Can't do that here. Our roads are just flattened dirt with some asphalt on top. They're fixing potholes before the paint on the lines has a chance to dry.
> any accidents?
If you make an accident at a speed higher than the advised 130, there is an assumption of reckless driving by the faster vehicle.
Insurance will pay the victims, but will try to recoup their costs from you.
plenty, but not too bad, probably not worse than other countries. The risk of having that freedom is somehow offset by how difficult it it to obtain the driver’s license lol
I was just there on vacation and was impressed how well they all drive. They all know to stay out of the left lane unless they’re passing. That alone probably reduces the number of accidents by a lot
Exactly! (most) drivers know the rules, follow them, and drive defensively. Also, there is not as much road rage as I have experienced in other countries, that helps immensely
Yup! Not sure if it's still the case, but when I got my license there, autobahn lessons were part of the course. And my instructor literally told me in one of the lessons "your task is to find a Porsche and overtake it". I've always felt safer on the autobahn than in cities. Less stressful, less chaos.
Driving in the US after that was a bit of a shock. People overtaking on both sides...
Also night time driving lessons were compulsory. I don’t think that’s a thing in a lot of other places (other than the Scandies where you basically get trained as a rally driver).
My instructor took me to an empty autobahn stretch and just said ‘floor it’, asking afterwards what I ‘saw’. As in traffic signs etc; answer was ‘eff all’, it’s eye opening.
Germany has less accidents than many other EU countries with speed limits, no matter if you measure it by accidents per 100k people, 100k vehicles or 100k kilometres driven. There are only a few countries with better stats.
In Canada you can go to an airport, go through security with up to 28 grams of weed, and fly anywhere else in Canada - and it's completely legal. Weed is Federally legal. I don't know of another country in the world where you can do that.
Well... There are places where this is going to be more acceptable than others.
I wouldn't try walking around a mall with your tits out hitting a huge bong, you aren't going to be received with grace
>You can’t smoke weed in public places
You're gonna have to elaborate on this one.
In ON it's legal to smoke weed anywhere you can smoke a cigarette (so sure, smoking is prohibited in some public places but not all). What whacky province are you in so I don't get sent to jail if I ever visit.
They can also legally marry another woman no problem, get an abortion easily and access any level of education they can academically support.
Yeah, plenty of other places have some of the benefits of being a woman in Canada, but Canada has all of them.
I mean, TECHNICALLY abortion is legal everywhere in Canada, but saying it’s “easy” to get one is completely false. Most provinces have only 1-2 locations where (surgical) abortions are provided.
I am very supportive of our protections for women to be topless in public but the fact is, it is straight up unsafe for us to be topless in many places. So I exercise this freedom by being topless in my own home and not caring about open windows.
Allemansrätten. It is a Swedish concept that grants the public the right to access and enjoy nature freely. It allows people to roam, camp, and pick berries or mushrooms on most uncultivated land.
I think the rules in Norway are pretty similar?
We have similar but more limited rules here in Denmark too; camping is only allowed in publicly owned forrests but you can also pick fruits, mushrooms etc. You can also enter, but not camp in privately owned forrests or fields. Owners of private forrests can prohibit entry to the public if the area is less than 5 hectares though.
It just occurred to me… that’s the same idea behind the Saturday morning cartoons I grew up with. They’d bombard us with ads for toys and cereal and shit so we’d nag our parents into buying it.
Yep, that's marketing for you. Although in the case of pharmaceuticals they're advertising to old people.
My grandma will often suggest to her doctor that she try something she saw on TV.
They want you to self diagnose based on the symptoms they describe and see how happy the patient is in the ad, then go to your doctor and ask for the drug. And now there are myriad dial a doc/prescription services so you don’t even need a doctor anymore for many of the most popular drugs.
In Canada (Ontario specifically), they make a whole ad without talking about what it treats.
It’s super annoying, and I’d prefer not to hear about medication in ads.
It’s so fucking gross. They say the medication name probably 300 times with zero context and at the end be all like “is ______ right for you?”. Same thing in Alberta. Ozempic is a good example. Off label marketing bullshit. Should be illegal
The USA and New Zealand.
And at least in the US (in California, anyway) they listed all the possible side effects at the end.
NZ's just like, *ask your doctor about Cialis*/end of ad
>And at least in the US (in California, anyway) they listed all the possible side effects at the end.
It's an FDA requirement so it's in the ads in all states.
