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Words/things I learned watching BBAU from the US

Oh dear....we're on dangerous ground now......

How the hell did we get to "I drive a Prius..." territory?

I hope this doesn't lead to an "I'm a better Greenie than you because I........" type Show-down! ( don't think I could take it!)

Huh? I can be accused of being selfish and destroying the environment like all selfish Americans, but mentioning my environmental bonafides is putting us in dangerous territory?
 
I've never used a clothesline. Using a dryer, clothes are dry in about 30-40 minutes, I just bought a new gas dryer and it's very energy efficient. It costs about a quarter a load. Even when the weather is good (which eliminates almost half the year), I can't imagine the inconvenience of going outside and hanging stuff up, waiting hours for them to dry, then going back out to retrieve them to save a quarter.

The extra effort we make to hang our clothes out is not to save 25c, it's to save the ozone layer, to stop the melting of the ice caps, to stop the warming of the oceans, to stop the extinction of many species, and to preserve the planet for future generations.
 
But how many cycles of clothes will you dry over the life time of that dryer? How much energy will be used not just by you but the majority of Americans? I'm sure it seems like you are not using much but as a whole Americans are.

Where you live how cold does it get during the winter? Here where I live during the day the average temp is 17.7 degrees and at night it is 3 degrees. I rarely use my heater as I find it make me to hot I'll just put on a jumper during the day and extra blankets at night. The only bad thing about that is waking up in the morning. I never want to get out of bed lol.

I think it is great that you care about the environment I'm not having a go or anything. And by no means are Australian perfect in that sense. I'm sure some use their clothes dryers more than they should. I still can't comprehend why people choose to do stuff like drive somewhere when it is in walking distance for example.

Recycling is very important. Here in Australia in the 90s they introduced recycling bins for every home. And reduced the size of the general rubbish bins. So everyone does it. In America do you not have to Recycle? Is it a choice?

I'm not sure why the dryer thing is such a huge issue. In a year, it uses less than the equivalent of a tank of gas for a car. It seems you should have more issue with the people on here talking about taking long road trips.

As for your questions, in the winter, it gets below zero here. That's FAHRENHEIT (0F = -18 C). Sometimes well below zero.

Yes, recycling is mandatory in many places, including where I live. I don't think it's really enforced, though.
 
The extra effort we make to hang our clothes out is not to save 25c, it's to save the ozone layer, to stop the melting of the ice caps, to stop the warming of the oceans, to stop the extinction of many species, and to preserve the planet for future generations.

I hope you don't drive a car. It's all relative.
 
I do drive a car, and it's a small second-hand one.

There's also the issue of the manufacture of the clothes dryer. At our house, we don't even have one, even though we live in the ACT, one of the coldest parts of Australia. In winter we often have below freezing temperatures, and I wear gloves to hang out the clothes. If the weather is bad, we don't do a load of washing, simple as that.
 
The toilets in America are unusual in the fact they have a lot of water in them to start with. If you load them up it's not a pretty sight.
I have never seen nice cheese on all my visits there. When I ordered a Shiraz wine in Jackson I was informed they did not have that brand there and received a red wine in what appeared a Vegemite jar. In San Francisco however the wines were very nice and some of the best I have had. I have found the united states to be just that, states all have their own flavor that is vert distinct.
 
I'm not sure why the dryer thing is such a huge issue. In a year, it uses less than the equivalent of a tank of gas for a car. It seems you should have more issue with the people on here talking about taking long road trips.

As for your questions, in the winter, it gets below zero here. That's FAHRENHEIT (0F = -18 C). Sometimes well below zero.

Yes, recycling is mandatory in many places, including where I live. I don't think it's really enforced, though.


Like I said I can't comprehend why people use stuff when it is not necessary. That is why it is an issue with me. Lets just agree to disagree because I fear this conversation will go on forever.

Fuck -18c is cold. I have never experienced that before...oh wait I lied as a teenager when I worked at Maccas the freezer was -18c and that was a rough job when you had to put away a delivery.

Maybe I should argue with the people on here who want to drive around Australia but it is not worth attacking someone who just wants to enjoy a holiday.
 
Like I said I can't comprehend why people use stuff when it is not necessary. That is why it is an issue with me. Lets just agree to disagree because I fear this conversation will go on forever.

Fuck -18c is cold. I have never experienced that before...oh wait I lied as a teenager when I worked at Maccas the freezer was -18c and that was a rough job when you had to put away a delivery.

Maybe I should argue with the people on here who want to drive around Australia but it is not worth attacking someone who just wants to enjoy a holiday.

Bloody Maccas. I still work there. We have freezer jackets but it's like a bloody oversized blanket and it stinks from all the boys wearing it.
 
Bloody Maccas. I still work there. We have freezer jackets but it's like a bloody oversized blanket and it stinks from all the boys wearing it.


I refused to wear the freezer jacket. I would just put on whatever jumper or jacket I had with me or would borrow one from one of the other girls.
 
