I wonder how many people use Firefox with the user agent extension, pretending to be an IE user to be able to use their banking software.
Re:There are many others out there.
on
Time Sharing Cars
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· Score: 1
I have been using the nationwide 'Greenwheels' car sharing service in Amsterdam, the Netherlands before I had my own car. 6 cars in walking distance from my home, and cars at railway stations in all larger towns (>100,000 inhabitants). Check in with an electronic card by the windshield.
My wife used the competing 'Diks' service (Amsterdam only, but better cars).
It's a very good solution if the waiting list for a parking license for your own car is >4 yrs, and because you can take cars at railway stations you can avoid traffic jams.
Acually, speed does not kill - difference in speed kills....... when you are traveling in the same direction.
What about acceleration and deceleration? The human mind is built for tracking moving objects, but tracking objects that increase in speed towards you is not something evolution prepared us for. A stone that is thrown never accelerates towards us.
I am curious... will this "super superhigway" have fewer traffic jams or more traffic jams than traditional highways? Sure, there will be more lanes, but if some stupid driver decides to cut across 5 lines of traffic to try and make an exit and causes a 500 car pileup, how badly will traffic be affected?
A six lane superhighway can be separated in three two lane sections with different speed limits (left is faster) and concrete walls in between, and a limited number of places without walls where changing lanes between two sections is allowed. Only the rightmost section has exits. Of course you should get the death penalty if you run out of gas.
Example: On the A1 to Amsterdam in the Netherlands the leftmost lane is separated from the others with a low concrete wall on a very busy part of the road. It just goes to the Amsterdam beltway and you cannot take any of the other exits before that. There are also separate truck lanes in a number of places. It works well if the government is capable of removing cars very quickly. Crashes rarely occur on separated lanes.
Simple. Our ancestors already solved these problems long ago in their struggle against the mind-reading inquisition, but we forgot about it.
- Try to find panes of glass made in the 19th century with a blue shine. It contains cadmium pigment. - Install leaded glass windows. - Paint the house with paint containing lead. - Use lead roof tiles.
Some or all of these things may be prohibited in your country because they "damage your health". Now you know the real reason.
I can imagine it is a solution for some middle-eastern governments. Sometimes you just want to block signals, going in or out. If I was worrying about the US attacking me, for instance, I would coat everything important with this stuff. On the inside, of course.
I am going to buy shares in metal detectors. Don't tell anyone.
Heck, most languages call other countries (and/or their native languages) by names that frequently have little relation to their native name. People in Byelorus even complain that germans call their country "white russia" instead of "byelorus", even though they call the German language "nyemetski" instead of "deutsch". So long as the information is passed, people need to quit pitching a fit about it. It's just the way language has developed.
True. In many cases a state has merely kept an old name that once applied to it. The sensitivities With Belgium/Netherlands/Holland, Dutch/Flemish/Netherlandic are a bit more complicated because there is some competition for names involved. Every country in this area of Europe carries a strange name, often invented by others.
Long ago in the time of the Frankish empire all continental germans spoke variants of the 'lingua theodisca', or Teutonic/Dutch/Diets/Duutsc/Deutch. Subvarieties of this language are for instance Franconian/low Franconian/low Saxon.
German traders visiting the English coast were called 'Dutch', and most of these traders obviously came from the north sea coast (speaking low Franconian or Saxon). This is were the principalities of Holland and Flanders were.
The North sea coast region as a whole was called 'the Netherlands', or 'Belgica' in Latin. In the 16th century the 17 Netherlands split in two states: The Royal Netherlands (Belgica Regia, including most of Flanders and Brabant) and the Federated Republic of the Netherlands (Belgica Foederata, including Holland).
Most traders from the Federated Republic that visited England were from Holland, the most powerful member state, and would have identified themselves as such. The name 'Holland' for the Republic stuck in English. Only people from Holland like it.
In Belgica Regia the civilized languages remained French and Latin, and it became 'Belgium'. Belgica Foederata became the 'Netherlands', evolving a standardized language 'Netherlandic' based on low Franconian. The names Belgium and the Netherlands thus originally refer to the same area.
