Posted on 10/30/2007 6:12:28 AM PDT by WesternCulture
As my taxi pulled up at Changi airport, I knew this was going to be a special day - the day of the first A380 commercial flight was finally here.
The airport had long been adorned with banners and posters declaring Singapore "A380 ready" and anticipating the flight.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
First of all let be clear on one issue, do not treat Europe as a single country, you are not a single country, you are 25 different countries with different languages, different governments, and different culture. So comparing the whole of Europe to the US is not a realistic. Please tell in how many fields of science and technology a “single country” in Europe is leading the world or ahead of the United States?
Not true. It paid off on no routes. The aircraft were given to the airlines by the UK and France. Your point is that the Concorde was able to take in something more than operating costs, once overhead was paid for by the state.
Airbus “RECEIVES” large subsidies. Boeing does “NOT RECEIVE” such subsidies. That Boeing might like to is inconsequential.
To begin with, where did I say Europe is a single country?
“Please tell in how many fields of science and technology a “single country” in Europe is leading the world or ahead of the United States?”
- Major areas of technology/science where I would say that one or many European country/countries clearly is ahead of The US are
* The automotive industry (Best example: Germany)
* Cancer treatment (Best example: Britain)
* Telecommunications (Best example: Sweden)
* Rail technology (Best example: France)
I think it’s very evident that a lot of scientific and technological progress is taking place in Europe and also in Asia. No country beats the US in producing important scientific research or disposing of successful technology based corporations, but this doesn’t mean that what goes on in these areas outside the US is of little significance.
If we are talking about being the most advanced nation when it comes to having a technology and science centered national lifestyle, the US isn’t the most advanced nation. The Scandinavian countries are more advanced if you look at how much technology people own, how much people know about technological and scienctific issues, how much is invested in technology and research and how technology and science matters in everyday life. Vikings are nerds. :-)
People who work in Silicon Valley might claim the US leads the world in their field of work, but most likely you will also hear them talk respectfully about places like
Sophia Antipolis, France and Kista Science City, Sweden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Antipolis France and Sweden
Obviously, a lot of exciting things are happening over here too.
I read that pilots would not be able to overide the controls beyond hard-coded parameters in extreme scenarios.
Ah, but they let you stay in the car. I’m counting that!
Don’t feed the trolls. Some people don’t know how to disagree without it becoming a flame war.
The real breakthrough would be the Bering Straits bridge. That would be a wild drive ... probably closed most of the Winter. It would have to withstand some of the worst weather on the planet.
Not to mention a one of the worst earthquake zones on the planet. It’s at the top of the Ring of Fire.
“Don’t feed the trolls. Some people don’t know how to disagree without it becoming a flame war.”
- I agree, but in this case I find the dialouge at least somewhat constructive. As long as people ask sensible questions, like was done above it’s possible to answer in a sensible way and avoid sheer mud throwing.
While US bashing as well as Europe bashing sure is pointless most of the time, I think competition between different nations is a very important and benign thing. Guess you agree.
Greetings from Sweden
Cancer treatment? I do not know that Britain is the world leader in Cancer treatment but I need to research this.
France and the railroad? Old technology with some enhancement so no real breakthrough, and in the US railroad are used mainly for commercial activities, the American have superior standards of living to the Europeans so they can afford to buy big cars at much cheaper rates than Euroe, we have much larger roads, and we buy gas a much cheaper rate than Europeans.
Sweden world leader in Telecommunications? Like who invented all the new technologies in telecommunication including the cell phone? the USA.
Now to make you happy and keep you living in your delusional world of superiority, I will say OK Sweden you win, you are far superior to the US.
In regards to telecommunications I will say that your neighbor Finland is superior to you in Sweden.
I told you not to compare USA to the whole of Europe because it is not a realistic comparison. There is no country called Europe, there are 25 countries in Europe with 25 governments, 25 cultures, 25 languages in Europe with 25 self national interests.
“That would be a wild drive ... probably closed most of the Winter. It would have to withstand some of the worst weather on the planet.”
