[JackFr]

When you say the US is homogenous for it’s size, are you referring to the physical geography or the demographic make up of the population, or something else entirely?

(I think I would disagree, but good faith requires I actually try to understand what you meant before I take issue with it.)

[init]

As the other commenter responded, I'm referring to the linguistic, socioeconomic and judicial homogeneity. Even though the US is culturally diverse, it still has a single currency, a single dominant language and a single jurisdiction (with minor state specific legal requirements). I only need one US visa to travel to all 52 states. A software company taking payments in the US has access to all 52 states. A peach cobbler is called the same throughout the US even though the recipe might change a little bit from place to place.

This is not the case in Africa or Europe, where countries use different languages, scripts, legal codes, currencies, driving directions, etc...

EDIT: I'm referring the land masses included in the visualization and what they entail in practical terms.

The US can be seen as a single market, the same applies to China and India. Europe has the schengen area, the EU and the EEA. Africa needs similar initiatives.

[js2]

Do you have any idea how many different kinds of sandwiches we have in this country? You're just not looking at the right things for diversity! :-)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/14/dining/field-...

[msrenee]

Good article. They rightly attribute the reuben sandwich to the Blackstone hotel.

Anyway, I'm enthralled by the idea of a lobster roll. I had clam chowder one time when we were in New England and it blew me away. I ate the pint and tried to go back and buy another, but my husband stopped me. I've had it a number of times since back here in the middle of the country and it doesn't even compare. Even in fancy restaurants, it's just not the same. I really want to try a lobster roll, but I have the feeling I'm not going to find one around here that does the sandwich justice.

[js2]

The lobster roll is really delicious.

I’m sure you’re aware you had New England clam chowder, And that there’s also Manhattan clam chowder. But few folks know there’s also a Hatteras clam chowder. It’s made with a broth and the taste of clams really comes through a lot better than with the cream or tomato based variants.

https://blog.carolinadesigns.com/outer-banks-food/hatteras-i...

(And now that I’ve worked my way to the Carolinas… if you’ve never had shrimp and grits, look it up. Yum.)

p.s. as good as lobster is, stone crab is even better.

[msrenee]

Definitely New England clam chowder. I'm not sure I'd like Manhatten style. You're just teasing me now with this Hatteras style. I don't think there's a good way to get decently fresh clams to the middle of the country.

I don't have a taste for grits. I finally came around to gravy on my rice, but I'm still iffy on grits.

I'm holding out hope that there's a decent lobster roll around here somewhere. You can get live lobsters here. There's no real reason you couldn't do a good lobster roll.

[whiddershins]

Lobster Rolls have two styles as well, butter only or with mayonnaise.

Really you just need the right roll, and you can make the butter version yourself.

It’s the roll that is hard to find.

[JackFr]

I live in Manhattan and will defend it in all things EXCEPT clam chowder. Manhattan clam chowder is hot garbage.

[msrenee]

I did have fresh-caught blue crab when I was living in New Jersey. Once I figured out how to eat it, it was amazing. Fluke and striper straight from the water to the oven. I don't miss the coast, but damn do I miss the food.

[yurishimo]

I love this! As an American, I think I've had most of the sandwiches on this list at one point or another in my life :)

[mateo411]

Everything you said is correct and makes a lot of sense with the exception of the number of states. There are 50 states in the US.

Better luck next time DC and Puerto Rico.

[nieve]

That was pretty clearly a deliberate choice to show solidarity with two parts of the country who lack the same rights and government support for historical reasons.

[manquer]

Not taking away anything from what you said, my experience has been a bit different.

I actually found US more federal in nature for doing business compared to India and to some extent Europe.

The tax laws are lot more state specific than India, California has very different rules for privacy(ccpa) or environmental regulations than other states. Europe largely following GDPR is good enough (with some exceptions for Germany), most environmental regulations seem broadly consistent across Europe.[1]

US did seem lot more regulatory diverse than India which is more culturally/linguistically diverse,it feels like US states have more significant autonomy than countries in Europe have over EU regulations!

[1] It may be that I have not done as much work with Europe as US so I have not yet come across nuances

[eru]

Try running a barbershop in France, Germany and the UK. They are far from business homogeneous.

In eg Germany you need three years of government approved training to work in one. And another two years of government approved training to run one.

(And I don't think those training certificates can be used for anything in other countries?)

[Talanes]

Barber licensing is done at the State level in the US, and also varies pretty widely between states.

https://www.barber-license.com/

[manquer]

Not saying regulations are lighter in the Europe compared to the US , like the other poster below mentioned I have usually found some mechanism for cross border applications.

On a fundamental level access to free market and European project has a goal of synchronizing the regulations across member countries.