The states east of the Netherlands formed the Norddeutschen Bund (the North German League), and later became 'Deutschland' (Germany). This country also standardized its language (Hochdeutsch, or High German). The nation was formed under the leadership of Prussia, which is itself not a part of the area called Dutch/Deutsch by the Franks.
From this point on the Dutch did not like being called Dutch anymore, because the Germans appropriated that word (with the implied threat of being inclusive of other 'german' nations). So 'Netherlandic' is better than 'Dutch' since the 19th century. 'Dutch' simply means 'German' to us (and some may return the favor by calling all Englishspeaking people 'Anglosaxons').
However most Dutchspeaking Belgians like 'Netherlandic' less, because it reminds them of their quarrelsome neighbor, the Netherlands. They would marginally prefer to speak 'Dutch', or even better: 'Flemish'.
The (unrecognized) language 'Flemish' does exist, and is spoken by tiny rural minorities along the coast in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The vast majority of Dutchspeaking Belgians very clearly speak (less standardized Brabantic dialects of) Dutch, however. Even if they want to call it Flemish.
Some small leftovers: the Frenchspeaking Belgians call themselves Walloons, and that derives from the Germanic/Dutch word Walah/Waal, meaning 'foreigner'. Just like the Welsh in England. The French themselves, and their language, have hardly any relationship with the Franks and the Francionian language other than the fact that Frank warlords ruled them for centuries.
could be from the fact that the portuguese were the first europeans to get to japan, and we call holland "holanda". Just a mild variation there.
Not just that. The Dutch traders who established a trading post in Japan were from the state of Holland. No trading companies from Zeeland or Friesland or other states in the Federated Netherlands ever went there. Zeeland mostly traded with the Americas, and Friesland with northern Europe.
Cities like Amsterdam and states like Holland could have independent diplomatic relations with foreign powers like Japan, and they could also make war independently - even on eachother. The new bureaucracy of the federation was tiny compared to the ancient state bureaucracy of Holland. Only in the 18th century people started identifying with the (plural) 'Netherlands' as a whole.
Of course even in the 16th and 17th century you would have seriously pissed of someone from Zeeland or Friesland by telling him he is from the Holland. It is like calling a Scotsman English.
Also being a non-hardcore gamer I don't have all the state of the art gaming equipment so I am already at a disadvantage such as in a 3d shoot them up because I just have a normal mouse and keyboard.
Nonsense. Some people play to win and that is ok. I am quite an accomplished player in some fps and I use nothing but mouse and keyboard (although I do own some fancy equipment that I never got used to). Practice more. How many hours did you train before going online? Do you know the tactical possiblities of the maps on the server before you connect?
If you don't want to play to win, play a game that doesn't keep scores.
But how many people buy multiple copies of a game they like?
I own two copies of two multiplayer games. The second copy is for my wife or guests who do not bring their own copy.
Unfortunately the lifespan of multiplayer games is becoming so short nowadays that games are no longer worth the money if you don't have a lot of time for playing.
The word "Dutch" comes from the old-Dutch word "diets" which means "of the people". It was originally used to refer to the language that was spoken on the streets by the commoners.
Teutonic/Teutsch/Diutisc/Dutch/Duutsc/Diets/Duit s/ Deutsch all generally refer to the languages spoken by 'germanic' tribes that came into contact with the Roman empire. It enters (latin) written history as the "Lingua Theodisca" or "language of the people", as opposed to the civilized latin that was adopted by the germanic elite.
The Dutch used to identify themselves as Diets or Duutsc (depending on dialect), but renamed their language to 'Nederlands' to stress the difference with Deutsch/Duits, the official language of Germany, when Germany came into existence.
Only a Pan-Germanic nationalist calls Dutch 'Diets'. That is the reason why most Dutch don't like being called 'Dutch': it means 'German' to them. The English word 'Dutch' also used to refer to Germans, and the 'Pennsylvania Dutch' for instance actually came from Germany.
actually in belgium they speak walonic and flemish, which are resp. french and dutch dialects...
Most Belgians speak either Dutch or French, and the corresponding official languages are Dutch and French. Most Dutch-speaking Flemish speak a Brabantish dialect, and many deny speaking Dutch even though Brabantish is actually less related to Flemish than dialects spoken in Holland.
