In Germany, there is such a thing as a metric pound. You can go into a bakery and ask for a "Pfund" loaf of bread and you'll get something that weighs 500g.
Ya, a similar thing happened to me a few years back to. They billed me for DSL service I had never even had!
I think I enquired about getting DSL (you know where they call you back and give you info about if it's available in your area) about 6 months before this happened. The weird thing was, I'm pretty sure they called me back and told me it wasn't available in my area at the time, but would be soon or something. However, there was no sale. It was just a, "hey we'll let you know when it's available" thing.
Perhaps the most bizarre part of the whole thing was that they billed me for the Internet (as opposed to the telephone) part of the DSL only. Surprisingly, when I called to complain about these charges for things I hadn't ordered and hadn't even received, they straightened things out pretty fast, which makes me think the customer service reps were used to this kind of crap happening.
Freakin' PacBell/SBC
Almost as amusing as the time AT&T refused to send me a long distance bill for like 6 months, because I had no credit (was my first phone or utility bill at the time, so I had no info with Equifax).
Me: Um, hi, I haven't received a long distance phone bill from you guys, but I've had service and have been making long distance calls for about 6 months. AT&T Rep: (looks in computer) Well, we don't have a credit report on you. Hold on, while I run it. (looks in computer some more) Hmmm, well there's some problem with the report. You need to call Equifax to straighten that out first. Here's their number... Me: But I've already made lots of calls and I just want to pay the bill. Can't you just send me a bill in the mail? AT&T Rep: We can't do that until we run your credit report. Me: So, if I never straighten this out with Equifax, I'll never get a bill? AT&T Rep: I'm not exactly sure, but our system will not issue a bill until we verify your credit.
I never did straighten things out with Equifax. At some point I got a credit card and some student loans, then magically all the problems went away. In the mean time, PacBell/SBC decided they could now actually just put my long distance on my local bill. The charges all appeared months after the calls were made.
You gotta watch out for those non-payed bills though. I had a roommate, who had his phone accidentally disconnected (new tenants moved into an adjacent unit, where he used to live, but he switched the wiring around instead of having it moved to another line in the same building, which normally costs $35). He called all angry and threatened not to pay the bill and the rep even told him, that they would collect the money from him. He thought he was safe because his last name was misspelled on the account (an 's' was missing at the end). He only owed them something like $20, but he'd get threatening letters from collection agencies every day. Eventually, they found his old address at his parents, who ended up paying the bill to save him from his own stubborn stupidity. It would suck to try to buy a house in 10 years and be denied because of some unpaid phone bill.
That's a pretty interesting link. I was always under the impression that Prohibition never occured in Canada at all. In any recounting of US history I've heard or read, it's usually just mentioned that a lot of the booze were being produced in Canada and then smuggled. I guess I always just took that to mean that booze was legal in Canada during the whole period.
It does make a lot of sense though. Prohibition was very much a grassroots cultural movement. I imagine the temperance unions and what not must have been just as active in Canada as the US. Canada and the US enacting and repealing Prohibition laws on a different schedule, while no such thing ever occuring in other western nations, says a lot about US/Canadian cultural relations.
The automobile industry is in bed with the oil industry.
That might be, but so long as people aren't buying (and don't want to buy) smaller, more economical vehicles, auto manufacturers can rightly claim that they're "just giving customers what they want".
If for whatever reason the general public demanded more fuel efficient cars (say from truly skyrocketing gas prices), some car maker would benefit. The oil crisis in the late 70s lead to many more small cars on the road. The real problem here I guess, is that American car companies aren't very sucessful at making small, economical cars. When somebody says big SUV, who comes to mind? GM and Ford. When somebody says small economy car, who comes to mind? Honda and Toyota.
I had this conversation with this Danish PhD student once about why he was visiting the institute I'm at (in Germany). He said that he'd studied in Canada briefly before, so he didn't want to go there again. He really wanted to go to Australia, but nobody there was working in his field or something like that. When it came to the US, he said something like, "well I have no interest in going to that place".
Maybe he didn't know at the time I was American (why do people always think I'm Canadian?), but it just really bothered me that he was closing out options, where he would probably learn a lot and interact with important people in his field, quite possibly at one of the most respected educational institutions for theoretical computer science in the world, because of anti-Americanism.
