New Belgium is pretty yummy. I approve.

I have visited Belgium and picnic'd near a wood fenced idyliic pasture, filled with the Belgian steroid cows. I was attacked but managed to capture a momentary photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/internationalmaskfestival/959897401/

I studied to become a teacher once, and I do not agree with the conclusions of this video.

Choice in schools is not solving the problem, there will still be areas with bad schools only and therefore children not learning; choice in schools is centralising, not creating equal education for everyone. It works for a small country like Belgium, but not for a country which is spread as thin as the US.
What I've learned from personal experience when studying English and geography and pedagogy to become a teacher, and studying other countries' educational concepts, is a combination of: long and good education for the teachers, in pedagogy, classroom-management, and their subjects; alongside good pay and a long probation-period (2 years +) under elder teachers and federal performance-evaluators.

Plus, there's cultural factors: As we all know from GOP-debates, there is a strong anti-science bias in large areas of USAmerica. And due to the melting-pot/salad-bowl mix of American citizens, there's, brashly put, this.

If you wanted to know, you'd have found it on Google in less time than it takes to stick your foot in it even further on the Sift. You're too lazy to talk to. I'm done.>> ^robbersdog49:

>> ^messenger:
Nope. You're a lazy idiot. You've been told by people who know better, and you can't even be bothered to Google it or check Wikipedia. Or maybe you think facts just obscure things.>> ^robbersdog49:
Last time I looked the UK is in Europe and I can tell you right now the period isn't the thousands separator. Where the hell are you getting this info from? I've never seen a comma used as a decimal point, not in France, Spain, Germany or Belgium (the other european countries I have actually been to). You are wrong.
I'd love to know how you're 'checking' your facts before compounding an error.


Huh?
Which bit of this don't you understand? Fact is that numerical notation is the same here in Europe (I'd write one million, two hundred and eighty two thousand three hundred and forty five pounds and sixty eight pence as £1,282,345.68). Show me how you're checking your facts and I'll show you where you're going wrong.

>> ^messenger:

Nope. You're a lazy idiot. You've been told by people who know better, and you can't even be bothered to Google it or check Wikipedia. Or maybe you think facts just obscure things.>> ^robbersdog49:
Last time I looked the UK is in Europe and I can tell you right now the period isn't the thousands separator. Where the hell are you getting this info from? I've never seen a comma used as a decimal point, not in France, Spain, Germany or Belgium (the other european countries I have actually been to). You are wrong.
I'd love to know how you're 'checking' your facts before compounding an error.



Huh?

Which bit of this don't you understand? Fact is that numerical notation is the same here in Europe (I'd write one million, two hundred and eighty two thousand three hundred and forty five pounds and sixty eight pence as £1,282,345.68). Show me how you're checking your facts and I'll show you where you're going wrong.

ETA: It seems where you're going wrong is you don't seem to know that the UK is in Europe. Well it is. I'm willing to accept that other european countries may work differently, although I've never noticed it when I've travelled in europe.

Nope. You're a lazy idiot. You've been told by people who know better, and you can't even be bothered to Google it or check Wikipedia. Or maybe you think facts just obscure things.>> ^robbersdog49:
Last time I looked the UK is in Europe and I can tell you right now the period isn't the thousands separator. Where the hell are you getting this info from? I've never seen a comma used as a decimal point, not in France, Spain, Germany or Belgium (the other european countries I have actually been to). You are wrong.
I'd love to know how you're 'checking' your facts before compounding an error.

>> ^messenger:

In Europe, the period is the thousands separator, and the comma is the decimal separator. Stop yourself and check it before you compound your public error.>> ^robbersdog49:
>> ^oritteropo:
In Europe the . is the thousands separator and the , is the decimal separator. That comment was posted by a European.
>> ^ForgedReality:
>> ^solecist:
>> ^luxury_pie:
Roughly 150 out of 375.000 of those with income over $1.000.000 have registered...
seems legit.

375 point 000? numbers, how do they work?

one point zero zero zero point zero zero zero


WTF? Nope.
The decimal point is a decimal point everywhere.



