Is Russia really that bad?

[Dinner]

On the upside you can get great Sikh/northern Indian food dirt cheap in Van Nuys due to all of the Sikh immigrants. For some odd reason tons of Sikhs move to Yuba City (north of Sacramento) too even though there is nothing to do there but farm; I went there for a (Sikh) friend's wedding and the town was something like 3/4th's Indian with Sikhs being the main group.

[Asher]

There's also a different concept in the US and Canada.

In the US, immigrants are frequently pressured to conform and fit in. In Canada, they retain more of their cultural identity and traditions while still acclimatizing to their new home.

[onodera]

We had the same lawsuit in Canada, but Canada seems to value religious freedoms more than the US. Go figure.

Sikhs are allowed kirpans in schools.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2006/03/02/kirpan-scoc060302.html

I should start a religion with ceremonial flamethrowers.

[Riesstiu IV]

Hmmm, isn't fire important for Zoroastrianism?

[Dinner]

There's also a different concept in the US and Canada.

In the US, immigrants are frequently pressured to conform and fit in. In Canada, they retain more of their cultural identity and traditions while still acclimatizing to their new home.

That's true. My Sikh buddy told me that when he moved to America as a kid the other children picked on him and bullied him because he wore the headdress and didn't cut his hair. He begged his dad to let him cut his hair "American style" (Sikh men aren't traditionally supposed to cut their hair) but his dad wouldn't let him. Finally after he got into a fight at school his mom took him to a barber shop because he kept begging her because he wanted to fit in. His dad wasn't happy but finally accepted it after the deed was done.

[Riesstiu IV]

On the upside you can get great Sikh/northern Indian food dirt cheap in Van Nuys due to all of the Sikh immigrants. For some odd reason tons of Sikhs move to Yuba City (north of Sacramento) too even though there is nothing to do there but farm; I went there for a (Sikh) friend's wedding and the town was something like 3/4th's Indian with Sikhs being the main group.

North Indian food is delicious but it tends to be very carbohydrate rich diet. Some dishes consist of nothing but bread, lentils or beans. It seems like a lot of Sikhs become significantly overweight by the time they are middle aged. It's not to hard to make the food either if you can find a store that sells Indian produce.

Now I've seen everything.

[Kitschum]

On the other hand, I have seen a road from Moscow to Vladimir that has more potholes than tarmac and is considered a good one.

Yeah, the Sheikhdom of Norway has the same problem.

I know that it would be impossible to do all of this at the same time with our oil money, but whither has it gone?

You can't buy progress with "free" money from oil. Look at Venezuela or even Saudi Arabia.

[Dinner]

Don't sikhs make up a large part of the officer corp in the Indian army? I know during the Raj there were a number of Anglo-Sikh wars but the sikhs fought so well that after the British won they made sikhs a large part of the British Army of India. There were several sikh generals in the Boer War, WW1, and WW2 as well.

[Dinner]

You can't buy progress with "free" money from oil. Look at Venezuela or even Saudi Arabia.

The "resource curse". Often times the flood of easy money results in poor economic choices (the easy money enables them to keep poor policies in place instead of reforming), increased corruption (all that money laying around is so tempting), and worse capital intensive resource extraction tends to suck up all the available capital leaving little to develop other sectors of the economy. Now, Norway was already a developed country before oil was discovered so it's better off then most since it started off higher up but this is certainly true for numerous third world countries.

[Hauldren Collider]

That's true. My Sikh buddy told me that when he moved to America as a kid the other children picked on him and bullied him because he wore the headdress and didn't cut his hair. He begged his dad to let him cut his hair "American style" (Sikh men aren't traditionally supposed to cut their hair) but his dad wouldn't let him. Finally after he got into a fight at school his mom took him to a barber shop because he kept begging her because he wanted to fit in. His dad wasn't happy but finally accepted it after the deed was done.

Oh no, the boy was pressured into cutting his hair...let's all shed a single tear for his cultural identity.

This really isn't any different than getting called "four-eyes" except instead of a medical condition it's a religious tradition.

[Dinner]

I am not saying it is terrible simply that there is more pressure to conform in the US compared to Canada. Thus all those immigrants who changed their family names to more "American" sounding ones, etc...

[Kitschum]

The "resource curse". Often times the flood of easy money results in poor economic choices (the easy money enables them to keep poor policies in place instead of reforming), increased corruption (all that money laying around is so tempting), and worse capital intensive resource extraction tends to suck up all the available capital leaving little to develop other sectors of the economy. Now, Norway was already a developed country before oil was discovered so it's better off then most since it started off higher up but this is certainly true for numerous third world countries.

I think Norway was on the poor side for Scandinavia (granted, it still would be nowhere near Russia let alone the 3rd world) before they had the oil boom but I'd have to check to be sure. Now of course they're super rich and one of the most expensive countries to live in the world.

I should say I don't exactly think the Norwegian road money is parked in some Caribbean banking account but the roads in Norway are famously poor quality and narrow.

I found some stats about their roads. It's in Norwegian but what it says is that the main roads in Norway have the lowest average speeds of 12 compared European countries, and lower than Albania. Sweden and Switzerland are in the middle and the fastest roads are in France and Germany. Detailed table at the link:

http://ofv.no/presse_1/artikler_2010/hovedveiene_i_norge_har_laveste_gjennomsnittsfart_av_12_europeiske_land/

They have relatively speaking been very prudent with their oil fund, but there are still signs that they think it means they don't have to try as hard as they should. A lot of Swedish kids go to Norway to work including several of my friends. I once considered going there to gut fish or something because the pay was double any summer job here. My point is everyone was at some point told they worked much harder than the lazy (young) Norwegians.

Edit: Rearranged the paragraphs for clarity.

[giblets]

Oh no, the boy was pressured into cutting his hair...let's all shed a single tear for his cultural identity.

This really isn't any different than getting called "four-eyes" except instead of a medical condition it's a religious tradition.

Do people actually say "four-eyes"? I've never heard it in real life. Also, treating someone like crap because they wear glasses would be unacceptable, and so would bullying a kid with long hair.

[Asher]

Oh no, the boy was pressured into cutting his hair...let's all shed a single tear for his cultural identity.

This really isn't any different than getting called "four-eyes" except instead of a medical condition it's a religious tradition.

It's more an example of the Xenophobic behaviour Americans tend to display, while Canadians embrace the different.

[giblets]

HC is going to throw a fit because you have an opinion of America that he doesn't like.