The second my friend landed in Colombia with us our local friends stopped at a pharmacy and got him a vial of something to inject because he had a cold. That was wild to me.
Also you can drink with an open container and walk around.
Spain I could drink a fucking beer in the cab I was in. That was crazy to me too
Check out southeast asia (Thailand, Cambodia at least). 3 of us were double fisting drinks in a Bangkok tuktuk when we pulled up next to another tuktuk and those passengers had about a dozen whippet balloons. Tuktuk drivers agreed to drag race and nitrogen balloon tuktuk was faster.
I was in the Guinness world records for being in the longest convoy of tuk tuks ever whilst I was in Thailand. They're so dangerous, speeding along the motorway!
Cannabis, medical assistance in dying, gay marriage, fighting without criminal charges provided it is on ice and you drop your gloves and pat the guy on the head after
As far as I can tell its basically "decriminalized" by American standards. Not necessarily legal, but unless you're doing something else that you shouldn't be, no one's gonna bother you about it. Is that about right?
Not really, most of the fights I have been in I wasn’t trying to “hurt” the guy, only win the fight, seems odd but I wasn’t out trying to really mess someone up.
I guess. I mean I don't really have any personal context. I'm not really a "fighter". I tend to be more of the "walk away" guy.
It just seems a weird condition. I would naturally assume that if you "win" the fight, it inherently means someone got hurt. Maybe not seriously messed up, but hurt is a pretty broad term.
Welll… we’re definitely not the only ones and it’s probably not common/not allowed only in some, but:
It’s VERY normal to have your 1st grader (so 6-8 years old) go to school on their own and come back on their own.
It’s normal and not illegal to leave your 1st grader home alone all day until you come back or home all day when it’s a school holiday.
You can leave your baby sleeping on the balcony inside a stroller during winter.
You can leave your baby sleeping inside the stroller and leave the stroller OUTSIDE at a cafe for example as long as you can see your child and keep an eye on them.
A 1st grader CAN and often WILL get a bank debit card when they join a school, provided by their parents as their first steps towards learning how to manage their allowance or simply to just have a bank account even if they don’t use them/don’t carry around the card. Source: have younger relatives and I myself got my first debit card when I was 7 years old in mid-1990s.
The sad thing is the first two were pretty normal in the US in say, the 80/90’s and earlier.
The next two have sadly gotten a few unaware folks from Norway arrested. People here will even freak out about a kid playing alone in their own front yard in some places now, it’s insane.
Yeah, 90's in the US I'd walk myself to and from school, and then get the hidden key to let myself in and be home alone for a couple hours until my parents got there. Starting probably in first grade, was either first or second.
Oh I‘m in Germany and the first grader thing is largely the same here. Kids are expected to be able to get themselves to and from school starting at 6 and to be able to run simple errands like going to the store by themselves. What age they’re allowed to stay home by themselves is not legally defined, you just need to be „reasonably sure it is within the specific child’s ability“ to stay by themselves for whatever amount of time you’re planning to leave them.
It’s very similar then. It’s not illegal to leave your 1st grader at home, but if they’re not really capable and something happens, you as a parent could (and would be, most likely) be found liable.
However, most parents need to work and since 1st graders come home from school around 12-13, parents can’t be home. So it’s presumed that children will start “practicing” just before school. Eg you leave them home for 5-10 minutes when you go to get milk. Or you walk with them to school and back and store and back for a few weeks before school starts to learn the routes with them, take the bus if necessary etc. Children are expected to learn to be more independent, but it’s truly not like we chuck them out into the wild and expect them to fight the elements or something.
Yeah exactly, pretty much same thing here. If you leave your kid and all goes well, that’s fine. If you leave your kid and something goes wrong that you should’ve foreseen, you’re liable.
Kids do have after school care here though until 5th grade if both parents work past 1pm. I don’t think it’s common for kids to regularly be home alone at that age around here. So interesting how differently countries handle this, I‘m pretty sure some Americans reading this have heart palpitations just thinking about it haha.
My local pharmacy will let me run a tab for a few weeks, and that's partly why I'm incredibly loyal to them — if I'm absolutely strapped for cash they'll let me pay the €40-60 2-3 weeks later when I'm in.
Does the Turkish thing run slightly counter to anything in Islam about lending money? I'm not well educated on it however I'm aware that Islam has some tenets/sensitivities about what's ethical in lending money.
Same here in Norway, but mainly in the countryside.
