ptaipale

83 ms·

811.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Or you could say that post-1991 they had other things to do (to survive, or to entertain themselves: Western movies etc became available.) However I was thinking already 1980's: probably the dysfunction of the economy had an impact on
812.
by ptaipale 10y ago
I don't think so. I'm sure reading was encouraged in USSR. Just not reading the wrong books. But overall, people got good education to culture there. It was one of the ideals of the soviet state that actually worked. Only in the l
813.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Presumably, in this context meaning that there was much more literature available for reading?
814.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Right. I'm in Finland, and would have the same concerns, with tornadoes replaced by regular extreme changes in temperature and humidity (well, I guess someone building in UK at least has thought of the humidity). Anyway I'm pret
815.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Building houses is hugely dependent on local regulation, building code, and also climate. This project has home in the UK, so it probably is adapted to UK regulations, weather etc?
816.
by ptaipale 10y ago
The Berlin Wall was really about keeping people in. Make no mistake about it. It was erected as a response to losing too many people through emigration [0]. Can you say the same about U.S. border control? Hardly. There's a very big d
817.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Yeah, it's like http://www.sydsvenskan.se/story/skjutningar-i-malmo-2017 (Swedish) Southern Sweden seems to have a "last night" problem pretty much every night except when Trump spoke about it. (Swedish
818.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Actually, Greece doesn't remind us about why high taxes are good. Their taxes are high. The problem is corruption; the money is squandered, and the economy is choked by taxes, favouritism, corruption and nepotism. Thus, Greece is an ex
819.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Well, yes. For instance, Finland, where I live, has a very much simplified income tax collection procedure. Deductions for people with children have been eliminated. Deductions for mortgages are being eliminated. All this in the name of sim
820.
by ptaipale 10y ago
That could be true, but the poverty rate doesn't really tell anything about it. A purchasing power metric (that includes cost of housing) would indicate that.
821.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Right. When millions were starving in Ethiopia in mid-1980's there was no movement of migration towards Europe. People couldn't afford it, they didn't even know of the theoretical possibility. Increased wealth and better acce
822.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Yes. You also had a steering column that would impale you if you crashed into something.
823.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Of course I know it's complicated; I was making a simplification to express a point. The violence in cities wouldn't make me want to give the violent more voice in making decisions, rather to the contrary. And the votes of those w
824.
by ptaipale 10y ago
That's is something I don't understand: how come these cities cannot arrange enough polling stations? After all, if they're Democrat majority, it would be in interests of Democrat-elected local officials to arrange enough pol
825.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Indeed. Looking at America from across the Atlantic, it seems that the American inner cities are making themselves heard by drug trade and a fairly large number of homicides, and rural America now made themselves heard through elections. I
826.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Property and wealth are significant issues, but surely not the only things, and possibly not the most significant things. Safety, security and national and ethnic identity are also important to people. If I live in a country and city where
827.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Of course I don't blame anyone for being an economic migrant. It's a very natural thing to do: search for a better life. It's what I would do. Economic and technical development has progressed in Africa and Asia so that large
828.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Not sure if this is actual "civic action". At least if this is deployed in Europe, it sounds to me more like a deliberate action to completely destroy what remains of the asylum system, which is already struggling both technically
829.
by ptaipale 10y ago
> In Sweden a vaccine for the pigflue caused narcolepsy in completely healthy young individuals. And just to be clear, narcolepsy wasn't caused by the "additives" in the vaccine like anti-vaxxers claim. Narcolepsy was cau
830.
by ptaipale 10y ago
> This whole narrative of Wikileaks not being neutral is a very weird story, because they've never published anything that wasn't verified to be true. Note that "being neutral" is not at all the same as "publish
831.
by ptaipale 10y ago
True, although buses are going hybrid/electric, for instance in my town electric buses started on one line over a year ago: https://www.hsl.fi/en/news/2015/first-fast-charging-electric... Then neighbouri
832.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Trams are more comfortable for the passenger, as the ride is smoother. It's on rails, so no bumps, and acceleration/deceleration generally doesn't have abrupt jerks. On the other hand, buses are far more flexible; a minor gl
833.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Of course it is not so absolute, China is not directly controlling NK, but NK's existence in its current form is ultimately dependent on China. Yes, China has cooled down the relationship recently.
834.
by ptaipale 10y ago
They do, actually. But them having nukes seems to be not much of a problem to China. If China wanted them to not have nukes, they wouldn't have.
835.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Probably the one who manufactures most of the computing and telecom equipment in the world.
836.
by ptaipale 10y ago
North Korea is China's laboratory for orthodox communism. They need it to remind party faithfuls what it would mean to return to the iron rice bowl (which sometimes lacks both rice and iron). Having some 25 million people occasionally
837.
by ptaipale 10y ago
The article had a headline "Vacant Homes Are a Global Epidemic". If it only covers white-hot real estate markets, it's not very global. This Paris thing was immediately grabbed by local city activists as proof that Helsinki s
838.
by ptaipale 10y ago
BTW, forgot to add this example of "hoarding". An apartment not used for 70 years... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323297/Inside-Paris...
839.
by ptaipale 10y ago
Social sciences cannot very well prove things by experiment, but one statistics you can look at is the price difference of apartment sales depending on whether it is vacant, or occupied by a tenant. In a normal housing market there is not m
840.
by ptaipale 10y ago
At least where I live (Helsinki region in Finland), the main issue with empty apartments is not that they are bought as vehicles of speculation. It's that there's not that much vacancy to speak of. The numbers are inflated in the

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