Leon

I’m not saying they are, and like previously mentioned lots of people enjoy Germany and its social/work culture. That’s perfectly fine, it’s just not for me. Germany still has a hierarchical culture we got rid of a while back in Sweden,. We used to use honourifics, titles, and such, but nowadays it’s awkward, borderline rude to use them.

There’s actually an amusing phenomenon with younger people entering the workforce trying to apply a formal “you” in Swedish. Historically though, that was always used to talk down to someone. We never really had a formal you, but “ni” fits in really well with “vous” or “Sie” if you’re unfamiliar with its history.

There’s a Wikipedia article on the du-reform here.

I’d say that our international reputation is kind of undeserved.

For example, we’ve previously been kind of prideful of our status as “neutral” in conflicts, but I don’t think we ever really were. During WWII we were doing the same eugenics stuff that Germany was interested in, we severely maltreated our native population, and ultimately while we didn’t exactly ally ourselves with Germany, we also didn’t stand against them. We let the nazis use our railway network to attack Norway for example.

Segue: the most recent eugenics law we got rid of, to my knowledge, was in 2013, when we abolished the requirement for trans people to get sterilised. Obviously, the nazi party was against this.

I wrote about a kind of pivotal event here, which ended up shaping how our labour system functions. However, the Social Democrats of old are not the same as those we have today. They’ve been catering more and more to the right, and the perspective I see the most nowadays is that they kind of just go with the flow. They don’t have any significant values, and haven’t for a long time.

This shows, because we have some very American problems in society now. Widening gaps between the normal people and the ultra rich. Significant parts of our welfare has been sold off and privatised. We have nazis sitting in parliament.

One example I think is particularly striking is our drug policy. It’s the one thing pretty much all parties are in unison on; drugs are and should remain banned, and people that use drugs need to be punished. The stats for drug related deaths here are scary, and the scientists are saying that the policies need revisions because the current draconic approach isn’t really working.

The parties however will not budge, instead they sit in parliament and sniff cocaine, and when they’re caught it obviously doesn’t get investigated.

A social democratic politician from Sweden is also the person responsible for initiating the whole Chat Control thing.

If I’d gone to Florida I would’ve wanted to see gators! That would’ve been exciting.

Think it depends on where you are. I’ve three close friends who all have had really rough working experiences.

One person was studying at business school and had an intern position at a company. There were legal limits to how much my friend should’ve been allowed to work, but the company didn’t give a fuck. This ended up being a detriment to their studies, which was the whole point of working to begin with. They were tasked with way too much responsibility, and neither authorities or union really gave a fuck.

Another friend works in tech. They had a similar situation during their studies, and have since taken on a “hard work is good” mindset which I find revolting, because hard work isn’t intrinsically good, it’s rewarded with more work, and you get exploited until you burn out.

Further, the fairly strict social hierarchy Germany has is really off-putting to me, and it’s reflected in the working culture. Work meetings I had in Germany were always awfully stiff and weird.

Again, this is from a personal preferences perspective. Some people love the rigours. I do not. Most of the Nordics have been influenced in some manner by Janteloven, and it’s reflected here. I cannot stand social hierarchies where someone is supposedly your better for some arbitrary reason.

The former friend moved here, and experienced our working culture. I remember one day they talked to me about how shocking it was to have the CEO of their company bat for them, and talk to them like an equal. They said it would’ve been unthinkable at their previous workplaces.

Tried it in Haverhill at a friends place, Lowell at another friend, and the restaurant was in Salem.

The restaurant kicked ass in general though. Flying Saucer Pizzeria. I am not a big fan of pizza but man, I want those pizzas again. Truly top tier.

I did visit a restaurant in Cambridge actually. It became kind of a highlight of my trip because of another cultural thing I struggled with. See, the toilets I’d bumped into so far in my trip all felt really foreign to me. They were kind of low, and very large. So when I visited the bathroom at this restaurant I was really surprised to see a standard toilet, the kind I had at home.

It was such a thing, I even took a photo of it.

Also tap water may not be drinkable but thats more of a nuisance since you can filter/boil it.

When I visited the U.S. the tap water there wasn’t really drinkable. People said it was fine, but my friend bought bottled water, which I paid for during my stay because the tap stuff smelled evil. Tried the tap water at a restaurant and I physically couldn’t swallow it. Supposedly Massachusetts has pretty good water, too.

China is not a magical land where everything is perfect and futuristic. It’s a big country with a lot of people in many, many big cities that operates on totally different cultural systems.

I like this take. You often hear places hyped up in media because that garners clicks, but everywhere has its pros and cons. Living in Sweden, I’ve heard absolutely bananas claims about my country. I’m comfortable here, but not everyone will be, and it’s certainly not the utopia some people believe it to be.

China has some good things going for it. I’m not a fan of the lack of privacy there, but simultaneously Europe is taking a leaf out of that playbook. They seem to have decent healthcare, and the infrastructure is seeing some major work that a lot of places here in Europe sorely needs.

The working culture in China is off-putting to me, though I feel similarly for a lot of other places here in Europe as well. Germany for example has a really rough work culture, which always makes it funny when American immigrants sing its praises.

The world is complex.

Beyond 100F you have a fever.

I’m no proponent for the American system but that’s a decent point of reference.

0F though? No idea.

Addicts tend to suffer if you cut them off. We need to wean people off it.

Water has different boiling and freezing temperatures depending on salinity, alcohol content, and atmospheric pressure.

The 0 is freezing 100 is boiling is a good rough estimate but it’s not a universal law.

He can’t think? Poor thing! I mean that’s to be expected of a CEO, I guess!

They exist, but most of the scams you get on Grindr in my experience are like “WANT SEX?! Check out my profile on BugDickDudesSite dot C🫦U🫦M No credit card required!!”

I mean hardly, but neither has any of Bethesda’s own games. The New Vegas team did what they could with the broken tools that Bethesda makes, and they managed to craft a fantastic narrative, something Bethesda will never come close to delivering.

This is something you don’t see every day.

I have no strong feelings about php, but I love your enthusiasm.

They usually have a dragon nearby so I think you’re on the right path!

My country, Sweden, is fighting a war on drugs. Believe we have the highest drug related mortality in Europe. So currently drugs are winning the war on drugs.

Not only that, but every single party is in favour of more restrictions on drugs, yet these cunts are in parliament doing cocaine at work. Rules for thee, not for me kind of situation.

These draconian prohibitive policies are never helpful. You’d think we’d have learned that given how our prisoner rehabilitation system works, but alas. We’re ruled by idiots and sociopaths.

You need a dragon.

Those look like dildos.

Aww, but I wanted to see their penis.

Aww, you’re very sweet. Thank you for harbouring such consideration.

I’ve considered this, for years really, but I’m unsure how well it’d go. He’s a bit of a handful when he’s in cars, and I’m not sure how well he’d take to being driven around in a bicycle. In the past I usually hook him up to the bicycle and he runs alongside me. He’s a husky/akita mix from a rescue in Ireland, so he’s a bit of work partially because of his breeds and partially because of his rocky past.

A day will come when he won’t be able to enjoy running as much, and I’ve thought that we could continue to enjoy our bike rides with some kind of trailer. Though I’m unsure if he’d get much joy from it, since he lives to run.

Got a text from the vet earlier today; he’s got a bacterial infection in his intestine, so we’ll be going on a big antibiotics regimen and switch up the feed a little. I’m so happy it’s something that’s treatable. Been anxious about it for a while now and it’s like a weight has been lifted.

I’m not taking the chances with my dog.