The total number of postings in the Non US section is more than 15% of the number in the General Discussion Area, 4 600 vs 26 500.

When I joined last year, the figure was something like 5%...

C-H,
Yup, It's all good, mate!.
And we have had quite a few new members hop on since then.
Things are looking better all the time!.

Yep, the non-U.S. area has really taken off since Bill suggested we start it.

Let's see, apart from the U.S. and Canada, ECN now has regular contributions from:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, & the U.K.

Did I forget anyone?

Yes, you are a talkative bunch! ...

I think it's GREAT!

Bill

I was told once that Americans are easy to spot abroad, they only speak one launguage & don't know where Canada is.

my point?

i feel we are empirical in our electrical mentality here

so bring it on guys, we sorely need the insight here.

Steve,

I'm afraid that if you spent time in the U.K. you certainly would hear some general criticism along the lines of "Americans don't know about the rest of the world."

It works both ways though, for you'll find plenty of people here who are totally ignorant about the U.S.A. and have some very strange ideas about America. I've found that the people most ready to criticize America (on whatever topic) have never actually been there!

On the electrical side of things, I'm sure that the discussions on ECN provide a perspective to see how things are done in other parts of the world and to be able to see the advanatges and disadvantages of each system, instead of just accepting our own system as automatically being "the way it's done."

Oh yes.... And if I run into somebody who starts complaining along the lines of "I met this American tourist and he didn't even know the capital of Wales," I usually respond by asking something such as "Well, do you know the capital of Idaho?"

10 PRINT

" "

20 GOTO 10

Can't be repeted to many times...

There is alway this myth about the "other side" being much better or worse at something. Athens vs. Sparta, England vs. France, Europe vs. America. It rarely stands up to closer scrutiny, but both sides have an interest in exaggerating the differences.
Similarities aren't recorded. For example, we know the differences between Sparta and Athens, but not the similarities.

Most of us Europeans don't speak more than two languages, many only one. We've studied one or maybe two more in school, but forgotten almost all of them. Many Americans speak one or more foreign languages. Spanish counts!

People (including myself) are pretty ignorant about the world. I don't see a problem with it, as long as one is aware of it. Unfortunately, people aren't.

I think the following could be asked of anyone, except children.

1.) The ability to place a given country on the right continent. You should now that Laos is in South East Asia, that Paraguay is in South America and that South Dakota is a state in the US.

2.) The recognition that things work differently, but that different doesn't mean wrong.

Here's the place to say it. This forum is brilliant and has broadend my knowledge tremendously.

[This message has been edited by Belgian (edited 07-16-2003).]

Belgian,
Couldn't have said it any better myself!.
I've personally learnt heaps, since I've been around ECN, especially about the wiring methods used in other countries.
I think we all would have lost out if there wasn't a Non-US Forum, where us guys that are spread out all over the world, can just get together and have a real good chat about what works and doesn't work, where they come from.
It's great, I love it!.

Update: 20%

And I keep learning things almost daily.

From my profile:


I guess I've been talking too much!

(and he took a vacation for 6 months)



P.S. you guys are great!
I don't always have time to keep up with you here, but I learn something most every time I come here.

Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 08-19-2003).]

As do we all Bill.

This really is the "global village" of what was previously science fiction, isn't it?

It's probably fair to say that "the internet" was science fiction 20 years ago.

I was on the 'internet' 20yr ago. It was a dial-up connection to Texas that the computer was programmed to do at 2am when the phone rates were cheap. That would make the refresh rate 24hr.

Same here. Back around 1982 I was using a local FidoNet BBS which offered the usual Fido EchoMail conferences, along with e-mail access to the Internet.

The Fido "mail hour" in the early part of the morning meant that messages didn't get through as quickly as with a direct, permanent link to the ARPA/Internet, but it was very efficient in other ways. Once the propert script were written, I used ZIP files for uploaded and downloaded messages, and a QWK off-line mail reader that puts all the latest software to shame in terms of functionality vs. compactness.

Oh My. That takes me back - - I Used to run a BBS back then - and I was a FidoNet "Node" with quite a few sub-nodes

And I had TWO dial up lines for the users - quite a rarity back then......

Oh how time has changed things.

</nostalgia>