According to some studies published in Time (and other magazines) as far as Math and Science, foreign h.s. students (England, Hungary, Japan, Hong Kong) leave American h.s. students in the dust, so we have a little catching up to do.
I remember reading something interesting about these tests a few years ago. Basically, this article was claiming that the groups of students being compared were not necessarily equivalent. For example, in France they would only test students in the schools for university bound students, while in the US they would test everybody in the whole high school. Not really an accurate comparison, as those who went to high school in the US are well aware.
Another interesting tidbit stems from a conversation I had with a programming project partner of mine who was originally from Bangladesh but went to school and grew up mainly in Qatar. She was telling me that she learned calculus at a very young age (I want to say like 13-15 years old, but I can't remember exactly), but then when she came to study it at the university in the US, it was like a whole different class. What she told me was that in Qatar and Bangladesh, they just teach students how to mechanically solve types of problems (ie, memorize all the patterns of derivatives). Understanding what's actually going on mathematically was not encouraged in any way. Thus, when she actually had to do a proof or solve a before unseen problem, all that stuff she learned before was totally useless.
I don't really think this is the case so much in Europe, but you do have to wonder about places like Singapore and Korea. The students there are supposedly very advanced in their material (especially in math and science) in comparison to Americans, but the world isn't running to those places to be educated by their system. The world is going to the US for the most part (ya, Canada and Western Europe too, but the US is still the big one) to study the sciences.
Will it stay this way, or will Germany be "harmonized" to conform to the Bologna agreement?
As far as I know, in Germany the "harmonization" has already begun, but is happening gradually. They seem to be converting programs in fields that have a more international bend (things like English lit, business, and computer science) first.
To some extent, I think it's a good thing, because it allows students to study in different countries. I'm actually doing an MS in Computer Science in Germany right now (they actually offer
fellowships to foreign students and the program is in English for readers who may be interested) after completing a Bachelor's in the US. In order to be a significant institution in the CS research scene, you need good students, doing good work, under good faculty.
It seems to be very common in Germany for students to attend universities near where they grew up. This American concept of ranking hasn't really hit here hard yet (although it's definitely on the rise) probably in large part because the difference between universities isn't quite as pronounced in the US (average quality is certainly better, but it's hard to find the famous powerhouse places like at home). I think this has the effect that you don't find universities with a bunch of bright students, many from thousands of miles away. It's more like a state college at home, with a cross section of local people: a few really smart students, lots of average students who will make it through, quite a few people who will fail and or drop out, older people going back to school or who have just been a student for like 10 years.
While this is fine, it doesn't really produce big research institutions, where you get a high concentration of bright graduate students and successful faculty. That, while not bad for a producing an educated population, really limits the kind of research that can be done (ie, funding) and access to good students.
The introduction of Bachelor/Master programs (along with rise of English instruction in CS) allows them to lure in talented foreign students not just from elsewhere in Europe, but places with big demand for quality graduate education like India and China (which follow the Anglo degree model).
Technically, they claim (for my program at least) that the old Diplom and BS+BS are equivalent, but to some extent I'm suspect. For a Diplom, you should need 9 semesters (4.5 years) of which 2 are supposed to be spent on your thesis. However, hardly anybody finishes on time (I think average is probably around 12 semesters). Mind you, not because it's not possible, but because fees are very low and it's easy just to stay in the system, taking 2 class per term until you finish. Anyhow though, BS is supposed to take 3 years and MS 1.5. The course requirements are substantially similar, except there's some moving around of stuff to accomodate a BS mini-thesis (1 semester) and MS thesis (1 semester). To me it seems like something must be getting lost when you compress a 1 year thesis into two separate 6 month ones, but, hey what do I know.
The difference is really made in grade 1-12. The americans seem to lose about 2 years in the process because they go slower maybe because- my guess - their emphasis on sports in grade 1-12.
The main difference that I've seen between the US (where I went to high school and did my Bachelor's) secondary education system and that of Germany (where I'm in an MS program now, but I hear it's the same in many other countries) is that in the US there is only one level of high school graduation as opposed to the three in Germany. There's a lot of political/economic pressure for everybody to get a high school diploma in the US, because without one, your job opportunities are extremely limited. This has sorta led to a dumbing down of what a high school diploma actually means.
