Americans

[Buzzboy]

[s]Mr Comedy wrote on 14:20, 15th Dec 2003:
I remain adamant in my view that St Andrews will shortly be announced as an American State.
We had an amusing episode in Melville last year. While watching the Simpsons (a pleasant time after the drudgery of yet another Melville dinner) an American announced "I am so glad that the Americans invented the TV". You should have seen the look on the Scots faces, as they all went straight for his jugular...




They may not of invented it, but they commercialised it, no hang on, that was a russian immigrant.

[hr]
On the Seventh Day God said to Adam:

"Can I leave it with you?"

[Andrew Cusack]

Those would be people who know something about Scottish history then, Mr Cusack? Perhaps you should concentrate on the Mitre if this is the level of your understanding of other subjects. I'm staggered, I'm not even a Scottish History student but even so I find myself utterly unable to think where to begin in mocking your complete want of understanding. If your post achieved anything, it was to reinforce the stereotype of the ignorant American in Britain. A stereotype which, I might add, I had thought to be idiotyic, until now.

Well, I had taken a course here in Scottish History, and most people seemed to agree with me on it. And most of those people were not American, I might add.

Besides, the comment was meant in the general spirit of light-hearted fun and banter. I did not know people took this 'Sinner' thing quite so seriously! Lighten up, world!

Added: I would, however, like to apologise for the general tone of the comment which you took offense to. Though not mean-spirited, it was uncharitable, and I hope for this you will be able to forgive me.

[marsbarboy]

Is there anything USEFUL (i.e. not drive-thru wedding chapels) that the americans HAVE invented?

[Sleigh]

[s]marsbarboy wrote on 15:22, 15th Dec 2003:
Is there anything USEFUL (i.e. not drive-thru wedding chapels) that the americans HAVE invented?


I've always found light bulbs quite handy.

[marsbarboy]

[s]Sleigh wrote on 15:31, 15th Dec 2003:
[s]marsbarboy wrote on 15:22, 15th Dec 2003:[i]
Is there anything USEFUL (i.e. not drive-thru wedding chapels) that the americans HAVE invented?


I've always found light bulbs quite handy.
[/i]


Light bulb invented in 1860 by Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, Edison's light bulb: 1879

[dan greenberg]

i know where severna park is! yes, im flying into bwi. i'm from talbot county on the eastern shore (oxford to be exact). why didn't you figure i was from maryland by my sinner name?



well, you see, the thing is, that people keep asking me if maryland is 'where the cookies are from.' so i didn't know if you just really liked those cookies, or what! i've met quite a few marylanders around here, we all get together and reminisce about crab dinners! i fly out on saturday at 1115 AM to edinburgh, then to heathrow, and then out to bwi. Sound familiar, or are you venturing off the beaten path?

dan

ps sorry to use this thread for selfish personal reasons, but i'm given to understand that this is nothing out of the ordinary.

[dan greenberg]

yeah, do you remember al gore's last presidential campaign? he invented the internet ...

[Sleigh]

[s]marsbarboy wrote on 15:41, 15th Dec 2003:

Light bulb invented in 1860 by Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, Edison's light bulb: 1879


Fair enough then. Dr. Wilson Greatbatch
invented the pacemaker and he was American. Not that I'm really sure why I'm defending Americans. The things I'll do to avoid work are quite incredible.

[tintin]

From the website http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/explorer ... rted2.html.

Among other things, the Scots invented:

1. logarithms--John Napier
2. the modern steam engine--James Watt
3. the raincoat, or "mac" in Scotland--Charles MacIntosh
4. (founded) the United States Navy--John Paul Jones, a Scot, was known as the "Father of the US Navy"
5. marmalade--Mrs. Keiller
6. adhesive stamps--John Chalmers
7. the telephone--Alexander Graham Bell
8. the bicycle--Kirkpatrick MacMillan
9. ( discovered ) penicillin--Sir Alexander Fleming
10. ( founded ) the Bank of England--William Paterson
11. pneumatic tyres, or "tires" in the US--John Boyd Dunlop
12. chloroform--Sir James Young Simpson
13. tarmac, from "tar Macadam"--John Macadam
14. the television--John Logie Baird

