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Iceland's Water Cure

nytimes.com

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Re: Iceland's Water Cure

#31

Post by pdabbadabba »

turaw wrote: post #30
pdabbadabba wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 for the information, but I don't think all the "Augh"s are warranted. One of the widely accepted, dictionary definitions of "cement" is simply "concrete." (In fact, Merriam Webster has this listed as definition #1.) I understand that the terms have different technical meanings, but in common English they are simply synonyms. E.g., http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cement There may be an opportunity for a B…

Fair enough :/ it just feels like 'misusing' words is disrespectful to their source, as though a lack of effort was taken to use it 'properly' (air quotes since those are highly subjective terms). In a detached sense, I suppose seeing semantic change [1] in action is neat, but it is still just the tiniest bit depressing. edit: Ah! Also cool is dental cement [2] which is, as the name would imply, used in dentistry (bu…

Totally agree. Even if "concrete" and "cement" can "properly" be used interchangeably, I myself prefer to use words in a way that recognizes these sorts of distinctions. It keeps language more information rich and historically connected. (And keeps me from being looked down upon by well-educated people who, like myself, incline towards language snobbery :))

Re: Iceland's Water Cure

#35

Post by yason »

A very interesting article. It made me look up some facts, actually. In Finland, there are 218 public swimming halls. There are 313 administrative districts (communes, towns or cities) in the country. Thus, practically even the smallest of the communes with population of only a few thousand have a swimming hall; big cities have several. Lacking geothermal heat, the pools are indoors and explicitly heated obviously.

This isn't generally talked about much. I didn't realize it myself before reading this article: Finland probably isn't famous for its swimming and swimming hall culture, but it's everywhere. Except for people who don't specifically like water practically grow into a culture of swimming at halls. Nobody really thinks much about it. Everyone knows how to behave there. Old people gather at swimming halls for bathing, swimming and aquajogging. Physical education classes at school swim at the local hall, kids are brought to swimming halls in the first year, regular people go to swimming halls to exercise... There's nothing much special about it. We swim outdoors, in lakes and the sea, mostly for fun but swimming halls are the place for a more focused physical exercise. I would assume Sweden and Denmark are similar, roughly.

I've had subpar experiences trying to find an abundance of swimming options when travelling abroad. My culture might not be that common after all.

Re: Iceland's Water Cure

#36

Post by viraptor »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #21
viraptor wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iceland gets next to no sun November-February, leading people to depression, drinking, etc. It would likely affect you much more than the winter you know from other countries. If anything, the social aspect of going to a hot pool in the winter is likely to keep people from committing more suicides.

If that was true, Iceland's neighbors Norway and Sweden would have similar rates, but they're actually significantly lower and closer to countries like the USA. Iceland also has the highest percentage of people on anti-depressants in Europe. Nearly twice the rate of the EU average to be exact! I think a lot of these "Isn't Iceland wonderful" articles are poorly sourced pop-science junk designed to get ad impressions.…

> If that was true, Iceland's neighbors Norway and Sweden would have similar rates

Keep in mind that their borders stretch much further south. Also the population distribution is biased towards the south.

Sure, saying that national happiness comes from pools is silly. But it doesn't change that their pools are amazing in many ways. After living in northern IS for a while, that's one thing I really miss.

Re: Iceland's Water Cure

#38

Post by wtbob »

ajmurmann wrote: post #24
vezycash wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>second largest city (population 18,000) Could a SMALL population increase bonding / a sense of belonging amongst countrymen thereby creating happiness?

I would definitely agree with that. In the US large parts of the country seem fairly alienated from each other. Not only do they seem to not be able to relate to each other but often times actively vilify. I have only lived at the West coast which largely seems at odds which some other parts of the country. Parts of the South come to mind immediately. The circumstances people live I seem so very different and thus ar…

> I have only lived at the West coast which largely seems at odds which some other parts of the country. Parts of the South come to mind immediately. The circumstances people live I seem so very different and thus are their needs and concerns. I rarely meet people who have social bonds to the South who fondly talk about them. I fact that might have never happened.

I think that might be an artifact of living on the West coast: the Southerners you meet are likely to be those who hated the South, hated their neighbours, hated their families — and moved as far away as they could. Believe it or not, a lot of folks love the South: good, decent, kind people who take an interest in one another (of course, if one is neither good nor decent nor kind, that wouldn't be appreciated, and if one is private then one might find them nosy).

Everyone's different.

Re: Iceland's Water Cure

#39

Post by simonebrunozzi »

gardarh wrote: post #5

I'm an Icelander and I quite like this article, it is one of the better written pieces I have seen on a cultural phenomenon I relate with - and it is no exaggeration, swimming pools are quite central to our culture. I have two young kids and I take them to an outdoors swimming pool nearly every week, also in the wintertime. Since I live in the capital area we have a few swimming pools to choose from and we rotate bet…

I love Iceland. I visited only once, but I might go back again in July. It would be great to connect to some HN Icelanders that live there, like you, and meet when/if I visit again. My details are in my HN profile, and/or you can simply google me to find ways to contact me, if you'd like to.
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