However, even though everybody ends up with the same piece of paper in the end, most schools have different tracks (whether they admit it or not) for students. When I was in high school, the option I had was to take a bunch of AP classes and exams, which I did. I think that students who did this are much closer to the level achieved with the German Arbitur (and the equivalents in other countries), although very few students as a fraction of the population get to this level.
Since I left (I finished in 97), my high school has started an Internation Baccalaureate (sp?) program, which apparently is internationally recognized as of this Arbitur level.
Although I don't have any experience with the program, to me it seems like a good thing that it's becoming more popular in more schools. I think Americans in general not for having seperate schools at different levels (anti-elitism and all that), but the current diploma has become so meaningless without knowing what courses you actually took, that it seems necessary in today's educational world.
So.. could someone please explain to me why the USA is now best-friends with Pakistan?
Musharraf ousted an elected civilian regime and replaced it with a military dictatorship.
This was harshly criticized by the international community, including the USA.
I'm not sure I agree with the whole Pakistani bloodless coup. However, I know a lot of Pakistanis and they seem to imply that a majority of their fellow citizens had no problem with the coup. A lot of Pakistanis felt the "democratic" government had become corrupt and/or functioned extremely poorly.
Granted, I still think Musharraf needs to move towards democracy, because dictators in the long term especially turn out to be a bad situation for a nation.
As for why the US is friends with Pakistan... Well, that's probably because of a few big factors (in no specific order): 1) has a very long land border with Afghanistan 2) has a government that is not controlled by religious extremists (although they have influence) 3) is very undeveloped due in large part to scarce foreign investment and is willing to be on the US's good side to get more aid from western nations 4) it has the bomb.
In Scandinavian countries and in Germany (I think) you already have to have a social security number and the ID card to prove it in order to get a bank account or deal with the tax office (ie. get a legal job), for instance.
I could be wrong, but I think this is even true in the US. You certainly need to show valid identification to open a bank account or to get paid for a job. For a job, I'm fairly certain you are required to show proof of a social security number as well (ie, the social security card) for tax purposes. This might be necessary for a bank account too (they do report the interest you earn on an account to the tax authorities I think).
I've always found the aversion to mandatory ID requirements strange, since in the current situation, you can't really live any sort of normal life without some form of government identification (ie, state driver's license or ID card).
I'm currently living in Germany, where you are required by law to carry ID (national ID for EU citizens, passport for everybody else) after some age (13?). The police can ask you to show your ID for any reason at any time, which to Americans just seems creepy. The strange thing is that the only person I know that was asked to show ID was Canadian (he implied that Canada was similar to the US on being required to show ID). At the time, he didn't have the ID on him, but offered to go back to his apartment with the cop to get it. The cop just gave him a verbal warning saying that he should always carry his ID, but it was ok this time.
This really gave me the impression that German police are much less likely to abuse this power. I just have the feeling that an American cop would (if he felt like being nice) have gone back to the apartment or (if he felt like being a jerk) have taken you back to the station to hold you until somebody else could bring your ID.
Maybe why we are so apprehensive about allowing a compulsory ID and police the power to enforce it, is because a lot of Americans don't trust cops to regulate their own power.
I'm not so sure about that. The last time I flew I just so happened to carry with me a bic lighter. I thought to my self I'd carry a cheep one so I wouldn't be too upset if I had to throw it away. I asked the charming security person if it was a problem, they said no, so hey.
I'm not really sure how it is elsewhere in the world, but once when I boarded a plane in the UK, I was one of the people selected for the extra security check. The security people asked each of us if we we're carrying a lighter. At first several people thought they'd have to get rid of their lighters. Apparently though, the security personel just wanted to make sure that if you had a lighter, you were carrying it on you and not in any luggage. The idea was that if for some reason it spontaneously exploded or caught fire in some way, since it was in your clothes, you'd feel it and extinguish it.
It's been a few weeks since I was in California, but it seemed like gasoline cost around $1.75/gallon for regular the last time I was there (which is really not bad in comparison to the approx. $4.50/gallon gas costs where I live in Germany). That translates to $0.45/liter. And we're talking about fluid that is around 25% methanol. So, for a liter of that water/gasoline combo (ignoring the cost of water), that's about $0.11/liter. People have mention 100ml as the amount to be used in these lighter sized devices, bringing the total cost of an equivalent amount of gasoline to a dirt cheap 1 cent US! Even if methanol is twice as expensive and adding in the cost of water (presumably distilled), the actual materials would almost certainly be less than 5 cents per fuel cell.