Last time I looked the UK is in Europe and I can tell you right now the period isn't the thousands separator. Where the hell are you getting this info from? I've never seen a comma used as a decimal point, not in France, Spain, Germany or Belgium (the other european countries I have actually been to). You are wrong.

I'd love to know how you're 'checking' your facts before compounding an error.

@dystopianfuturetoday

1. "well, if everyone works hard enough, can everyone be rich?" Of course not. It's a pie in the sky.

One of the biggest differences between careerists and collectivists is that careerists view society as a multi-sum game rather than a zero-sum game. (In a multi-sum game, the more one person contributes, the more he and everyone else benefits. In a zero-sum game, if one person gains, another must lose, and the balance is always zero.) Steve Jobs revolutionizing technology 5 times didn't make everyone else poorer, it made them even more lucky than they already are.

Liberalism is created by a genetic 'yuck factor' against hierarchy, so liberals feel that we can only be happy if we're well-off relative to our neighbors, rather than well-off in more absolute terms --that is, relative to the 99.99% of humankind throughout human history that were poorer than us.



2. In places with stronger social democracies like Belgium, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, the UK (among others) you see happier, healthier people and far less suffering, poverty and unemployment.

Those places are wealthy because they're filled with white people and they inherited infrastructure from previous generations. They could run just about any government policies and they'd still have high academic test scores. Use the same measurement on the US (only count white people (or count Asian Americans also)) and the US performs even better than Europe on just about all metrics (crime rates, academic test scores, health and medicine, etc.)



3. "Still, these people are generally anti science"

As soon as liberals stop opposing the human sciences, they can criticize others for being anti-science. I left academia to become a capitalist because I realized liberals were always going to prioritize tribalism over science, so the professional pursuit of knowledge was useless unless it's for the purposes of making money. Indeed, they view it as bad faith to even bring up the human sciences, despite their importance to human knowledge.



4. "@chilaxe I challenge you to be more critical with your politics; to question what you've been taught, who taught it to you, and what these people stand to gain from your support?"

I accepted your challenge years ago and became critical of my liberal upbringing. My entire family's liberal, and 95% of the people I've ever met are liberal. (I grew up in northern Califiornia.) I began to question what I'd been taught by my teachers and professors, 100% of whom were liberal.

The problem with market libertarianism is that it is "liberty" only from a wealthy person's perspective. Unregulated markets do nothing to guard against chattel or wage slavery, labor abuse, environmental destruction, violence or other kinds of exploitation. The libertarian defense to this is usually 'if you work hard enough, you too can be rich', but this argument quickly falls apart when you ask yourself "well, if everyone works hard enough, can everyone be rich?" Of course not. It's a pie in the sky. The other defense is that 'the magic hand will make everything right', which, to me, is indistinguishable from religious faith.

Market libertarianism is the best attempt yet at a moral justification for plutocracy. This is why you see plutocrats like the Koch brothers and the Scaife Foundation spending so much money promoting libertarianism. Though these are generally dishonest people, I don't think they are dishonest in their support of market libertarianism, I think they are true believers every bit as much as you or blankfist.

However, if you look at places like Chad and Somalia that have free market principals in place (small governments, little regulation and low taxes), the quality of life is very low.

In places with stronger social democracies like Belgium, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, the UK (among others) you see happier, healthier people and far less suffering, poverty and unemployment.

If you looked a little deeper past the ego stroking rhetoric about 'individualism' and 'meritocracy' you will see there is no substance to market libertarianism. It's a racket used to sucker citizens into freely giving away democratic power.

I agree that right-libertarians are the most intellectual (and arguably the most pure) type of conservative. Still, these people are generally anti science and anti academia, so (IMO) I don't think they've earned the right to justify that title just yet.

@chilaxe I challenge you to be more critical with your politics; to question what you've been taught, who taught it to you, and what these people stand to gain from your support?

Music festivals are pretty much the thing here in Belgium.

I don't know what I'm going to do when I move back to America. Right now I live in the land of trappists (Belgium) where the best beers costs about $.90 per bottle in the grocery store. I love Westmalle, though I can never decide between the dubble or the triple.