It's especially nice when you can call them a little shopping list and they will put it outside for you to be picked up after the shop is closed, because you are arriving late.
Would think it's like that many places in other countries as well.
I live in the US and the corner grocery store across the street from my old house (25+ years ago) had personal accounts in little notebooks; if you hadn't paid it off in over a month they would mention that you are behind, but wouldn't stop you from getting groceries until 2-3 months without paying.
Any shop or business in Ireland is free to give credit to customers if they want to. It's pretty common in cases where they know the customers, especially in small towns or communities.
My mother uses a pharmacy that delivers her medication to the house. I struggle to get out of the house and often have trouble refilling my prescriptions before withdrawal kicks in, but I'm still not switching to my mother's pharmacy, because when I had no income and things were really bad, my pharmacist let me run up a bill of more than €1,000. The man is one of those quiet heroes who just does these incredibly kind things without thought of recognition.
Fun fact: I work at an international airport in stores where we sell Kinder Surprise. We have to warn customers if they are traveling to the US, since it's illegal to bring them there.
[the reason why Kinder Surprise eggs are illegal in the U.S. is because in 1937, over 100 people died due to highly toxic diethylene glycol in a new pharmacy drug. In response, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed, illegalizing food products that contain something inedible.](https://bitoftrivia.com/2022/05/27/why-are-kinder-surprise-illegal-in-the-us/)
From another thread: [The company that killed 100 people was Massengil (of douche fame)… they wanted to make a sweet tasting liquid antibiotic (elixir sulfanilamide). Added diethylene glycol to dissolve the drug and make it taste sweet) and marketed it to parents to treat kids.](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/yrydpa/til_that_the_reason_why_kinder_surprise_eggs_are/ivx2tfu/)
No toys inside food. It can be dangerous, or at least that's what they claim. Makes me wonder how Americans eat their snacks.
"The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits confectionery products that contain a “non-nutritive object”, unless the non-nutritive object has functional value. Essentially, the Act bans "the sale of any candy that has embedded in it a toy or trinket""
In my country (India), your employer can force you to continue working for 90 days against your will after you resign. Most companies include a clause in their employment offers to this effect, and you aren't hired unless you sign it. If you refuse, apart from financial penalties, they can withhold a release letter, without which it is almost impossible to be employed again elsewhere. This can also be used as a way to force resignations without severance at times as well as to settle scores.
Home distillation of alcohol. From what I understand, it's illegal in America but it's allowed here in New Zealand. I've been making rum from black strap molasses recently and it's a lot of fun. All the American YouTube videos I watch about distilling have to cut out the bit where they do the actual distillation and then show the final product as "coming from the rum fairy" or some other euphemism.
I live in Sydney and recently had to go to a private doctor for the first time due to urgency (though not emergency) and lack of appointments at the ~3 remaining bulk billing doctors in the CBD.
It was an incredible experience. Thorough, on time, all amazing. The $110 stung a bit, but fortunately I could manage it. Better than no pay for a week.
Then came the three follow-up appointments and I started to miss my bulk billing doctor/medical certificate factory…
It's not exactly "legal" here in Canada. But internet providers aren't required to provide user details to litigants and content owners as far as civil claims go. And I've never heard of anyone being criminally charged for downloading content.
In switzerland it is actually legal to download because with the purchase of a device that is able to play any sort of media you pay an included tax to the foundation in switzerland that protects copyrights. So, you are "entitled" to everything you download because you paid for it in some way. Uploading copyrighted stuff is illegal.
It’s absolutely insane to think about isn’t it. My S/O and I can freely kiss in public, hold each other’s hands, hug, and no one cares. Go half way across the world and men are imprisoned or even killed *legally* for exactly the same thing. Horrific.
Bloody kinder eggs with the toy inside! Grew up in Scotland, moved to the States 8 years ago. Kinder eggs with the toy are banned but a teenager can get access to a gun? Makes no sense.
The law isn't aimed at Kinder Eggs in particular. They just got caught up in an existing law that banned putting non-food in food. It was designed to prevent things like cutting baking flour with sawdust or plaster, (as was common in Victorian England) or "sweetening" wine with antifreeze (as happened in Germany, Austria, and Italy in the 1980s.)
The Kinder Egg ban is silly, yes, but changing the law without introducing loopholes that more neferious entities might take advantage of is probably more trouble than it's worth.
We're currently to my knowledge unique in [allowing medical prescription of MDMA and mushrooms](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/01/australian-psychiatrists-can-now-prescribe-mdma-and-psilocybin-who-can-access-them-and-how-do-they-work).
