This thread sucks!

If you must know

Koffee Kosmo stands for

Coffee Cosmopolitan or Cosmopolitan Coffee

But K was chosen over C to be phonetic

KK

I was a shepherd for 42years. Showed my stock at state fairs and the North American Livestock Expo. Along with years of designing and promoting local farming systems. Sold the flock a few years back when the McMansions surrounded us. I could fend off the coyotes but not the yuppies. Coffee roasting has really been a pleasure.

It is pretty interesting to see how some of you came by your "nicks".

I use "Worldman" because I USED to travel so extensively...up to 260 days per year out of station from the mid 90s through ~2006. Most of this was abroad, i.e. out of the USA. I traveled abroad since 1976 or so (Costa Rica) and have been in all countries in So. America EXCEPT Uruguay & Paraguay; throughout western, central and eastern Europe EXCEPT Ireland, Norway, Finland and 1 or 2 others; every province in China EXCEPT Mongolia and the 3 westernmost provinces; all over Asia. Alas, I have NEVER been anywhere in Africa EXCEPT Egypt.

I think international travel is especially good for we "yanks" as it is too easy to think of the USA as "everywhere", if you know what I mean. There is another World out there and it really thinks of the USA as just another destination and NOT as the World's greatest authority.

...ahhhh, perspective...

Len

At the risk of dragging this off topic...

Worldman wrote:I think international travel is especially good for we "yanks" as it is too easy to think of the USA as "everywhere", if you know what I mean. There is another World out there and it really thinks of the USA as just another destination and NOT as the World's greatest authority.

My wife and I lived overseas for four years and it's among our most cherished memories. But to be fair, after a few years overseas, I realized that cultural myopia is not a unique phenomena to those born in the USA. The same narrow views of the world I recognize in my own countrymen were present in other countries.

For example, after being ribbed for the 20th time about so-called "American Ignorance" by my French colleagues, I created a USA knowledge quiz. Many of them thought you could drive from NYC to LA in one day (2775 miles), that the population of Canada far exceeds that of California (33 vs. 37 million), and that France is significantly larger in land area than Texas (211K vs. 268K square miles). It was especially funny that they missed questions regarding the Louisiana Purchase (specifically my questions were: Who sold it, approximately how much did it cost, and why did they sell it?).

Dan, I have to disagree somewhat with you. The French are as myopic or more so than Americans but the rest of Europe is not as bad. I've lived in France for 9 years and have been all over Western Europe except for Denmark.

Marvin

iginfect wrote:Dan, I have to disagree somewhat with you. The French are as myopic or more so than Americans but the rest of Europe is not as bad.

It really depends on where in France you're talking about. Kinda like the difference between Manhattenites and Flatbushers. There are places in NJ where I wonder about the water source, and in the south where I wonder about the DNA pool, places out west where the educational system has failed miserably, and it shows, etc. But I won't judge the entire US on those folk alone. In Sete, Montpelier (France, not Vermont), Marseilles, and a few places up in Breton, and my neighbors across the border in the Alsace region when I lived in Germany, were all different, but all were either somewhat worldly, or amazingly eager to be exposed to other cultures and their people. Not the Xenophobes that Parisians (and thus, all Franks) are stereotyped as.

OTOH, we're generally a bunch of ugly Americans abroad. I get a sense that most HB'ers and their ilk are different, but I've seen things... Things that I cannot unsee...

iginfect wrote:The French are as myopic or more so than Americans but the rest of Europe is not as bad.

It was not my intent to single out the French. I lived in places other than France and found, not surprisingly, that people worried about what's going on in their immediate area far more than events thousands of miles away. Additionally, it's more difficult for Americans to appreciate the world view of another country given they would have to drive/fly for many hours to even cross the border. When I lived overseas, another country with completely different laws, language, and customs was rarely more than two hours away by car/train, offering Europeans ample opportunities to walk the streets of a "foreign" society. The same cannot be said for the majority of Americans.

boyscout? Well I was one, a pretty serious achiever, and then a Gilwell-badged leader for a few years. But I use the name because I'm still like a boy scout in some ways even though I've left the "boy" part way behind. I'm eager - sometimes a bit too eager - to help out, and try to be true and honest and live up to the simple oaths taken so many years ago, and hope others will do the same.

I guess I could have used the name pollyanna.

Boyscout! Since you are here, we can assume that you love coffee. Does this mean that you always have an Aeropress or Handpresso or Mypressi with you in order to always "BE PREPARED"?

I guess I could have used the name pollyanna.

LOL!!!

Please explain what is a "Gilwell-badged leader"?

Len