Another thing we have is Broadway shows.


At the Ethel Barrymore Theater in New York.   Amir Hamja for The New York Times

They have become extremely expensive. If you want to see Denzel Washington as a jealous general, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal as a scheming Iago it will cost you $921 for an orchestra seat. You see, America has a bit of an inflation problem. Voters made a mistake 4 years ago.

Correction, Vic.  America does NOT use the metric system, which was invented in France.  It does cause confusion to Americans who drive their cars into Canada where distances and speed limits are in metric.  America is one of the few remaining countries in the world that uses the Imperial system instead. 

Because Broadway shows go "on the road", I''ve seen some in Toronto, but I did attend two original cast Broadway shows when I was 16 years old on a visit to NYC.  I saw Yul Brynner in The King and I and Stubby Kaye in Guys and Dolls.  The lyrics "I've got the horse right here, its name is Paul Revere, Can do, can do." still runs through my brain. 

Correction, Vic.  America does NOT use the metric system, which was invented in France. 

That caught your attention. I've corrected it. Thank you, Buzz.


Because Broadway shows go "on the road", I''ve seen some in Toronto, but I did attend two original cast Broadway shows when I was 16 years old on a visit to NYC.  I saw Yul Brynner in The King and I and Stubby Kaye in Guys and Dolls.  The lyrics "I've got the horse right here, its name is Paul Revere, Can do, can do." still runs through my brain.

That song runs through my brain as well. Not so much because of the Broadway Play, but it was once part of life for me.

LOL.  You call the Imperial system superior?   

The metric system is superior to the imperial system (and this chart proves it)

LINK -> The metric system is superior to the imperial system (and this chart proves it) - The Manual

Imperial vs Metric While the Imperial system may offer familiarity and suitability for certain industries, the Metric system provides consistency, standardization, and global compatibility. The Metric system's decimal-based approach, ease of conversion, and widespread adoption make it the preferred choice for most countries and scientific endeavors.

LINK -> Imperial vs. Metric - What's the Difference? | This vs. That

And, by the way, Canada DOES celebrate Thanksgiving, earlier than America does because the climate requires an earlier harvest.  Another thing, thanks to Trump a unified and strengthened patriotism has grown by leaps and bounds in Canada. 

All right Buzz. I will concede that the metric system is the one and only thing the world has better than the US.

It does cause confusion to Americans who drive their cars into Canada where distances and speed limits are in metric.

LOL, so very true. I remember a week many years ago while I was in the Air Force. We did a TDY up at Cold Lake AFB to participate in Maple Leaf exercises. Went off one night to a nearby town with a couple of Canadians (and a couple of Brits) and ended up driving one of the cars back to base. Heading down a nice two-lane road and the speed limit signs said 80 so I kept to the speed limit. Took a what would be nice easy curve but ended up drifting a little bit over the line and of course there was on-coming traffic. We didn't hit anybody but as luck would have it the car coming at us was a Mountie. Of course they turned around and pulled us over right at the gate. Once they saw I was a Yank and realized the others in the car were all asleep he let me go with a simple warning. "If it seems like you're driving too fast you probably are so go ahead and slow down". 

Not enough, Vic.  America is surpassed by other things as well.  Canada has more fresh water than America, for example.  But I will admit that Americans beat the rest of the world when it comes to bravado. 

The biggest problem American drivers have in Canada is that when they see a highway sign that says the limit is 100 kph, they think it means 100 mph when it is actually only 62 mph.

Prices for Broadway shows, and all for profit entertainment , is a matter of supply and demand.  Unlike a movie that may show on a couple thousand screens simultaneously,  A Broadway show with big stars is a one of a kind. 

If the demand drops the price will drop. 

Of course THERE ARE those who can afford it. New York has some of the wealthiest people in the country, who are willing to spend a thousand dollars for a night at the theater. 

America was already great but you wouldn't know it the way Trump trash talks America saying only "he" can make it "great again". Only his authoritarian policies can make America great " again".

Trump doesn't agree with you.

And now countries around the world are notifying their people with warnings that traveling to America may not be safe. 

Instead if targeting corporate interests hiring migrants, their going after legitimate green card holders, genuine tourists with valid travel documents, snatching people off the street, and right wing media outlets aren't reporting that many who were deported have been returned due to mistakes. 

Trump rabid zealot appointees are going hog wild overboard to try to prove to the MAGA faithful they are going to get rid of all migrants.

The informal statement from a French official asking for the Statue of Liberty to be returned to France if Americans no longer believe in freedom and welcoming immigrants. It was a powerful letter and at the end he said of course France wasn't going to formally ask such a thing but his statement was to make a powerful valid point.