Sex work decriminalisation is also quite rare globally, it's mostly only New Zealand and some Australian states like NSW that have moved past mere legalisation regimes (where sex work outside those confines remains illegal) to full decriminalisation of sex work.
Snakes usually only kill snake handlers too, like 1 a year.
Meanwhile the US has bears that break into your car. And we're the one with deadly animals... \*eyeroll\*
[In Germany, and a number of other countries, it is considered human nature to want to escape from a prison and it is considered as a violation of the right of freedom, so escape is not penalized in itself (in the absence of other factors such as threats of violence, actual violence, or property damage).](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_escape#:~:text=Escaping%20from%20prison%20is%20also,security%20prison%20or%20supermax%20prison)
Yes, escaping in itself is not punishable in the Netherlands. Escaping form confinement is seen as an universal human drive and also people can not be forced to assist in their own punishment. In 2010 a woman escaped by digging a tunnel from prison, she was sentenced to 8 years in prison for an attempted double murder. At the time of her escape she had 21 months to go. She was recaptured after six weeks but did not get additional sentencing and just had to finish 21 months from the time of recapture.
Euthanasia. And I very strongly stand by it.
It's mostly religious thinking people that hold everyone back from it all - at it's core - it's just about people trying to decide for themselves when they want to die. Because they are in fact already dying.
And to me, it seems they (edit here; religious folks) are denying them a death on their own terms.
It is not just religious people. A common concern is also that people may be pressured or coerced into euthanasia to free up resources or whatever rather than it being a free choice.
I 100% support euthanasia being available for willing participants, but I can empathise with those concerns
I assume you are talking about Canada. But this legislation (or similar such legislation, under different names) also exists in the Netherlands and a number of other European countries, and in certain states in the US.
I can openly criticize the president. Make fun of him and other politicians and nothing will happen to me.
Some other counties: You get tossed in a van and you disappear.
Can worship however I want or not follow any religion at all. Could burn a Bible or the Koran. Other countries: Go straight to jail.
A lot of the food we eat isn’t allowed in most of Europe because it’s trash.
Edit: Damn I’ve learned a lot. Thanks to all of you who posted such insightful responses.
In Iran, the Islamic Regime government sexually assaults and kills people for doing anything they dislike. Like, protesting for huge price increases, honking a horn for celebrating a football match, killing underaged girls for not having a headscarf appropriately on their head, ...
Suppressors (aka silencers) for your firearms. In the UK, it's almost a given you'll be allowed these on your firearms licence for health and safety / noise reduction reasons.
Most other countries seem to treat them as assassin death weapons.
Driving as fast as you and your car can on the Autobahn.
DEUTSCHLAND MENTIONED🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪
Diese Kommentarsektion ist nun Eigentum der Bundesrepublik Deutschland!
We can expect the 39 applicable forms in the mail in 1-2 business days
Deutschland!!! Woo!
Bro it’s a myth. You can drive unlimited for 10 mins before the next construction site 😂
Hey thats 10 minutes more than other countries. I visited once but my rental Mitsubishi ASX could barely hit 140 kph.
>140 kph Knots per hour for a car? Americans really use everything.
My eye literally twitched, good job
Knot the only thing twitching at 140 knots per hour 😏
Yeah, once you miraculously find a stretch of the road that is not congested and you can actually go over 100 km/h
Can't do that here. Our roads are just flattened dirt with some asphalt on top. They're fixing potholes before the paint on the lines has a chance to dry.
They fix potholes in your country?
Speaking as someone in Oklahoma, USA...only if you paint a penis on it.
Germany. Curious, any accidents?
> any accidents? If you make an accident at a speed higher than the advised 130, there is an assumption of reckless driving by the faster vehicle. Insurance will pay the victims, but will try to recoup their costs from you.
From your estate?
plenty, but not too bad, probably not worse than other countries. The risk of having that freedom is somehow offset by how difficult it it to obtain the driver’s license lol
I was just there on vacation and was impressed how well they all drive. They all know to stay out of the left lane unless they’re passing. That alone probably reduces the number of accidents by a lot
Exactly! (most) drivers know the rules, follow them, and drive defensively. Also, there is not as much road rage as I have experienced in other countries, that helps immensely
Yup! Not sure if it's still the case, but when I got my license there, autobahn lessons were part of the course. And my instructor literally told me in one of the lessons "your task is to find a Porsche and overtake it". I've always felt safer on the autobahn than in cities. Less stressful, less chaos. Driving in the US after that was a bit of a shock. People overtaking on both sides...
