How Americans see Europe

[Davros]

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Pony trekking or camping,
Or just watching TV.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
It's the country for me.

You're so near to Russia,
So far from Japan,
Quite a long way from Cairo,
Lots of miles from Vietnam.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Eating breakfast or dinner,
Or snack lunch in the hall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

You're so sadly neglected
And often ignored,
A poor second to Belgium,
When going abroad.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

Finland has it all.

 

[zed]

Some of the finest damned drivers the world has ever produced.

thats very debatable
what they have is nokia, and perhaps the best schooling system in the world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index ( notice the high position of nz as well, and now the current NZ government wants to make massive changes,(*) hmmm call me oldfashioned but you have a system that works well, why on earth would you adopt a system that when implemented in other countries has lead to children schooling scores DEcreasing )

(*)rhetorical question, the answer is cause it sits well with their voting constituents

 

[Sxotty]

I am not sure I but that education ranking crap. I mean really Kazakhstan is stomping all over Germany.

 

[eastmen]

Wait there are more countrys then whats in Epcot ?

Disney has lied to me !

Also apparently Morocoo has the crappiest food as there is allways open room.

 

[zed]

I am not sure I but that education ranking crap. I mean really Kazakhstan is stomping all over Germany.

perhaps they arent?, though I believe the rankings are derived from a standard set of math,science,language tests (I forget the name of the world standard methodology)
though if we look up kazakhstans wiki page we see
"Education
Education is universal and mandatory through to the secondary level and the adult literacy rate is 99.5%."
I wouldnt be surprised if germany rates we lower (I couldnt see it on their wiki page)

 

[WhiningKhan]

I am not sure I but that education ranking crap. I mean really Kazakhstan is stomping all over Germany.

Dude, Borat is actually an actor, he's not _really_ from Kazakhstan...

 

[WhiningKhan]

Some of the finest damned drivers the world has ever produced.

thats very debatable

Count them before you start debating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Rally_Championship_Drivers'_champions

 

[zed]

Count them before you start debating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Rally_Championship_Drivers'_champions

well I mean the problem is unlike say 100m sprint, where u can be sure bolt, gay etc are the fastest men on the whole planet
with car racing theres so many factors that influence the results, luck, car, driving ability, not everyone gets a chance etc. So much so that even in a limited selection of drivers say as the F1 championship that its practically impossible to know

heres the top 5 in order for last year
Jenson Button ,Sebastian Vettel ,Rubens Barrichello,Mark Webber ,Lewis Hamilton
given equal cars,conditions,luck etc would they have ended up in the same order

 

[WhiningKhan]

well I mean the problem is unlike say 100m sprint, where u can be sure bolt, gay etc are the fastest men on the whole planet
with car racing theres so many factors that influence the results, luck, car, driving ability, not everyone gets a chance etc.

It's sport. Luck and other factors are essential part of all sports. 100m sprint is also only a sport, a competition between dudes that like running. How can you be sure that there isn't , say, a shepherd somewhere in Nigeria that could run 100m in 8.5secs but never had a chance/wealth/interest/whatever to become an athlete?

Still, if someone wins a world championship on something, he obviously is pretty good at that, and in that particular competition proved to be the best.

 

[Sxotty]

perhaps they arent?, though I believe the rankings are derived from a standard set of math,science,language tests (I forget the name of the world standard methodology)
though if we look up kazakhstans wiki page we see
"Education
Education is universal and mandatory through to the secondary level and the adult literacy rate is 99.5%."
I wouldnt be surprised if germany rates we lower (I couldnt see it on their wiki page)

There is a question of selection bias if you measure on some standard test. It may be that Germany is far worse than I thought, but I have spoken extensively with people who lived for years in Kazakhstan (working in the embassy there) and did not get that impression from them.

 

[zed]

It's sport. Luck and other factors are essential part of all sports. 100m sprint is also only a sport, a competition between dudes that like running. How can you be sure that there isn't , say, a shepherd somewhere in Nigeria that could run 100m in 8.5secs but never had a chance/wealth/interest/whatever to become an athlete?.

you can be very sure thats not the case,

Still, if someone wins a world championship on something, he obviously is pretty good at that, and in that particular competition proved to be the best.

greece winning the football european cup a few years ago? OR even more telling
Steven Bradbury, now u cant tell me he was the best short track skater in the 2002 olympics 1000m
heres his route to the gold medal

heat - wins
quarterfinal (only top 2 go through) - comes third, but the person ahead of him (the current world champion) disqualified
semifinal - coming last way back, then all 3 ahead of him crash, allowing him to win the semi final
final - coming last way back, then all 3 ahead of him crash, allowing him to win the gold medal

If that wasnt luck in sport then what is?

