Americans are Almost as Ignorant as Italians

Post by **stattointhailand** » November 1, 2014, 7:18 pm

If you don't like everyone taking the p*ss EVERY year, the answer is very simple ..... change the name of the tinpot competition to the the WORLD NEWSPAPER SERIES

Post by **Shado** » November 1, 2014, 8:44 pm

I, for one, never said I didn't like everyone taking a p*ss EVERY year. I commented only on the predictability of such posts. The statement about the series being named after a newspaper is simply incorrect.

"[O]thers have asked that question of the staff at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. in recent weeks. "There's no evidence suggesting it was ever sponsored by the New York World newspaper," said Hall of Fame researcher Eric Enders. When the World Series between the National and American leagues began in 1903, the owners borrowed the name from the world championship series held in the 1880s between the National League and the American Association. Enders concludes the name didn't originate from the name of the long-defunct newspaper. It sounds like an urban myth."
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/business/names/wo ... CyyvZQi.99

A name change from "World Series" would be fine with me. The MLB Championship Series is descriptive enough. It's possible that Major League Baseball (MLB) may entertain the idea of a name change the future. It is not very probable though just because of the history and tradition associated with the game.

Post by **Turdyboy** » November 1, 2014, 11:03 pm

Good post, Shado. There is also extra value added in leaving the name unchanged because it affords us to witness the same posters squirming and honking about it every year like they've just been dealt a horrible, unspeakable insult. I may pen a letter to MLB tomorrow suggesting they leave the name as it is -- in the off chance they were considering changing it.

Post by **Laan Yaa Mo** » November 2, 2014, 12:28 am

No need to change it. Maybe Detroit can win the World Series next year.

Post by **jai yen yen** » November 2, 2014, 3:04 am

wiking wrote:Way to Go, Americans: We’re Almost as Ignorant as Italians
By Tom Randall Oct 31, 2014
It’s quiz time, people. Let’s start with an easy one: What percentage of working-age Americans are unemployed and looking for work?

If you guessed about 6 percent, give yourself a pat on the back. You have a pretty good understanding of the unemployment rate, one of the basic measures of economic well-being. If, on the other hand, you guessed 32 percent -- which would rank America among the most desperate nations on Earth -- then you guessed just like the average American!

That’s one of the findings of a survey released this week by U.K. pollster Ipsos Mori, which interviewed 11,527 people. In the 14-country Index of Ignorance (Ipsos Mori's name, but we approve), Americans are second only to Italians in how little we understand some of the stats that track the most basic contours of our society.

Ready for more? Try these:

What percentage of the U.S. population identifies as Muslim?
Americans guessed: 15%
Reality: 1%

What percentage of the population do you think are immigrants to America?
Americans guessed: 32%
Reality: 13%

Do you think this statement is true or false: The murder rate is rising in America
70 percent of Americans guessed: True
Reality: False

Here’s a question that every country got wrong by a wide margin:

What percentage of American girls aged between 15 and 19 years give birth each year?
Americans guessed: 23.9%
Reality: 3.1%

This is a tricky one. I suspect most people ignore the “each year” part and instead guess what percentage of women get pregnant at any point during their teenage years. But that’s part of the point: the phrasing above is exactly what’s meant by “teen pregnancy rate,” which is often bandied about but rarely explained. If the annual pregnancy rate really were 23.9 percent, the average American woman would have more than one child by the age of 20, and the U.S. population would probably be closer to that of China.

Here’s the ranking of countries on the Index of Ignorance, with the most fabulously ignorant at top:

1. Italy
2. U.S.
3. South Korea
4. Poland
5. Hungary
6. France
7. Canada
8. Belgium
9. Australia
10. Great Britain
11. Spain
12. Japan
13. Germany
14. Sweden

Click here to take the full quiz and see how your ignorance of basic numbers in the news stacks up with the ignorance of other nations.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-3 ... ians-.html

These results are from every country in the world, if so I say bs.