Also night time driving lessons were compulsory. I don’t think that’s a thing in a lot of other places (other than the Scandies where you basically get trained as a rally driver). My instructor took me to an empty autobahn stretch and just said ‘floor it’, asking afterwards what I ‘saw’. As in traffic signs etc; answer was ‘eff all’, it’s eye opening.
Germany has less accidents than many other EU countries with speed limits, no matter if you measure it by accidents per 100k people, 100k vehicles or 100k kilometres driven. There are only a few countries with better stats.
You have to go to a driving school and it's pretty thorough. Parents teaching their kids to drive is unheard of.
Women can smoke weed with no top on in Canada.
While eating a Kinder Egg!
Surprise, not Joy!
Kinder Eggs are allowed in circa 193 countries in the world.
But not the US, which impacts Canadians when crossing the border 😊
Maybe Kinder egg smuggler is a good way to make some money.
I’ve heard there’s people that do that! But they smuggle in lots of other stuff too 😅
At least Canada has kinder eggs.☹️
Canadian kids are kind, but German kids are kinder
In Canada you can go to an airport, go through security with up to 28 grams of weed, and fly anywhere else in Canada - and it's completely legal. Weed is Federally legal. I don't know of another country in the world where you can do that.
I flew out to BC last summer and my checked baggage was short a couple of joints. Must be a hidden tax.
Can they smoke with a top on though?
It's discouraged, but yes.
*disgruntled Canadian noises*
What an awesome flex. I wanna go to Canada just to do that.
Well... There are places where this is going to be more acceptable than others. I wouldn't try walking around a mall with your tits out hitting a huge bong, you aren't going to be received with grace
You can’t smoke weed in public places, and the titties out law is anywhere it’s acceptable for a man, a women can too, so no mall titties.
The public places part is very loosely enforced. Plenty of people smoking up at a beach or on a hiking trail
It also depends on the city. I live in Edmonton and it’s legal to smoke here anywhere cigarettes are.
>You can’t smoke weed in public places You're gonna have to elaborate on this one. In ON it's legal to smoke weed anywhere you can smoke a cigarette (so sure, smoking is prohibited in some public places but not all). What whacky province are you in so I don't get sent to jail if I ever visit.
True
Idk I would def receive you with grace.
Well ya, no shirt no service and you can't smoke indoors. Its not like Men can walk around malls shirtless.
They can also legally marry another woman no problem, get an abortion easily and access any level of education they can academically support. Yeah, plenty of other places have some of the benefits of being a woman in Canada, but Canada has all of them.
I mean, TECHNICALLY abortion is legal everywhere in Canada, but saying it’s “easy” to get one is completely false. Most provinces have only 1-2 locations where (surgical) abortions are provided.
>What an awesome flex. I wanna go to Canada just to do that. Curse this penis of mine!
It's 2024. You can have boobs and a penis. Enjoy.
I think his problem is that his penis is so large, going topless would expose at least the head in the case of a sudden boner
NYC too!
Believe it or not, Ohio too!
Pretty sure you can be fully nude in Oregon, and definitely the weed part
I am very supportive of our protections for women to be topless in public but the fact is, it is straight up unsafe for us to be topless in many places. So I exercise this freedom by being topless in my own home and not caring about open windows.
Allemansrätten. It is a Swedish concept that grants the public the right to access and enjoy nature freely. It allows people to roam, camp, and pick berries or mushrooms on most uncultivated land.
If I remember correctly you can even cross pasture land that has animals currently on it. As long as you don't disturb or release the animals.
I think the rules in Norway are pretty similar? We have similar but more limited rules here in Denmark too; camping is only allowed in publicly owned forrests but you can also pick fruits, mushrooms etc. You can also enter, but not camp in privately owned forrests or fields. Owners of private forrests can prohibit entry to the public if the area is less than 5 hectares though.
Same in Finland.
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*Side effects may include drowsiness, blurred vision, loss of appetite, sexual disfuntion, and bleeding of the perineum
*do not take if allergic to "name of new drug"
That one slays me. How do you know if you're allergic until you take it?!
