Sorry James, but that is not correct. There are alot of Windturbines in Copenhagen Habour, not Windmills.. I actaully only think there are about 2 or 3 Windmills in Denmark, but they are very common in The Netherlands.

And to get into the dutch/danish discussion.. Both Denmark & The Netherlands rocks!. Soo. hmm. For me it wouldn’t matter to be confused as a dutch person (i’m danish).. If they confused me with a Swede, then it’s another story . hehe

Chris

This might be interesting for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYZXARhDgPM

Can you tell us where the bad astronomy is there…?

USA: Doomed.

Protect freedom of speach!

[Ducks behind chair]

I knew that. As Halcyon said, we know what a federation is, since we have quite a few in Europe. We even have a confederation, which in principle is even more decentralized than a federation: Switzerland. And there are plenty of autonomous territories even in otherwise non-federative countries, like the Portuguese Atlantic archipelagos, for instance.

The US being a federation doesn’t change the fact that its states are 1st order subdivisions with pretty much the same level of international relevance as all the other 1st level subdivisions, from the German Lander to the Maltese municipalities. They are not at all comparable to European nations. They don’t have seats in the UN. That alone should be a pretty strong hint.

And besides, I’ll believe American states are really sovereign entities when I see one of them seceding from the Union without causing a civil war with the other 49.

@The Mutt

Nope, not making it up. Google is your friend. One hint: Sweden.

(And don’t worry: I don’t know what its capital is either. I know where to find that information if I need it, though)

I’m also a Minnesotan (though transplanted to Boston). I thought everyone’s idea of Minnesota was that it was a frozen, barren wasteland, where the ground is always white and people roam about speaking very long ‘o’s. Guess they don’t realize that our summers are brutal and that only people in more rural areas populated by folks of Norwegian descent have the really strong ‘o’s and ‘r’s.

We know what a federation is. Germany and Russia are federal republics. As are many other countries.

I’d be more impressed if you’d knew the federal subdivisions of Canada and the United Mexican States, and there capitals.
You know, two other countries in America.

Most of the time US state capitals are not the main cities of the state anyway (Sacramento, Albany, anyone?), and even Americans don’t generally know them (the capitol, on the other hand, everybody knows).

I missed the NSFW bit – I had to watch it a few times to see that!

Will this film get get a “7″, an “11″ or a “15″?

I’m actually a little worried that this movie won’t be true to the spirit of the comic – that they’ll bury the original satire in abusive jokes. I have no doubt that it’ll be hysterically funny though, even if it might not be entirely accessible to non-danes…

As to whether or not the American states are equivalent to departements or other regional divisions, well, that’s debatable. American states are actually sovereign entities. Sort of. And they wield considerable legislative power. In fact, if you break a law in the US and wind up facing prosecution, you will almost certainly be charged with violating a *state* law, not a federal one, even if a federal statue exists pertaining to your crime. Most of the everyday laws (minimum drinking age, traffic codes, debt collection practices, marriage and divorce laws, age of consent, legality of gambling, etc.) vary widely from state to state. This is not usually true of the smaller divisions within many European nations, which in many ways are more analogous to some kind of super-county. So the state capitols are more important here than they might be in some other countries, because so much of the real work of legislation is done at them and not in Washington.

That said, I would not expect a European to know the capitols of all 50 states. I would even be surprised to find many Americans who know them all. It’s just not information that you need very often, and while the state governments are very important locally, they are almost meaningless internationally. The federal government takes care of our international business, for the most part. So it’s worth knowing about Washington, DC, and perhaps useful to know that it is not actually in any state. But the rest is just trivia. Useful for quiz shows and impressing people in casual conversation, but not usually much else.

Mind you, I’m from Minnesota. In this part of the country, we’re pretty used to people not really knowing much about us. A lot of people think of us as the boring bit in the middle when flying from New York to Los Angeles. So I’m used to people not knowing the capitol. In fact, they usually think our capitol is Minneapolis. It’s not. It’s St Paul, the other (and older) of the two Twin Cities. Oh, the tales of Twin Cities politics, and the sensitivity of that particular error….

And for the person who guessed the capitol of South Dakota was either Pierre or Sioux Falls — good job! It’s Pierre. Most people get that wrong, guessing either Sioux Falls or Rapid City. Sioux Falls is the largest city, and the economic powerhouse of the state, large enough that it’s starting to grow a suburbia. It is still not big by European standards, though, with a metro population of about 187,000 (circa 2000; it’s been growing since then). Pierre, by contrast, has only about 14,000 residents.

C’mon, you’re making that up.

South Dakota is a state which belongs to a nation that includes 49 other states and a few thingies and colonies and pseudo-colonies scattered around the Caribbean and the Pacific. Oh, yes, and DC. Almost forgot about that evil city.

Denmark is a nation, and the Netherlands is another nation. They are both part of an international somewhat confederative organization which includes 25 other nations. And they are all subdivided into lesser entities.

So let’s put the things at the same level, OK? I’ll tell you the capital of South Dakota if you can tell me the capital of Languedoc. Or that of Piemonte. Or that of Algarve. Or that of Asturies. Or that of Gotland. Or that of Wales.

//I know, I know, wrong country. Sorry, couldn´t resist.