Darl in a German prison. That thought makes me smile:)
Nah. I'd rather see him in an American prison.
German prisons are really like palaces in comparison. I saw this thing on German TV a while back, where they went inside a prison. They had murderers, rapists, and other people who commited very serious crimes living in a room with barred windows and a big strong door (just like the US). However, the prisoners got to wear normal street clothes, had actual real furniture in their cell, a seperate bathroom (not just a toilet in the same room like many US prisons). It looked a lot like my studio apartment really. I was very surprised.
And that's for violent criminals. Imagine what a white collar crime low-security prison in Germany must be like.
Of course! All sorts of beer is brewed in Belgium, not just that stuff with fruit juice. I would even venture to say that more different kinds (as "styles" of beer go) are brewed there than anywhere else in the world.
German beer is good and all, but it's been my experience that you have much less to choose from as styles go. Maybe in a given bar you can choose from 1 or 2 kinds of pilsner, usually a hefeweizen, and sometimes things like alt or zwickel. I've been to bars in Belgium with entire beer menus containing upwards of 20 varieties!
Actually though, it is almost funny listening to Germans (especially Bavarians in my experience) rant on about how the world would literally come to an end should breweries ever stop adhering to the Reinheitsgebot. However, I have to admit, there is something very comforting about knowing that there's no crap (and I'm not talking fruit juice here) in the beer you buy.
Also, Kronenbourg 1664 is brewed in Alsace in France.
Not so. Many Indians have excellent English, and some have even learned to speak American.
My experience with Indian grad students has been that generally their English in terms of grammar, vocabulary, writing, comprehension, etc. is very good. The big problem is that they talk too damn fast with a different speech rhythm. My impression is that there doesn't seem to be much of a focus on native (British or American) pronounciation, at least in schools. I did read some article a while back (maybe on slashdot?) about how many call center employees are trained to have good pronounciation and rhythm, so that customers think they're in the US, but obviously that doesn't go for all call centers.
I dunno. I played with this calculator, but it runs contrary to my personal experiences with actual Indians I know in Germany (where I live). All of them are (nearly) constantly complaining about how much of a rip-off almost everything here is, especially clothes and food.
I assume the numbers produced by this calculator assume an exact quality of life though, so maybe that's why India turns out so expensive. While food and clothing may be cheap, buying electronic gadgets, air conditioning, cars, school for you kids, and other "standard" things in the West may actually add up to a considerable amount.
Something just doesn't add up here. You simply cannot live comfortably on your own on $10,000/year in any major city in North America. In India though, many people get by (although I suppose perhaps not comfortably) on even less.
This is something that always comes to mind, when people start talking about moving to India or some other country with similar outsourcing growth. In my experience, the only countries with any sort of *permanent* immigration allowing mentality are the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, all of which have some sort of immigration limits.
Additionally, there are a number of small states in the Persian gulf (like Dubai, Qatar, or Kuwait), some other small wealthy nation-state places like Hong Kong and Singapore, and some western European nations that allow temporary (at least in intention) immigration often from former colonies (the UK and France come to mind) or because of labor shortages (Turks in Germany for example).
If you want to go anywhere else, you can basically forget it unless you have some historical tie to the country (grandparents or closer), are married to somebody from there, are super-rich or are seeking political asylum. The fact of the matter is that the flow of people is primarily from everywhere to North America (with a few to places like AU and NZ) and various laws and systems are consistent with this.
For some reason I think Sweden is one of the more expensive countries in western Europe (but I don't know this for a fact, it just seems I've heard that). However, I live in Germany right now and I lived in the SF Bay Area for 5 years before moving here. The cost of living here is MUCH lower: groceries (everything except meat seems to be about 1/2 the price) and housing (this varies widely, but where I live it's about 60% less than where I lived in Berkeley) being the main driving forces. Some things are more expensive, most notably gasoline and computer-related things.
In general, though, I lead a similarly frugal student life here for around 500 euro/month as opposed to around $1000/month (NOT including $4000/year in tuition which became student loans) in California.