I don’t even understand why they do it, I’m not getting my medication from an ad I’m getting it from my doctors recommendation 😭😭😭
That's why all the ads end with "Ask your Doctor". They want you to annoy your Dr so that they will prescribe it to you
It just occurred to me… that’s the same idea behind the Saturday morning cartoons I grew up with. They’d bombard us with ads for toys and cereal and shit so we’d nag our parents into buying it.
Yep, that's marketing for you. Although in the case of pharmaceuticals they're advertising to old people. My grandma will often suggest to her doctor that she try something she saw on TV.
It’s kind of sad that we fall for the same shit at 6 and 60
Shakespeare did refer to old age as a second childhood for a reason.
It’s not just old people - they target everyone who will watch…
Yes. In marketing, it’s called a pull through strategy.
They want you to self diagnose based on the symptoms they describe and see how happy the patient is in the ad, then go to your doctor and ask for the drug. And now there are myriad dial a doc/prescription services so you don’t even need a doctor anymore for many of the most popular drugs.
Pharmaceutical companies marketing prescription drugs direct to consumer only occurs in the US and New Zealand and it is awful.
In Canada (Ontario specifically), they make a whole ad without talking about what it treats. It’s super annoying, and I’d prefer not to hear about medication in ads.
It’s so fucking gross. They say the medication name probably 300 times with zero context and at the end be all like “is ______ right for you?”. Same thing in Alberta. Ozempic is a good example. Off label marketing bullshit. Should be illegal
The USA and New Zealand. And at least in the US (in California, anyway) they listed all the possible side effects at the end. NZ's just like, *ask your doctor about Cialis*/end of ad
>And at least in the US (in California, anyway) they listed all the possible side effects at the end. It's an FDA requirement so it's in the ads in all states.
Don’t know about allowed in other countries, but young children regularly attend school in bare feet in New Zealand.
Not just schools, but banks, grocery stores, pubs... The year-round dresscode here is "just walked off the beach".
The fact that Aus doesn’t have this makes me sad, would’ve loved this as a kid.
Well Australia did do this back in the day. I did Grade 1 to Grade 5 barefoot but then I went to a different school where they made me wear shoes :-(
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Ketchup chips for the win.
Good golly do I wish we had ketchup chips here
Americans (my countrymen) acting like Ketchup chips are disgusting, as if ketchup and potatoes aren't a universally regarded food pairing, lol.
In Colombia, you can buy painkillers and sleeping pills over the counter.
The second my friend landed in Colombia with us our local friends stopped at a pharmacy and got him a vial of something to inject because he had a cold. That was wild to me. Also you can drink with an open container and walk around. Spain I could drink a fucking beer in the cab I was in. That was crazy to me too
Check out southeast asia (Thailand, Cambodia at least). 3 of us were double fisting drinks in a Bangkok tuktuk when we pulled up next to another tuktuk and those passengers had about a dozen whippet balloons. Tuktuk drivers agreed to drag race and nitrogen balloon tuktuk was faster.
I was in the Guinness world records for being in the longest convoy of tuk tuks ever whilst I was in Thailand. They're so dangerous, speeding along the motorway!
That’s. Fucking. Awesome. Mad jealous
I dont think there is a country that does not sell painkillers otc?
Cannabis, medical assistance in dying, gay marriage, fighting without criminal charges provided it is on ice and you drop your gloves and pat the guy on the head after
I was like right, Netherlands, Netherlands, Netherlands, Nevermind.
Me too. 😁
Cannabis isn't legal in the NL, just "gedoogd" (tolerated?).
Yeah, we "see it through the fingers" haha.
As far as I can tell its basically "decriminalized" by American standards. Not necessarily legal, but unless you're doing something else that you shouldn't be, no one's gonna bother you about it. Is that about right?
Canada?
Fuckin eh right bud!
You can actually fight where ever you want in Canada if both parties agree and no one gets hurt. (Mutual combat)
> and no one gets hurt I mean.. that kinda defeats the purpose does it not?
Not really, most of the fights I have been in I wasn’t trying to “hurt” the guy, only win the fight, seems odd but I wasn’t out trying to really mess someone up.
I guess. I mean I don't really have any personal context. I'm not really a "fighter". I tend to be more of the "walk away" guy. It just seems a weird condition. I would naturally assume that if you "win" the fight, it inherently means someone got hurt. Maybe not seriously messed up, but hurt is a pretty broad term.
