Happy 4th Americans

S

Sonic

Senior Member
Veteran
Hells yea. This is another thread for another 4th of July.

So I'm having my friend and his friends over along with their parents for a big BBQ this afternoon with chicken, ribs, shrimp/prawns, and 2 bushels of steamed crabs, as well as 4 lb's of Dungeoness (sp?). Can't say how excited I am. Beer and wine for the adults, and regular drinks for the kids. Got a batch of brownies made for the adults for later on when we go to the fireworks. Still undecided if we're going to the Embarcadero or closer to the Golden Gate off near the Marina. Both will have good spots to see the fireworks.

Overall I am expecting a pretty kick ass laid back day celebrating our country's holiday.
 
Oh I nearly forgot about this,
for those that don't know the 4th is the day when Americans mourn the fact that they are no longer part of the British empire they eat turkey to symbolize the fact that they were a bunch of turkeys to leave.
Every year on the fourth the have a drink and look at Canada with envious eye's how lucky that country is to still be part of the empire they say while raising a glass
 
Sonic, that sounds like the best possible way to spend a holiday, with your family. Happy independence day for you and your loved ones.

I hope you have a good time together, nice weather and not too much alcohol. Oh, and don't blow off any bodyparts with badly aimed fireworks please. ;)
 
It'll only be a happy one if I can find me some magic whips...

...out to hunt! :D

EDITED BITS: Save a brownie for me Sonic, or at least let me know how they go and send me a recipe! ;)
 
There used to be a bakery in the central parts of my city where you could buy delicious brownies, sponge cakes, pies, cookies of various kinds and other yummy stuff. These days there's a fashion store there now, I don't know why. I'm sure the business wasn't bad.
 
Sonic said:
Hells yea. This is another thread for another 4th of July.

So I'm having my friend and his friends over along with their parents for a big BBQ this afternoon with chicken, ribs, shrimp/prawns, and 2 bushels of steamed crabs, as well as 4 lb's of Dungeoness (sp?). Can't say how excited I am. Beer and wine for the adults, and regular drinks for the kids. Got a batch of brownies made for the adults for later on when we go to the fireworks. Still undecided if we're going to the Embarcadero or closer to the Golden Gate off near the Marina. Both will have good spots to see the fireworks.

Overall I am expecting a pretty kick ass laid back day celebrating our country's holiday.
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I'm assuming my invite was lost in the mail? :D

Ate way too much today, must spend 6 hours at the gym tomorrow to burn off half the calories I consummed today.
 
Going out for town fireworks now, we parked the convertible in a prime viewing location and stocked it up with food/drink and now we do our traditional walk to it.

I like the after fireworks better, when we come home and blow off ours. We're packing a serious small arsenal this year. :D
 
Davros said:
Oh I nearly forgot about this,
for those that don't know the 4th is the day when Americans mourn the fact that they are no longer part of the British empire they eat turkey to symbolize the fact that they were a bunch of turkeys to leave.
Every year on the fourth the have a drink and look at Canada with envious eye's how lucky that country is to still be part of the empire they say while raising a glass
Click to expand...

Um 4th of July is during the summer when we have lots of pool partys , go to the beach and bbq food hot dogs , ribs , burgers and hte like.


Thanksgiving is at the end of Nov and thats when we have turkeys and are happy that we aren't part of the British empire and we actually have teeth in which to eat said turkey
 
eastmen said:
Thanksgiving is at the end of Nov and thats when we have turkeys and are happy that we aren't part of the British empire and we actually have teeth in which to eat said turkey
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The British also celebrate thanksgiving (in their hearts), and are happy you aren't part of their empire anymore due to your continuing abuse of the language they invented on a daily basis (lolwut powned! yo wats up dawg! their=they're=there and so on + everything Justin Bieber-related.)

(Everything in this post is intended to be taken as tongue-in-teeth. ;))
 
Sheesh. Still some people have really bought into the "British bad teeth" meme promulgated through Hollywood films and by bad comedians, haven't they?

People over here don't go the whole hog for retainers (or braces, as we call 'em) for their children and whitening so beloved across the pond but, on the other hand, most people do get dental treatment cheaply through the National Health Service. I pay about £30 a year in total for two check-ups.

Things have gotten worse in recent years with fewer NHS dentists available so I know a few people who have to go private and others will always simply not bother, but I'm willing to guess that a much larger proportion of the population over here have access to dental care than over in the US...

