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79% accurate. That's pretty useless.

Not useless at all, just have it solve the same problem 5 or 15 times and go with the answer that it gives most often.

That's TOTALLY moronic. That's like saying "get 5 or 15 people to guess your birthday and go with the answer that it gives most often."

Go and ask 510 Americans to point to New York on a map, and go with the answers that they give the most often.

Despite nearly constant news coverage since the war there began in 2003, 63 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 failed to correctly locate the country (Iraq) on a map of the Middle East. Seventy percent could not find Iran or Israel.

Nine in ten couldn't find Afghanistan on a map of Asia.

And 54 percent were unaware that Sudan is a country in Africa.

Remember the December 2004 tsunami and the widespread images of devastation in Indonesia?

Three-quarters of respondents failed to find that country on a map.

A third of the respondents could not find Louisiana, and 48 percent couldn't locate Mississippi on a map of the United States, even though Hurricane Katrina put these southeastern states in the spotlight in 2005.

And what about India, which features prominently in the job-outsourcing debate? Forty-seven percent of young Americans were unable to locate where their jobs may go on a map of Asia

Heck, many Americans can't even find the USofA on a map.

"That thing definitely looked familiar," said autoworker and father of three Ed McConnell. "And my gut told me there were probably a whole bunch of Americans there. So I had to go with 'Iraq.'"

Good thing he's not in charge of the big red button - he'd nuke you'all.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security sees the Gallup/Harris poll results as a blessing in disguise. According to Secretary Michael Chertoff, the nation would be better off if these numbers skewed even higher.

"Personally, I believe if fewer people in this world could spot America on a map, we'd have a much better chance of avoiding national tragedies like 9/11," said Chertoff. "You can't attack a country you can't find."

How stupid can you get?

Well, turns out even stupider than that:

Asked for the name of the U.S. capital, those polled placed Washington, D.C., fifth behind "Minneapolis-St. Paul," "Mount Rushmore," "America City," and "Whitewater."

So, according to your "go-with-the-flow" theory, the capital of the US is Minneapolis-St. Paul.

If only there were an ocean closer to New York. It would be even better if that ocean had tuna of its own. Best of all would be if the tuna there was one of the most delicious varieties around, such that it was the most used tuna for sushi/sashimi. Wow...one can dream.

I'd never heard before about a Japanese one. The german u-boat U480 that was apparently recently re-located used a rubberized coating intended to absorb sonar to make it less easy to detect. Other sources I've read claim it was covered in some sort of polyurethane that, as it cured, developed engineered-size air pockets that were tuned to absorb sonar pulses. I'm assuming they transferred the technology to Japan, because I've read some about the subject and there's a lot of literature on the German program but I'd never heard about the Japanese one before. One of the things I found interesting about it was that the USA and USSR sub designers apparently didn't try to develop this sort of technology for another 30 years after WWII, preferring to concentrate on making the subs quieter.

Yeah, like those fundies at PBS!

Or those zealots at National Geographic!

Or all those bible thumpers at Columbia University! Buncha holy rollers!

I replied to the parent as AC also, just so you get an idea of who this is.

I wanted to clarify again: the microwave systems are NOT passive. If it looks like this, it is an active microwave system, basically a radar. (I have to question their sanity in that the URL contains "xray"... real smart guys, real smart.) These systems produce images like this.

Passive narrowband terahertz systems produce images like this. (this is actually one of ThruVision's... it's in an SPIE conference paper from a few years back.) Passive broadband terahertz systems produce images like this. As the parent said, passive terahertz is the way to go, but IMHO, only broadband actually works very well.