Many famous philosphers, scientists, doctors, writers, painters, and inventors of the Industrial Revolution:

1. scientist James Prescott Joule
2. physicist James Maxwell, whom Einstein called the greatest physicist since Newton and revolutionized ideas about electro-magnetism
3. philosopher John Stuart-Mill
4. Joseph Black, chemist and physicist who discovered carbon dioxide
5. capitalist professor and philosopher Adam Smith, who created the science of economics as we know it and influenced Karl Marx
6. philosopher David Hume
7. Alexander Nasmyth, painter 8. William Kelvin, physicist
9. Henry Bell, inventor of first steamboat, who later helped out American engineer Fulton
10. Thomas Telford, engineer famous for roads and bridges
11. Robert Adam, renowned architect
12. Robert Stevenson, engineer, grandfather ot the author of the same name
13. Charles Rennie Mackintosh, world-famous artistic architect
14. Daniel Rutherford, scientist who discovered nitrogen

Here are some Famous Scots and Scottish Descendants in America

Scots:

William Robertson, whose ideas founded the American educational system
John Witherspoon and James Wilson, signers of the Declaration of Independence
John Paul Jones, father of the US navy
Patrick Henry, patriot who said "Give me liberty or give me death!"
William Lewis and Meriweather Clark, frontier explorers to the West in 1806
Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone

Descendants:

John Hancock, Thomas McKean, James Smith, George Taylor, Matthew Thornton-- signers of the Declaration of Independence
Nine of the first governers of the thirteen states in 1776
Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury
President James Monroe
President Andrew Jackson
Samuel Houston, founder of Houston, Texas
Davy Crockett, frontiersman
Kit Carson, famous trapper, guide, and soldier
President James Knox Polk
President James Buchanan
General Ulysses S. Grant, later US President Grant
Confederate General Jeb Stuart
Confederate General Stonewall Jackson
General George Brinton McClellan
President Andrew Johnson
John Muir, who persuaded Roosevelt to establish America's national parks, including Yosemite
President Chester A. Arthur
President William McKinley
Herman Melville, author (Moby Dick)
James Gamble, of Proctor and Gamble company
President Woodrow Wilson
Washington Irving, author ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow")
Edgar Allan Poe, poet
Henry James, author
President Lyndon Baines Johnson
US Representative to the UN, Adlai Stevenson
James McDonnell, aerospace pioneer and aircraft supplier during WWII
Senator George McGovern
General Douglas MacArthur
J. Willard Marriott, hotel founder
Astronaut Neil Armstrong
Leon Leanwood Bean, outdoor wear clothing manufacturer
Malcolm S. Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine
Elvis Aaron Presley, rock musician
John Wayne (born Marion Michael Morrison), actor
William Denby Hanna, cartoonist

[The Cellar Bar]

James Wilson - graduate of this University, only man to have signed Declaration and the Bill of Rights. There's no paupers' Prison in the US because Congress passed a law preventing it after he had fallen on hard times and it would have meant imprisoning him.

First US dollar sign - printed by/at Innes' Bookshop on Church St.

[beardedwonder]

john stuart-mill wasn't scottish! - born 1806 in london; worked for much of his life for the east india company in london, and then after writing much philosophy type thing he was elected mp for westminster. he did spend a few years travelling around europe, and was particularly fond of Avignon in France, but scotland doesn't seem to have played a great role in his life(although he is a former rector!).

all this sums to is don't just cut& paste other peoples lists, check them out. there have been a great many great scots yes! but john stuart-mill was not one of them.

[hoopy froodette]

Alexander Graham Bell didn't invent the telephone. An Italian scientist called Antonio Meucci did. He submitted his idea to the patent office, but couldn't afford to get it off the ground. Bell was working in the patent office, stole the idea and took all the credit for it. Antonio Meucci died in poverty.

[hr]Nothing succeeds like a toothless budgie.