Flemish is spoken by a small minority along the Belgian coast and in a tiny piece of northwestern France. People from Zeeland in the Netherlands speak a dialect of Flemish, but most people from Zeeland would never acknowledge this. Linguists generally recognize this minority language, but because the French, Belgian, and Dutch speakers of this language have never cooperatively tried to gain recognition by the EU it is not classified as a language in the EU.
And this is different from mainstream press in what way?
Two differences:
1. You can edit it if it is blatantly incorrect or biased. No such option with Fox, CNN, BBC etc. 2. WikiNews will attract editors with competing paranoid fantasies, while the closed nature of 'normal' news sources usually results in an editing community that shares the same paranoid fantasies and a readership that accepts their take on the news as objective truth.
In Florida they are bastards with the drivers test. Very very very very strict. If you barely scrape a curb and nick a cone, you fail.
Strict? You don't even control your vehicle. Any test that involves cones is irrelevant to driving. You are preparing for driving in a busy city, and that is what should be tested.
In the Netherlands the most feared reason for failing the test is 'lack of confidence'. You get that if you for instance hesitate while merging or switching lanes on the highway, look twice to the same place, or slow down for traffic from the left. The other one is 'not looking properly' if you seize up a situation in the wrong order - or the examinator didn't see you move your head properly.
Well the *American* driving *tests* have failed miserably but try the German tests on for size.
Depends on the state. Most American expat driver licenses are not directly exchangeable for a proper European one, but some are considered good enough with sufficient driving experience.
Show of hands how many people in the US have failed their driving test? It ain't many. Go to Germany and plenty of people have failed...some more than once.
Not really a good statistic. Even if it is easy, there will be people who do not prepare properly. The average US process is so easy and cheap that failing it is no big thing.
For the Netherlands in 2004: roughly 50% chance on theory and 45% on practical (and succesful theory remains valid for one year). Percentage for practical was never so high (used to be as low as 25%) as in 2004, because of a new instruction method with intermediate practical tests. Costs for preparation are some 50-60 euros p/lesson (depending on school) * average 40 lessons = 2000-2400 euros. This is so expensive you'd better be prepared (and also so expensive there is a good market for treating driving exam anxiety).
Experienced drivers from the US and other western countries with non-exchangeable license get one shot at a very easy practical.
Europeans have been taking jobs in the rest of the world for decades. It is a good way to start a career with a multinational company. Americans also take jobs in Europe (and some other America-friendly countries).
If you trade with Europe or America, it is good to employ some locals from those places. If you do business in India, you send over some people.
Have total numbers changed or is the migration flow simply moving to India from other places?
The redeeming quality of weed is that its users feel less capable of things like driving than they actually are. Drivers that are only mildly stoned are usually overly defensive in traffic and drive too slow.
The effect of alcohol is the opposite, and the effect of alcohol and weed combined is apparently even worse. No sane person combines alcohol with any other drug or psychoactive medicin anyway. Alcohol very seriously impairs judgment, while weed impairs performance.
Comic books were "the devil", went through legal hassle, and eventually became accepted culture.
TV shows were "the devil", went through legal hassle, and eventually became accepted culture.
Heavy metal was "the devil", went through legal hassle, and eventually became accepted culture.
Video games are "the devil", going through legal hassle, and becoming part of accepted culture.
The problem with the moralist lunatic fringe is that they have no discipline. If they wouldn't have owned a TV they would never have found out about newer evils like computer games and D&D. Do the Amish ever bother anyone? I don't think so.
Bermuda and Cayman Islands are number 3 and 4... hmm, I wonder why.
It's always interesting that on any measurement scale of performance multiple countries will claim the number one spot based on slightly different definitions of the thing measured.
income/capita, income/employee, income/working hour are the common types of productivity measures. The preferred one depends on % employment, number of working hours per employee, and prevalence of part time contracts. Income/employee for the Netherlands for instance, would suggest that we have shorter working hours than the French, which isn't the case. It is actually very high employment + many part time contracts that causes the lower average. The US, with high employment & long hours, obviously likes income/capita and dislikes income/working hour. The difference in GDP/capita between some countries in Western Europe and the US is so small compared to the difference in working hours, that there is little reason to work for the marginal rise in income. The time is worth more.