Some items to note:

• The rocket [nationalgeographic.com] was the tallest [space.com] (and possibly most expensive, at $450 million) suborbital rocket ever assembled, consisting of a solid rocket motor from the Space Shuttle and an Atlas V avionics system, with a non-functional upper stage put on top.
• The Ares I-X has roughly the same shape (but different internal components) compared to NASA's planned medium-lift Ares I, which is scheduled to be completed after 2017 with an estimated cost of $1-$2 billion per launch. A lot of people have been calling this a flight test of the Ares I, but considering how drastically different the Ares I would be in flight, it's really quite a stretch, and it also unfortunately doesn't address any of the biggest potential problems with the Ares I (5-segment booster vibration properties, launch abort survivability, etc.). If anything, it's more similar to a full-size wind tunnel test.
• Even though the fate of the Ares I itself (and the overall future direction [thespacereview.com] of NASA spaceflight) is uncertain, the >700 sensors on the Ares I-X should provide data useful for validating computer models [spaceflightnow.com] used by NASA."
• For all its faults, it's still worth noting that this is somewhat of an accomplishment for NASA, as its the first new launch vehicle design they've attempted to launch in 30 years, after a long string of failed designs (X-30, X-33, X-34, National Launch System, Space Launch Initiative, Orbital Space Plane). Actually, now that I think about it, the DC-X [wikipedia.org] successfully launched, although I suppose that was constructed by McDonnell Douglas for the DOD before it was transferred to (and canceled by) NASA. Of course, one could still ask why NASA is trying to internally design a new vehicle when the private sector has a much better track record over the past 30 years of bringing new launch vehicle designs into service, but I imagine it's still been a learning experience for NASA. Hopefully they'll learn the right lessons from it, whatever those are.

(I largely copied this from a comment I made yesterday, but it still seems pertinent)

Some items to note:

• The rocket is the tallest (and possibly most expensive, at $450 million) suborbital rocket ever assembled, consisting of a solid rocket motor from the Space Shuttle and an Atlas V avionics system, with a non-functional upper stage put on top.
• The Ares I-X has roughly the same shape (but different internal components) compared to NASA's planned medium-lift Ares I, which is scheduled to be completed after 2017 with an estimated cost of $1-$2 billion per launch. A lot of people have been calling this a flight test of the Ares I, but considering how drastically different the Ares I would be in flight, it's really quite a stretch. If anything, it's more similar to a full-size wind tunnel test.
• Even though the fate of the Ares I itself (and the overall future direction of NASA spaceflight) is uncertain, the >700 sensors on the Ares I-X should provide data useful for validating computer models used by NASA."
• For all its faults, it's still worth noting that this is somewhat of an accomplishment for NASA, as its the first new launch vehicle design they've attempted to launch in 30 years, after a long string of failed designs (X-30, X-33, X-34, National Launch System, Space Launch Initiative, Orbital Space Plane). Actually, now that I think about it, the DC-X successfully launched, although I suppose that was constructed by McDonnell Douglas for the DOD before it was transferred to (and canceled by) NASA. Of course, one could still ask why NASA is trying to internally design a new vehicle when the private sector has a much better track record over the past 30 years of bringing new launch vehicle designs into service, but I imagine it's still been a learning experience for NASA. Hopefully they'll learn the right lessons from it, whatever those are.

Actually, dog and cat feces, being primarily meat-based, is not good fertilizer. Otherwise, you're absolutely right.

Even the screwed-up article point out that most dogs and cats eat food that is mostly grain-based, not meat-based. Most people don't actually read the labels to see the list of ingredients, and a lot of dog food manufacturers list the #1 ingredient as corn or corn byproducts. Only buy those if you like picking up two to three times as much dog shit as a better-quality food.

Also, dried turds can be burned as fuel - they still do it in other countries, and there's some experimenting going on to convert dog turds into biofuels and electricity.

Naah. Sure they may begin to discover more and more planets, but at a certain point the number of planets around each star begins to decrease

If it is not real then there's nothing to debate. So that can not be the real debate. The real debate is what to do, if anything, if it is real.

it seems to be that warmer weather would increase crop yield, right?

Yea, we need more poison ivy. Meanwhile some crop yields are lower with higher levels of CO2.

Falcon

Turkey has more evolution unbelievers than the states... but other polled countries have less with America being the 2nd stupidest by this metric of 33 other countries.

(insert usual stuff about sample sizes, polling methods, etc etc)

I'll do you one better: deer that eat the skulls of their live victims.

I've personally seen a squirrel eating a dead bird. It held the wing in its mouth the same cute way they hold a nut. Rather creepy.