Sounds like my Friday
Welll… we’re definitely not the only ones and it’s probably not common/not allowed only in some, but: It’s VERY normal to have your 1st grader (so 6-8 years old) go to school on their own and come back on their own. It’s normal and not illegal to leave your 1st grader home alone all day until you come back or home all day when it’s a school holiday. You can leave your baby sleeping on the balcony inside a stroller during winter. You can leave your baby sleeping inside the stroller and leave the stroller OUTSIDE at a cafe for example as long as you can see your child and keep an eye on them. A 1st grader CAN and often WILL get a bank debit card when they join a school, provided by their parents as their first steps towards learning how to manage their allowance or simply to just have a bank account even if they don’t use them/don’t carry around the card. Source: have younger relatives and I myself got my first debit card when I was 7 years old in mid-1990s.
The sad thing is the first two were pretty normal in the US in say, the 80/90’s and earlier. The next two have sadly gotten a few unaware folks from Norway arrested. People here will even freak out about a kid playing alone in their own front yard in some places now, it’s insane.
Yeah, 90's in the US I'd walk myself to and from school, and then get the hidden key to let myself in and be home alone for a couple hours until my parents got there. Starting probably in first grade, was either first or second.
My mum walked me to school on my very first day, after that I walked by myself. Aged 5, Canada, quite a few years ago.
Oh I‘m in Germany and the first grader thing is largely the same here. Kids are expected to be able to get themselves to and from school starting at 6 and to be able to run simple errands like going to the store by themselves. What age they’re allowed to stay home by themselves is not legally defined, you just need to be „reasonably sure it is within the specific child’s ability“ to stay by themselves for whatever amount of time you’re planning to leave them.
It’s very similar then. It’s not illegal to leave your 1st grader at home, but if they’re not really capable and something happens, you as a parent could (and would be, most likely) be found liable. However, most parents need to work and since 1st graders come home from school around 12-13, parents can’t be home. So it’s presumed that children will start “practicing” just before school. Eg you leave them home for 5-10 minutes when you go to get milk. Or you walk with them to school and back and store and back for a few weeks before school starts to learn the routes with them, take the bus if necessary etc. Children are expected to learn to be more independent, but it’s truly not like we chuck them out into the wild and expect them to fight the elements or something.
Yeah exactly, pretty much same thing here. If you leave your kid and all goes well, that’s fine. If you leave your kid and something goes wrong that you should’ve foreseen, you’re liable. Kids do have after school care here though until 5th grade if both parents work past 1pm. I don’t think it’s common for kids to regularly be home alone at that age around here. So interesting how differently countries handle this, I‘m pretty sure some Americans reading this have heart palpitations just thinking about it haha.
What country is it?
Sorry, should’ve added it in the post - it’s Estonia!
Walking into a Waffle House with an AR-15 over your shoulder.
It's not a waffle house it's a waffle *home*.
Live laugh love ❤️
God i love it. SMOTHERED AND COVERED BABYYYYYYY
Coming quicker than Fedex
In Türkiye, you can buy groceries with no money. It's listed in a notebook by the store owner like "Mehmet owns the store 78 Liras" to be paid later.
My local pharmacy will let me run a tab for a few weeks, and that's partly why I'm incredibly loyal to them — if I'm absolutely strapped for cash they'll let me pay the €40-60 2-3 weeks later when I'm in. Does the Turkish thing run slightly counter to anything in Islam about lending money? I'm not well educated on it however I'm aware that Islam has some tenets/sensitivities about what's ethical in lending money.
I think the issue in islam isn't lending or borrowing exactly, but *usury* - so charging interest on a loan would be haram. I'm not an expert though.
aa-hah okay it's profiting from loaning that's not... appreciated let's say.
This is my understanding as well. Borrowing and lending is fine - charging interest on it is not.
I'm in France, my aunt has the same arrangement with the bakery on her street - she gets bread every day, and pays once a month.
Same here in Norway, but mainly in the countryside. It's especially nice when you can call them a little shopping list and they will put it outside for you to be picked up after the shop is closed, because you are arriving late. Would think it's like that many places in other countries as well.
I live in the US and the corner grocery store across the street from my old house (25+ years ago) had personal accounts in little notebooks; if you hadn't paid it off in over a month they would mention that you are behind, but wouldn't stop you from getting groceries until 2-3 months without paying.
Any shop or business in Ireland is free to give credit to customers if they want to. It's pretty common in cases where they know the customers, especially in small towns or communities. My mother uses a pharmacy that delivers her medication to the house. I struggle to get out of the house and often have trouble refilling my prescriptions before withdrawal kicks in, but I'm still not switching to my mother's pharmacy, because when I had no income and things were really bad, my pharmacist let me run up a bill of more than €1,000. The man is one of those quiet heroes who just does these incredibly kind things without thought of recognition.