America is no longer proud to be a freedom loving melting pot of people but is following Trump, Musk, Steven Miller, Tom Homan, and other appointees in their efforts to erase our history, destroy the idea of America as welcoming to refugees, and even going so far as to erase American military veterans from view based on color, race and sex. 

The destruction of pride in our diverse nation from the beginning at Ellis Island to the eventual inclusion of women and people of color welcomed into our military is something to be PROUD of. That is what makes America great.

Trump and MAGA want to destroy everything turning the clock back to segregation, and destroy any evidence of the path of American progress which was brave enough to include women and people of color. 

All of that is boiled down to right-wing culture war talking points of *woke" and "DEI" and "feminism". 

I say lets go ahead and give France the Statue of Liberty back, just get rid of it because if Trump gets his way it won't mean anything anyway. 

The melting pot of America's founding was just too woke.

If Republicans would have just signed the biggest most comprehensive immigration bill ever drafted for passage things would have moved bin the right direction. But no, Trump demanded that they " kill the bill" even though many Republicans liked it willing to pass massive bipartisan legislation and went along bending the knee to Trump over all common sense and bipartisanship.

America was already great.

Republicans gave up and gave in to Trump trashing America so only they can "fix" it. And it is fixed alright, fixed to be massively cruel.

Maybe the statue should be turned around to face the opposite direciton.

I love this cartoon...

The US has conditions so "intolerable" millions are trying to get in?

In Luke 23:34 (NIV), Jesus says from the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." 

The US has conditions so "intolerable" millions are trying to get in?

With none of the people complaining about it trying to get out except a few ex celebrities no one remembers.

except a few ex celebrities no one remembers.

Or cares about.

America was already great but you wouldn't know it the way Trump trash talks America saying only "he" can make it "great again".

There is a lot that needs to be corrected after the Biden Administration.  

There is a lot that needs to be corrected after the Biden Administration.  

Yes, because what needs correcting is in Power right now.

Why, because Democrats lost it in November?  

5) Still the world's finest military

And it's so good that the rest of the western world relies on it.

We can get   MRIs  before 2026 if doctors suspect a brain tumor, which is nice, 

We can get   MRIs  before 2026 if doctors suspect a brain tumor, which is nice, 

I just now prompted : "wait time in canada for an MRI if a brain tumor is suspected"

ChatGPT said:

In Canada, the wait time for an MRI when a brain tumor is suspected can vary based on several factors, including the province, urgency of the case, and availability of imaging equipment.

General Guidelines:

• Urgent or suspected serious conditions (like a brain tumor):
  Patients are typically prioritized and may receive an MRI within days to a couple of weeks.
  
  
• Non-urgent referrals can take weeks to months, depending on the region.
  
  

Examples by Province (approximate):

• Ontario: For urgent cases, MRI can be scheduled within 1–2 weeks. Non-urgent cases can take 2–4 months or more.
  
  
• British Columbia: Urgent MRI referrals may be done within 7–14 days. Non-urgent cases can exceed 3 months.
  
  
• Quebec: Urgent MRIs often happen within 1–3 weeks.
  
  
• Alberta: Urgent scans are prioritized for 1–2 weeks, though backlog issues may cause delays.
  
  

Tips:

• If a brain tumor is suspected, the referring physician can mark the referral as urgent, which significantly reduces wait time.
  
  
• In truly emergent cases (e.g., ER visits with severe symptoms), MRI may be performed immediately or within 24–48 hours in hospital settings.
  
  

Private MRI clinics (in provinces where allowed) can sometimes provide imaging within days, though at a cost (not covered by public healthcare).

Germany has the autobahn with no speed limits, US has radar cops hiding in the bushes 

America uses the superior Imperial system over the metric system.

The amount of face palming stupid that the right comes up with is so embarrassing.  No STEM worthy human being would ever make such a shockingly stupid statement.  Magatards, on the other hand, consider everything that is too complex for their feeble mind to comprehend to simply be inferior to that which they have the slimmest comprehension of.

In my line of work, I'm stuck with the imperial system.  All my machines are old school and the feed screws are threads/inch not millimeters/thread, so all measurements in the prints I receive from Germany have to be converted and I have to also translate from German.  We do have a DRO which with a push of a button auto converts on one machine only.  The lathe we use to cut the metric threads we modified in house and requires switching the gearing.

We have been turning and grinding metric parts for machines, which were made in the USA, since 1918.

It could be worse, lol, I had an Austin Healey for many years and had to keep a set of British Standards to compliment the metric and US Standard socket sets we needed all too frequently, but the best British tool was a brass hammer..

9) National pride or Patriotism.

That's a pretty conceited statement.  While other countries may not be as loud and in your face about it they definitely have the above qualities