Back to rodent pets: I had a friend a long time ago who was doing experiments feeding caffeine to mice and observing the effects on their behavior. They refused to drink their water with the (bitter) caffeine in it at first, so he had to sweeten it. He steadily increased their dose, and then suddenly cut it off. The next morning, he came out and two of them had killed and were eating a third.

"Though the spider does occasionally snack on ant larvae, the bulk of their diet is plants" -- Meehan said.

"Vegetarian Spider" results: 118
"Omnivore Spider" results: 2 (both unrelated)

Are they vegetarian? Absolutely not. But it sounds good.

Your right, there will not be any oil shortages any time soon.

However, if there was, it wouldn't be as bad as you think. Most diesel engines can be modified relatively easily to run on propane-natural gas. Also, there is bio-diesel as well as coal gasification that can be used. Not to mention that in the US, we already have coal gasification in production for electrical generation which is more efficient and cleaner then burning coal in it's natural form.Recent breakthroughs can make synthetic diesel which burns cleaner then traditional oil
(even gasoline) cheaply and cost competitive to about $45-$70 a barrel oil.

The Fischer Trospch (FT) synthesis process can actually be used on municipal wastes and other bio sources of carbon too. Imagine the shit factory of LA or NYC producing a majority of the nations diesel and gasoline (albeit syngas). Work is being done currently that suggest using the FT process on corn can create fuels much cheaper then conventional fermenting and distillation.

Pennsylvania recently announced plans to purchase Diesel for their state vehicles and equipment, synthetic diesel made from waste coal from mining operations. I'm not sure if the FT plan is operational but it's likely close to being there if it isn't.

While a lot of this is niche or in development, it will be a lot more mature and availible by the time we run out of oil if we even need it still.

Well, humans come from apes. You can't win, Anakin, I've got the high ground.

Not according to the scientists that worked on Ardi.

We became more social, whereas chimpanzees grew longer fingers and became capable of swinging through trees

Another article mentions that " Instead of fighting for access to females, a male Ardipithecus would supply a "targeted female" and her offspring with gathered foods and gain her sexual loyalty in return.
  To keep up his end of the deal, a male needed to have his hands free to carry home the food. Bipedalism may have been a poor way for Ardipithecus to get around, but through its contribution to the "sex for food" contract, it would have been an excellent way to bear more offspring. And in evolution, of course, more offspring is the name of the game"

The glue that barnacles produce will stick to Teflon.

Here is an old 2005 article similar to this concept that talks about using a "skin" similar to shark skin to combat the barnacles.

Interesting. That's not a citation, merely a pointer to an organisation whose mandate it is to report on climate change.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090903-arctic-warming-ice-age.html
On the graph, can you see the slow decline in temperatures until about 1900, when temperatures suddenly switched to rising rapidly?

You mean like dumping toxic waste and other stuff requiring cleanup in the 3rd world?

eg. computer equiment that is melted down by chinese peasants, Toxic waste dumped off Somalia, or in the Ivory Coast, or Africa in general. Plenty more examples on Google.

So in this case, the Mafia is just continuing capitalism's "best-practice" in keeping the cost of toxic waste removal down.

This comes down to a fundamental question of who owns fossils, or any natural resources for that matter. I just wonder if 50 or 100 years from now, after someone has long paid for these at auction, that society/courts/prior landowners/native peoples/you-name-an-interest-group will sue for the return of these "stolen" artifacts.

We see this happen with art and antiquities all the time. Those things taken from their original home, either in time of war or time of peace are destined to be fought over years later. So how long will it be before society changes and it seems reasonable that one interest group gets enough support and whomever purchases the fossils will be forced to give them back, perhaps even without getting their money back.

In the United States, fossils are owned by the person/entity/organization/government that owns the land they are found on. If you read each of the descriptions they tell you where the fossils were dug up. That makes a lot of paleontologists mad but that's the way it is. Read this article:

In the United States and many other countries, fossil specimens collected on private land become the property of the landowner. Trade in these fossils is entirely legal. While many academics and institutions oppose fossil trade in any form, others take a different stance.

