alan tiger wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:00 am
as soon as i saw the category "prisoner of war camps" i was ready for this one:
james clavell based his novel "king rat" on his experience at this japanese prison of war camp in singapore.
...
what is "changi"?
but i was left holding my breath.
I was ready for that one, and for something like "This camp was the setting for a William Holden/Peter Graves movie about Allied flyers." No joy on either.
If you are going to give Peter Graves co-star billing then Spoiler
move it to the J! round and MOVIE SPOILERS?
For that movie at its time there is easily about a half dozen more famous names to go with Holden.
TenPoundHammer wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:47 pm
I don't see why I have to know anything about the British cabinet either. Do Brits regularly know anything about ours?
YES. The whole world knows more about our government and politics than 75% of Americans. They can name our vice president and Secretary of State.
I don't know where you're getting this from, but speaking as a European who immigrated to the US, this is not even remotely true. Despite the US receiving far more attention in the news than say, Luxembourg, the average European is as painfully ignorant about the US government as the average American is ignorant of, say, the German government. I can almost guarantee you most Europeans couldn't tell you who the Secretary of State is, or even that such a position exists.
Good point. My interactions have been with professionals (business), academics, and amateur athletes (track/field) with above average resources. They are much better informed than the average mall rat, and about equal to what would be a political junkie here. I think across socioeconomic equals other countries are way more woke to world events. I withdraw my praise of European worldliness and retain my scorn of the TMZ demographic
Disclaimer - repeated exposure to author's musings may cause befuddlement.