In reply to this comment by Skeeve:
Haha, some other Trappist drinkers eh? I'm a big fan of the Westmalle Tripel myself. Though, considering its cost over here, I'm more likely to be drinking the Rutting Elk Red from the Grizzly Paw Brewery in Canmore, AB.

His name is Athene, self pro-claimed Best Paladin in the world. He is either Dutch or Belgium.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AtheneWins

Pretty funny guy, if you don't take what he says seriously.

>> ^quantumushroom:

He's referring to "manmade" global warming, which is socialist BS theory.


FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

Also: "Global warming is the current rise in the average temperature of Earth's oceans and atmosphere and its projected continuation. The scientific consensus is that global warming is occurring and was initiated by human activities, especially those that increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as deforestation and burning of fossil fuels.[2][3] This finding is recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized countries and is not rejected by any scientific body of national or international standing."

The 2001 joint statement was signed by the national academies of science of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Caribbean, the People's Republic of China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sweden, and the UK. The 2005 statement added Japan, Russia, and the U.S. The 2007 statement added Mexico and South Africa. The Network of African Science Academies, and the Polish Academy of Sciences have issued separate statements. Professional scientific societies include American Astronomical Society, American Chemical Society, American Geophysical Union, American Institute of Physics, American Meteorological Society, American Physical Society, American Quaternary Association, Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, European Academy of Sciences and Arts, European Geosciences Union, European Science Foundation, Geological Society of America, Geological Society of Australia, Geological Society of London-Stratigraphy Commission, InterAcademy Council, International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, International Union for Quaternary Research, National Association of Geoscience Teachers, National Research Council (US), Royal Meteorological Society, and World Meteorological Organization.

Not only does the political system of common ownership of all means of production not have anything to do with global warming whatsoever; but it is internationally recognised as man-made or at least strongly man-enhanced. I know that talking to ideologues like you doesn't do anything, because ideologies are just like secularised religions, but if i don't vent my frustration, I'd only carry it around.

^Westy

As an American expat living in Europe, I can testify the truth is quite the opposite of what you claim. In America, something is considered permissible unless it is strictly forbidden. In Europe, something is considered forbidden unless it is strictly allowed.

Switzerland may be a lot cleaner, but it's a police state way worse than America. You can't work how you want in France. Spain had a dictator until the 70's. Belgium's electoral system is so messed up we've passed the 300 day mark without a government. The UK? Germany? Sweden?

>> ^dag:

Maybe. But then if your German parents settle permanently in Mexico you would be Mexican - but of German heritage. Ethnicity, race and national identity = very confusing and complex.
Is "Japanese" a race? There are indigenous Ainu people who got there before the main contingent of the Japanese population and Koreans who have lived in Japan for generations.
>> ^Opus_Moderandi:
>> ^dag:
But your parents could have moved from Germany and birthed you in Mexico. Are you not then Mexican - at least by nationality? Am I not American if I'm born in the USA - regardless of my ethnicity?
>> ^rottenseed:
>> ^dag:
I may be insensitive - but I don't see how this is racism. If he referred to Norway or Belgium would we be having this discussion? "Mexican" is a nationaity - he may be being insensitive to their national culture, but this is not racism IMO.

Mexican is a race. It's a mixture of the indigenous native north/central Americans and Spanish, however not all Mexican's carry the Spanish blood. To be more general, Mexicans are Native Americans. This joke aimed at Mexicans is the same as saying native Americans are all drunks.
...that being said, Mexicans aren't as bad as blacks at dog ownership, and at least they don't eat dog like the Koreans.


I think it depends on your parents permanent home address. If you happen to be born while your parents are vacationing in Mexico, you are whatever nationality your parents are. Right?



Agreed, it is confusing. Although, I don't consider "Japanese" a "race". They would be Asian (as would Korean or Chinese people). Being Japanese just means someone from the island of Japan. I'm sure there are plenty of Caucasian people from Japan. I think that "race" consists of specific physical features or heritage instead of actual locality. Look at South Africans, most of whom are Caucasian with English (or European) heritage, if I'm not mistaken.

Therefore, @rottenseed : I believe Mexican is a nationality, not a race. The race would be Spanish.

I think if everyone just stays where they are we could get this all worked out in a few generations.