Post by **thrilled** » November 2, 2014, 4:26 am

Instead of asking those type of questions,maybe ask us graduate rate ,high school,college,etc.
When Jay Leno was on he would ask college students
Who the Vice President is.Most of them didn't know.
But probably the same for most countries.
Or what's the average IQ in the US compared to other countries.etc etc etc

Post by **Turdyboy** » November 2, 2014, 2:38 pm

Don't you think those man-on-the street polls might be edited to "prove" a certain outcome?

Only show the imbeciles, trash the hundreds of correct answers. Scientific? Um, no, it's called entertainment.

Post by **BigRick808** » November 7, 2014, 10:23 pm

Obviously, someone on here has a severe case of self-loathing--if he is really from where he says he is....

I'm not really all that nationalistic, but just for a broader and more factual view of the topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_No ... r_Medicine

I gave it a quick count and came up with around 40% of the winners in medicine and physiology. The Germans started off high on these lists, but the more industrialized/modernize we came the numbers started to shift. After the U.S., it seemed to my eye that the UK and Australia were high on the list. I didn't spend much time counting and calculation any of these lists. You can tally them up and report back if you would like

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_No ... _Chemistry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_No ... in_Physics

I tried to find a page relating to economics but had problems with it loading.

Since the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Obama, it has lost clout with me. But judging physical sciences is much different....less opinionated.

The U.S. has a very large economy and extremely high GDP. The GDP per capita ratio is also high. Much of the global technology comes out of the U.S., although Japan has surpassed us. The Koreans are up there, as well.

The average IQ in the U.S. is about the same as Europe. It would be interesting to see a breakdown in relation to race and ethnicity within various countries. But of course, that would be racist

Sure, we have problems and ignorant people, but for the size of the country and over 320 million people, I think we do fairly well.

Just some fun facts to think about....

Post by **rufus** » November 8, 2014, 4:37 pm

"The average IQ in the U.S. is about the same as Europe."
roflmao, did you read what you wrote?

Post by **BigRick808** » November 10, 2014, 3:58 am

rufus wrote:"The average IQ in the U.S. is about the same as Europe."
roflmao, did you read what you wrote?

http://www.photius.com/rankings/nationa ... ranks.html

"The intelligence scores came from work carried out earlier this decade by Richard Lynn, a British psychologist, and Tatu Vanhanen, a Finnish political scientist, who analysed IQ studies from 113 countries, and from subsequent work by Jelte Wicherts, a Dutch psychologist."

I hope you enjoy reading the list of Nobel winners in medicine and science that I provided :-"

It is interesting that Italians score highest on the list compared to other Europeans

Seems Americans aren't alone in being ignorant $\:D/$ Roflmao....

Post by **GT93** » November 10, 2014, 1:16 pm

Turdyboy wrote:Don't you think those man-on-the street polls might be edited to "prove" a certain outcome?

Only show the imbeciles, trash the hundreds of correct answers. Scientific? Um, no, it's called entertainment.

I'm with the turd on this one.

Post by **mortiboy** » November 10, 2014, 4:36 pm

I have found American people Ok.Canadians even better
Polite and friendly. In fact more than English.
Only ever knew one ashole used to be member's here !
But really good in bad and all..All about upbringing

Post by **Aardvark** » November 10, 2014, 5:35 pm

Most American Technology was bought rather than created locally. Don't get me wrong, I'm not Yank Bashing, but the American's imported Technology or/and it's creators. Think about the Atomic Bomb for instance, most of the Scientists were imported along with their knowledge and the Blue Prints stolen from the Germans by the British. The first Bomb would have been built in the UK but for the fact they were within the Bombing range of Germany. So everything was smuggled to America and the result was the US took credit. The list is long, but in the end credit to the US for buying the right people at the right time ......