WRT finland's schooling ability (btw I believe they start school at 7 years old)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment

In addition to what I mentioned before about the new NZ schooling method that the current government is introducing, heres what happened when the UK introduced a similar method

UK schools slip down global table

These Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) performance tables are based on tests taken by 15-year-olds which aim to assess their ability to apply their knowledge in "real world" situations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7115692.stm

 

[WhiningKhan]

Steven Bradbury, now u cant tell me he was the best short track skater in the 2002 olympics 1000m
heres his route to the gold medal

heat - wins
quarterfinal (only top 2 go through) - comes third, but the person ahead of him (the current world champion) disqualified
semifinal - coming last way back, then all 3 ahead of him crash, allowing him to win the semi final
final - coming last way back, then all 3 ahead of him crash, allowing him to win the gold medal

If that wasnt luck in sport then what is?

Sure it was luck, didn't I just write that luck is an essential part of sports? But the best of the race is the one that comes in first. Bradbury didn't crash, the others did. The others were free to try again in another race with better luck.

But what does this have to do with the fact that out of 18 WRC champions, 7 are finns?

WRT finland's schooling ability (btw I believe they start school at 7 years old)

Yes, although nowadays also a one-year semester of pre-school is arranged for 6 year olds, but that is not mandatory.

But hey, this was supposed to be a funny thread! I'll try to bring this thread back to the topic:
http://dailycandor.com/what-europeans-think-of-each-other/

 

[zed]

Sure it was luck, didn't I just write that luck is an essential part of sports? But the best of the race is the one that comes in first. Bradbury didn't crash, the others did. The others were free to try again in another race with better luck.

But what does this have to do with the fact that out of 18 WRC champions, 7 are finns?

I was pointing out various sports its not the best that wins
100m sprint, usually the best
car driving, too many factors often the best doesnt win, in fact usually this is not the case

now to make a statement that finns make the best drivers is like saying kiwis are the best sailers (since theyve won more than their share of trophies) but the fact is sailing like driving (unlike say 100m sprinting) is dependant on far more factors

 

[WhiningKhan]

now to make a statement that finns make the best drivers is like saying kiwis are the best sailers

... would be silly, of course. I'm not a native anglophone, but IMO Dig's statement "Some of the finest damned drivers world has ever produced" is not equal to "The best drivers world has ever produced".

 

[Kaotik]

Where's Finland?

edit:
Someone else noticed too

 

[WhiningKhan]

Someone else noticed too

Heh.

Going a bit off topic here, is it just me or are 98% of the members of this board either from one of the nordic countries or from an English speaking country? A few lone and loony central europeans and a couple of more exotic individuals have been thrown in the mix, but they are quite underrepresented. Is there anyone here from Russia, for example?

 

[Simon F]

We do get a lot of posters from a great many nations, but some seem to disappear after they tell us about some wonderful new product that has changed this lives...

 

[swaaye]

While that map may just be spot on, as a gamer I also associate some Euroworld countries with my fav games and related goodies.

Finland = Remedy, Bit Boys Oi, Futuremark
Germany = Crytek
Ukraine = GSC (cure radiation with vodka)
UK = Core Design, Rare, that PowerVR place, Davros and the Sacred Terabyte
Croatia = Crazy Croteam

Clocks-a-tickin' and I gotta run. Time to be a good Wisconsinite and go out and tip over some cows while wearing my cheese hat.

 

[Lightman]

While that map may just be spot on, as a gamer I also associate some Euroworld countries with my fav games and related goodies.

Finland = Remedy, Bit Boys Oi, Futuremark
Germany = Crytek
Ukraine = GSC (cure radiation with vodka)
UK = Core Design, Rare, that PowerVR place, Davros and the Sacred Terabyte
Croatia = Crazy Croteam

Clocks-a-tickin' and I gotta run. Time to be a good Wisconsinite and go out and tip over some cows while wearing my cheese hat.

Well, I'm Polish so I will add

Poland = PeopleCanFly (Painkiller, Gears of War PC), CDProjectRED (The Witcher), good food, beer, vodka and higher on average IQ than that map suggests. Worth mentioning are bad roads ...

Also isn't Remedy the same thing as Futuremark and also MadOnion? There are the same people behind these names which roots came from Demo Scene.

 

[Kaotik]

Well, I'm Polish so I will add

Poland = PeopleCanFly (Painkiller, Gears of War PC), CDProjectRED (The Witcher), good food, beer, vodka and higher on average IQ than that map suggests. Worth mentioning are bad roads ...

Also isn't Remedy the same thing as Futuremark and also MadOnion? There are the same people behind these names which roots came from Demo Scene.

Remedy was founded by FutureCrew members, later Remedy spun off Futuremark, Futuremark renamed themselves at some point to MadOnion and then back to Futuremark