>> ^TheFreak:

During the time I lived in Sweden the police never failed to impress me.
You get so accustomed to police in the U.S. who view every civilian as the enemy, then you encounter Swedish police who seem truely concerned with helping the public. It's culture shock to say the least.


The Freak, police used to be that way in the US too. Until the war on drugs hell the war on everything. I can't remember a time when cops in the states gave a shit about rights.

During the time I lived in Sweden the police never failed to impress me.

You get so accustomed to police in the U.S. who view every civilian as the enemy, then you encounter Swedish police who seem truely concerned with helping the public. It's culture shock to say the least.

No all I know of our friends to the North is Montréal. I'm looking forward to seeing the country off the port side for a couple of weeks. I'm fascinated by the further reaches of the continents. Probably picked some of that fascination up from you.

In reply to this comment by JesseoftheNorth:
I'm battling a nasty cold at the moment, but otherwise I'm doing great. I head back to the great white north in April which is fast approaching! I'm definitely going to miss Denmark, but I know I'll be back eventually. I'm already bracing myself for the inevitable culture shock I'm going to go through when I return.

Nova Scotia, huh? Sounds like it'll be a great trip. You been before? The maritimes are beautiful in the summer. I went to Lunenburg a few years back and had a fantastic time. Halifax is a great city too - had lots of fun there.

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
Good, good! And yourself? When are you coming back to North America, Jesse? I'm sailing from Connecticut up to Nova Scotia in June, I can't wait.

In reply to this comment by JesseoftheNorth:
Glad to hear it. It is a cinematic gem. How ya been, Schmawy, my man?

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
101 Reykjavik, great flick. Watched it last night.

I'm battling a nasty cold at the moment, but otherwise I'm doing great. I head back to the great white north in April which is fast approaching! I'm definitely going to miss Denmark, but I know I'll be back eventually. I'm already bracing myself for the inevitable culture shock I'm going to go through when I return.

Nova Scotia, huh? Sounds like it'll be a great trip. You been before? The maritimes are beautiful in the summer. I went to Lunenburg a few years back and had a fantastic time. Halifax is a great city too - had lots of fun there.

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
Good, good! And yourself? When are you coming back to North America, Jesse? I'm sailing from Connecticut up to Nova Scotia in June, I can't wait.

In reply to this comment by JesseoftheNorth:
Glad to hear it. It is a cinematic gem. How ya been, Schmawy, my man?

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
101 Reykjavik, great flick. Watched it last night.

Nah, it's really a culture shock issue. It's the sudden shift from juvenile college to a diverse professional environment. It's a shift from "yeah, let's make fun of everyone who thinks differently than we do," to an environment of mutual and almost universal respect, and to a realization that the thought that there is a "we" (as in "we normal people") group at all is a relatively shallow and poorly reasoned concept. People think "wtf?" because such mockery can be considered ignorance, if not bigotry here especially due to the ethnic origins of many of the belief systems. The same goes for lifestyles such as customs, traditions, and such things as sexual preference. Even "young earthers" are given their fair shake in a discussion if they have something to back it up or some perspective to give that is at least interesting if anything. It's not really being "PC" so much as it is being friendly and respectful. It's a very pleasant place to work in that respect.

You are taking it out of context. He was referring the to legend of the Gordian Knot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_Knot

This is just a case of culture shock...I am sure the Greeks found it pretty insulting as it is meant as a phase to associated to great cunning and not that of power and might. Alexander the Great was a student of Aristotle remember, he wasn't just a warrior, he was multidimensional.

This is no doubt just as large a diplomatic insult as he did to England when he sent back the statue they gave him. His diplomatic abilities seemed to be poor at best. If you don't give him a teleprompter he's clueless.

Good video though, thanks blank

I've seen real reggaeton dances introduced by my friends from work ... Goddamn, coming from conservative Asian family with very stoic values, it was a very big shock.

It's basically mimicing sexual intercourse with your pants on, and swinging your hips to the rhythm.

My friend's girlfriend did something called 'the spider'? which involved her doing an upside down flip, get the guy against the wall and have their pelvic areas rub against each other.

...Yeah, culture shock.

>> ^siftbot:
Invocations (promote) cannot be called by poolcleaner because poolcleaner is not privileged - sorry.


Sometimes I hate you, Siftbot.