US states are proudly unique, Texas doesnt even keep frequency sync to the national grid!

Even UK(Texas of Europe?) , generally need to follow similar rules if they want access to common market brexit or not.

[Symbiote]

The training is often transferable.

Here is a link to a database of regulated professions in the EU: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/professional-qual...

A hairdresser in Czechia, with equivalent qualifications from other countries listed: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regprof/index.cf...

[eru]

> The US can be seen as a single market, the same applies to China and India. Europe has the schengen area, the EU and the EEA. Africa needs similar initiatives.

Yes, but you don't need much international cooperation to get a single market or visa free travel: individual countries can unilaterally declare free trade and open their borders. (And economic theory is in favour of that, too.)

[hrktb]

You get an imbalance with free incoming trade but taxed/impaired outgoing trade. Perhaps a massively importing country can live with it if importers get better deals as a consequence. But otherwise bilateral arguments would be the long term viable approach.

[barry-cotter]

What imbalance? The benefits of free imports accrue whether you’re a big country or a small one. Hong Kong did very well out of unilateral free trade.

[hrktb]

The demerits also accrue, you lose a bargaining chip for your export fees, and it makes it more attractive to rely on imported goods than build a local alternative that could lead to an export business.

[eru]

Huh? You can't just keep importing, because your trading partners want to be paid.

In the long run, imports and exports have to be balanced.

(Some countries export capital goods, like the US: when Chinese investors buy American startups or real estate that doesn't show up on your usual export statistics, but essentially it's still an American export.)

So if you are importing, you can't help but develop exporting industries.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by bargaining chip? What's there to bargain? You just declare unilateral free trade, and let other people decide on their own policy.

[carapace]

Also, FWIW, I've read that Africa has more human genetic diversity than the rest of the world put together.

[dnautics]

I think america is diverse, and shockingly homogenous given its diversity. For example, chinatown in NYC does not seem particularly different from chinatown in SF.

Yes, the midwest calmer and the south is friendlier, the east is more uptight and the west is more chillaxed, and the cuisine is different in different parts of the country, but these are pretty much details at the edges. Everyone speaks english, the low-end labor speaks spanish, african-americans are discriminated against, etc.

[t0mas88]

To me (an outsider from Europe) the US doesn't feel homogenous at all. Compare New York to Taxas or California to South Carolina and they feel as much as different as for example Germany and Spain. With the only difference being that all US states share the English language and Europe has different languages, but even that difference is slowly reducing. For example the French, famous for not speaking English 20 years ago now actually do it very well if they're under 40 or 50 or so. And similar for Germany.

[ulfw]

None of what you write makes any sense.

Spain and Germany have hugely different history, completely different food, different weather, they speak two non-compatible languages sets (Romantic vs Germanic), they have different laws, different stores, different banks, anything.

Texas and California speak the same language, have similar makeup of people, are similarly wealthy, they have the exact same stores, your bank account is the same, everything.

Now I am not argueing there aren't differences between CA and TX. But those are similar to differences between Hamburg and Bavaria or between Catalonia and Madrid. German<>Spain is a whole different ballgame.

[visarga]

Don't want to interrupt this nice discussion but the head topic was about Africa for once, and here we are talking about Europe and US again. Funny we can't switch even for a moment. I bet Africa sees a lot of this.

[em500]

Probably the vast majority of HN readers/posters hail from the US and Europe, most probably haven't even been in any African country, so that hardly remarkable or unexpected.

[anthk]

And even in Spain itself you have three romances plus some alien language: Galician (closer to Portuguese), Catalan (French-Occitan family), Spanish (and Andalusia has it's own subdialect), plus Basque.

A Basque playing the txalaparta would look like a guy who came from a UFO for an Andalusian guy playing Flamenco with a guitar.

Ditto with a Galician with an Atlantic culture (and Celtic customs) plus a obvious bind to Portugal because 500 years ago they were the same language against a Valencian living in the sunny Mediterranean towns.

[dnautics]

> Catalonia and Madrid

I believe those are what are literally called "fighting words"

[kcb]

I think you may be comparing "apples to oranges" within the US. When you say New York that includes a lot more than New York City. I'm from New York City but have never really felt out of place in Austin, San Francisco, LA, Denver, etc. But far upstate New York would be a different story.

[monocasa]

Eh, the difference between those all will have more to do with population density than their location. Rural New York feels more like rural South Carolina than it does NYC.

[anthk]

>eel as much as different as for example Germany and Spain

Then you don't know Spain.

[djmips]

Western chillaxation is put-on.

[xpe]

It seems to me the commenter is referring to the number of languages and countries in a land mass.