Check out the weather stats for Salt Lake City, UT (51" of snow a year). Many other large cities in the above mentioned states many not get that kind of snowfall, but still regularly have below freezing temperatures throughout winter (especially at night).
I've never once met a tech worker who made $60k out of college....ever.
Here's the results of a salary survey for recent EECS graduates (from 2001) at Berkeley. The average annual salary was $65,806, median $67,000. Granted most of these jobs were in California, but still this kind of money was REALLY not uncommon at the time. Keep in mind also that this was taken sometime during the year after these people graduated, long after March 2001 when the recession official began.
This solution always seems to come up whenever slashdot gets on the topic of voting systems. However, there's one large problem that stems from ballot differences between the US and pretty much everywhere else in the world: American ballots are usually much longer. In many parts of the world, you vote on just a couple (some places even just one) things.
There are only up to 3 positions voted on at the national level (president, representative, and senator) on any given election, but in many states, you can add all sorts of state offices (in California there are probably over a half-dozen of these positions voted on at least), referendums, and all sorts of local positions (city councils, mayors, school boards, and judges). It would not be an easy process counting all of this stuff.
Frankly, I'm not really sure how this was done in the past, but is probably the main reason why the US has been using voting machinery for a while now as opposed to simple pen+paper methods.
I would say to check out the website for international students (cause that's what you'd be as an American studying in Canada) of universities you're interested in. If I had to guess though, I would say financial aid opportunities are going to be more limited. First of all, you will have to pay higher tuition than citizens or landed immigrants. Usually, you're not eligible for any sort of gov't aid as a foreigner, but the university may give out some aid. On the other hand, it may still work out to be cheaper depsite of all this, because the cost of living in many Canadian cities is substantially lower than many others in the US.
Slashdot Mirror
In Germany, there is such a thing as a metric pound. You can go into a bakery and ask for a "Pfund" loaf of bread and you'll get something that weighs 500g.
I think I enquired about getting DSL (you know where they call you back and give you info about if it's available in your area) about 6 months before this happened. The weird thing was, I'm pretty sure they called me back and told me it wasn't available in my area at the time, but would be soon or something. However, there was no sale. It was just a, "hey we'll let you know when it's available" thing.
Perhaps the most bizarre part of the whole thing was that they billed me for the Internet (as opposed to the telephone) part of the DSL only. Surprisingly, when I called to complain about these charges for things I hadn't ordered and hadn't even received, they straightened things out pretty fast, which makes me think the customer service reps were used to this kind of crap happening.
Freakin' PacBell/SBC
Almost as amusing as the time AT&T refused to send me a long distance bill for like 6 months, because I had no credit (was my first phone or utility bill at the time, so I had no info with Equifax).
Me: Um, hi, I haven't received a long distance phone bill from you guys, but I've had service and have been making long distance calls for about 6 months.
AT&T Rep: (looks in computer) Well, we don't have a credit report on you. Hold on, while I run it. (looks in computer some more) Hmmm, well there's some problem with the report. You need to call Equifax to straighten that out first. Here's their number...
Me: But I've already made lots of calls and I just want to pay the bill. Can't you just send me a bill in the mail?
AT&T Rep: We can't do that until we run your credit report.
Me: So, if I never straighten this out with Equifax, I'll never get a bill?
AT&T Rep: I'm not exactly sure, but our system will not issue a bill until we verify your credit.
I never did straighten things out with Equifax. At some point I got a credit card and some student loans, then magically all the problems went away. In the mean time, PacBell/SBC decided they could now actually just put my long distance on my local bill. The charges all appeared months after the calls were made.
You gotta watch out for those non-payed bills though. I had a roommate, who had his phone accidentally disconnected (new tenants moved into an adjacent unit, where he used to live, but he switched the wiring around instead of having it moved to another line in the same building, which normally costs $35). He called all angry and threatened not to pay the bill and the rep even told him, that they would collect the money from him. He thought he was safe because his last name was misspelled on the account (an 's' was missing at the end). He only owed them something like $20, but he'd get threatening letters from collection agencies every day. Eventually, they found his old address at his parents, who ended up paying the bill to save him from his own stubborn stupidity. It would suck to try to buy a house in 10 years and be denied because of some unpaid phone bill.