- What car would you choose for such a journey and why?
Personally, there are a lot of cars that I could see myself driving from NYC to London in. Some sort of SUV seems like a natural choice to me. Interesting American cars from my viewpoint are Cadillac Escalade, Lincoln Navigator and Hummer H2. European ones are Audi Q7, Range Rover Vogue and Volvo XC90.
One could of course argue that these cars are luxury ones sooner than true off road vehicles, but I would claim comfort, saftey and overall reliability is what counts the most in this case.
Boeing sells a lot of planes to the government, maintains a lot of planes for the government, does research for the government, and carries out a lot of associated projects...for the government.
They also sell commercial aircraft and modify some for the government.
Our AC industry is so heavily audited and mistrusted that the idea of subsidizing Boeing commercial is absurd...it is the EU's favorite fever dream. The only way to make the case is to look at the stupid manager tricks most recently pulled by a CEO and an AF director. They got caught at a personnel level while Boeing & USAF are made to pay on an entirely different one: because somebody's daughter got a job, then the former director also got a job, the C17 - which will serve front line for decades to come - exists in production line limbo (which costs more).
“In regards to telecommunications I will say that your neighbor Finland is superior to you in Sweden.”
- I beg to differ. A lot of people might say Nokia makes better phones than Sony Ericsson, but Ericsson is a much more important corporation in terms of developing and producing the “infrastructure” of telecommunication.
In general, Finland are impressive in the ICT world and cities like Helsinki, Tampere and Turku have a lot of such companies, but The Greater Stockholm Region, what we Swedes often call ‘The lake Mälaren Valley’ (’Mälardalen’), is a part of the world that actually is on par with Silicon Valley, Sophia Antipolis, Bangalore and the Multimedia Super Corridor in Malaysia.
Just like a lot of people would agree Silicon Valley leads the world in computer technology, many (not just Swedes) would say Stockholm leads in telecommunications.
Like Ericsson puts it:
“We develop the innovations and establish the standards that lead the industry”.
That claim is hard to argue with and Ericsson isn’t exactly the only Swedish company that are into telecommunications.
http://www.ericsson.com/technology/
So what is the reason to this position?
It all began with the decision to establish the an analogue mobile system called Nordic Mobile Telephone, abbreviated NMT. That decision is one of the most important one that ever has been made in the history of Scandinavian technology, a subject which is far from dull reading.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Mobile_Telephone
ping
“Cancer treatment? I do not know that Britain is the world leader in Cancer treatment but I need to research this.”
- Britain leads the world in FINDING treatments for cancer, even if the ACTUAL cancer treatment might be of higher quality in for instance France, Scandinavia and the US.
I’ve joined in on mindless bashing before, but I’ve always regretted it in the long run.
As to Europe vs. US bashing: most Americans are just a few generations removed from being European. While the circumstances and some of the philosophies are different here, the genes are still the same. So really, what’s the point?
I consider myself to be a “true” American—a Heinz 57 variety. My ancestry includes English, French, Scottish, Belgian and Irish. Thanks to my wife, my children can add Welsh and Cherokee to that mix.
As you can see, if I’m bashing Europe, I am no doubt attacking a relative somewhere. There are enough individuals in the world that I can manage to contain my attacks to them. Well, most of the time.
That said, coming back to the original topic of this thread: I can’t wait to take a long international ride on an Airbus 380. I don’t like the way EADS does business, but I think they make a few wonderful products. I also can’t wait for a ride on a Boeing 787.
Mexicans do not consider themselves as Americans. They consider themselves as Mexicans, as the constant boasting by the illegal Mexicans in America demonstrate. People in Canada, Mexico and in the other countries of Central and South America have no right to call themselves "Americans." Only citizens of the United States of America have the right to call themselves American as that is the name of their country and that is their nationality.
Now it true that Mexico is a nation that is part of the North American continent, but Mexicans do not consider themselves as part of the United States of America nor do they call themselves American (unless they are illegally residing in the USA and trying to scam the federal or a state government of benefits or to avoid deportation.)
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