6 ms·

A friend of mine was supposed to move from Berlin to München for a job during last Saturday. He can't, trains were fucked, airport was closed, flight canceled a

by piva00 3y ago

A friend of mine was supposed to move from Berlin to München for a job during last Saturday. He can't, trains were fucked, airport was closed, flight canceled and you can't trust DB during the best of days and weather, no way to be sure you will get there unless you have a car. Seems to be a complete clusterfuck, as someone living in the Nordics it's pretty funny to think that a bit of snow can simply grind to a halt the richest area of Germany.

croes 3y ago
Because most employees cannot participate in wealth.
fl7305 3y ago
Southern Sweden with 80% of the Swedish population rarely sees much snow. A few centimeters can cause big problems there too.
- patall 3y ago
  Exactly. Stockholm experienced 10cm of snow last week and now ~-15°C (well, -20 in Uppsala) and the trains are in total chaos
  - shzhdbi09gv8ioi 3y ago
    News flash. Stockholm is not in southern sweden. Also Stockholm subway is famous for breaking down even if a single leave fall on the tracks.
    - patall 3y ago
      > Southern Sweden with 80% of the Swedish population > Stockholm is not in southern sweden Are you sure this the level of comments you are supposed to post here?
      - fl7305 3y ago
        Dang it, I got nerdsniped (https://xkcd.com/356/ https://xkcd.com/356/). With the help of ChatGPT, I crossreferenced two lists of all municipalities (kommuner) in Sweden to place them in an increasing latitude order (south->north), and calculated where the 80% population threshold lies. The answer is Västerås, which is a bit north of Stockholm. It is only 31.7% of the distance to the northernmost point in Sweden. So 80% of Sweden's population lives in the southernmost 32% of the country. This might not be called "Sydsverige" in Swedish, but describing it to a foreigner I think 32% qualifies as "Southern Sweden".
        pastage 3y ago
        I will resist this nerdsnipe. I know there is a population density map as well I think the 250m squares is freely available. So we could make a slider from Ystad to Treriksröset from 0% to 100% would make a good progress bar.
        fl7305 3y ago
        Come to the nerd side, we have cookies... Source data: https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/regional-statistik-och-kartor/regionala-indelningar/digitala-granser/ https://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/sv/ssd/START__BE__BE0101__BE0101A/BefolkningNy/
    - Hikikomori 3y ago
      If we have northern and southern parts then Stockholm is in the southern part.
      - fl7305 3y ago
        And if we divide Sweden into southern/middle/northern, Stockholm would still end up in the southern part. ChatGPT: "Stockholm lies approximately 28.87% of the way north when considering the span from the southernmost to the northernmost points of Sweden's municipalities, based on latitude."
        shzhdbi09gv8ioi 3y ago
        I never expected to have to argue with a ChatGPT prompt, lol. Swedes do not care about your conclusions as we still won't claim Stockholm is in the southern Sweden.
        Hikikomori 3y ago
        Ask a northern Swede if Stockholm is in the south.
        shzhdbi09gv8ioi 3y ago
        That's not the question. It's about what is included in the geographic area referred to as "Southern Sweden".
        fl7305 3y ago
        E' du go eller? I am 100% Swedish. Men absolut inte en 08 / Tjockhultare, har i princip bara varit i Stockholm när jag gick högvakten. Again, reading your comments it looks like you're translating Swedish words directly to English ("Sydsverige" -> "Southern Sweden"). But they are not the same, right? And I didn't just ask ChatGPT for a number. I used ChatGPT Python data analysis to process official SCB datafiles with the population count and geographical locations for the 290 municipalities ("kommuner") in Sweden. They were sorted in increasing latitude (south -> north). The population count for each municipality was accumulated until it reached 80% of the total Swedish population. The municipality where the 80% threshold was crossed turned out to be Västerås. That means that my claim "Southern Sweden with 80% of the Swedish population" is correct. You don't have to go that far north (32%) before you've covered 80% of the Swedish population. Where do you think the 80% threshold lies? Source data: https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/regional-statistik-och-kartor/regionala-indelningar/digitala-granser/ https://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/sv/ssd/START__BE__BE0101__BE0101A/BefolkningNy/
flohofwoe 3y ago
TBF the last time that part of Germany had that much snow in such a short time so early was about twenty years ago. Those parts of Germany where snow is more common (mainly in the mountains) saw no or little disruptions.
mrweasel 3y ago
> Nordics it's pretty funny to think that a bit of snow can simply grind to a halt the richest area of Germany. Yeaaah about that, Denmark is currently covered in snow and the country isn't equipped to deal with it at all. As soon as the snow starts falling busses and trains are cancelled, people realize that maybe winter tires aren't such a bad idea, roads aren't cleared because the cities don't actually have the budgets to deal with it. So you can't rely on public transport, but driving can be dangerous because many roads aren't kept clear and other people are idiots, driving around on summer tires (that includes busses and trucks).
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  >people realize that maybe winter tires aren't such a bad idea Hold the phone. Are you telling me winter tires are not mandatory by law in Denmark in winter?!
  - mrweasel 3y ago
    They are not, surprisingly. I guess the reasoning is that during a normal winter they are required for maybe a few weeks. Many won't switch because they either don't want to pay for a second set of tires, or because it hurt fuel economy for most of the winter. All year tires are also somewhat popular, but they don't work as well in snow. You could probably get a fine for driving without them if the weather makes it unsafe, but that would be because you're not driving according to conditions. Anyway, loads of people are driving around on summer tires during the winter and it's amazingly dangerous and they cause problems for themselves and others.
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      >They are not, surprisingly. That's absolutely insane. One would think the Nordics would be a bit morse sensible on this. Here in Austria they are mandatory between November and April even if you live in places that don't see much snow. Yeah, it's an added expense and PITA but when the snow does come it's overall way safer.