There is still something fundamentally wrong with the income side of the equation, however, as your example clearly shows. McDonald's employees in the US are not better workers than McDonald's employees in China because they earn much more. The relation between income and so-called 'productivity' presupposes Marxist distributive justice; that income and invested effort are systematically related. We all know that that is not the case.
It is not surprising that it takes only three days to install a land line. Service is good if phone use is a privilege of the filthy rich. Prices may be very low by international standards, but most Somalis are very, very poor. The number of phones is very low, the users are rich, and the employees of the phone company earn very little compared to the users. They can afford to appoint a guy who will work fulltime to install the land line immediately.
If the next government of Somalia is a socialist government, the exact same service by the same people will suddenly be very bad because everyone will have a right to a phone for an affordable price.
Have you seen the caption under the picture? It says "Somalis send e-mails in their own language". That is informative, isn't it?
In the Netherlands the US gets its way because they connect legal stuff to US Customs processing time of containers from Rotterdam, the biggest container port of the world. If we don't comply, they will have to take a few hours longer to allow containers in. The transport lobby in the Netherlands is very strong.
Even while it was an awfully managed country, economically, the Russians pulled out some impressive engenieering feats, specially in the field of aeronautics.
Do you think the US would fare better with a centrally planned economy?
The economic growth statistics of the Soviet Union are impressive by international standards. The Soviet Union "collapsed" with a much bigger economy than it started with. What really happened is more complicated than that. Soviet leadership lost confidence in the future and was no longer willing to turn on the people on behalf of the revolution.
That strategy is known as "arm yourself to death."
But seriously, the "strategy" of "arming your enemies to death" presupposes that the Soviets are nice and rational people who will choose surrender over Armageddon. I hear nobody suggest that we should arm Osama to death.
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder how many people use Firefox with the user agent extension, pretending to be an IE user to be able to use their banking software.
I have been using the nationwide 'Greenwheels' car sharing service in Amsterdam, the Netherlands before I had my own car. 6 cars in walking distance from my home, and cars at railway stations in all larger towns (>100,000 inhabitants). Check in with an electronic card by the windshield.
My wife used the competing 'Diks' service (Amsterdam only, but better cars).
It's a very good solution if the waiting list for a parking license for your own car is >4 yrs, and because you can take cars at railway stations you can avoid traffic jams.
Acually, speed does not kill - difference in speed kills.... ... when you are traveling in the same direction.
What about acceleration and deceleration? The human mind is built for tracking moving objects, but tracking objects that increase in speed towards you is not something evolution prepared us for. A stone that is thrown never accelerates towards us.
I am curious... will this "super superhigway" have fewer traffic jams or more traffic jams than traditional highways? Sure, there will be more lanes, but if some stupid driver decides to cut across 5 lines of traffic to try and make an exit and causes a 500 car pileup, how badly will traffic be affected?
A six lane superhighway can be separated in three two lane sections with different speed limits (left is faster) and concrete walls in between, and a limited number of places without walls where changing lanes between two sections is allowed. Only the rightmost section has exits. Of course you should get the death penalty if you run out of gas.
Example: On the A1 to Amsterdam in the Netherlands the leftmost lane is separated from the others with a low concrete wall on a very busy part of the road. It just goes to the Amsterdam beltway and you cannot take any of the other exits before that. There are also separate truck lanes in a number of places. It works well if the government is capable of removing cars very quickly. Crashes rarely occur on separated lanes.
Simple. Our ancestors already solved these problems long ago in their struggle against the mind-reading inquisition, but we forgot about it.
- Try to find panes of glass made in the 19th century with a blue shine. It contains cadmium pigment.
- Install leaded glass windows.
- Paint the house with paint containing lead.
- Use lead roof tiles.
Some or all of these things may be prohibited in your country because they "damage your health". Now you know the real reason.
In some 17th century houses in Amsterdam nothing will get through. Lead paint. Even the windows contain lead or cadmium, if they are really old.
I can imagine it is a solution for some middle-eastern governments. Sometimes you just want to block signals, going in or out. If I was worrying about the US attacking me, for instance, I would coat everything important with this stuff. On the inside, of course.
I am going to buy shares in metal detectors. Don't tell anyone.
