtf?

12. People are nice and it’s very clean. No, really!

Oh come on, Antinous. I’d visit Singapore in a heartbeat, given the opportunity, based on everything I know about it.

Congratulations. You’re a fascist apologist. You’d visit in a heartbeat a country that flogs people until they bleed. That imprisons and flogs people for being gay.

Watch this video (not for the faint of heart.) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=923_1251824178 Watch it as many times as you need to until you get the point.

Edit: California is infinitely better if you’re gay though so I can totally see why you wouldn’t like Singapore.

You shouldn’t like Singapore for the same reason. It’s called empathy.

Switzerland is incredibly safe too.

Yet another fascist state. A lovely vacation spot for rich, white people. The fact that third-generation immigrants are routinely refused citizenship by secret ballot of their inevitably white neighbors? The tourists don’t see that. Fascism’s all fun and games if you’re on top.

Which is of course why India and China have lower homicide rates than the US.

If you don’t count female infants.

 But I would certainly advise any foreign visitor to automatically pay 20% gratuity for service at any sit-down restaurant. US wage laws assume that you do. And this behavior will be  non-controversial, and you’ll offend no one. Travelers should always avoid controversy.