The Off Topic Topic

[The Brain]

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

[Admiral Yi]

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

How so?

[Valmy]

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

How so?

Centralized governments going back years. It used to be a far bigger thing in England than in France. Then the French revolution rolled in and made everything about Paris.

[The Brain]

In Swedish Lapland people live like royalty.

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

No.

Btw Anders Chydenius (1729-1803) suggested making Lapland a libertarian's wet dream, but his advice was ignored.

[Zanza]

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.

A Volkswagen Jetta ain't the same fuckin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fuckin' sport. 

[Ideologue]

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.

Pol Pot had the right idea.

[DGuller]

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.

A Volkswagen Jetta ain't the same fuckin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fuckin' sport. 

Horsepower, no.  Fun to drive, yes.  Old Jettas anyway, before they became Americanized.  My version of Jetta is pretty close to GLI/GTI.

[Admiral Yi]

A Volkswagen Jetta ain't the same fuckin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fuckin' sport. 

It's a wonderful sign of how far we've come that a German can now feel comfortable calling a Jew his bitch. 

[DGuller]

A Volkswagen Jetta ain't the same fuckin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fuckin' sport. 

It's a wonderful sign of how far we've come that a German can now feel comfortable calling a Jew his bitch. 

[The Brain]

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.

Pol Pot had the right idea.

I had a high school classmate whose Cambodian dad flew back home when Pol Pot came to power, to help build the new society.

[Iormlund]

Horsepower, no.  Fun to drive, yes.  Old Jettas anyway, before they became Americanized.  My version of Jetta is pretty close to GLI/GTI.

All Jettas are old. I think they dropped that name over here over 20 years ago.

[DGuller]

Horsepower, no.  Fun to drive, yes.  Old Jettas anyway, before they became Americanized.  My version of Jetta is pretty close to GLI/GTI.

All Jettas are old. I think they dropped that name over here over 20 years ago.

I think it's called Bora over there.

[Duque de Bragança]

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.

This is not exactly a new development, is it? 
Same goes for Northern Italy being well-off (except for Tyr).

PS: as for Pol Pot, Pétain talked about returning to the land but it was only a slogan

[Duque de Bragança]

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

How so?

Centralized governments going back years. It used to be a far bigger thing in England than in France. Then the French revolution rolled in and made everything about Paris.

Started under French kings, comparable or even before, Clovis made Paris his capital. The crusade against the Cathars was led by an Île-de-France nobleman, who had deserted the IVth crusade, the famous Simon de Montfort  and ensured control of SW France by the Capétiens instead of Aragon.
French as the sole language of the state? Villers-Cotterêt 1539, François I and so on...
The Revolution offered new possibilities, Napoleon made the most of it.

[alfred russel]

Congrats to you new home owners.

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

Only drove passing through in my tank on my way to Baghdad.