Heck, most languages call other countries (and/or their native languages) by names that frequently have little relation to their native name. People in Byelorus even complain that germans call their country "white russia" instead of "byelorus", even though they call the German language "nyemetski" instead of "deutsch". So long as the information is passed, people need to quit pitching a fit about it. It's just the way language has developed.
True. In many cases a state has merely kept an old name that once applied to it. The sensitivities With Belgium/Netherlands/Holland, Dutch/Flemish/Netherlandic are a bit more complicated because there is some competition for names involved. Every country in this area of Europe carries a strange name, often invented by others.
Long ago in the time of the Frankish empire all continental germans spoke variants of the 'lingua theodisca', or Teutonic/Dutch/Diets/Duutsc/Deutch. Subvarieties of this language are for instance Franconian/low Franconian/low Saxon.
German traders visiting the English coast were called 'Dutch', and most of these traders obviously came from the north sea coast (speaking low Franconian or Saxon). This is were the principalities of Holland and Flanders were.
The North sea coast region as a whole was called 'the Netherlands', or 'Belgica' in Latin. In the 16th century the 17 Netherlands split in two states: The Royal Netherlands (Belgica Regia, including most of Flanders and Brabant) and the Federated Republic of the Netherlands (Belgica Foederata, including Holland).
Most traders from the Federated Republic that visited England were from Holland, the most powerful member state, and would have identified themselves as such. The name 'Holland' for the Republic stuck in English. Only people from Holland like it.
In Belgica Regia the civilized languages remained French and Latin, and it became 'Belgium'. Belgica Foederata became the 'Netherlands', evolving a standardized language 'Netherlandic' based on low Franconian. The names Belgium and the Netherlands thus originally refer to the same area.
The states east of the Netherlands formed the Norddeutschen Bund (the North German League), and later became 'Deutschland' (Germany). This country also standardized its language (Hochdeutsch, or High German). The nation was formed under the leadership of Prussia, which is itself not a part of the area called Dutch/Deutsch by the Franks.
From this point on the Dutch did not like being called Dutch anymore, because the Germans appropriated that word (with the implied threat of being inclusive of other 'german' nations). So 'Netherlandic' is better than 'Dutch' since the 19th century. 'Dutch' simply means 'German' to us (and some may return the favor by calling all Englishspeaking people 'Anglosaxons').
However most Dutchspeaking Belgians like 'Netherlandic' less, because it reminds them of their quarrelsome neighbor, the Netherlands. They would marginally prefer to speak 'Dutch', or even better: 'Flemish'.
The (unrecognized) language 'Flemish' does exist, and is spoken by tiny rural minorities along the coast in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The vast majority of Dutchspeaking Belgians very clearly speak (less standardized Brabantic dialects of) Dutch, however. Even if they want to call it Flemish.
Some small leftovers: the Frenchspeaking Belgians call themselves Walloons, and that derives from the Germanic/Dutch word Walah/Waal, meaning 'foreigner'. Just like the Welsh in England. The French themselves, and their language, have hardly any relationship with the Franks and the Francionian language other than the fact that Frank warlords ruled them for centuries.
could be from the fact that the portuguese were the first europeans to get to japan, and we call holland "holanda". Just a mild variation there.
Not just that. The Dutch traders who established a trading post in Japan were from the state of Holland. No trading companies from Zeeland or Friesland or other states in the Federated Netherlands ever went there. Zeeland mostly traded with the Americas, and Friesland with northern Europe.
Cities like Amsterdam and states like Holland could have independent diplomatic relations with foreign powers like Japan, and they could also make war independently - even on eachother. The new bureaucracy of the federation was tiny compared to the ancient state bureaucracy of Holland. Only in the 18th century people started identifying with the (plural) 'Netherlands' as a whole.
Of course even in the 16th and 17th century you would have seriously pissed of someone from Zeeland or Friesland by telling him he is from the Holland. It is like calling a Scotsman English.
Also being a non-hardcore gamer I don't have all the state of the art gaming equipment so I am already at a disadvantage such as in a 3d shoot them up because I just have a normal mouse and keyboard.
Nonsense. Some people play to win and that is ok. I am quite an accomplished player in some fps and I use nothing but mouse and keyboard (although I do own some fancy equipment that I never got used to). Practice more. How many hours did you train before going online? Do you know the tactical possiblities of the maps on the server before you connect?