Huh? I can be accused of being selfish and destroying the environment like all selfish Americans, but mentioning my environmental bonafides is putting us in dangerous territory?

Only in terms of a whole lot of back and forth between countries/people about their bona fides in regard to how "green" they are.....

Sorry, just having a little snide Aussie humour about one-up-man-ship.

It was actually nothing to do with your specific comment..... I would have quoted you in my comment if I was trying to be personal.....
It's just a joke that when someone mentions they drive a hybrid car.......then someone else will say the electric car they drive is Greener....

maybe I should have said 'hybrid' rather than 'prius'.

It's more fun talking about native animals and strange idiosyncratic linguistics than comparing metaphoric penis's anyway!

(But thats just my opinion - feel free to get the ruler out if you like)
 
I've never used a clothesline. Using a dryer, clothes are dry in about 30-40 minutes, I just bought a new gas dryer and it's very energy efficient. It costs about a quarter a load. Even when the weather is good (which eliminates almost half the year), I can't imagine the inconvenience of going outside and hanging stuff up, waiting hours for them to dry, then going back out to retrieve them to save a quarter.

You do have very efficient clothes dryers in the states. Also have clothes drying cupboards? We have energy chewing dryers here but I confess I do use my dryer quite a bit. I am lazy.:p
 
- pickle obsession! They put pickles on just about everything, which explains why MacDonalds has them on burgers.

Not sure about now, but the pickle was added to maccas burgers so they were not classed as confectionary back then. This may have changed since they got the health kick

I remember a time when a happy meal actually made you happy with a burger fries and a soft drink. Now its all apple slices, juice, and a veggie roll. :p
 
But how many cycles of clothes will you dry over the life time of that dryer? How much energy will be used not just by you but the majority of Americans? I'm sure it seems like you are not using much but as a whole Americans are.

Where you live how cold does it get during the winter? Here where I live during the day the average temp is 17.7 degrees and at night it is 3 degrees. I rarely use my heater as I find it make me to hot I'll just put on a jumper during the day and extra blankets at night. The only bad thing about that is waking up in the morning. I never want to get out of bed lol.

I think it is great that you care about the environment I'm not having a go or anything. And by no means are Australian perfect in that sense. I'm sure some use their clothes dryers more than they should. I still can't comprehend why people choose to do stuff like drive somewhere when it is in walking distance for example.

Recycling is very important. Here in Australia in the 90s they introduced recycling bins for every home. And reduced the size of the general rubbish bins. So everyone does it. In America do you not have to Recycle? Is it a choice?

In my defence - (and I live in Perth) we do not have a heater or an air conditioner. We have fans when it gets really hot but that is all. We did build our house as an energy efficient house with very little windows west facing (HOT afternoon sun) and have concrete polished floors in all the main living areas and we do ok. It does get rather hot after 4 or 5 days during a heat wave but we have survived. Lived in this house for 5 summers now and am really happy how our house performs. Having the right orientation for the house to maximize the heat of the sun in the winter and minimizing the suns heat in the summer and having windows positioned correctly to also incorporate getting as much cooling cross wind as possible has worked really well for us.
 
[MENTION=34449]Inigo Montoya[/MENTION] I wasn't going to respond to you because more than once you've come off very anti-american. Not sure if it's intentional, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and just answer your question.

When I was a child and lived in CA where it was warm all the time we hung our clothes out to dry. Where I live now it is so moist my clothing would mold. I am not down to have my clothing strung all over my home, plus they might mold inside too if not careful. I've hung 'slightly damp' pants alone in the closet and had them go black spotted.

That's why I don't hang my clothes. Can't speak for the rest of the Americans in this forum.
 
I was thinking [MENTION=2181]Poxy[/MENTION] meant this when referring to liquid cheese:

easy-cheese.jpg

It was some takeout place near Niagara falls, they had this orange liquid cheese in a container, for hotdogs etc.
 
In my defence - (and I live in Perth) we do not have a heater or an air conditioner. We have fans when it gets really hot but that is all. We did build our house as an energy efficient house with very little windows west facing (HOT afternoon sun) and have concrete polished floors in all the main living areas and we do ok. It does get rather hot after 4 or 5 days during a heat wave but we have survived. Lived in this house for 5 summers now and am really happy how our house performs. Having the right orientation for the house to maximize the heat of the sun in the winter and minimizing the suns heat in the summer and having windows positioned correctly to also incorporate getting as much cooling cross wind as possible has worked really well for us.

That is something that most people seem to overlook these day. Especially with all these new estates that pop up everywhere. People just look at the display house and assume that when they build their house it will have the same kind of orientation. I have seen some shocking houses with the way they are set up. A house that I lived in once (I was renting) had the hottest 2nd story imaginable. The entire house had the fake wooden floor boards . Not sure if they added to the heat. Upstairs had one of those rumpus rooms (Which I think are pointless) and in the middle it had a air conditioner on the ceiling (not ducted) with sections pointing in 4 directions and it was shit. Summer was always the worst time of the year in that house. Winter was cold I think due to having no carpet but I could manage the cold.
 
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