The Off Topic Topic

[Ideologue]

Holy shit, have any of you guys tried to close on a mortgage since Dodd-Frank? 

Gosh, no I haven't.  I guess I just got lucky.

[MadImmortalMan]

Looking at the map, you'd think the Axis won.

[Iormlund]

- Even us southerners have a north-south divide going on.

I thought that was common knowledge, in Spain at least.

[derspiess]

Never seen a camel change a tire anyway.

That's an offensive thing to call an Ayrab.  Probably.

[Zanza]

Bukarest is pretty odd. Is there really such a massive concentration of wealth in one city in Romania?

The region south of Hamburg is not even at 90% of EU average? Wow.

The North-South divide in Italy is now stronger than the East-West divide in Germany. The trillions in transfer payments actually make a difference there.

[Josquius]

Fun map:



Takeaways:

- Communism was not too good.
- Predictably, most capitals accumulate wealth compared to the rest of the nation.
- Even us southerners have a north-south divide going on.
- France only has 4 regions above the EU average, which surprised me. We have 7, for example.

Surprised north Italy is so wealthy.
And that it stretches as far south as Rome, that place is a mess.

[The Brain]

In Swedish Lapland people live like royalty.

[celedhring]

- Even us southerners have a north-south divide going on.

I thought that was common knowledge, in Spain at least.

It is, I was just underlining it for our non-southern colleagues.

[Zanza]

It's striking how dominant London and Paris are. A lot of poor provinces around one mighty capital.

[Josquius]

It's striking how dominant London and Paris are. A lot of poor provinces around one mighty capital.

And it is sickening how much of that is by design.

In Swedish Lapland people live like royalty.

Do you still have villages up there offering free land if you're willing to live there?

[crazy canuck]

Talking about driving fast, anyone else here ever driving in Kuwait?

It's a bit out of the way if you aren't US military... 

It is The Crazy. They ignore the 120kph speed limit, they ignore lanes, stop signs, any and all driving laws and safety common sense. It's funny to see camels on the back of a pickup truck.

Ah, so like Italy except with Camels.

[Valmy]

It's striking how dominant London and Paris are. A lot of poor provinces around one mighty capital.

It is like if the US combined New York, Los Angeles, and Washington into one giant financial, cultural, and political juggernaut. Of course it is going to be a giant. Everybody with any ambition would move there.

[Liep]

Sold my mountain bike! I hope. 2500DKK towards my touring bike budget.

[Zanza]

It's striking how dominant London and Paris are. A lot of poor provinces around one mighty capital.

It is like if the US combined New York, Los Angeles, and Washington into one giant financial, cultural, and political juggernaut. Of course it is going to be a giant. Everybody with any ambition would move there.

You would actually have to add Chicago to those three get the sheer relative weight of Paris or London.

[DGuller]

I actually like the noise, and other imperfections that indicate that you're going fast.  I find cars that feel like a couch even at high speeds to be very boring, sensation of speed is where the fun is.

Trust me, driving at over 200 kph in a densely populated country is anything but boring. You need to stay quite alert not to rear-end someone who didn't bother to check his mirrors before overtaking. Also missing a limit signal and then passing the cops at ludicrous speed (I've done that one).

Well, I guess I should've qualified my statements.  I would prefer my car to give me a sensation of speed at speeds that I can actually drive at without landing in jail.  That's where my 2008 turbo Jetta feels way more fun than any BMW or Mercedes I test-drove.  Audi was much closer, but Jetta was still more fun.  And it sure handles really well, though I guess at track speeds it wouldn't quite measure up.