If you don't want to play to win, play a game that doesn't keep scores.
Out of curiosity, what ARE most guns just for?
Most guns are just lying around, only to be used when the owner decides he has a valid reason to commit a crime.
But how many people buy multiple copies of a game they like?
I own two copies of two multiplayer games. The second copy is for my wife or guests who do not bring their own copy.
Unfortunately the lifespan of multiplayer games is becoming so short nowadays that games are no longer worth the money if you don't have a lot of time for playing.
The word "Dutch" comes from the old-Dutch word "diets" which means "of the people". It was originally used to refer to the language that was spoken on the streets by the commoners.
t s/ Deutsch all generally refer to the languages spoken by 'germanic' tribes that came into contact with the Roman empire. It enters (latin) written history as the "Lingua Theodisca" or "language of the people", as opposed to the civilized latin that was adopted by the germanic elite.
Teutonic/Teutsch/Diutisc/Dutch/Duutsc/Diets/Dui
The Dutch used to identify themselves as Diets or Duutsc (depending on dialect), but renamed their language to 'Nederlands' to stress the difference with Deutsch/Duits, the official language of Germany, when Germany came into existence.
Only a Pan-Germanic nationalist calls Dutch 'Diets'. That is the reason why most Dutch don't like being called 'Dutch': it means 'German' to them. The English word 'Dutch' also used to refer to Germans, and the 'Pennsylvania Dutch' for instance actually came from Germany.
actually in belgium they speak walonic and flemish, which are resp. french and dutch dialects...
Most Belgians speak either Dutch or French, and the corresponding official languages are Dutch and French. Most Dutch-speaking Flemish speak a Brabantish dialect, and many deny speaking Dutch even though Brabantish is actually less related to Flemish than dialects spoken in Holland.
Flemish is spoken by a small minority along the Belgian coast and in a tiny piece of northwestern France. People from Zeeland in the Netherlands speak a dialect of Flemish, but most people from Zeeland would never acknowledge this. Linguists generally recognize this minority language, but because the French, Belgian, and Dutch speakers of this language have never cooperatively tried to gain recognition by the EU it is not classified as a language in the EU.
And this is different from mainstream press in what way?
Two differences:
1. You can edit it if it is blatantly incorrect or biased. No such option with Fox, CNN, BBC etc.
2. WikiNews will attract editors with competing paranoid fantasies, while the closed nature of 'normal' news sources usually results in an editing community that shares the same paranoid fantasies and a readership that accepts their take on the news as objective truth.
In Florida they are bastards with the drivers test. Very very very very strict. If you barely scrape a curb and nick a cone, you fail.
Strict? You don't even control your vehicle. Any test that involves cones is irrelevant to driving. You are preparing for driving in a busy city, and that is what should be tested.
In the Netherlands the most feared reason for failing the test is 'lack of confidence'. You get that if you for instance hesitate while merging or switching lanes on the highway, look twice to the same place, or slow down for traffic from the left. The other one is 'not looking properly' if you seize up a situation in the wrong order - or the examinator didn't see you move your head properly.
Well the *American* driving *tests* have failed miserably but try the German tests on for size.
Depends on the state. Most American expat driver licenses are not directly exchangeable for a proper European one, but some are considered good enough with sufficient driving experience.
Show of hands how many people in the US have failed their driving test? It ain't many. Go to Germany and plenty of people have failed...some more than once.
Not really a good statistic. Even if it is easy, there will be people who do not prepare properly. The average US process is so easy and cheap that failing it is no big thing.
For the Netherlands in 2004: roughly 50% chance on theory and 45% on practical (and succesful theory remains valid for one year). Percentage for practical was never so high (used to be as low as 25%) as in 2004, because of a new instruction method with intermediate practical tests. Costs for preparation are some 50-60 euros p/lesson (depending on school) * average 40 lessons = 2000-2400 euros. This is so expensive you'd better be prepared (and also so expensive there is a good market for treating driving exam anxiety).
Experienced drivers from the US and other western countries with non-exchangeable license get one shot at a very easy practical.
Europeans have been taking jobs in the rest of the world for decades. It is a good way to start a career with a multinational company. Americans also take jobs in Europe (and some other America-friendly countries).