[mdec]

"William Kelvin"

That made me laugh. It was William Thomson. He was the Kelvin professor, named after the area in Glasgow and not the other way around.

He was also English, being born just outside Manchester.

[Stuart]

[s]dan greenberg wrote on 09:18, 15th Dec 2003:

i was born in gaithursburg, grew up in bethesda for two years, bounced around chevy chase

Hmmm, that's interesting - my ex-room-mate was from Chevy Chase, now I discover that my neighbour has "bounced around" there. I wonder what the odds of that happening were.

Anyway,

[s]echo wrote on 12:29, 15th Dec 2003:

Apart from the former East Germany, we are the only country in Europe depopulating and have been for years. Like it or not, Scots are voting with their feet.

May I suggest that this is because Scots are needed to run the UK as a whole, and therefore need to move to London.


[hr]
"Even the younger Tory MSPs were unnerved by the boy's enthusiasm." [i] Scotland on Sunday [i]

[Stuart]

[s]dan greenberg wrote on 09:18, 15th Dec 2003:

i was born in gaithursburg, grew up in bethesda for two years, bounced around chevy chase

Hmmm, that's interesting my ex-room-mate was from Chevy Chase, now I discover that my neighbour has "bounced around" there. I wonder what the odds of that happening were.

Anyway,

[s]echo wrote on 12:29, 15th Dec 2003:[i]

Apart from the former East Germany, we are the only country in Europe depopulating and have been for years. Like it or not, Scots are voting with their feet. [/]

May I suggest that this is because Scots are needed to run the UK as a whole, and therefore need to move to London.


[hr]
"Even the younger Tory MSPs were unnerved by the boy's enthusiasm." [i] Scotland on Sunday [i]

[beardedwonder]

unless there is more than one william thompson then again i fear confusion reigns on this tree. william thompson- later lord kelvin (indeed after the area of glasgow) was professor of natural philosophy at glasgow university. he was born 26th june 1824 in belfast, so neither scottish nor english but northern irish.

don't believe me- go to st andrews own maths history web page

http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~histor ... omson.html

a fairly reputable source one might feel/

[MrGreedy]

All that and still ruled by wankers eh?

[Miss Maryland]

[s]dan greenberg wrote on 15:44, 15th Dec 2003:
[i]

i've met quite a few marylanders around here, we all get together and reminisce about crab dinners! i fly out on saturday at 1115 AM to edinburgh, then to heathrow, and then out to bwi. Sound familiar, or are you venturing off the beaten path?



what? you're the first marylander i've come across! do you know any from the eastern shore? i'd love to reminisce about crab dinners with you all (i don't eat crabs but i've been to many a crab feast). i'm leaving for home via the same route as you, but on friday. i'll be leaving BWI on Wednesday 6 January.


[hr]
...and there was much rejoicing.

[echo]

[s]PurelySynthetic wrote on 14:00, 15th Dec 2003:
[s]echo wrote on 12:21, 15th Dec 2003:

Wow calm down calm down. I know Scottish History pretty well and its a tragic (but very interesting tale). In the end its one of defeat, utter and total. Apart from the former East Germany, we are the only country in Europe depopulating and have been for years. Like it or not, Scots are voting with their feet.



Yet again a bloody stupid commment considering the amount of non scottish people in a SCOTTISH university.


While it may be a stupid comment, why is the proportion of non-Scots a consideration?

Do you mean (as I think )that because people come to study here Scotland is gaining population? As they say null points. The census (the thing where they count people (does not matter the nationality)) shows Scotland has less people than 23 years ago. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2288292.stm

A record only enjoyed by former East Germany. The census showed we are the most rapidly aging sector of the UK. Scotland is suffering from an exodus of young people, elderly people do not tend to migrate.

We can argue the why not the facts.
[hr]
Manchester, so much to answer for

[echo]

America has won more Nobel prizes (one measure of inventiveness) than any other country in history. The discrepancy is even more pronounced over the last twenty years.

They also invented
the TV dinner /ready meal
and
Smirnoff (made in North Carolina orginally)

I for one am certainly grateful for those.

[hr]Manchester, so much to answer for