I can't say I've ever known anyone with really 'bad' i.e. rotten, teeth.

(For the record, my teeth are slightly yellow - stained by the antibiotics I had had to take for much of my childhood - but are otherwise in good nick. I'm not vain enough to bother having my teeth bleached - that would be a stupid waste of time and money when my teeth are perfectly fine).
 
Actually there is no shortage of dentists in the u.k,
what there is is a shortage of free dentists and I still bet we have more free dentists than the u.s
 
Mariner said:
Sheesh. Still some people have really bought into the "British bad teeth" meme promulgated through Hollywood films and by bad comedians, haven't they?

People over here don't go the whole hog for retainers (or braces, as we call 'em) for their children and whitening so beloved across the pond but, on the other hand, most people do get dental treatment cheaply through the National Health Service. I pay about £30 a year in total for two check-ups.
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Holy cow, you spend that much just for checkups at the free dentist?

I'll gladly pay less taxes in order to have non-state funded dentistry. 2 checkups a year would cost me 20-30 USD combined. And all my dental work over the past 20 years wouldn't be much more than 500 USD. 2 root canals, multiple fillings, multiple refillings, wisdom teeth pulled, etc. And a dentist that studied acupuncture, so never even have to feel the needle when getting gums injected. :)

I just wish I'd personally taken better care of my teeth when I was younger. But when I was younger I didn't give a damn. C'est la vie.

Regards,
SB
 
To balance things out, note that I didn't pay a single penny when getting treatment up until the age of 22 (when I finished my education), so I can't complain too much about a few quid a year now.

Plenty of people get entirely free dental care over here (children, mothers with young children, the elderly etc.) although there are no longer enough dentists working under the aegis of the NHS. Many dentists have realised that instead of earning a shitload of cash working for the NHS, they can earn a really big shitload of cash working in private practice!
 
Nearest dentist to me (ferrari f430 always parked outside)
second nearest dentist to me (porsche 911 always parked outside)
 
Mariner said:
To balance things out, note that I didn't pay a single penny when getting treatment up until the age of 22 (when I finished my education), so I can't complain too much about a few quid a year now.

Plenty of people get entirely free dental care over here (children, mothers with young children, the elderly etc.) although there are no longer enough dentists working under the aegis of the NHS. Many dentists have realised that instead of earning a shitload of cash working for the NHS, they can earn a really big shitload of cash working in private practice!
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It does in a way although we'll never ever be able to quantify it. I still think I get the better end of the deal however with much lower taxes. Even if I had had to spend a few thousand over that same time period for the dental work, I'd still come out ahead on how much I saved in taxes.

Difference of ideology. One side preferes and trusts the government to spend their money, the other side would rather spend their money how they prefer. :) And for that other side, obviously some don't take health care seriously and don't spend enough on it, instead figuring 50+ inch LCD's and 500+ USD HT receivers are more important. I know quite a few of those types in the US. And then they complain about our lack of "free" (not free, but tax funded) health care. /roll_eyes. :)

Regards,
SB
 
Let's see 8% sales tax versus whatever VAT is over there. And I'm semi-retired so haven't really paid much taxes lately. I think the last time I had to pay alot of taxes I was just paying 24% income tax. No 300% tax (or whatever it was with buy one car pay for 3) on cars sold like someone mentioned in one of the EU countries. No carbon emission tax or whatever it was they were complaining about in Top Gear Xtra. :p Etc, etc...

Yes, I realize that stuff probably doesn't go to pay for dentistry, but it's the overall pay less taxes and have personal responsibility for your own self. Whether people spend their own money responsibly on the other hand is whole nother barrel of fish, but I shouldn't have to be responsible for their irresponsibility.

Regards,
SB
 
If you guys want to talk about taxes etc. please go to RPSC and leave it out of this thread.

I had a really good 4th. Everything turned out to be a blast. The kids were super energized throughout the day and played up until 7:30 PM when we went to go see the fireworks. Thankfully they were bum tired after that so we could start the short drive to Santa Cruz. Spent a couple days there raiding the boardwalk and local restaurants and also fending off the homeless hippies of yesteryear.

Digi, John: The brownies were really good. I ended up using a half ounce of medical grade stuff and go about 24 nice sized brownies out of it. The usual recipe ya know where ya cook the stuff in butter and then skim the rest off, and use the butter for the brownies.
 
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