The country topic........

[Noraibah]

I really hate my country..........
the weather sucks,the people are rude,it's filled with Islamists.
I wonder why I ever bothered to move to Kuala Lumpur anyways???
Everyone write something about your country.......

[Hirathien]

Well, once we were vikings, now we're not.

[Lemmy Claypool]

I really hate my country..........
the weather sucks,the people are rude,it's filled with Islamists.
I wonder why I ever bothered to move to Kuala Lumpur anyways???
Everyone write something about your country.......

You hate your country because it's "filled" with "Islamists?"

The term is "muslim" for a start, and choose your words carefully if you're going to continue a line of discussion like that. Any bigotry and you're outta here kid.

In response to your post, though, my country used to rule the world before we passed the baton to America.

[Raww Le Klueze]

Actually, an Islamist is someone who promotes Islam politically, advocating sharia laws or through terrorism for example, viewing it not as a religion but a political ideology.

While all Islamist tend to be Muslims for obvious reason, not all Muslims are Islamists.

I can't claim to know that TC is aware of the distinction, but there certainly is a difference between the two.

[Oppenheimer]

In response to your post, though, my country used to rule the world before we passed the baton to America.

America still has the baton? I thought it outsourced that to China

I like Canada a lot. I'm not thrilled with the current leadership as they don't have my values. But, even they are more moderate than their right wing "equivalent" in the US.

[Xelinis]

In response to your post, though, my country used to rule the world before we passed the baton to America.

America still has the baton? I thought it outsourced that to China

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_93U_CIyMCA

[Vextor]

I like Japan. Good food, generally safe streets and good health care makes it a pretty nice place to live.

Politically though, Japan is a huge mess. Political gridlock makes it very hard for anything to get through the two houses, and as far as foreign affairs... it's a complicated mess with USA, Russia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Taiwan sparring a back and forth.

TV is filled with AKB48 or many of it's spinoffs such as HKT or NMB. This seems to be seriously big business in Japan-- there's AKB-related merchandise sold everywhere and the target audience is generally pre-teen girls (as opposed to adult male otaku types). Whenever I visit my friends who have daughters at that age, they all say "I want to join AKB when I grow up." I worry for the future of this country!

Meanwhile, the economy is fairly stagnant with a dying manufacturing sector and a somewhat booming service sector that has been killing the souls of many workers with their inhumane work hours and low pay. Because of that, many young people hesitate to start a family-- they can only make enough money to pay for themselves! Thus, population decline is the current trend-- last year alone, Japan lost 260 thousand of its population. In many ways, it seems like Japan is in a state of decline.

However, when looking at places like nicovideo.jp, where various Japanese people showcase their creative skills (and sometimes criminal acts), I'm often shocked with the tremendous skill... or one may call "obsession" people have with perfecting their skill in pursuing some obscure craft and whatnot. There's troves of people showcasing their artistic skills, but also some who are into overclocking their PC to the extreme, or modifying programs to make it perform better, etc. Collaboration between these people have resulted in bunch of new free software being created, which shows how there's a bunch of people who are itching to do something with their talent.

Unfortunately, that doesn't go well with the generally uncreative and cloistered upper strata of the Japanese elite.

[Nikisaur]

I love my country The only problem is that NZ is so far from anywhere else :O

[Hirathien]

It's an island, pretty mobile! Saw a kids show about a polarbear using an island like a boat.

In all honesty though, New Zealand looks awesome. At least the stuff I see in movies and shows.

[Lemmy Claypool]

Actually, an Islamist is someone who promotes Islam politically, advocating sharia laws or through terrorism for example, viewing it not as a religion but a political ideology.

While all Islamist tend to be Muslims for obvious reason, not all Muslims are Islamists.

I can't claim to know that TC is aware of the distinction, but there certainly is a difference between the two.

Based on Noraibah's history here I'm willing to be s/he is not aware of that distinction. If I'm wrong then I sincerely apologise Noraibah.

America still has the baton? I thought it outsourced that to China

Ha they haven't the upper body strength to carry it for as long as we did

[Antimatzist]

Germany is cool, everyone complains, really, we are complaining about everything every day, but in the end, we might be the most important country in Germany. I mean ok, educational and health systems are way better i Scandinavia, the weather is better in the southern countries, but in the end, I guess we are doing the best.
I hate most of our politicians, but I guess that's normal.

[darkphoenix]

I second Antimatzist, Germany's a very good place to live in. Safe, cultural, in the middle of Europe, thriving compared to Ireland and France where I used to live. Hardly anything to complan about and I like cold weather, so couldn't be happier

[Hirathien]

Germany is cool, but in the end, we might be the most important country in Germany.

Germany, a country within a country!

I can safely say though that Germany rocks, been there three times and always had a good time. The people I spoke to there had no trouble with speaking English and giving me directions. Awesome place.

[dragonmasterx]

I like Japan. Good food, generally safe streets and good health care makes it a pretty nice place to live.

TV is filled with AKB48 or many of it's spinoffs such as HKT or NMB. This seems to be seriously big business in Japan-- there's AKB-related merchandise sold everywhere and the target audience is generally pre-teen girls (as opposed to adult male otaku types). Whenever I visit my friends who have daughters at that age, they all say "I want to join AKB when I grow up." I worry for the future of this country!

Meanwhile, the economy is fairly stagnant with a dying manufacturing sector and a somewhat booming service sector that has been killing the souls of many workers with their inhumane work hours and low pay. Because of that, many young people hesitate to start a family-- they can only make enough money to pay for themselves! Thus, population decline is the current trend-- last year alone, Japan lost 260 thousand of its population. In many ways, it seems like Japan is in a state of decline.

I personally had more male students interested in AKB48. One of them would stare at AKB48 pictures during class, and the other students poked fun at him for that.

I regularly saw a chiropractor for 210 yen, insurance covered 70%. That means even with no insurance, I could see the chiropractor for less than 1000 yen($13 by current exchange rate). That is ridiculously cheap if going by American chiropractor costs.

I was on the JET Program for 5 years, roughly 300,000($3,815 by current exchange rate) yen pay a month. I now know how ridiculously high that was by Japanese standards, I was making more than most people I spoke to. Unlike most people, I don't care to hide my salary. Students would often say "Damn, you make more than my parents!" Especially considering the amount of work required of me. I went above and beyond my work duties, but the bare minimum I needed to do to get such a nice pay wasn't much.

[TheNewTeddy]

My country is a federation that has parts that keep pulling at one another and demanding more and more. Parts of the country hate other parts of the country. I've become a Separatist.