I just want to say that I work in an army reserve base. They have paintings on the wall depicting various incidents in U.S. military campaigns in history. They show battle scenes of the U.S. winning battles over the Germans, Native-Americans, Filipino’s, and other nationalities. But at work there are Native-American soldiers, Asians, and Filipinos. I always wonder, What do the workers of different nationalities think when they see these paintings? I always wonder if they are secretly (or not so secretly) appalled, angry and offended.
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When I was growing up, we were taught that David Bowie died at the Battle of the Alamo in his sickbed. When Mexicans starting entering his room, he shot two with his pistols before they got him. That’s now debated as the woman who made this claim wasn’t there.
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When I was in my twenties I walked into a bakery one day and looked at their selection of dessert. They had cookies, cheesecake, cinnamon rolls, eclairs, pastries etc. A middle aged woman behind the counter asked me what I wanted.
I said, "Do you have any Bonapartes?"
She looked at me and said, "What?"
I said, "Do you have any Bonapartes?"
She looked at me strangely and said, "Sir, I have no idea what you’re talking about."
By then I was angry and I said, 'BONAPARTES! BONAPARTES! I WANT A BONAPARTE!"
She gave me an icy stare and said, “You mean a Napoleon, sir?”
I’ve heard that. I believe Davy Crockett was there too.
Lol, but it wasn’t David Bowie. It was Jim Bowie, inventor of the famous Bowie Knife! David Bowie is the famous rock/pop singer from the 1960’s and 70’s who had hits like “Space Oddity”, “China Girl”, “Young American”. But I love your error, lol.
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It all happened in the past.
Oops! 151515
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I learned that the US was the top power after World War 2 because we were the only country in the civilized World not overrun by an army, or bombed heavily from the air. (Hawaii was not even a state yet and was just attacked once). I also learned that our greatest achievements in technology and medicine occurred as a result of the wars we fought and competing with other nations militarily which i guess is why we are so fond of war.
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Sputnik & Yuri Gagarin would disagree with you here.
Yeah Russia did some amazing things after the horrible price they paid in the war and in a way we really won a Cold War that was leading towards a suicidal path that we just happened outspend them on. With Cold Wars being the reality again there are two dangers. For one thing there is an entire generation that grew up not fearing the bomb that will reach the top of power a few decades down the line. Another is that China is cornering the market on rare earths that are in every computer in the World. We may not fare so well this time.
@Blizzard There are many “baby boomers” who were born after 1945 that lived through the early days of the Cold War.
The US could extract rare earth minerals from their own mines but the environmental costs would be very great. China doesn’t have the environmental restrictions as most developed countries do to mine these minerals. The best bet is to recycle old electronics and reuse the minerals in those components rather than mine the earth for more.
I think that the U.S. might have been the most powerful nation after WW II.
Russia lost a lot of men from defending itself unlike the U.S. Of course we lost a lot of men too. But Russia was attacked and fought for survival and that must have taken a lot out of them. Later after they recovered from the war they could compete with us but the years directly after the war they were just recovering from defending themselves and money and time was spent rebuilding. The “space race” didn’t really start until years after the war.
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@77nick77 After World War 2, the spread of ideological influence around Europe & East Asia was more important than who was more powerful. For example Soviet Bloc & Warsaw Pact countries vs. NATO. Also the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949) and the Korean War (1950-1953) afterwards. Sputnik was launched in 1957.
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