Now, I think I remember reading of cases where fossils were found in places like Yosemite and illegally excavated and sold illegally but that's because the state park owned them.

Your analogy of ill-gotten wartime loot is kind of funny. When the descendants of dinosaurs come looking for their ancestors bones, we will have to cough them up.

• Snow Leopard in Afghanistan
• Snow Leopard Diary
• LEOPARD PICTURES: Rare Snow Cats Caught by Camera Traps
• Terich Valley: Snow Leopard Survival Issues
• Central Park Zoo visitors go wild for new snow leopards

P.R. Alert: This Slashdot story is a public relations release. The misleading Slashdot summary says, "Other sources have picked up the story...". In reality, they are inserting press releases everywhere they can, and the kind of work being done is not new.

It was proven long ago that dogs can smell chemicals associated with cancer. For example, see this 2006 article in National Geographic News, Dogs Smell Cancer in Patients' Breath, Study Shows. That's part of what started the present interest in making a machine to detect cancer.

This February 2007 article is more interesting: Compact lung-cancer breath test may be possible. Quote: "The test uses 36 chemical dots that react to telltale compounds in a person's breath. The dots change colour when exposed to compounds that signify the presence of lung cancer."

This February 2007 article gives more information about how it is done: US Scientists Prototype Breath Test For Lung Cancer

Even Oprah's magazine had article in June 2009 about dogs sniffing cancer and making machines to imitate dogs: Sniffing Out Cancer. Quote: "The researchers are collaborating with scientists at the University of Maine, who are trying to mimic the dogs' cancer-sniffing abilities with laboratory machines." Another quote: "So far, the Pine Street Foundation dogs have done 25,000 scent trials for ovarian cancer."

Slashdot: Not quite as current as Oprah? Old news for nerds who were playing video games and wouldn't know the difference?

Many researchers are doing similar work. For example, see the February 2008 article, The Cancer Breathalyzer. Quote: "Dr Yousef ... believes that the breath test will provide a more convenient and rapid method for diagnosing serious diseases than blood or urine analysis, and will require minimal medical intervention."

Other researchers are studying the possibility of using blood tests to detect cancer. See the December 2007 article, Study points to possibility of blood test to detect lung cancer.

Here is a November 2005 research paper that surveys some of the issues of early detection of cancer: The Progress and Promise of Molecular Imaging Probes in Oncologic Drug Development.

The folks pushing for these cap-and-trade carbon scams are business leaders and gov't cronies who stand to make a ton of cash and consolidate their power in public policy and the marketplace through regulating a previously unlimited resource.

Here's a couple links to get you started:

http://www.livescience.com/environment/070312_solarsys_warming.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html

Michael Phelps and Lance Armstrong are often held as examples of genetic advantage. Although there are some who disagree to some point. I wouldn't doubt that genetic advantage is just that - an advantage. It takes more than just genetics to succeed. But it appears that in modern sports, at that level, genetic advantages aren't all that uncommon.

/startTroll

Positive Evidence of Intelligent Design

Start Here

End Here

More Evidence

/endTroll

A recent episode of the National Geographic Channel's series, "World's Toughest Fixes", covered the repair of some of these magnet connections.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/worlds-toughest-fixes/all/Overview/02#tab-Photos/9

Depends on the newssource:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/photogalleries/blue-rats-food-dye-heals-pictures/

explains:

"Fifteen minutes after researchers intentionally paralyzed this rat by dropping a weight on its back..."

I know - poor thing, and so much cuter when blue.

nat geo posted an article. basically, the blue dye helps prevent the initial swelling which compresses spinal cord tissue to the point of tissue death. less tissue death = better recovery.

This isn't a new criterion. Jupiter's role as a protector of life on Earth has been recognized for a long time. As an example of its mention,this article starts from the assumption that it's understood that Jupiter has a role as a protector (and then goes on to suggest that recent research may debunk that idea, but that doesn't change the original sentiment).

Evolution didn't stop on the Galapagos once Darwin visited, it is still happening. Here is one example:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060714-evolution.html

The nicest picture of the eclipse was posted here, though:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0329_060329_eclipse.html

"my god, it's full of stars!"

