Today...

[Arceus]

At least maybe Erdogan learned something never mind, he threw > 1,500 more people in jail now.

[Veiva]

 

 

 

I'd still rather vote for Trump/Pence than Hillary.

If I was American I would definitely be voting for Johnson or Stein. I couldn't in good conscience vote for either of the major party candidates.

 

 

As a libertarian for the past 6 years I obviously support Johnson but he will never win. Best thing he can do is pull a Ron Paul and be seen as a moderate republican with a decent fiscal policy.

 

I'm not under any illusions about Johnson's chances of actually winning, but given that I am unable to support a candidate with a chance of winning I might as well support one who is closest to my views. There's also the (possibly naive) idea that if a third party candidate gets a significant showing of popular support, mainstream candidates might tailor their positions to appeal to that base to some extent.

 

 

 

I'd still rather vote for Trump/Pence than Hillary.

In what world is Trump/Pence better than Hillary Clinton, unless you actually agree with Trump and Pence's political views?

 

I'm voting for neither presidential candidate, nor the third-party ones. I will only vote for the other offices in November.

 

Why not vote for a third party? Or do you just not agree with their policies in the same manner as the front runners?

 

I don't agree, even weakly, with the policies of any third-party candidates. I'm not going to vote for someone I substantially disagree with.

[obfuscator]

Fair enough.

 

---------------------

 

So it looks like the coup failed. There are some really graphic videos going around....I guess this is the new normal for these sorts of events with everyone having a cell phone and internet connection.

[RpgGamer]

Violence isn't anything new. Phone cameras and instant global uploading is new

[obfuscator]

Violence isn't anything new. Phone cameras and instant global uploading is new

Right, I meant that having this much footage so quickly is the new normal.

[Noxx]

Finally home from Greece. Was a pretty rough 2 weeks. Long hours, not a lot of sleep, didn't eat well either. Really happy to be home. Got kind of fed up with the people i was living with as well. If they are a representation of "the average Greek", then i'm actually stunned. These people, although very nice and very kind, were also very ignorant and uninformed about so many things. I kind of got the impression that they were brainwashed by their government/media, after hearing some of the things they said. 

[RpgGamer]

Given how shit Greece is financially I have to imagine it's reflected in their education

[Estonian dude]

You can't judge a book by it's cover. And you also can't judge the education of the nation on a few people.

 

Estonia used to be a piss-poor country. Yet we have topped USA in PISA tests and OECD comparisons for education every single year we have been valid.

And our GDP is still like two thirds of American.

 

Money alone does not good education make.

 

 

 

 

But on a different news,

today I drank alone for the first time. I hate myself. And the situation I am in.

Funniest thing was trying to ride a bicycle past cops, while being pretty much blackout drunk.

Luckily, I succeeded or I wouldn't be writing here.

[Hedgehog]

Yeah but Estonia literally doesn't have any good universities, so there's that

[jasignhagj]

Drunk biking is the best. Just don't try to drunk bike and smoke at the same time, learned that the hard way.

[RpgGamer]

US test scores are garbage because most of the intelligence from the US comes from one fairly small chunk of the country with a few here-and-there not idiots (even a few smart intelligent people) sprinkled everywhere else. I've thought pretty hard about it and unless the South decides it wants to part ways again I don't see a cure for it either

[Estonian dude]

I wouldn't say we don't have a single good university. Our national university, University of Tartu, is consistently in the top 300 in the world. Considering how small our country is, and that tuition is FREE [bleep]ES for every Estonian who gets in and studies well enough, that is quite an achievement.

Nearly a quarter of students here are foreigners (no free tuition for them), so I wouldn't say the levels are bad...

[Lower Levelled]

Are all Estonians this Nationalistic?

[Hedgehog]

I wouldn't say we don't have a single good university. Our national university, University of Tartu, is consistently in the top 300 in the world. Considering how small our country is, and that tuition is FREE [bleep]ES for every Estonian who gets in and studies well enough, that is quite an achievement.

Nearly a quarter of students here are foreigners (no free tuition for them), so I wouldn't say the levels are bad...

It is ranked below FSU and that is all I need to see

[obfuscator]

Are all Estonians this Nationalistic?

In my experience Europeans as a whole are more nationalistic than North Americans

[Riku3220]

Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are so large compared to European countries. It's tough to have a strong community bond with people so far away from you.

[Major Dash]

 

Are all Estonians this Nationalistic?

In my experience Europeans as a whole are more nationalistic than North Americans

 

 

 

I was actually having this conversation with a Hungarian man last night. He was explaining how his people are extremely nationalistic, but they aren't quite so flamboyantly 'Murrica [bleep] Yeah!' about it.

