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?" [Linked Image]