[mojo]

Do you think the Mexican immigrants are so many and is it a real problem or just some people freak out about the Mexicans? Is this immigration comparable with the current one in Europe?

This will be an opinion answer. My opinion may not fit with others. In ways, it is similar but not at the same volume that Europe is dealing with. Most of what I read they are seeing are juveniles coming in to get away from the gangs and drug ring influences. From what I read, there's not much future there for young people. Their choices being join a gang or join with a drug ring. Neither are considered healthy for long life.

The US is losing jobs and has been bleeding them away for the 20 years or so. Various trade treaties that favor the corporations do not favor the American worker but rather put their jobs in competition with other labor markets who can do so at lower wages. So you see lots of offshoring jobs, the cost of labor being seen as another cost the same as materials. Very carefully what is stated about unemployment fails to mention that the majority of the jobs created are low wage, limited hours, when they are available. Now throw into this mix, immigrants willing to work for lower wages that the average American worker can not afford to work at and maintain a family living expenses. It creates resentment. The working middle class has been gutted and then saddled with increasing taxes to make up for the decrease from a lack of jobs. This in part is what is driving the voter revolt in this cycle's elections. The public tends to call this part of the elections the 'silly season'. Meaning there is no telling what you will hear and it is often not grounded in reality or the reality is so thin as to be stretched completely out of proportion.

What it appears to be is that South American countries are sending their young for economical benefit, which isn't one of the recognized, allowable immigration acceptance policies. Some countries such as Cuba have a standing acceptance policy. If you make it to the US border and are from Cuba then there are set programs in place for them. Financial aid, education aid, housing benefits among them. With the warming of reactions with Cuba, there are reports that many are coming in from Mexico to be with families they have been separated from for a long time. The amount coming in has increased quite a bit from what I've read as the Cubans are afraid with the warming of diplomatic relations these aid programs will be cut.

The majority of Mexicans and Latinos don't have the same aid packages waiting. The issue now is the uncontrolled mass migrations coming in are also seeing a few of the Middle East attempting to come in through that way. Whether that is the truth or propaganda to stir people up over the lack of border controls is the question. The US is well known to use the media for it's own purposes to distribute such propaganda to push their own agendas. You often have to take what you hear in main stream media with a huge grain of salt and ask yourself who benefits. Chances are very good, only the government in some form of control. Americans have been lied to so long from their government that many don't totally trust what they hear anymore.

To quote Ronald Regan:

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
 

[MSL]

The US is well known to use the media for it's own purposes to distribute such propaganda to push their own agendas. You often have to take what you hear in main stream media with a huge grain of salt and ask yourself who benefits. Chances are very good, only the government in some form of control. Americans have been lied to so long from their government that many don't totally trust what they hear anymore.

I think this is a common problem all around the world.
 I want to know about the atmosphere in your town: is it something like in the serial "Twin Peaks" (like: a school, some restaurants, a hotel and beautiful nature), or asking in another more realistic way: is it something like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Bend,_Washington ?
(I only want to have a common imagination. Please, everyone, notice that I don't ask WHICH or WHERE is his town. I even don't ask about the state. "Twin Peaks" is one of my favorite films/serials and I liked the warm atmosphere in that fiction, so now I want to know if Mojo's place is something like this. The link above is about North Bend -- one of the filming locations of the serial "Twin Peaks".)

[mojo]

I think this is a common problem all around the world.

Actually there was a law that prevented this from being done in the media. Obama got that law changed to make it legal to put out the same sort of propaganda as what was used in the Radio America stations domestically.

The town you have linked to is used because it is photogenic for the movies. The town I live in was created during the railroad days of the wild west. It is neither photogenic nor particularly noteworthy. It's more a lazy town because the heat of the summer, no one really wants to get out in it if they don't have to. During the dog days of summer you can quite literally fry an egg on the sidewalk.

[mojo]

These temps are in F. This is a shot from my old weather station before it bit the dust. I not have a new one.

[MSL]

 Thank you for the answer and for this interesting photo! So, the good side is probably you haven't any mold problem there? If you want to imagine most of our apartments, houses, buildings around (during the period between winter and spring, especially) -- any of these pictures http://cn.bing.com/images/search?q=mold+walls&qpvt=mold+walls&qpvt=mold+walls&FORM=IGRE  may give you a good representation of the problem. It's very humid here and we have to use bleach every year to make the walls back to normal.
 And again about your place: is it that small that everyone knows you and you're sort of no 100% private life over there? I was born in a small town and there usually people know who are you, where you were, where do you live and even who do you like sometimes. So, I feel this is sometimes sweet, but sometimes annoying.

[mojo]

We have other problems that would probably make you prefer the mold.

Rattlesnakes, black widow spiders, scorpions, among them. Scorpions are particularly hard to deal with. They follow their food supply which are ants. Ants are everywhere. The ants come looking for food, for water, for coolness out of the sun. Scorpions follow. Scorpions can flatten themselves to come in through the smallest of cracks, such as through a light switch cover, a gap in the door seal, a small piece of ill fitting carpentry is enough. Once in, they are subject to be anywhere. I've found two here. One on the ceiling, one on curtains.They are beige in color and hide well. One trick to find them is a black light as they fluoresce under it.