The nicest picture of the eclipse was posted here, though:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0329_060329_eclipse.html

I literally said "wow" out loud when I saw that.

Nope. The spots are only partly genetically based, also depends on development and a range of other factors. Much like the first cloned cats were a different colour from the original.

Out of interest though, here's Snuppy, and another shot and here's the dog he was cloned from (on the left).

Even the encoding that the disks use isn't very complicated, we crack much more difficult codes all the time.

Sorry for being such a nit-wit.... but I think your comment would carry more weight if you could explain how to get the Antikythera mechanism to reveal its function.

Other posters are suggesting that a working DVD player be bundled with the archival discs. Given a thousand years, I believe the electrical components would degrade too much to function. The player would also need to be accompanied by a display device, which would also likely deteriorate over time. Seth

His [Paul's] story is an epistle

St. Paul wrote 14 letters (epistles) to various groups/individuals that are included in the New Testament. St. Paul certainly alludes to the resurrection (cfa Romans 6:4) but he doesn't really write about it. Mostly he is writing to new Christian faith communities in different cities about what it means to live life as a Christian. The four gospels ('good news') described the events surrounding the resurrection and the resurrection itself and were written after St. Paul's letters, beginning with the Gospel of Mark which was written in approximately 70 AD. St. Paul was martyred by beheading in Rome in 67 AD and is buried at St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061211-saint-paul.html

> intellectual property protects our DNA code, purchases, travel habits, and
> other information individuals consider private.

What universe do you live in? You have it exactly reversed (or, I really didn't understand what you meant to say). Large corporations have patented the human DNA of individuals for their own gain. They haven't started to sue the children of the people whose genes they sequenced, but if Monsanto can succeed in suing an organic farmer whose crops were contaminated by their patented genes (the link is for a more recent Canadian case, but they already won a similar case in the US!), it isn't unthinkable that it could happen in the future.

Other large corporations, Google, for example, keep all kinds of records of people's web preferences, credit card purchases, and tons of other "information that individuals consider private", and if anyone is protected by IP rights in those cases, it's the corporations, not the individuals!

IP rights only extend to "creative works", and there has yet to be a court system which defines "deciding to buy something" or "deciding to click a particular ad" as "creative".

TFA goes to a story from a year ago... and this should be in idle, but never the less it is here now so get your geek on!

On a related note: Naked Science did a nice bit on Fireworks last week.

Secret World of Fireworks

Hawking is talking about cultural adaptation, which isn't a new concept. What's (relatively) new is the realization that human evolution has continued into historic times. So, Homo gets three bites at the apple: a chance to adapt via culture, enabling it to survive in environments that would otherwise select against it; adapt via thus far dormant or undesirable existing genetic characteristics; and adapt via continuing random mutation (most of which will continue to be undesirable for a given situation).

I have to ask, do you think the people in N. Korea are happy with their lot in life?

North Korea's regime would've collapsed decades ago, had it not been for China's and USSR's support — exactly the external factors, that the GP is talking about. Today China continues to be the major backer of the dictatorship, supplying them with much needed goods and preventing North Koreans from escaping the oppression...

Good point, but no country lives in a vacuum. There are external influences in every country on earth.

I have to ask, do you think the people in N. Korea are happy with their lot in life?

North Korea's regime would've collapsed decades ago, had it not been for China's and USSR's support — exactly the external factors, that the GP is talking about. Today China continues to be the major backer of the dictatorship, supplying them with much needed goods and preventing North Koreans from escaping the oppression...

" Every study done over the last two decades shows that H. sapiens sapiens did *NOT* interbreed with Neandertals or other Hominids."

The studies done recently however suggest otherwise.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070802-neanderthals.html

There are also swastikas.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-11_10240768.jpg

The most interesting photos:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-09_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-08_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-04_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-11_10240768.jpg

The most interesting photos:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-09_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-08_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-04_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-11_10240768.jpg

The most interesting photos:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-09_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-08_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-04_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-11_10240768.jpg

The most interesting photos:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-09_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-08_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-04_10240768.jpg
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/39xx/394x/3942_Hitlers_Stealth_Fighter-11_10240768.jpg

the last western country to outlaw slavery

We fought the bloodiest war in our history (measured in terms of killing the largest percentage of our people) ending it.

