this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 60 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Also we Americans are pretty good at paving every square inch inch of an island. We did Manhattan and are working on doing Long Island.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You also just demolish everything every now and then because old is not the american way, while this side of the ocean tends to constantly maintain and improve on what already exists.

Glass towers tend to make a boring landscape.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Huh? I mean buildings get condemned or rebuilt sometimes, but talk like that tells me you haven't been to Boston or New York.

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[–] JungleJim 59 points 11 months ago (3 children)

It's exhausting having Europeans assume that because I live here I A) endorse everything about it with every fiber of my being and B) have no ability to conceptualize any other way of living at all, much less a better one than my current American lifestyle.

It's true we don't have a quaint medieval village on an island, but we never had invading Huns or something force us to live on a postage stamp of land and make a quaint little village there.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

So what you're saying is that we need the Huns to invade the US

[–] JungleJim 23 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I'm so glad someone understands. It doesn't necessarily have to be Huns. Tartars or Mongols or really any nomadic horselord invaders would do well. Just drop them in the middle of Nebraska and let them get started.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

give cavalry to the canadians

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

We did try have a moose riding mounted unit at some point if memory serves.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Honestly. Am I missing something in the picture? It's just a city? Am I supposed to be unable to comprehend a nice, coastal city?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No roads for cars is what I assume is what we can't comprehend.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Bottom right corner, it's a road that has cars pulled up and parked along side the buildings

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I can only see restaurants gazebos and tables, are you sure?

Anyway these places are usually limited traffic zones. Few cars/vans have permits to enter, particularly for loading and unloading purposes

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You and I'll even risk most of your close circle of friends and acquaintences might understand the teasing that comes with such a picture but would that be true to the average american?

This is the picture of a high density populated area, where there are no roads for vehicles nor wide spaces. Streets are narrow and do not form straight angles. Construction is also very old.

If I'm to try and emulate the level of idiocy I often encountered on the days of Reddit, the average american will spout "that's a fire hazard, with no room for parking or moving around in your car and the roads don't make any sense".

It's good people like you exist. Now you only need 1000x those numbers to make a dent in the idiocy running that country.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

You're literally asking for the 'average' of a country containing everything from desert to tundra to a variety of types of forest and just about every biome in between. We've got political situations ranging from state endorsed persecution and torture of minorities on the one hand to policies that are at times to the left of the European mainstream on the other.

You might as well compare Norway and Turkey as Massachusetts and Texas. In the latter case they share a federal government, but both also ignore that government when it suits them. Like, look at the confusing legal situation around marijuana in the US. It's legal in more and more states, but it's federally illegal. So like, technically it's federally illegal in states where it's legal, but we just ignore that for most purposes. It does mean that dispensaries largely have to operate with cash, though.

In Massachusetts it's even weirder. We have a ballot initiative process, so the people can make new laws by making a big enough petition and putting it on the next election ballot. That's how we passed decriminalization, then medical, then legalization. No Massachusetts politician really took up the issue and endorsed it, we just voted it in. Which forced our state law makers to basically ignore the federal prohibition.

You could also expect to see this happen in Massachusetts if, for example, abortion were federally criminalized. We already ignore other states' laws about things like family planning and immigration.

The US really isn't a monolith legally or culturally.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Any American who lives in Hurricane prone areas can't comprehend this lasting for more than a decade at best before it is washed away clean.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I'd give it 3-4 years. Maybe five if they're sturdy, but not a decade.

And yet, we continue to live directly, knowingly in the path of multiple hurricanes every year instead of simply moving. I always thought going into the construction business around the Outer Banks must be a money cheat.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

That might be about to change now that insurance companies are tightening the purse strings in areas that see a lot of Natural disasters

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

We have very few hurricanes in Europe. Most of these houses are hundreds of years old.

That being said, rising sea levels could destroy this and lots of other towns for good.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Pretty sure this is Rovinj in Croatia

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Are you even living if you can't smell your neighbor's farts?

[–] unconsciousvoidling 14 points 11 months ago

There’s two kinds of people in this world … fart smellers and smart fellers.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

At least they're not smelling everyone's car's farts

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wow that sure looks expensive

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Because it is! Looking online it looks like prices in this area are around €250k for a 400-600 sqft apartment. It looks like land just outside of this area goes for ~€200k for 0.2 acres, houses go for around €500k - 1.5mil, and townhomes go for around €200k. Rents in the area are fairly affordable at ~€475 per month (one bedroom city center) but the average salary is only ~€950 per month. Also the population is only ~15k.

The person who made the post in the image is comparing apples to oranges. My small-ish US town has a population of 10k and you can get 3 acres of land and a 2000 sq ft house for $250k. Gas station and grocery store are 10 min down the road by car. The average monthly wage is $3400 in this town.

Basically, the average person in the pictured town would need 22 years of their full salary to pay for a townhome while the average person in my town only needs 6 years of their full salary. The American mind may not be able to comprehend this picture, but it's not like most Croatians can live there either.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Who wants to live in the sticks though?

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Bro you got a whole plaza, an area with a bunch of trees and the sea less than 5min away by foot, at what point do these people need a park?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Obviously these things are subjective, but a plaza is not a replacement for a park to me - neither is an area with two dozen or so trees, I need to be able to escape into a little bit of nature every now and then

The sea is definetely a big plus, but also not a park replacement - I think pointing out it's lack of a proper green area is a fair criticism, especially given the tone of the original tweet which acts like this is the peak of human living

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

They forgot to put the foot lettuce in my burger city

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'd argue the only people who don't need a park are ones that have enough room that it's redundant. Where do children run around and play? Where can you throw a ball or frisbee around or fly a kite or have a picnic etc but a park

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

A) in the street because it's safe to do so

B) some views from the other side

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

The way this image is jpeg'd to death I thought it was a Minecraft build

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Cool but where's the parking?

[–] crazyminner 24 points 11 months ago (2 children)

There's this amazing invention called walking. And in these types of cities it only takes 15 minutes to get most things you need.

It's like a healthier, less stressful version of driving!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

But how I can I be a recluse and have others deliver me stuff without parking their 9' tall 21' long 8' wide van?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

That sounds like communism to me

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Bottom right.

Google says the town's name is Rovinj, Croatia, and Wikipedia says that, while the preferred method of getting around town is by car, the preferred method of getting around this specific part of town (the town's center, which includes the old town) is by bike or scooter, though you can also walk, of course.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rovinj

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (4 children)

If a fire broke out that whole town is burning

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Not necessarily, those houses are mostly made of stones, cement and other similar materials. Only the roof structure and some other internal structures would use wood, which means a fire would spread much slower than if those were built like american wooden houses.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Good thing there's plenty of water around, then.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

It's like a less shitty Kowloon Walled City.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Honestly I love the idea of being able to easily access places just by walking but living that close to that many people would make me go insane.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Depends. Does it have any oil we could invade?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Looks like an overcrowded mess to me.

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