Peak Garbage in Sweden

[noddy]

i think horrid winters lends itself to both organisation and creativity.

you need to be exceptionally well organised to exploit the short fertile season well enough to survive the long winter and then you get plenty of thinking and experimentation time for the goal of making next season even better.

Has never worked with Russians. Scandinavia was poor and backward until hydro electric power came along early last century - all those Norwegians who had to flee to Lake Wobegon to seek their fortunes...

The one thing Scandinavians and Russians do have in common is a capacity to drink to excess, that is one way to to forget the long dark cold winters.

true enough , broad brush rules are always suspect in the detail.

i still think strong seasons help for those qualities, barring the angkor wat type exceptions (migration?) it doesnt seem as common in the constant temperature tropical regions... then again maybe thats spenglermatic material.

drinking to excess isnt exactly uncommon in these parts either

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... onsumption says the swedes are about the same as us and below the anglos and french and the eastern europeans - quite surprising.

moldovia is in a league of their own, ymix you are falling behind.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

i think horrid winters lends itself to both organisation and creativity.

you need to be exceptionally well organised to exploit the short fertile season well enough to survive the long winter and then you get plenty of thinking and experimentation time for the goal of making next season even better.

Has never worked with Russians. Scandinavia was poor and backward until hydro electric power came along early last century - all those Norwegians who had to flee to Lake Wobegon to seek their fortunes...

The one thing Scandinavians and Russians do have in common is a capacity to drink to excess, that is one way to to forget the long dark cold winters.

true enough , broad brush rules are always suspect in the detail.

i still think strong seasons help for those qualities, barring the angkor wat type exceptions (migration?) it doesnt seem as common in the constant temperature tropical regions... then again maybe thats spenglermatic material.

drinking to excess isnt exactly uncommon in these parts either

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... onsumption says the swedes are about the same as us and below the anglos and french and the eastern europeans - quite surprising.

moldovia is in a league of their own, ymix you are falling behind.

One thing about Scandinavian consumption: it is severely hampered by very very high alcohol taxes and gov't monopolies on alcohol that suppress the numbers in some sort of faux-prohibition. I forget which country, Sweden I think; is discussing lowering the tax to make alcohol affordable; and the party against it have campaigning on a reminder that the last time they attempted this, drinking and all its injuries exploded.

[noddy]

im not sure its at swedish levels and canna be bothered researching but australia is also very heavy on such taxes and its getting more so every year - the latest is a minimum price for a bottle no matter how poor the quality and special taxes for drinks youngens like (pre mixed spirits)

the other factor missing from this comparison is the rise of party drugs and marijuana - many of the younger generations in aus have moved from alcohol to these and alcohol is no longer the single reliable metric for general intoxication levels

it would be interesting to get the figures on all that and do a true cross comparison hmm.. half bottle of spirits = gram of good dope = 1 party pill perhaps.

[Endovelico]

Re weather: Yeah, winters are grim for weak Mediteranean types. They get SAD a lot.

We aren't weak, we are smart. We know human beings are not supposed to live in places where there is no sun, no warmth, no wine, no sunny beaches, no half-naked girls hopping around in the sunlight, no midday naps...