Earlier quoted context omitted.
Europe in general is quite gloomy
Have you been to the Pacific Northwest?
Still sunnier than most of Europe https://imgur.io/o2Xqv
The most livable cities
291–300 of 300 posts
Re: The most livable cities
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
German is both nationality and ethnicity. There are ethnic Germans outside of Germany. For example, Germans in Kazakhstan, they report their ethnicity as "German", despite being Kazakh citizens.
Not in Germany. The legal system here knows only about nationality, and that’s either German or foreign. And saying “Deutsch” / “German” has a prevalent meaning of a German National, eg a holder of German citizenship. And people of German origin in Kazakhstan or other post Soviet states are referred as Russlandsdeutsche, or German Russians, not Germans. Only far right groups insist on blood theory and ethnicity as a…
In daily life maybe, but doesn't mean that German ethnicity doesn't exist, see Law of Return, where the state quite explicitly judges on who is German or not, based on ethnicity.
I know a few Germans whose ancestors were from Volga and who lived in Kazakhstan, they were able to claim German citizenship by the virtue of the state considering them of German ethnic descent (they never had German citizenship before).
I am from Kazakhstan, and the Germans who live there are pretty much Russians, yet the German state still would allow them to "return" by the virtue of their ethnicity.
Re: The most livable cities
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
The whole idea of "liveability index" is strange to me. Different people have different needs to live and different places have different cultures. This is biased towards the European and generally western style of living which although might be preferable to most people does not mean it's preferable to all. In addition to there being probably hundreds of variables that are subconscious and/or can't be accounted for…
Different standards, too. I've become used to US/Canada restaurant standards for food when I go out to eat. Everytime I leave the country I'm thoroughly impressed by the quality and taste. Still, I'll be somewhere like Osaka and read reviews online. Locals will rate a place 3 stars and stay they could make it at home, it's nothing special. Place that outclass 90% of US restaurants averaging 3.5 stars, while at home t…
Even something as simple as "I hate hearing french" automatically disqualifies all of France and some other places.
Re: The most livable cities
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I was really surprised by how nice the beaches are in Auckland when I first travelled up there. I had thought, given how many people live around them and use them, that the beaches would be crowded, or ruined with litter, but nothing of the sort. And the water is so much warmer than our South Island beaches.
Some of the central beaches are sometimes crowded, but many beaches are just empty. Went for a swim today and water was fresh (16 degrees) but refreshing ! Where are you based ?
Otautahi-ish
Re: The most livable cities
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Mass shootings are rare Yeah, but... Typical (Median) Annual Death Rate per Million People from Mass Public Shootings (U.S., Canada, and Europe, 2009-2015) United States — 0.058 Albania — 0 Austria — 0 Belgium — 0 Czech Republic — 0 Finland — 0 France — 0 Germany — 0 Italy — 0 Macedonia — 0 Netherlands — 0 Norway — 0 Russia — 0 Serbia — 0 Slovakia — 0 Switzerland — 0 United Kingdom — 0 Using the median analysis, th…
Using the median surely goes too far the other way though, discounting the fact that the US is far larger than any of those countries except Russia. Of course the US is less likely to have shooting-free years, it's far bigger. Other ways to display this data would be: - group Europe into 1 - split the US into states - display error bars - take 95% lower bound assuming a normal distribution https://www.evanmiller.org/…
> https://www.evanmiller.org/how-not-to-sort-by-average-rating...
phat = 1.0*pos/nRe: The most livable cities
#296Re: The most livable cities
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whether or not a city is "walkable," is not necessarily an improvement upon livability. In areas of Chicago and Baltimore, for example, the streets are "walkable," however the frequent violent & property crimes that take place in these areas make a casual stroll down the block an unsafe proposition. I grew up in Harlem during the time it was emerging out of the 1980s crack epidemic. As a child, the streets were easy…
Walkability and crime go hand in hand. If crime is high on a street, people will not want to walk on that street. Because of this, shops will close, and any reasonable walkability score will drastically go down. You cannot have high walkability and high crime. They are intrinsically linked. If your goal is reducing crime, increasing walkability is an excellent way of achieving that. The more walkable areas are, the m…
Go look up the walkability score for any crime-heavy Brooklyn neighborhood [0] and you will see quite plainly that you are wrong. You are a lot more likely to be sucker-punched by a homeless psychopath on that block than you are to have any issues with walking.
Clearly, there is no linkage between walkability scores and crime.
[0] https://www.walkscore.com/score/1405-pacific-st-brooklyn-ny-...
Re: The most livable cities
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whether or not a city is "walkable," is not necessarily an improvement upon livability. In areas of Chicago and Baltimore, for example, the streets are "walkable," however the frequent violent & property crimes that take place in these areas make a casual stroll down the block an unsafe proposition. I grew up in Harlem during the time it was emerging out of the 1980s crack epidemic. As a child, the streets were easy…
The problem in your example is crime, not walkability.
Yes, let's just pretend these things are not intrinsically linked by the hip. I suppose it's helpful to know how easy it is to run away from your assailant isn't it? In a less walkable neighborhood that attacker might be able to get more than just a few punches on you.
Re: The most livable cities
#299Re: The most livable cities
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've spent $50k out of pocket so far this year on medical expenses that weren't covered by insurance. That doesn't even include other copay expenses. Had to cash out some 401ks early. Also, 44,000 Americans die every year due to lack of access to healthcare. I would gladly wait for over a year in a heartbeat for a cheaper and more fair system.
He is comparing Canada's healthcare to other developed countries healthcare systems, not the infamously dysfunctional US one.
Ah, that makes more sense. I couldn't imagine anyone envying much about our system.