If you trade with Europe or America, it is good to employ some locals from those places. If you do business in India, you send over some people.
Have total numbers changed or is the migration flow simply moving to India from other places?
The redeeming quality of weed is that its users feel less capable of things like driving than they actually are. Drivers that are only mildly stoned are usually overly defensive in traffic and drive too slow.
The effect of alcohol is the opposite, and the effect of alcohol and weed combined is apparently even worse. No sane person combines alcohol with any other drug or psychoactive medicin anyway. Alcohol very seriously impairs judgment, while weed impairs performance.
High doses (> 300 ng/kg) of THC cause performance problems similar to those of 0.08 > BAC > 0.05 (common legal limits for blood alcohol of drivers). These doses are however higher than most regular recreational users prefer to use (in the Netherlands; not in combination with alcohol).
As someone from the netherlands all you say is a complete and utter lie.
Wtf is that supposed to mean?
Did you know that Dutch traffic is among the safest of the world (3rd)?
Have you ever used weed?
Regularly. Have you tried finding out what the right dose is for you? Have you used it while being sober?
Do you drive while tired or under the influence of painkillers? Do you use the phone while driving? Do you talk to passengers while driving?
You know, I keep seeing this.
Comic books were "the devil", went through legal hassle, and eventually became accepted culture.
TV shows were "the devil", went through legal hassle, and eventually became accepted culture.
Heavy metal was "the devil", went through legal hassle, and eventually became accepted culture.
Video games are "the devil", going through legal hassle, and becoming part of accepted culture.
The problem with the moralist lunatic fringe is that they have no discipline. If they wouldn't have owned a TV they would never have found out about newer evils like computer games and D&D. Do the Amish ever bother anyone? I don't think so.
Bermuda and Cayman Islands are number 3 and 4... hmm, I wonder why.
It's always interesting that on any measurement scale of performance multiple countries will claim the number one spot based on slightly different definitions of the thing measured.
income/capita, income/employee, income/working hour are the common types of productivity measures. The preferred one depends on % employment, number of working hours per employee, and prevalence of part time contracts. Income/employee for the Netherlands for instance, would suggest that we have shorter working hours than the French, which isn't the case. It is actually very high employment + many part time contracts that causes the lower average. The US, with high employment & long hours, obviously likes income/capita and dislikes income/working hour. The difference in GDP/capita between some countries in Western Europe and the US is so small compared to the difference in working hours, that there is little reason to work for the marginal rise in income. The time is worth more.
There is still something fundamentally wrong with the income side of the equation, however, as your example clearly shows. McDonald's employees in the US are not better workers than McDonald's employees in China because they earn much more. The relation between income and so-called 'productivity' presupposes Marxist distributive justice; that income and invested effort are systematically related. We all know that that is not the case.
It is not surprising that it takes only three days to install a land line. Service is good if phone use is a privilege of the filthy rich. Prices may be very low by international standards, but most Somalis are very, very poor. The number of phones is very low, the users are rich, and the employees of the phone company earn very little compared to the users. They can afford to appoint a guy who will work fulltime to install the land line immediately.
If the next government of Somalia is a socialist government, the exact same service by the same people will suddenly be very bad because everyone will have a right to a phone for an affordable price.
Have you seen the caption under the picture? It says "Somalis send e-mails in their own language". That is informative, isn't it?
In the Netherlands the US gets its way because they connect legal stuff to US Customs processing time of containers from Rotterdam, the biggest container port of the world. If we don't comply, they will have to take a few hours longer to allow containers in. The transport lobby in the Netherlands is very strong.
Even while it was an awfully managed country, economically, the Russians pulled out some impressive engenieering feats, specially in the field of aeronautics.
Do you think the US would fare better with a centrally planned economy?
The economic growth statistics of the Soviet Union are impressive by international standards. The Soviet Union "collapsed" with a much bigger economy than it started with. What really happened is more complicated than that. Soviet leadership lost confidence in the future and was no longer willing to turn on the people on behalf of the revolution.
So why are we still running?
That strategy is known as "arm yourself to death."
But seriously, the "strategy" of "arming your enemies to death" presupposes that the Soviets are nice and rational people who will choose surrender over Armageddon. I hear nobody suggest that we should arm Osama to death.