*grumbles his way back to the VS FAQ*

Good idea. We've got a little spray bottle that will just suit. We got them from the same shop on the same day, so maybe they were already enemies there.. Also, I noticed they get really discoloured fur on their back towards the tail. I'm not sure if it's from laying in pee, or if they lick it a lot. It's on both of them and I haven't noticed them licking much. Weird!

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
Did you get them both at the same time? If so then I probably wouldn't expect this. If not, then it's possible the one you had first feels like her territory has been invaded by the newbie, hence the aggression. Females are normally much less aggressive than males, but it's not unheard of for this to happen. I had the same problem with my mice.

One possible solution: Fill a spray bottle with water, and whenever you see them fight blast them both. If you can watch them both closely for a while and consistently perform this action the greater the chance of success. It's completely humane too. Good luck, and keep me posted.

In reply to this comment by persephone:
Our rats are both girls, but they fight like crazy. Do you know if this is normal?
In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
My son showed me this video a while back after he had downloaded it onto his PSP. He has a couple of pet rats, so he's kind of into them. Let me say this much about owning a rat:

They're good pets. They're smart and friendly, and of all the rodents you can possibly own (i.e., mice, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc.), they are the LEAST likely to bite you. We've owned three rats, and none of them have ever bitten us. Trust me; I've owned most of the aforementioned rodents, and rats are the best. The first rat we had, Jasmine, was so cool. She knew her name and would come when you called her, and she would lick your hands and feet if you let her. She had her own little rituals when we let her out of her cage to play, including begging for peanuts and nibbling on an old blanket in my son's bedroom. When a second rat we owned had babies, Jasmine helped watch them while the momma took a much needed sleep break. Jasmine died almost a year ago, and we still miss her. She was a good girl.

So don't be bagging on rats, y'all. They're just trying to get by like the rest of us, and they ain't so bad if you give them a chance.

Did you get them both at the same time? If so then I probably wouldn't expect this. If not, then it's possible the one you had first feels like her territory has been invaded by the newbie, hence the aggression. Females are normally much less aggressive than males, but it's not unheard of for this to happen. I had the same problem with my mice.

One possible solution: Fill a spray bottle with water, and whenever you see them fight blast them both. If you can watch them both closely for a while and consistently perform this action the greater the chance of success. It's completely humane too. Good luck, and keep me posted.

In reply to this comment by persephone:
Our rats are both girls, but they fight like crazy. Do you know if this is normal?
In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
My son showed me this video a while back after he had downloaded it onto his PSP. He has a couple of pet rats, so he's kind of into them. Let me say this much about owning a rat:

They're good pets. They're smart and friendly, and of all the rodents you can possibly own (i.e., mice, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc.), they are the LEAST likely to bite you. We've owned three rats, and none of them have ever bitten us. Trust me; I've owned most of the aforementioned rodents, and rats are the best. The first rat we had, Jasmine, was so cool. She knew her name and would come when you called her, and she would lick your hands and feet if you let her. She had her own little rituals when we let her out of her cage to play, including begging for peanuts and nibbling on an old blanket in my son's bedroom. When a second rat we owned had babies, Jasmine helped watch them while the momma took a much needed sleep break. Jasmine died almost a year ago, and we still miss her. She was a good girl.

So don't be bagging on rats, y'all. They're just trying to get by like the rest of us, and they ain't so bad if you give them a chance.

Our rats are both girls, but they fight like crazy. Do you know if this is normal?
In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
My son showed me this video a while back after he had downloaded it onto his PSP. He has a couple of pet rats, so he's kind of into them. Let me say this much about owning a rat:

They're good pets. They're smart and friendly, and of all the rodents you can possibly own (i.e., mice, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc.), they are the LEAST likely to bite you. We've owned three rats, and none of them have ever bitten us. Trust me; I've owned most of the aforementioned rodents, and rats are the best. The first rat we had, Jasmine, was so cool. She knew her name and would come when you called her, and she would lick your hands and feet if you let her. She had her own little rituals when we let her out of her cage to play, including begging for peanuts and nibbling on an old blanket in my son's bedroom. When a second rat we owned had babies, Jasmine helped watch them while the momma took a much needed sleep break. Jasmine died almost a year ago, and we still miss her. She was a good girl.

So don't be bagging on rats, y'all. They're just trying to get by like the rest of us, and they ain't so bad if you give them a chance.

That's pretty wild. I've got to Google that Blondeau chap. I didn't think he'd have a chance in hell.

Kind of culture shock to watch east Asian television shows. I've only seen glimpses of a few, but I noticed that they have the tendency of physically punishing the participants and the audience members who made the wrong choice.