Thread: I have some America questions for you!

OK, so I've been to the US once (New York), but I have seen a lot of American TV and watch a lot of American football and I have a few American questions I need clearing up.

1) Who is Howdy Doody?

2) What is the difference between a burrito and a Fajita (slightly Mexican question). Is it the way they are folded? Type of meat?

3) Do you guys really carry guns around? What percentage of people carry guns? (I'm just interested as there is a thread on this forum about leather holsters and the media coverage of high school masacres etc doesn't paint a great picture). Please don't turn this into a squabble about guns. I just want a percentage figure.

4) What does a defensive end do? Stop the linebackers sacking the quarterback?

Ok that's it for the meantime. I'm sure i will have some more.

Originally Posted by Bobbo

OK, so I've been to the US once (New York), but I have seen a lot of American TV and watch a lot of American football and I have a few American questions I need clearing up.

1) Who is Howdy Doody?

2) What is the difference between a burrito and a Fajita (slightly Mexican question). Is it the way they are folded? Type of meat?

3) Do you guys really carry guns around? What percentage of people carry guns? (I'm just interested as there is a thread on this forum about leather holsters and the media coverage of high school masacres etc doesn't paint a great picture). Please don't turn this into a squabble about guns. I just want a percentage figure.

4) What does a defensive end do? Stop the linebackers sacking the quarterback?

Ok that's it for the meantime. I'm sure i will have some more.

I will take the first two and make an attempt at the third.

1) Howdy Doody was a character on a children's show back in the 60s. More info on him can be found here.

2) The difference is pretty much in how they are folded. The Burrito is rolled while the fajita is folded more like a taco usually. Also, burritos have a large range of contents, where as the fajita usually sticks to grilled beef sirloin or chicken breast that is cut into strips served with roasted bell peppers and red onions.

Fajitas are usually served un-assembled. You get a rather large plate with warm flour tortillas, beef or chicken, roasted bell pepper strips (usually both red and green), read onion strips, plus sour cream and guacamole. You then assemble the fajitas by loading the tortillas with the above mentioned items and then folding them. Fajitas make a great party food, as you can just place out all the fixings and the guests can pick and choose what they want.

3) I live in Arizona (the wild west if you will), and I can say that the majority of people do not carry guns on their person. I have lived here my whole life and have only known/seen maybe a total of ten people who carried a gun on a regular bases. It is not common at all, though I can't tell you an actually percentage. Sorry.

4) I know absolutely nothing about football, so leave it to someone else.

I'd also like to find a page with listed info on what each position does. Some are obvious like QB and RB but it messes with my enjoyment of the game even though it's not real football

This might help: http://football.about.com/od/footbal...l_glossary.htm


Also see attachment.

Justin

Originally Posted by Kentriv

3) I live in Arizona (the wild west if you will), and I can say that the majority of people do not carry guns on their person. I have lived here my whole life and have only known/seen maybe a total of ten people who carried a gun on a regular basis. It is not common at all, though I can't tell you an actually percentage.

As you know, I also live in Arizona, having moved here 15-years ago. I live in the Phoenix metro area (Phoenix being the 5th largest city in the US).

Most of the people I've seen openly carrying weapons here were working in the tourist industry (eg, waitresses at "cowboy restaurants", tour guides, etc.). Yes, a few had an outdoors job that might require one to deal with snakes or varmints, and a few were probably just doing the macho thing... but most just wear them openly to give the tourists a thrill. I'd guess I see someone with an open carry weapon at least once a month.

However, Arizona is one of 43 states that issues concealed carry permits. Matt, I think you'd be very surprised at the number of concealed weapons being carried in Arizona... the last stat I saw for CCW permits was 84000 (Nov 2006)... and something like 43% of those are women. Now granted, everyone with a permit doesn't necessarily carry one, but you'd be surprised what granny has in her handbag and what that guy you just flipped-off in traffic has under his seat.

Originally Posted by azjoe

As you know, I also live in Arizona, having moved here 15-years ago. I live in the Phoenix metro area (Phoenix being the 5th largest city in the US).

Most of the people I've seen openly carrying weapons here were working in the tourist industry (eg, waitresses at "cowboy restaurants", tour guides, etc.). Yes, a few had an outdoors job that might require one to deal with snakes or varmints, and a few were probably just doing the macho thing... but most just wear them openly to give the tourists a thrill. I'd guess I see someone with an open carry weapon at least once a month.

However, Arizona is one of 43 states that issues concealed carry permits. Matt, I think you'd be very surprised at the number of concealed weapons being carried in Arizona... the last stat I saw for CCW permits was 84000 (Nov 2006)... and something like 43% of those are women. Now granted, everyone with a permit doesn't necessarily carry one, but you'd be surprised what granny has in her handbag and what that guy you just flipped-off in traffic has under his seat.

That is a good point. I had totally neglected to consider concealed in handbags or vehicles. I guess that raises the number considerably.

I live and work in the "Metroplex" which is (if you do not already know) a concrete jungle of city suburbs which extends from Dallas to Fort Worth and the surrounding towns and cities - we have several million folks in this sprawling area.

