Why Americans reject metric: The joke is true. The American revolution was about weights and measures.

Comic Nate Bargatze did what was once thought impossible. By playing General Washington, he brought comedy back to SNL after a 30-year absence with two skits called Washington’s Dream in which the general shares his vision of America.

Nordmeer: Born in Germany, Claimed Shipwreck Alley – Lake Huron (Alpena)

For nearly sixty years, the Nordmeer has rested on the bottom of Lake Huron, a monument to both human craftsmanship and human error. Built in the German shipbuilding city of Flensburg and carrying nearly a thousand coils of steel, the freighter’s fate was sealed by a single wrong turn on a November night in 1966. I’ve been diving her since 1986, watching Lake Huron slowly dismantle what German shipbuilders once created. Today, her rusting hull, massive diesel engine, and twisted steel frames tell a story that stretches from Europe to Thunder Bay—a story of industry, survival, and the relentless power of the Great Lakes.

Cultural Rewards

During WWII the upper echelon German leaders’ culture was fight to the death embracing even suicide…as Hitler did. The troops, however, were not fatalistic inasmuch as when faced with obvious over-powering odds they surrendered. The Japanese had a different culture: Military officers and their soldiers believed honorable death, including Hara‑kiri, was preferrable to capitulation. Their Emperor was slightly more realistic, calling it quits after experiencing the devastation of nuclear bombs.