>> ^Payback:

>> ^Deadrisenmortal:
buh, buh, buh... I wanna go NEXT!
Wow! So many questions...
How long is it distance-wise?
How fast did it get going?
What is it there for?
Why were there no other cars on the track?
How do the cars get back up to the top?

Without knowing a thing about it...
-It's got to be a good 3-4 km.
-Didn't look faster than 50km/h (30mph)
-Making money or having fun, depending on what side of the cash you're on.
-No other cars for the same reason there's only ever 1 car on any roller coaster. Collisions.
-I'd think you slide it off at the bottom and head back up the tram with it under your arm. Repeatedly.


Don't you guys don't know Sommerrodelbahnen? :-)

They are very popular in Alps' tourist regions (i.e. Austria, Switzerland and southern parts of Germany). I'd go so far and say every ski area has at least one of them. They serve a single purpose: entertain tourists in summer months.

Nearly every time there's other cars on the track. That's why its not so easy to go down without braking. most of the time you have some mom with their kid (usually there's one and two seated cars) in front of you. So braking is not a question of braveness but of collision prevention ;-)

Mieders is one of the longest tracks but a bit more boring compared to others which offer 360 curves etc.

The carts get pulled up on a seperate track, on older tracks you wear seatbelts, some have racing car like "H" belts and the newest and fastest have the same metal "bars" that roller coasters have. the cars cannot slip of the track because it's built something like that:

__cccc
cccccccc
cccccccc
cc_TT_cc
ccc__ccc

Where "c" is cart and "T" is track, "_" can be ignored ;-)

The only downside: A ride usually is pretty expensive.

It seems to me i just got a promising business idea for the US :-D But i guess those tracks are not popular in the Rockys etc. because you guys have 12 months of snow in your ski areas i assume whereas in most ski areas of the alps ski season is from early november to late march.

>> ^hpqp:

Not Switzerland. Here we democratically elect our bankers.

groan


hehehe

Not Switzerland. Here we democratically elect our bankers.


*groan*

>> ^Yogi:

>> ^ghark:
@silvercord - your argument about the postal service is invalid - the issue is not with the unions, it is with poor legislation that shouldn't have been passed. I agree with you that the system isn't working, but getting rid of Unions would be about the same as putting a bandaid onto the sinking titanic, I hope you packed a life jacket and some hot cocoa
Oh, and America is a very wealthy country, you seem to suggest that you are running out of money to fund these public services - that is a complete fallacy, the issue is that the money is maldistributed.

That's basically my point, this country has plenty of money, it just does it's that people are greedy as fuck so they're going to say that only THIS slice of the pie is available for you guys to fight over, sorry. It's just not true, public service unions have nothing to do with the crisis, when you look at the fact that we're in two Wars and spend double what the entire world spends on the armed forces.



What I'm suggesting is that we're running out of shells in which the government can move the money around. It just keeps taking from here and paying out over there; the biggest Ponzi scheme on the planet. I reference the Social Security program as one shining example of this dynamic. There should be scads of money there for our retirement. But they took it. They put it somewhere else. That's what they do.

The wars you rightly mentioned and the mismanagement of the people's money has put us, as of this writing, in roughly $15 trillion dollars of debt. There are many people who aren't about to vote one more dime to feed this pig until the pig can find some limits on its own piggery. And they'd better find a way to limit the spending of those they subsidize and bail out, as well. They also need to hurry.

And you're right. This country still has plenty of money. Our average income is only exceeded by Norway and Switzerland. In the eyes of the vast majority of those living on this planet, we are the one percent. So we'd better get it together . . . together.

It is very possible, as @ChaosEngine points out, that these cops are simply partaking in the protest on their time off. Cops are people too, something a dangerous amount of people prefer to ignore.

That being said, infiltration of opposition movements is one way to stifle them. Here in Switz Nestlé went to court in 2008 for hiring private security agents to infiltrate an anti-capitalist organisation that was writing a report on Nestlé's actions throughout the world (article). This, with the passive complicity of the state police, who knew what was going on and had access to the information being gathered. Needless to say, Nestlé won the court case on legal technicalities.



_{(on a side note, fuck the black bloc tactics, that shit completely ruins protests' credibility.)}

I'm absolutely fascinated by LSD. From its mind-opening effects (at least two Nobel Prize winners were under the influence when they made their discoveries) to its analgesic properties (recent research suggests it doesn't stop pain, but your brain just stops caring about the pain) it just seems like something we should be paying more attention to. Its unfortunate that, thanks to the US government's attempts to stop the "hippies" LSD was made illegal even for legitimate scientific study (except in rare cases) all over the world. I'm so glad that a few organizations (some in Canada, some in Switzerland and some elsewhere) have begun to ignore these insane, knee-jerk laws to do serious research into LSD.

A tad oversimplified imo. Here in Switzerland we gobble just as much Hollywood as Americans do, but when stuff like that happens in school a) the teachers are on the kids back in a matter of seconds b) the kid goes to court (if found guilty: criminal record and fines to pay, not jail time).

I think the first part of your response is closer to the point: it's a culture of tolerating homophobia (and other forms of hate/violence towards the Other) as "freedom of speech/religion". At least that's how it seems seen from this side of the pond.

>> ^rougy:

It's our culture. It's Hollywood. A peaceful rectification doesn't sell tickets.

I can watch it fine (in Switzerland). Maybe region blocked?