I do not call myself a gun nut, because I don't buy and sell regularly, or subscribe to any weapon magazines, or vote with my gun. However, I do carry when I can, and I own several, both sporting and handguns. I have taken now over 80 hours of defensive handgun classes (Thunderranch), because I have never equated gun onership with gun *competance*. I think that the numbers of folks that own and carry guns in Texas is pretty substantial. With the passing of a new law allowing folks without concealed handgun licenses to carry weapons in their cars (even if they are not crossing county lines), I think more folks have more guns available at their disposal. Texas, I am told, has one of the most stringent concealed carry licensure processes in the States, requiring background checks, fingerprinting, and a 10 hour course on the law (with a final open book test) and a shooting test to prove ability to handle a gun.

I do not ever intend to kill a human, I am not overly fond of killing any living creature (and have not hunted in twenty years), but as Clint Smith said "While everybody is going to die, I am not going to let that guy [criminal with gun] decide when it is time for me to die, and I am not going to get killed for lack of shooting back."

OK, that might get me yelled at, so lets talk UK! I went to school at Emmanuel in Cambridge for a spell, spent some excellent time on the ditch that is the Cam, never had a chance to get to Oxford, though we roughed up some boys from Merton, I was the pasty US rugby ringer...fun times. I think I was rotting my brain with my new found joy, "Black and Tans" while listening to George's Best at unreal volumes on some crappy old Wharfdales...those were the days.

K

Originally Posted by Kriton

...
OK, that might get me yelled at, so lets talk UK! I went to school at Emmanuel in Cambridge for a spell, spent some excellent time on the ditch that is the Cam, never had a chance to get to Oxford, though we roughed up some boys from Merton, I was the pasty US rugby ringer...fun times. I think I was rotting my brain with my new found joy, "Black and Tans" while listening to George's Best at unreal volumes on some crappy old Wharfdales...those were the days.

K

Ah you Cambridge lads are all the same... My alma mater is Oxford (DPhil, not undergrad, although I was a college tutor at The Queen's College, so I got to observe the wildlife pretty closely). Lived there for 4 years and loved it.

I've punted on both the Cam and the Isis - sorry, but IMO the Cam just doesn't compare...

James.

Originally Posted by Bobbo

2) What is the difference between a burrito and a Fajita (slightly Mexican question). Is it the way they are folded? Type of meat?

A burrito is usually just ground meat and some kind of sauce in a rolled-up tortilla. A fajita is closer to an actual mexican taco al carbon (not the american taco), and is strips of beef or chicken or pork with accessories rolled up in a tortilla. Usual accessories include beans, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, grilled bell and jalapeno peppers, and grilled onions. Usually an assemble-your-own kind of proposition, which makes them fun.

Originally Posted by Bobbo

3) Do you guys really carry guns around? What percentage of people carry guns? (I'm just interested as there is a thread on this forum about leather holsters and the media coverage of high school masacres etc doesn't paint a great picture). Please don't turn this into a squabble about guns. I just want a percentage figure.

It's pretty rare, even in states which have concealed-carry laws. Usually the CHL (concealed handgun licensee) ratio is only about 1-5% of the general population, and only a fraction of these actually carry on a regular basis. I've got a CHL and carry only when I'm gonna be running errands in a less savory part of town.

Lots of us have firearms in our homes though, and at one time lots of us had firearms in our vehicles for dealing with pesky or stupid&edible wildlife (pickup trucks with gun racks used to be a common sight until theft made it too expensive). I think the US has close to 1:1 ratio of firearms : person, though this is unevenly distributed; rural folk tend to have several (squirrel rifle, deer rifle, dad's shotgun, kid's shotgun, etc) while many city folk don't have any.

School massacres are actually pretty rare, though they do receive a lot of press coverage, made-for-TV-movies and retrospectives and whatnot, and this both inspires copycats and distorts the public's perception of how often they occur. Same thing was true with carjacking in the 1980's and 1990's, postal-service massacres in the 1970's and 1980's, serial killers back in the 1960's and 1970's, gang wars in the 1920's and 1930's, and wild-west shootouts in the 1870's and 1880's.

Originally Posted by Bobbo

4) What does a defensive end do? Stop the linebackers sacking the quarterback?

The defensive end prevents the runner from running the ball around the edges of the field near the line of scrimmage, they also slow down the receivers who are running along the outside, and try to disrupt their timing and routes. They may also rush the quarterback, and other disruptive type things, but their primary job is guarding the outside ends of the line

For more football information, the amusingly unreliable wikipedia actually has a pretty good entry for american football, and how it relates to other similar sports like rugby and soccer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football

I have to differ with the other fellas on who carries.

I personally carry everywhere I go and know several other people who do the same.
Granted that that is a pretty small number but under Florida law (where I live)

(17) "Securely encased" means in a glove compartment, whether or not locked; snapped in a holster; in a gun case, whether or not locked; in a zippered gun case; or in a closed box or container which requires a lid or cover to be opened for access.

You can carry in a snap holster in the glove compartment, a holster in a shoe box on the seat ect. ect.

I know quite some number of persons who do this but aren't part of the statistics due to the lack of liscensing.

Also there are huge numbers of Floridians with CCW permits, last I saw was around 300,000.
More info on that at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_carry

If you look at he section " Who Carries?" there are some pretty big numbers for quite a few states, although the data is a little dated it is still representative due to increased demand in recent years.

But to put it into perspective, Fl population is around 16,000,000 with 300,000 permits. 53,000 Sq miles and if 1 out of 6 CCW holders carries that means 1 per square mile for some basic math.
If you figure that all of the people stand on half of the land then it goes to 2 per mile. If someone really cared to do the math it could be a lot more, keeping in mind I was assuming that 1 of 6 permit holders actually wears.

I'll bet thats a hell of a lot more than in the UK.