Freakin' AT&T, Freakin' SBC
It does make a lot of sense though. Prohibition was very much a grassroots cultural movement. I imagine the temperance unions and what not must have been just as active in Canada as the US. Canada and the US enacting and repealing Prohibition laws on a different schedule, while no such thing ever occuring in other western nations, says a lot about US/Canadian cultural relations.
That might be, but so long as people aren't buying (and don't want to buy) smaller, more economical vehicles, auto manufacturers can rightly claim that they're "just giving customers what they want".
If for whatever reason the general public demanded more fuel efficient cars (say from truly skyrocketing gas prices), some car maker would benefit. The oil crisis in the late 70s lead to many more small cars on the road. The real problem here I guess, is that American car companies aren't very sucessful at making small, economical cars. When somebody says big SUV, who comes to mind? GM and Ford. When somebody says small economy car, who comes to mind? Honda and Toyota.
100 km / 7L * 0.6 mi / km * 3.78L / gal = 32 miles per gallon. That's probably about standard for a smallish sized car (by American standards).
Maybe he didn't know at the time I was American (why do people always think I'm Canadian?), but it just really bothered me that he was closing out options, where he would probably learn a lot and interact with important people in his field, quite possibly at one of the most respected educational institutions for theoretical computer science in the world, because of anti-Americanism.
I remember reading something interesting about these tests a few years ago. Basically, this article was claiming that the groups of students being compared were not necessarily equivalent. For example, in France they would only test students in the schools for university bound students, while in the US they would test everybody in the whole high school. Not really an accurate comparison, as those who went to high school in the US are well aware.
Another interesting tidbit stems from a conversation I had with a programming project partner of mine who was originally from Bangladesh but went to school and grew up mainly in Qatar. She was telling me that she learned calculus at a very young age (I want to say like 13-15 years old, but I can't remember exactly), but then when she came to study it at the university in the US, it was like a whole different class. What she told me was that in Qatar and Bangladesh, they just teach students how to mechanically solve types of problems (ie, memorize all the patterns of derivatives). Understanding what's actually going on mathematically was not encouraged in any way. Thus, when she actually had to do a proof or solve a before unseen problem, all that stuff she learned before was totally useless.
I don't really think this is the case so much in Europe, but you do have to wonder about places like Singapore and Korea. The students there are supposedly very advanced in their material (especially in math and science) in comparison to Americans, but the world isn't running to those places to be educated by their system. The world is going to the US for the most part (ya, Canada and Western Europe too, but the US is still the big one) to study the sciences.
As far as I know, in Germany the "harmonization" has already begun, but is happening gradually. They seem to be converting programs in fields that have a more international bend (things like English lit, business, and computer science) first.
To some extent, I think it's a good thing, because it allows students to study in different countries. I'm actually doing an MS in Computer Science in Germany right now (they actually offer fellowships to foreign students and the program is in English for readers who may be interested) after completing a Bachelor's in the US. In order to be a significant institution in the CS research scene, you need good students, doing good work, under good faculty.
It seems to be very common in Germany for students to attend universities near where they grew up. This American concept of ranking hasn't really hit here hard yet (although it's definitely on the rise) probably in large part because the difference between universities isn't quite as pronounced in the US (average quality is certainly better, but it's hard to find the famous powerhouse places like at home). I think this has the effect that you don't find universities with a bunch of bright students, many from thousands of miles away. It's more like a state college at home, with a cross section of local people: a few really smart students, lots of average students who will make it through, quite a few people who will fail and or drop out, older people going back to school or who have just been a student for like 10 years.
While this is fine, it doesn't really produce big research institutions, where you get a high concentration of bright graduate students and successful faculty. That, while not bad for a producing an educated population, really limits the kind of research that can be done (ie, funding) and access to good students.
The introduction of Bachelor/Master programs (along with rise of English instruction in CS) allows them to lure in talented foreign students not just from elsewhere in Europe, but places with big demand for quality graduate education like India and China (which follow the Anglo degree model).