Post by **marcudon** » November 10, 2014, 7:08 pm

Hey!! It's quite strange...I don't see Thailand in that wise ranking...But ok, we all know, living here, that most of thais think that they know much more than we do everything about anything...This guy ' Tom randall' should travel a little bit more...Sometimes it's better to laugh.

Post by **glalt** » November 11, 2014, 8:33 pm

Are you talking about my wife? She knows EVERYTHING. I just wish that she was half as smart as she thinks she is. After more than ten years with her, she knows more every year.

Post by **BigRick808** » November 13, 2014, 7:23 pm

In the case that you mention, yes, many of the scientists were from abroad, and there are other cases, but the statement that most American technology was bought rather than created just isn't true.

As far as the bomb being built in Britain, well, that is something we will never know, but it is a fact that even though the Germans were in possession of the scientists, they weren't about to build the bomb or they would have. It isn't sensible to think that they would have been able to build it later either, because they had just gotten the sh** beaten out of them and had to surrender to Russia and America. It's highly doubtful if Britain would have had the resources and infrastructure to built it either, as they were in very poor shape and were even having difficulty feeding their citizen, requiring food to be flown in. In the absence of the American military the Russians would have been able to move west across Europe and they very well may have had to deal with them in the near future.

To say simply that “everything was smuggled to America” as if there was a build-a-bomb kit is a bit funny. Come on, man...it took a tremendous amount of work and money along with mining, testing grounds, and research facilities to develop and build the A-bomb. The task was far more complicated than you make it sound. Again, it is highly doubtful if Britain would have been able to build it under the circumstances. But yes, the British, and Canada were a helpful ally. As were the Australians in the Pacific war against the Japanese.

Keep in mind that I didn't just decide to just come here to boast about the achievements of America; I'm writing this because a little *****[not you

] made an offensive post and I'm replying to it in an effort to put things in proper perspective.

Post by **Aardvark** » November 14, 2014, 5:15 pm

No problem BR, just put my post in the most simplistic way. God knows how much work was put into the whole thing. I read the whole 12 Volumes of Winston Churchill about WWll and it took me nearly two years to complete. No doubt without Churchill and Eisenhower the World would be a much worse place today. Their co-operation is legendary, but the World soon forgot .....

Post by **FrazeeDK** » November 14, 2014, 7:00 pm

t'was the Manhattan Project.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project I seriously doubt that the UK had the wherewithal to undertake a project of this magnitude during the war.. The U.S. isolated from the combat zones by the Atlantic and Pacific and with its tremendous natural and human resources was probably the only nation in the world at the time that could have done it..

Post by bn » November 21, 2014, 4:29 pm

In fairness, the real unemployment rate is far closer to 32% than 6%.

Does the 13% immigrants number include illegals and various guest workers and foreign students? I'm guessing no and there are a lot of them. Plus for anyone who lives in the cities the percent is far higher which distorts perception for the country as a whole.

Why would people think the murder rate is rising? Hmmm, maybe the constant hysteria coming from the media, politicians and leftist gun grabber groups. Ditto for Muslims except substitute right wing groups for leftists.

And the fact that a bunch of stupid fat Americans run the world and have the most powerful economic and military empire in the history of the world doesn't say much for everyone else. :-"

Post by **JimboPSM** » November 21, 2014, 8:31 pm

The US is considerably more transparent in the production of its statistics than most countries.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures and produces 6 alternatives sets of national unemployment statistics (U1 – U6); each of those rates is published as “Not seasonally adjusted” or “Seasonally adjusted” as can be seen below:

Link: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

The “official unemployment rate” which is the rate that is assiduously tracked by the major parties, economists and the financial media is “U3 – Seasonally adjusted” indicated by the red rectangles above.

For those who are interested, the latest U3 seasonally adjusted unemployment rate can easily be found on a couple of interactive chart pages on Bloomberg:

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/USURTOT:IND

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/USURTOT:IND/chart