If you get bit by a scorpion, you in nearly all cases won't die, you'll just be really, really, sick for some few days. You pick up nothing in the yard without expecting to see them.

[Alexa]

Maybe you mean this:

Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post.

It's one of my favorite, because I like to review my posts, if while I type someone already answered or added something. I hope you can like it.

A reply to the one you posted right now (the scorpions and stuff): I feel you there are like in many places in Australia. According to my small experience, I think from all the developed countries (Britain, Canada, New Zealand, France, USA, France, Japan, Holland and others), only in Australia you can deal with so many wild+dangerous+scary animals. But now... you... makes me like the mold more. Be careful and take good care! It's not a joke to live in so wild nature environment. You are a hero. (Admiring!)

I got a useful one and I'm sure all our Chinese and other non-native Eng. speakers here (including our dear lurkers, who are 10 or 20 times more than us in a current period of time according to our public data, which you also may use, when you want to) will appreciate it: What is your short list of some important contemporary slangs and idioms of the American English? You may write for us some of those you use or/and you like personally. No need to be very 'academic'. Just like between friends. Teach us something about it, pls!

[MSL]

 I really think that our amazing Mojo and his lady should be careful, because it's not a small problem. And I confirm with my experience: I had a comparatively good chance to be abroad, when I was 12. That time (1987) it wasn't very easy people to leave Bulgaria, because except visas from the foreign country, we needed the so called 'exit visa', i.e. your country had to agree you to leave it. So, probably only 5-10% of the people went abroad, but I don't mean to criticize that time, because we had many other real socialistic benefits, which now are only a dream not only in Bulgaria, but also in the present so called socialist countries like Laos, Vietnam, China, North Korean and Cuba. I may explain more about it, if someone wish and now I will skip it, because it's not the point.
 The point is about the scorpions. So, I had the almost unique chance to visit Libya (from all my other classmates only one -- Mariya went to US and showed us some 'Star Wars' stickers and another one -- Nikolay went to Algeria. So I was the 3rd one able to go abroad). So, in Libya, there are many scorpions. And the lesson I learned was: Check your shoes, because they like to go in the shoes!
 When it comes to the idioms -- it was my 50 cents about it. (He-he, I hope I remember it correctly! : ) )
 When Mojo has some free time: How do you like New Orleans? Is it really something like a "Little France"; is it a popular tourist destination? (I ask about it, because my TOP 3 interesting places in the US are: Hawaii, Alaska and Net Orleans.)

[MSL]

 An off-topic: About the lurkers (I prefer when we call them 'readers' and 'visitors'; the software calls them 'guests'), I have no doubts at all: right now I see this:

54 Guests, 2 Users (16 Spiders)

. From these 54 guests (i.e. lurkers/readers/visitors), even only 50% are non-bots, i.e. real visitors, it means that some quantity like 27 persons probably are reading around. It's not much, but it deserves some special attention. And, I suppose so, we're giving them this attention and the necessary respect.

[mojo]

What is your short list of some important contemporary slangs and idioms of the American English?

There are so many that it would easily fill a book. I'm from the south, so southernese is spoken...errr...fluently. The redneck dictionary well understood.

One of my aunts, now dead, had the saying of 'I'll Suwanee'. It meant 'I'll be danged' but it was very a very local, out of time past slang. You see the Suwanee river was not very far away, making it more acceptable regionally but not in use outside that area.

This is a picture of the Suwanee River I've taken.

Another favorite is the word 'hosepipe'. This comes from the Mississippi state area. Mainly meaning a garden hose but what it is called by the locals.

Sometimes for the variety of it, I'll throw in a ya'll in the text or something of similar nature. I know it to be bad English but to flavor the text some is the reason. Ya'll is just slang for 'you all' crammed together into a conjunction. It's not proper English.

I have tons of these and if you are observant you will see them pass by from time to time.

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

How do you like New Orleans? Is it really something like a "Little France"; is it a popular tourist destination?

Funny you should ask about that. I lived in Naw Orleans as the natives pronounce it. You have a lot of small towns that have all grown into one city. The tourist place you speak of is the French Quarter. I will have to hunt around as I have some images from those times. It is much like old Europe in flavor. Vehicle traffic is not allowed in the area with the exception of delivery trucks during the day, cop cars, and emergency vehicles. The streets are narrow, most of the older buildings have balconies to look down on street level. There are parks around, the Mississippi River is close by and can be walked to in a few blocks, there is an old building that used to be a beer brewery there (the Ajax building), lots of tourist places from tee shirt shops to hot sauce shops, no glass allowed in the area due to the cobblestones making a hazard for foot traffic.

Free concerts are often given, especially during the 4^th of July and New Years Eve. Street side musicians are often found in unexpected places. During the 4^th of July one of the attractions is the fireworks. The tradition there is to shoot them from barges on the river. It's called the Dueling Barges. All ship traffic is halted during this time, the music is provided by a local broadcast and comes in to the Riverwalk by speakers permanently in place.

