I was looking into moving to Tallinn as an expat. This just sealed the deal. Any Estonian hackers on here?
I've lived in Tallinn for most of my life.
Europe's hottest startup capitals
71–80 of 82 posts
Re: Europe's hottest startup capitals
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I made three posts in quick succession with regards to Israel, each time I kept it short and sweet and what I said was directly relevant to the posts I was responding to. #1. Two postings I responded where saying in effect that culturally Israel is similar to Europe, one of them was yours. I said that is true, except when it comes to its occupation. With regards to the occupation, its is related human rights issues,…
As far as human rights go, I think you've forgotten that Yugoslavia is part of Europe. There are also parallels with Northern Ireland. And as far as Israel's relations with the Arab countries, it has more to do with anti-Semitism. Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is no worse--and in many respects better--than that of Jordan and Egypt. EDIT: Before you think of responding to this and disagreeing with me, keep in…
You just detailed in your response why I am wrong and you are right and then you finish it off saying that if I do something similar but with opinions that differ from yours, I will be breaking the rules. It is really hard to know how to respond to a comment like that except to back away slowly.
Re: Europe's hottest startup capitals
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as human rights go, I think you've forgotten that Yugoslavia is part of Europe. There are also parallels with Northern Ireland. And as far as Israel's relations with the Arab countries, it has more to do with anti-Semitism. Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is no worse--and in many respects better--than that of Jordan and Egypt. EDIT: Before you think of responding to this and disagreeing with me, keep in…
You just detailed in your response why I am wrong and you are right and then you finish it off saying that if I do something similar but with opinions that differ from yours, I will be breaking the rules. It is really hard to know how to respond to a comment like that except to back away slowly.
Hm, that's not what I meant, but I can see why you read it that way. I'm sorry for being unclear. Hopefully I can clarify what I meant a little.
I don't think your claims about Israel are helpful for two reasons.
One is because neither of your claims are statements of fact. Your first claim was:
With regards to the occupation, its is related human rights issues, Israel is very unlike modern Europe.
First, it's a matter of opinion--and rather heated debate--that Israel is responsible for any human rights issues related to the Palestinians. Some would say that Israel is only doing what they need to in order to defend themselves. Secondly, modern Europe has faced several human rights issues of its own. There was considerable violence against civilians during the dissolution of Yugoslavia, as well as human rights issues in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Granting for the sake of argument that Israel has human rights issues, they're not unlike Europe in that respect.
Your second claim was:
Israel viewed very negatively by the majority of its neighbors in the Arab world primarily because of its treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories
This is speculative, and again there is another side to the story. Israel's Arab neighbors invaded or planned to invade Israel on two separate occasions before Israel even occupied the Palestinian territories. One of the reasons Israel even occupies those territories--which used to belong to Jordan and Egypt--is because Jordan and Egypt have refused to take the territories back.
So, the first reason your claims aren't helpful is because both of your claims are highly controversial claims, far from the "true observations" you claim them to be. The second reason your claims aren't helpful is because a lot of people (yourself included, by all appearances) have very strong emotions about the situation in Israel and the occupied territories, and bringing up these controversies only conjures up all kinds of strong emotions and threatens to start irrelevant, tangential arguments. It's bad form to start arguments about Israel in unrelated threads for the same reason it's bad form to compare people to the Nazis. Or, as the guidelines say,
Please avoid introducing classic flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say about them.
Re: Europe's hottest startup capitals
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
i moved from Tallinn last year :) many positive things can be said about this place, but having a snow (mostly dirty) for about 7..8 months a year, and seeing this mess made me move: http://public.fotki.com/dmitri_don/tallinn-2011/
Same as any city. New York for example is so much dirtier and uglier than Tallinn, would never imagine living there. As for snow, 7-8 months is exaggerating, if not pure lying :) It's true, that the weather is not African, then again it is really varied and one of the few places where we do have 4 really distinct seasons.
7-8 months is certainly exaggerating, but 5 months is still a pretty long time to have snow on the ground.