>> ^Sagemind:

Says "unavailable video"
dead

hpqp, I think you are judging things based on Switzerland. But since this video mentioned American waistlines, I speak for America... We don't believe obesity is an epidemic (Even though it is over 25%...) Most don't believe children should be taken even when it is clearly abuse... Conservatives wonder why healthcare is so fucked up but those corn-fed boys and girls are part of the problem...

(All the above is not just ignorance, it's disbelief and/or denial.)

Now, I will reiterate, obesity and religious beliefs, despite your single objection, can be paralleled the way I do.

Not believing in something that is apparent and proven is equal to or greater than believing in something that is insanely speculative and based on fantasy.

For example. I don't believe in global warming, STDs or cats... Crazy as believing in god? I think so. But you are free to disagree as you have quite clearly done so.

The reason I thought you considered obese people crazy-ish is that they are posioning themselves. And parents? You say "neglect," but would you feel the same way if parents poisoned their children with mercury instead of simply dangerous overfeeding? I mean, one may be quicker, but that doesn't really make either right (The obesity will probably be around for their entire lives, as studies have shown, and/or the effects of the obesity...)

Lastly, you did it again. You left out the single part of my point that makes it defensible. Obese people can live a life without problem. Nowhere in my post did I say contrary, despite what you noted. "B-It always destroys what (Not "who") it touches in some way or another (Society, self, self esteem, healthcare, etc.)"

In other words, even though it may not destroy a person's life, even though a person can live fine being obese, it does destroy. In America, for example, it's okay to be obese. I mean 1/4 of us our, so why not? Let's just let it spread is now the motto. It is no longer a sickness, it is just a personality trait. And that is a crazy disbelief of something real.

p.s., Sorry this reply took so long.


>> ^hpqp:

@Lawdeedaw
Obesity and religious beliefs can hardly be paralleled the way you do. Obesity is largely caused by a change of diet affected by processed foods (corn syrup anyone?) and an extremely sedentary lifestyle, made worse by the fact that it is often cheaper to buy unhealthy/processed foods. Moreover, it is quite possible that genetics are involved in a person's likelihood of being obese (http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Obesity/). Do I think obese people are crazy? No. Like you said, the fat is there, you can feel it, you can taste the 10th liter of coke you're guzzling. I may consider the morbidly obese highly irresponsible, or perhaps mentally ill in cases of obsessive binge-eating, but it is not akin to the superstitious beliefs of religion that one is indoctrinated with as a child. Of course, stuffing one's kid with unhealthy food when an alternative is possible is at best the result of ignorance, at worst irresponsible neglect.
Btw, humans may wired to project agency (thus evolving superstitious beliefs), but religious belief is a matter of indoctrination. Recent studies are showing that young children will not naturally offer supernatural explanations for phenomena (see also this article).
p.s.: one can be overweight and still live a happy and successful life... obesity does not necessarily "always destroy what it touches".

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Switzerland, Travel, Trips, Tours, Vacations, Holidays' to 'spam, redacted' - edited by Ornthoron

>> ^ridesallyridenc:

Am I the only one here that thinks these people are useless? See a problem, sit around and do nothing. Ask for more stuff. Play the victim and "raise awareness." Right.
How about going out and starting a company and affecting change in a tangible way? How about creating jobs for your friends and giving back to society?


I'm sympathetic to your point, but there are real grievances to be voiced on that street. Ask for more stuff? You mean asking for fraud to prosecuted? Start a company? With what resources? With what credit extended by the financial sector? You can't pay people with good intentions sunshine. Honestly, what they are protesting are the financiers that lobby for their own privileged treatment justified by their role as "job creators." Well... what jobs? All I see is a bunch of gold bars in a private jet on its way to Switzerland.

To some extent I agree that protests are futile. Scares me to think of what's needed then. I'd prefer that the politicians wake up, and make it clear whose side they're on.

Germany's hitherto second largest political party, the SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschland) has finally developed a small laicistic wing. Religion is sociologically a very private matter for most people here, although with a societal overtone that the church is always right, and always present (I guess it's the same for Switzerland, only a bit more anti-muslim). Atheism has not yet hit German society as a matter of public discourse, like in the UK.
Here's hoping for a Germany in which the biggest party doesn't have the word "christian" in its fucking name.

In reply to this comment by hpqp:
Gah, hope she gets replaced soon.

>> ^MarineGunrock:

This whole "they hate us because of our freedom!" thing is fucking retarded. If they attacked us because of that, why hasn't Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Poland, Iceland, Greenland et. al. been attacked like we have? Oh, it's because they're not sticking their collective noses in other nation's business? ...... okay.


*ehem* well, I guess because every single country you named grants their citizens equal or more freedom than the US of A.
That aside, I agree with you, if this stupid soundbite was true than at least North Korea would be the one constantly attacking the US.

This whole "they hate us because of our freedom!" thing is fucking retarded. If they attacked us because of that, why hasn't Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Poland, Iceland, Greenland et. al. been attacked like we have? Oh, it's because they're not sticking their collective noses in other nation's business? ...... okay.

Basic gist: Our telecom provider knows you want this, so we give you this (repeat with all their offers/services), ending with "we know on the internet you want videos with cats, so we made this video with cats".

The funny voices of the cats is done by a famous radio comedian from Switzerland (<= obligatory patriotic plug )
>> ^dag:

Translation s'il vous plait?