It gets sort of wild during Marti Gras. People on the balconies courage young ladies to show their tits for bead neckless thrown to them after the happening. The crowds are shoulder to shoulder often, people drinking in the streets from plastic cups. Mostly the  crowd is nothing but a happy go lucky type atmosphere. It's often a mark of status to have a huge cluster of necklesses on your neck within the crowd so you can guess the prettier ladies do fairly good at that. It's probably the only place I know of in the US with that sort of public street party.

[mojo]

About the lurkers...

My pardon. From a staff view point it was often how do you get the 'guests' to become involved. There's an old internet rule of thumb, the 90/9/1 rule.

So in most places I've been they were always referred to as 'lurkers' and through time it has become my standard term for the 'guests'. I'd not much given it a thought because of the long familiarity with the term.

[MSL]

About the lurkers...

My pardon. From a staff view point it was often how do you get the 'guests' to become involved. There's an old internet rule of thumb, the 90/9/1 rule.

So in most places I've been they were always referred to as 'lurkers' and through time it has become my standard term for the 'guests'. I'd not much given it a thought because of the long familiarity with the term.

Of course this term is pretty popular and probably it's not rude in English nowadays. I just try to use the best possible respective terms for them and at the same time, I don't mind how others call them, if the words are similar and respectful or neutral enough. (I never saw you being rude and I think you're mostly positive, so I'm far away from thinking that you're able to put some negative meaning in so common word.)
 We discussed that 90-9-1 rule before in that other place, you know, and it's good to bring it here, too.  
 About the river: at first, I thought it's a photo of a river next to the town I was born. I can't find some really similar photo, but the nature is almost the same. I'll show just another photo of that river named Yantra: ^{By Златко Кръстев (Zlatko Krastev) - Собствена творба, GPL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=917365}
 And I'd like to ask about the Hawaii: a man said there many people have to work 2-3 jobs, because 1 salary is not enough? Is that so? What do you know about the standard in that beautiful place? (If you don't know, just share your opinion about that state and I'll be glad to read it.)

[mojo]

I'll ramble through this post. The Suwanee originally had a bridge over it for the Model A car. This car is marked by being very narrow between the axles. So the bridges were narrow too. Not suitable for a car of today's make.

New Orleans also has a bridge made in the same era. I've been over it many times and it gave me the willies every time. There is not enough room for a delivery truck and a car to pass each other on the 4 lane bridge (two in each direction). There are a pair of newer modern bridges that serve for most of the traffic but the Huey P. Long bridge was still very narrow at the time I lived there. Both bridges were of the steel beam truss type.

Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans

The bridge over the Suwanee was torn down and a newer twin span put in it's place.

On the Hawaii part, I've never been there. However I had a couple friends a long time ago, one stationed there, one lived there and have another on-line friend from there today. The first thing I can tell you is that the islands are very expensive. This due to everything in the line of supplies must be either flown in or shipped in. The other is that there has been a lot of foriegn money come in to 'invest' and that has resulted in two things. It's driven the prices up for property not to mention the tax increases and made it far more difficult for the native population to afford to live there.

Those who are not hurting so bad for finding a place to live are those who inherited their places through their families. For all the others, the east side of the island is too expensive to live. The east side receives all the rain fall. So it is lush with greenery and the high priced touristy side. For those who can not afford the high cost of living there is the west side. The west side is marked by hot and much drier climate. The rent is high enough that those living on the economy can't afford a place by themselves. So several go together as room mates to meet the bills. This presents other problems. That of transportation. There is a bus route through but it is not always convenient to your work schedules. You might have to go several hours ahead of work time and when you get off, the bus has already run. There is the problem of vehicles too. Getting one is a problem. You can't afford new but you can buy old and used. Only old and used often has problems meeting the safety requirements. So getting a ride over to the west side is not always easy.

[SEO]

Interesting answers.
What are the rules for the pets there? For example, if you own a dog; vaccines, pet passport?...

[MSL]

 I enjoyed to read and learn from your answers! I'd like to ask a simple one, it's more like to help me about an American name. One of our responsibilities around is to choose English/American names for the kids, who learn English. I try to choose according to their Chinese names (similar sounds, not similar meaning) like one schoolboy named 'Yang' got the English name 'Young'. And now there is a schoolgirl. I need a female name that begins with the sound 'Ee-' or just 'E-' (like in words like 'eel', 'evening', etc.). Some good ideas, except 'Yvonne' and 'Ingrid'?
(By the way the most strange 'English' names I met in China were:
- 'Hitler' /A boy. I still can't understand who and why gave a boy this 'English' name/
- 'Nature' /A male ex-co-worker. Pretty English, but not a name, is it?/
- 'Fish' /A pretty young woman in Harbin that time. Also -- a real English word, but...
- 'Candy' /A female. Interesting 'name', isn't it?/
- 'Shadow' /A female ex-co-worker. Also very interesting English name choice./)