Technically, they claim (for my program at least) that the old Diplom and BS+BS are equivalent, but to some extent I'm suspect. For a Diplom, you should need 9 semesters (4.5 years) of which 2 are supposed to be spent on your thesis. However, hardly anybody finishes on time (I think average is probably around 12 semesters). Mind you, not because it's not possible, but because fees are very low and it's easy just to stay in the system, taking 2 class per term until you finish. Anyhow though, BS is supposed to take 3 years and MS 1.5. The course requirements are substantially similar, except there's some moving around of stuff to accomodate a BS mini-thesis (1 semester) and MS thesis (1 semester). To me it seems like something must be getting lost when you compress a 1 year thesis into two separate 6 month ones, but, hey what do I know.
The main difference that I've seen between the US (where I went to high school and did my Bachelor's) secondary education system and that of Germany (where I'm in an MS program now, but I hear it's the same in many other countries) is that in the US there is only one level of high school graduation as opposed to the three in Germany. There's a lot of political/economic pressure for everybody to get a high school diploma in the US, because without one, your job opportunities are extremely limited. This has sorta led to a dumbing down of what a high school diploma actually means.
However, even though everybody ends up with the same piece of paper in the end, most schools have different tracks (whether they admit it or not) for students. When I was in high school, the option I had was to take a bunch of AP classes and exams, which I did. I think that students who did this are much closer to the level achieved with the German Arbitur (and the equivalents in other countries), although very few students as a fraction of the population get to this level.
Since I left (I finished in 97), my high school has started an Internation Baccalaureate (sp?) program, which apparently is internationally recognized as of this Arbitur level. Although I don't have any experience with the program, to me it seems like a good thing that it's becoming more popular in more schools. I think Americans in general not for having seperate schools at different levels (anti-elitism and all that), but the current diploma has become so meaningless without knowing what courses you actually took, that it seems necessary in today's educational world.
I'm not sure I agree with the whole Pakistani bloodless coup. However, I know a lot of Pakistanis and they seem to imply that a majority of their fellow citizens had no problem with the coup. A lot of Pakistanis felt the "democratic" government had become corrupt and/or functioned extremely poorly.
Granted, I still think Musharraf needs to move towards democracy, because dictators in the long term especially turn out to be a bad situation for a nation.
As for why the US is friends with Pakistan... Well, that's probably because of a few big factors (in no specific order): 1) has a very long land border with Afghanistan 2) has a government that is not controlled by religious extremists (although they have influence) 3) is very undeveloped due in large part to scarce foreign investment and is willing to be on the US's good side to get more aid from western nations 4) it has the bomb.
What about Ireland, as in the border dividing Northern Ireland (part of the UK) from the Republic of Ireland?
Ya, but that VAT will nail you every time. In the US, they sell for $2,448 + tax.
I could be wrong, but I think this is even true in the US. You certainly need to show valid identification to open a bank account or to get paid for a job. For a job, I'm fairly certain you are required to show proof of a social security number as well (ie, the social security card) for tax purposes. This might be necessary for a bank account too (they do report the interest you earn on an account to the tax authorities I think).
I've always found the aversion to mandatory ID requirements strange, since in the current situation, you can't really live any sort of normal life without some form of government identification (ie, state driver's license or ID card).
I'm currently living in Germany, where you are required by law to carry ID (national ID for EU citizens, passport for everybody else) after some age (13?). The police can ask you to show your ID for any reason at any time, which to Americans just seems creepy. The strange thing is that the only person I know that was asked to show ID was Canadian (he implied that Canada was similar to the US on being required to show ID). At the time, he didn't have the ID on him, but offered to go back to his apartment with the cop to get it. The cop just gave him a verbal warning saying that he should always carry his ID, but it was ok this time.
This really gave me the impression that German police are much less likely to abuse this power. I just have the feeling that an American cop would (if he felt like being nice) have gone back to the apartment or (if he felt like being a jerk) have taken you back to the station to hold you until somebody else could bring your ID.
Maybe why we are so apprehensive about allowing a compulsory ID and police the power to enforce it, is because a lot of Americans don't trust cops to regulate their own power.
I'm not really sure how it is elsewhere in the world, but once when I boarded a plane in the UK, I was one of the people selected for the extra security check. The security people asked each of us if we we're carrying a lighter. At first several people thought they'd have to get rid of their lighters. Apparently though, the security personel just wanted to make sure that if you had a lighter, you were carrying it on you and not in any luggage. The idea was that if for some reason it spontaneously exploded or caught fire in some way, since it was in your clothes, you'd feel it and extinguish it.