At least the snow is white for most of this time (rather than dirty/sooty brown/grey as in many other cities), and it's less windy and humid than I'm used to in the winter (so it doesn't feel as cold as the thermometer says).
Re: Europe's hottest startup capitals
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tänan! Any recommended local sites for gauging rent prices? What's the common website in Estonia for apartment rentals? (I did look in Google, but in my experience it's best to ask a local for the defacto leader in rentals)
http://city24.ee/ and http://www.kv.ee/
dittoing these sites.
If the grand-parent wants to be central, try Vanalinn (the old town), Kesklinn (city centre), and Kadriorg.
Also remember that many buildings don't have elevators.
Re: Europe's hottest startup capitals
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
i moved from Tallinn last year :) many positive things can be said about this place, but having a snow (mostly dirty) for about 7..8 months a year, and seeing this mess made me move: http://public.fotki.com/dmitri_don/tallinn-2011/
You're the first guy I read who addresses negative points of Tallinn, thanks! I knew about the snow, but not about the derelict state of some of the surroundings. However, isn't it normal for a reasonably large city to have vandalized parts like that? I'm sure you could find similar scenes in cities like Paris, Brussels or Berlin. If you have any other resources about Tallinn (biased or not ;-) ) I'd love to take a g…
The pictures aren't representative of Tallinn as a whole, certainly not the central parts, but it is probably fair to say that it is more run-down in parts than similar cities in wealthier countries. (Remember that Estonia isn't rich -- GDP per capita is one third that of Belgium, for example.) How much you see of this obviously depends on where you live and where you go.
Best single Tallinn resource is probably In Your Pocket: http://www.inyourpocket.com/estonia/tallinn
You can pick this up cheaply in the city, download the pdf from their site for free, or get their iPhone app (also free).
Also new and interesting-looking is http://www.likealocalguide.com/tallinn
There is no great definitive online expat forum.
Also: when looking up stuff online, learn to love Chrome's built-in translation functions, and remember that it (and Google Translate) unfortunately does a better job with Russian than it does Estonian.
Re: Europe's hottest startup capitals
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Awesome that you're on here! Garage48 was already on top of my "Tallin To Do" list for once I'm there :) I'll probably see you around then.
Great, feel free to contact us if you need any help or want to meet up with local tech people. Visiting our hub office is always fun as well.
Cool, will do, thanks!
Re: Europe's hottest startup capitals
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://city24.ee/ and http://www.kv.ee/
dittoing these sites. If the grand-parent wants to be central, try Vanalinn (the old town), Kesklinn (city centre), and Kadriorg. Also remember that many buildings don't have elevators.
Thanks!
Actually that's a very good question that I need to add to my list ("what's considered city center?").
Re: Europe's hottest startup capitals
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
You just detailed in your response why I am wrong and you are right and then you finish it off saying that if I do something similar but with opinions that differ from yours, I will be breaking the rules. It is really hard to know how to respond to a comment like that except to back away slowly.
Hm, that's not what I meant, but I can see why you read it that way. I'm sorry for being unclear. Hopefully I can clarify what I meant a little. I don't think your claims about Israel are helpful for two reasons. One is because neither of your claims are statements of fact. Your first claim was: With regards to the occupation, its is related human rights issues, Israel is very unlike modern Europe. First, it's a matt…
Just to be clear, I'm purposely not responding to the content of your message.
Re: Europe's hottest startup capitals
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're the first guy I read who addresses negative points of Tallinn, thanks! I knew about the snow, but not about the derelict state of some of the surroundings. However, isn't it normal for a reasonably large city to have vandalized parts like that? I'm sure you could find similar scenes in cities like Paris, Brussels or Berlin. If you have any other resources about Tallinn (biased or not ;-) ) I'd love to take a g…
The pictures aren't representative of Tallinn as a whole, certainly not the central parts, but it is probably fair to say that it is more run-down in parts than similar cities in wealthier countries. (Remember that Estonia isn't rich -- GDP per capita is one third that of Belgium, for example.) How much you see of this obviously depends on where you live and where you go. Best single Tallinn resource is probably In Y…
Awesome, thanks!