 

 

 

 

 

I also pulled out the camera again. Look at that nice pink color. (it normally hides all day, so I had to get a picture while it was being photogenic)

 

 

 

[Noxx]

That thing is [bleep]ing terrifying. I wouldn't even be able to sleep knowing something like that is in my house, whether it's in a cage or not. Jesus christ. Do you ever like... play with it? Does it have a name? Do you think it has a personality like other animals have?

[Major Dash]

I don't play with my tarantulas, nor do I name them. They're also mindless bugs, so they don't really have 'personality' per se. Each individual is different, and they do act differently from each other (even within the same genus/species).

 

I haven't counted in a while, but I think I have about 45 individuals at the moment.

[Alg]

You could probably call those differences a personality :v

[Randox]

Some of the American and perhaps Canadian Nationalism might be masked by the fact that generally speaking, people from both countries seem pretty willing and open about criticizing their country, probably more so than most other nations. I don't think any nation is so open about their flaws while patting themselves on the back for being awesome as the Americans, and I think that attitude has rubbed off on us here north of the border as well, though the Americans certainly more open about it than we are.

 

That extends to social interactions too I think, with many people being readily willing to talk about personal issues, such as social or medical problems, and I guess that just isn't a thing that people do in some other parts of the world.

 

 

Also, why have pets if you aren't going to play with them? Not that playing with Spiders would really be my thing, but that's kind of why I've never considered one as a pet.

[Major Dash]

They aren't really pets I guess. I like to think of them as fish or house plants. You just kinda feed them and watch them grow. A pet would be something that can recognize you and maybe reciprocate affection, and a tarantula can no neither.

 

 

Also, I'm not too interested in accidentally hurting one of them or one of them purposefully hurting me, so I only really handle them if they make a dash up my arm or something. I never intentionally handle.

[Noxx]

Some of the American and perhaps Canadian Nationalism might be masked by the fact that generally speaking, people from both countries seem pretty willing and open about criticizing their country, probably more so than most other nations. I don't think any nation is so open about their flaws while patting themselves on the back for being awesome as the Americans, and I think that attitude has rubbed off on us here north of the border as well, though the Americans certainly more open about it than we are.

 

That extends to social interactions too I think, with many people being readily willing to talk about personal issues, such as social or medical problems, and I guess that just isn't a thing that people do in some other parts of the world.

 

 

They're only readily willing to talk about the issues when it's with fellow countrymen. If anyone else decides to join the conversation they'r quickly met with a "well your country does x and y wrong" or "well at least we're better than you are". I find it literally impossible to talk to any American about their country unless i'm willing to just not give my opinion at all. I think some of the past "conversations" on this site is sufficient proof of that as well. Basically, as a "foreigner" you either need to praise the US or not say anything about it at all.

 

I can't say that i have ever had an even remotely similar experience with someone from any other country. But i guess there's a chance that i just always happen to meet the unpatriotic ones.

[Hedgehog]

[obfuscator]

They aren't really pets I guess. I like to think of them as fish or house plants. You just kinda feed them and watch them grow. A pet would be something that can recognize you and maybe reciprocate affection, and a tarantula can no neither.

 

 

Also, I'm not too interested in accidentally hurting one of them or one of them purposefully hurting me, so I only really handle them if they make a dash up my arm or something. I never intentionally handle.

That's an interesting way of thinking of it. I guess a lot of people do have fish, of which I've never seen much point. A tarantula would be much more novel.

 

 

 

Some of the American and perhaps Canadian Nationalism might be masked by the fact that generally speaking, people from both countries seem pretty willing and open about criticizing their country, probably more so than most other nations. I don't think any nation is so open about their flaws while patting themselves on the back for being awesome as the Americans, and I think that attitude has rubbed off on us here north of the border as well, though the Americans certainly more open about it than we are.

 

That extends to social interactions too I think, with many people being readily willing to talk about personal issues, such as social or medical problems, and I guess that just isn't a thing that people do in some other parts of the world.

They're only readily willing to talk about the issues when it's with fellow countrymen. If anyone else decides to join the conversation they'r quickly met with a "well your country does x and y wrong" or "well at least we're better than you are". I find it literally impossible to talk to any American about their country unless i'm willing to just not give my opinion at all. I think some of the past "conversations" on this site is sufficient proof of that as well. Basically, as a "foreigner" you either need to praise the US or not say anything about it at all.

 

I can't say that i have ever had an even remotely similar experience with someone from any other country. But i guess there's a chance that i just always happen to meet the unpatriotic ones.

 

It also depends on how you approach the conversation. I've found trying to ask for opinions without sharing my own tends to help people open up, and most tend to be reasonable.