Nah. I'd rather see him in an American prison.
German prisons are really like palaces in comparison. I saw this thing on German TV a while back, where they went inside a prison. They had murderers, rapists, and other people who commited very serious crimes living in a room with barred windows and a big strong door (just like the US). However, the prisoners got to wear normal street clothes, had actual real furniture in their cell, a seperate bathroom (not just a toilet in the same room like many US prisons). It looked a lot like my studio apartment really. I was very surprised.
And that's for violent criminals. Imagine what a white collar crime low-security prison in Germany must be like.
German beer is good and all, but it's been my experience that you have much less to choose from as styles go. Maybe in a given bar you can choose from 1 or 2 kinds of pilsner, usually a hefeweizen, and sometimes things like alt or zwickel. I've been to bars in Belgium with entire beer menus containing upwards of 20 varieties!
Actually though, it is almost funny listening to Germans (especially Bavarians in my experience) rant on about how the world would literally come to an end should breweries ever stop adhering to the Reinheitsgebot. However, I have to admit, there is something very comforting about knowing that there's no crap (and I'm not talking fruit juice here) in the beer you buy.
Also, Kronenbourg 1664 is brewed in Alsace in France.
My experience with Indian grad students has been that generally their English in terms of grammar, vocabulary, writing, comprehension, etc. is very good. The big problem is that they talk too damn fast with a different speech rhythm. My impression is that there doesn't seem to be much of a focus on native (British or American) pronounciation, at least in schools. I did read some article a while back (maybe on slashdot?) about how many call center employees are trained to have good pronounciation and rhythm, so that customers think they're in the US, but obviously that doesn't go for all call centers.
I assume the numbers produced by this calculator assume an exact quality of life though, so maybe that's why India turns out so expensive. While food and clothing may be cheap, buying electronic gadgets, air conditioning, cars, school for you kids, and other "standard" things in the West may actually add up to a considerable amount.
Something just doesn't add up here. You simply cannot live comfortably on your own on $10,000/year in any major city in North America. In India though, many people get by (although I suppose perhaps not comfortably) on even less.
Additionally, there are a number of small states in the Persian gulf (like Dubai, Qatar, or Kuwait), some other small wealthy nation-state places like Hong Kong and Singapore, and some western European nations that allow temporary (at least in intention) immigration often from former colonies (the UK and France come to mind) or because of labor shortages (Turks in Germany for example).
If you want to go anywhere else, you can basically forget it unless you have some historical tie to the country (grandparents or closer), are married to somebody from there, are super-rich or are seeking political asylum. The fact of the matter is that the flow of people is primarily from everywhere to North America (with a few to places like AU and NZ) and various laws and systems are consistent with this.
In general, though, I lead a similarly frugal student life here for around 500 euro/month as opposed to around $1000/month (NOT including $4000/year in tuition which became student loans) in California.
Check out the weather stats for Salt Lake City, UT (51" of snow a year). Many other large cities in the above mentioned states many not get that kind of snowfall, but still regularly have below freezing temperatures throughout winter (especially at night).
Here's the results of a salary survey for recent EECS graduates (from 2001) at Berkeley. The average annual salary was $65,806, median $67,000. Granted most of these jobs were in California, but still this kind of money was REALLY not uncommon at the time. Keep in mind also that this was taken sometime during the year after these people graduated, long after March 2001 when the recession official began.
There are only up to 3 positions voted on at the national level (president, representative, and senator) on any given election, but in many states, you can add all sorts of state offices (in California there are probably over a half-dozen of these positions voted on at least), referendums, and all sorts of local positions (city councils, mayors, school boards, and judges). It would not be an easy process counting all of this stuff.
Frankly, I'm not really sure how this was done in the past, but is probably the main reason why the US has been using voting machinery for a while now as opposed to simple pen+paper methods.
I would say to check out the website for international students (cause that's what you'd be as an American studying in Canada) of universities you're interested in. If I had to guess though, I would say financial aid opportunities are going to be more limited. First of all, you will have to pay higher tuition than citizens or landed immigrants. Usually, you're not eligible for any sort of gov't aid as a foreigner, but the university may give out some aid. On the other hand, it may still work out to be cheaper depsite of all this, because the cost of living in many Canadian cities is substantially lower than many others in the US.