Still there is debate amongst historians what the prime reason for the civil war was with some considering it was a power grab by the federalist government.
Also the fact that it took so many lives to follow the principals put forth in your constitution, all men being equal thing.

Interesting that you qualify that statement with "western"; slavery was officially abolished in China in 1910, but still exists in some regions. It's also quite widespread in Africa.

The country that practiced segregation in living memory

Unlike, say, South Africa, or India (where to this day the Dalits (aka "Untouchables") are segregated:

Dalits are not allowed to drink from the same wells, attend the same temples, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls

Then there's the religious segregation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Saudi Arabia (non-Muslims are forbidden to enter Mecca or Medina). I could go on, but I won't bother.

I qualified my statement with Western because it is the western nations that believe in liberty. It is easy to claim that you're better then some 3rd world country with no traditions of freedom.

Call it "propaganda" if you want, but notice which direction the people illegally crossing our borders are going. Look at how the communist East Germany had to put up a wall with border guards under orders to shoot anyone trying to flee to the West (where US, UK, and French authorities permitted a goverment that respected the liberty of the people). If the reality of the liberty in Western Civilization in general, and in the US in particular, were that much worse than the "propaganda", there would be people going the other direction, and even some who came this way going back.

Around here the people are usually going the other way. Lots of refugees in my life time who didn't want to go out and kill people for not much reason. They'd still be coming here but our current government has decided to send them back.
We also get people claiming refugee status as the punishments in the States include anal rape.
We get people who want to self-medicate themselves which is a criminal offence down there.
Our health care system has been stressed by Americans coming up here and fraudulently getting medical care.
Central Americans that sneak through your country to get here.
And a large movement of illegal substances back and forth.

Of course we aren't perfect; no government is. But we are exceptional in the founding principles to which we aspire. Other people have taken notice of the practical value of those principles, and choose to emulate them.

The principles were evolving at that time. The French were going through a similar thing and England had introduced its Bill of Rights in 1689. You guys did things like take the right to bear arms and remove the exception for Catholics and add the traditional militia.
Even your government setup was a reflection of the parliamentary system.
You made a lot of improvements and perhaps the best was codifying the supreme law in such a matter that it couldn't be easily changed.
Still you would get more respect if you followed your own constitution. As an example the first amendment says that congress shall make no laws limiting speech yet you have child porn laws. Seems that the correct thing to do would be to amend the constitution to allow limiting free speech when it leads to harm of children. Pretty sure that passing a no child porn amendment would be fairly easy depending on the wording.

the last western country to outlaw slavery

We fought the bloodiest war in our history (measured in terms of killing the largest percentage of our people) ending it.

Interesting that you qualify that statement with "western"; slavery was officially abolished in China in 1910, but still exists in some regions. It's also quite widespread in Africa.

The country that practiced segregation in living memory

Unlike, say, South Africa, or India (where to this day the Dalits (aka "Untouchables") are segregated:

Dalits are not allowed to drink from the same wells, attend the same temples, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls

Then there's the religious segregation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Saudi Arabia (non-Muslims are forbidden to enter Mecca or Medina). I could go on, but I won't bother.

Call it "propaganda" if you want, but notice which direction the people illegally crossing our borders are going. Look at how the communist East Germany had to put up a wall with border guards under orders to shoot anyone trying to flee to the West (where US, UK, and French authorities permitted a goverment that respected the liberty of the people). If the reality of the liberty in Western Civilization in general, and in the US in particular, were that much worse than the "propaganda", there would be people going the other direction, and even some who came this way going back.

Of course we aren't perfect; no government is. But we are exceptional in the founding principles to which we aspire. Other people have taken notice of the practical value of those principles, and choose to emulate them.

That's because, after they find it, it's not MISSING.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/may/19/ida-fossil-missing-link

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071002-dinosaur-fossil.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7150627.stm

All from the first page of a google search for "discovered missing links."