I’m a 21-year-old guy and since they unfortunately didn’t teach us about American history in school I wanna learn it all on my own from the beginning to the present.

I’m really looking forward to a deep dive to not only understand American history better but also to get a better grasp of the culture, people, economics, politics and social aspects that influenced America to become what it is now.

I was wondering what the best ways and resources are to do this. Maybe someone can recommend some good media resources. It doesn’t matter what it is, it could be books, videos, podcasts, documentaries, documents, articles, movies and so on.

I’m open for everything :)

I was just watching "American Primeval", when it occurred to me (again) that the US was a place where oddball religions could prosper. Two recent successful examples of very weird ones being Mormons and Scientology (although the latter is a bit less successful lately).

Why is it that weird things catch on so readily in the US?

Of course, the "founders" were people that were kicked out of everywhere else because they were trying to convert them to their extremist religious views (and yet US people are fond of trying to find family ties to them... "hey, my great, great, great grand father was a religious lunatic! But yours wasn't")

So now, Mormons (Jews totally rowed to the US, for some reason, and then Jesus came there, and there were horses, and cities, and there's absolutely no archaeological trace, probably because god) have an astounding foothold despite their creed (I'm saying this because I have read the book of Mormon).

Then there's Scientology, and I don't even know where to begin with that one, given how fucked up it is... If you don't know about it, start with Wikipedia.

Also (probably not finally, there's certainly more) there's the innumerable bizarre Christianity stuff in the US. It's such a mess. I don't even think that most of the evangelical groups are technically Christians.

So apparently,, in the US, anything goes. The holy Flying Spaghetti Monster, blessed be it's meat balls, showed us that. But then what?

The problem with the typical US "let anyone do whatever" is that vulnerable get fleeced at best.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/37369245

There are many reasons you might have unclaimed funds (abandoned accounts, uncashed checks, misspelled names, incorrect addresses, misplaced inheritance and trusts, etc), and your state is required to hold your property until you claim it.

They will not seek you out, and most people are completely unaware they may have lost funds or property being held by the state.

Every state has an official (.gov) website where you can check whether you have unclaimed property and submit a claim. Just search ‘[my state] unclaimed property’.

e: make sure you go to the official state website; I just noticed some state search top results aren’t the official (.gov) website.

e2: also, check every state you’ve lived in. Moving state is one of the major reasons this happens, and your unclaimed funds will not move to a new state with you.

e3: if you find unclaimed funds, please comment! I’m fascinated to know, no matter how large or small.

https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-trump-biden-china-bdc79b7ce741a81761f67ea56d410103

Next week will have lots of political excitement going on, I'm sure. Despite that, hopefully you're having an OK week

Coming from this post:

https://lemmy.world/post/24352555

Ordering coffee in the USA triggers me

I went to dunkin’ the other day and asked for an iced latte with less ice because it’s winter and I wanted less ice. They gave me a cup that was halfway full of coffee. So I asked why and they told me they press a button on a machine, it fills it halfway full with coffee and then they add ice. So when you get a medium iced latte, you’re not actually getting a medium latte, you’re getting a small or a kids size nowadays of coffee, and then they just fill the rest of it with ice. If you ask for less ice, no screw you, you’re not getting the full amount of coffee that you paid for…

I have never heard of this in any other country. What the hell?

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/nearly-half-of-u-s-adults-say-dating-has-gotten-harder-for-most-people-in-the-last-10-years/

https://www.forbes.com/health/dating/dating-statistics/#footnote_15

Hi European here.

I always heard America is pretty competitive and that the people are very direct/speak their mind.

I'm quite the sensitive person, so I was wondering if it could be hard for me if I would ever go to America and if I needed to become more "tough".

And would someone like me even be welcomed or would I be rejected?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/27891382

My social media environment (mostly Lemmy for the last year, after I left Reddit) is very leftist. I'm finding myself floating more and more left because y'all have a point and there's not many counter-arguments in this social media environment. I sometimes wonder if that's how MAGA folks feel--floating more and more right because that's what they're surrounded by.

Of course, my floating is (naturally /s) based on reason and leftists making good memes/arguments.

Anyways, that's this morning's introspection.

Side showerthought: my convictions are based on memes. Anyone have nice, accessible resources for giving those convictions a more solid base? I'd love something like a graphic history of leftist thought (similar to Queer: A Graphic History). Something approachable but with citations. Thanks :)

Anything exciting/good/bad happen? My excitement for the week was playing this trick-taking game for the first time, it was pretty fun:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/324856/the-crew-mission-deep-sea

Beer, wine, liquor, whatever your favorite drink is. What are specific good products/brands/whatever?

Coming from this post, I made an online Moldovan friend & he's asking me about life in the US :):

I for one just wear whatever Costco has for reasonable prices

I was reading some articles and wow, just wow, they hit hard. I've almost never not had toxic bosses, except one who I absolutely adored (but he lost his own job, not being willing to suck up appropriately), and yet lately I haven't realized how bad my current situation has been!:-(

A not comprehensive listing could include:

• one who yells at people, both to their face and all the more so behind their backs, especially their own bosses
• highlights your weaknesses but ignores your strengths and also their own mistakes
• fails to tell you what they expect from you or give you the info you need to do the job yet expects you to magically fulfill their desires regardless
• is unrealistic, probably also disregarding work+life balance
• uses micromanagement or a culture of fear/intimidation; all communication with others must go to through them, possibly not even letting you listen in on the sidelines
• will not accept feedback or criticism
• takes credit for people's work, especially when they don't even understand what it is
• says hurtful/rude things, manipulative like the rules keep changing and you have no idea whatever is going on, basically lacks empathy
• plays favorites for people who suck up rather than actually are good at their tasks

Probably you can add to this list - these are just the ones my current boss does alone, but surely there are more?

How do you survive it? Personally I've been trying to bide my time to heal from emotional scars, so just doing whatever I can to get through each day/week.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23918655

Is it cause of coverage, download speeds, was it cheap, did you trust them more, do they have some bonus on top of phone data, or was it just what your family had and you got it too?

I'm thinking about things like free museums Sundays or times to get specific things (e.g. candies after Halloween as they are on discount)

• https://discuss.online/post/14913101
• !asklemmy@lemmy.world

Straight forward question. If leftist hate the Democratic Party so much, why don’t they all come together and create their own party. Have their own primaries, campaigns, candidates, etc.