by piva00 3y ago

croes 3y ago

Because most employees cannot participate in wealth.

fl7305 3y ago

Southern Sweden with 80% of the Swedish population rarely sees much snow. A few centimeters can cause big problems there too.

patall 3y ago
Exactly. Stockholm experienced 10cm of snow last week and now ~-15°C (well, -20 in Uppsala) and the trains are in total chaos
- shzhdbi09gv8ioi 3y ago
  News flash. Stockholm is not in southern sweden. Also Stockholm subway is famous for breaking down even if a single leave fall on the tracks.
  - patall 3y ago
    > Southern Sweden with 80% of the Swedish population > Stockholm is not in southern sweden Are you sure this the level of comments you are supposed to post here?
    - fl7305 3y ago
      Dang it, I got nerdsniped (https://xkcd.com/356/ https://xkcd.com/356/). With the help of ChatGPT, I crossreferenced two lists of all municipalities (kommuner) in Sweden to place them in an increasing latitude order (south->north), and calculated where the 80% population threshold lies. The answer is Västerås, which is a bit north of Stockholm. It is only 31.7% of the distance to the northernmost point in Sweden. So 80% of Sweden's population lives in the southernmost 32% of the country. This might not be called "Sydsverige" in Swedish, but describing it to a foreigner I think 32% qualifies as "Southern Sweden".
      - pastage 3y ago
        I will resist this nerdsnipe. I know there is a population density map as well I think the 250m squares is freely available. So we could make a slider from Ystad to Treriksröset from 0% to 100% would make a good progress bar.
        fl7305 3y ago
        Come to the nerd side, we have cookies... Source data: https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/regional-statistik-och-kartor/regionala-indelningar/digitala-granser/ https://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/sv/ssd/START__BE__BE0101__BE0101A/BefolkningNy/
  - Hikikomori 3y ago
    If we have northern and southern parts then Stockholm is in the southern part.
    - fl7305 3y ago
      And if we divide Sweden into southern/middle/northern, Stockholm would still end up in the southern part. ChatGPT: "Stockholm lies approximately 28.87% of the way north when considering the span from the southernmost to the northernmost points of Sweden's municipalities, based on latitude."
      - shzhdbi09gv8ioi 3y ago
        I never expected to have to argue with a ChatGPT prompt, lol. Swedes do not care about your conclusions as we still won't claim Stockholm is in the southern Sweden.
        Hikikomori 3y ago
        Ask a northern Swede if Stockholm is in the south.
        shzhdbi09gv8ioi 3y ago
        That's not the question. It's about what is included in the geographic area referred to as "Southern Sweden".
        fl7305 3y ago
        E' du go eller? I am 100% Swedish. Men absolut inte en 08 / Tjockhultare, har i princip bara varit i Stockholm när jag gick högvakten. Again, reading your comments it looks like you're translating Swedish words directly to English ("Sydsverige" -> "Southern Sweden"). But they are not the same, right? And I didn't just ask ChatGPT for a number. I used ChatGPT Python data analysis to process official SCB datafiles with the population count and geographical locations for the 290 municipalities ("kommuner") in Sweden. They were sorted in increasing latitude (south -> north). The population count for each municipality was accumulated until it reached 80% of the total Swedish population. The municipality where the 80% threshold was crossed turned out to be Västerås. That means that my claim "Southern Sweden with 80% of the Swedish population" is correct. You don't have to go that far north (32%) before you've covered 80% of the Swedish population. Where do you think the 80% threshold lies? Source data: https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/regional-statistik-och-kartor/regionala-indelningar/digitala-granser/ https://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/sv/ssd/START__BE__BE0101__BE0101A/BefolkningNy/

flohofwoe 3y ago

TBF the last time that part of Germany had that much snow in such a short time so early was about twenty years ago. Those parts of Germany where snow is more common (mainly in the mountains) saw no or little disruptions.

mrweasel 3y ago

> Nordics it's pretty funny to think that a bit of snow can simply grind to a halt the richest area of Germany. Yeaaah about that, Denmark is currently covered in snow and the country isn't equipped to deal with it at all. As soon as the snow starts falling busses and trains are cancelled, people realize that maybe winter tires aren't such a bad idea, roads aren't cleared because the cities don't actually have the budgets to deal with it. So you can't rely on public transport, but driving can be dangerous because many roads aren't kept clear and other people are idiots, driving around on summer tires (that includes busses and trucks).

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>people realize that maybe winter tires aren't such a bad idea Hold the phone. Are you telling me winter tires are not mandatory by law in Denmark in winter?!
- mrweasel 3y ago
  They are not, surprisingly. I guess the reasoning is that during a normal winter they are required for maybe a few weeks. Many won't switch because they either don't want to pay for a second set of tires, or because it hurt fuel economy for most of the winter. All year tires are also somewhat popular, but they don't work as well in snow. You could probably get a fine for driving without them if the weather makes it unsafe, but that would be because you're not driving according to conditions. Anyway, loads of people are driving around on summer tires during the winter and it's amazingly dangerous and they cause problems for themselves and others.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    >They are not, surprisingly. That's absolutely insane. One would think the Nordics would be a bit morse sensible on this. Here in Austria they are mandatory between November and April even if you live in places that don't see much snow. Yeah, it's an added expense and PITA but when the snow does come it's overall way safer.