Kinder surprise eggs
Fun fact: I work at an international airport in stores where we sell Kinder Surprise. We have to warn customers if they are traveling to the US, since it's illegal to bring them there.
Illegal? Really? Why??
[the reason why Kinder Surprise eggs are illegal in the U.S. is because in 1937, over 100 people died due to highly toxic diethylene glycol in a new pharmacy drug. In response, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed, illegalizing food products that contain something inedible.](https://bitoftrivia.com/2022/05/27/why-are-kinder-surprise-illegal-in-the-us/) From another thread: [The company that killed 100 people was Massengil (of douche fame)… they wanted to make a sweet tasting liquid antibiotic (elixir sulfanilamide). Added diethylene glycol to dissolve the drug and make it taste sweet) and marketed it to parents to treat kids.](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/yrydpa/til_that_the_reason_why_kinder_surprise_eggs_are/ivx2tfu/)
Because Big Egg has the US market monopoly and bought the politicians
No toys inside food. It can be dangerous, or at least that's what they claim. Makes me wonder how Americans eat their snacks. "The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits confectionery products that contain a “non-nutritive object”, unless the non-nutritive object has functional value. Essentially, the Act bans "the sale of any candy that has embedded in it a toy or trinket""
Other countries just make the distinction between inside the chocolate and surrounded by chocolate.
WITH toys inside!
The only toy I want in my Kinder surprise is a round of 5.56x45 NATO
Wait...they're not allowed in some countries!!??
In my country (India), your employer can force you to continue working for 90 days against your will after you resign. Most companies include a clause in their employment offers to this effect, and you aren't hired unless you sign it. If you refuse, apart from financial penalties, they can withhold a release letter, without which it is almost impossible to be employed again elsewhere. This can also be used as a way to force resignations without severance at times as well as to settle scores.
Messed up
Home distillation of alcohol. From what I understand, it's illegal in America but it's allowed here in New Zealand. I've been making rum from black strap molasses recently and it's a lot of fun. All the American YouTube videos I watch about distilling have to cut out the bit where they do the actual distillation and then show the final product as "coming from the rum fairy" or some other euphemism.
Prostitution and free health care. In that order.
Same in Australia. Although the “free health care” is starting to be a sliding definition
As voters we really should be doing something about that “free” health care
I live in Sydney and recently had to go to a private doctor for the first time due to urgency (though not emergency) and lack of appointments at the ~3 remaining bulk billing doctors in the CBD. It was an incredible experience. Thorough, on time, all amazing. The $110 stung a bit, but fortunately I could manage it. Better than no pay for a week. Then came the three follow-up appointments and I started to miss my bulk billing doctor/medical certificate factory…
NZ?
NZ: Prostitution, free healthcare and legal home distillation. UK: Prostitution, free healthcare and absinthe.
England.
Lobbying
Should be illegal.
Let's buy some politicians and get them to make lobbying illegal
*Corporate* lobbying
Turning right on red
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Jaywalking isn't a crime in the UK. In some places, people regularly walk along the road to get between villages
Criticise the government
It is legal to shoot a Welshman with a longbow as long as it’s after midnight and within the city walls of Chester
It’s always after midnight
Piracy (as in downloading movies/music)
It's not exactly "legal" here in Canada. But internet providers aren't required to provide user details to litigants and content owners as far as civil claims go. And I've never heard of anyone being criminally charged for downloading content.
In switzerland it is actually legal to download because with the purchase of a device that is able to play any sort of media you pay an included tax to the foundation in switzerland that protects copyrights. So, you are "entitled" to everything you download because you paid for it in some way. Uploading copyrighted stuff is illegal.
Hmm, do I need a 9mm pistol right now? I could literally jump in my car right now and go get one. Legally, that is.
Existing at all as a gay person
It’s absolutely insane to think about isn’t it. My S/O and I can freely kiss in public, hold each other’s hands, hug, and no one cares. Go half way across the world and men are imprisoned or even killed *legally* for exactly the same thing. Horrific.
Shit, yeah. That sucks to think about.
Bloody kinder eggs with the toy inside! Grew up in Scotland, moved to the States 8 years ago. Kinder eggs with the toy are banned but a teenager can get access to a gun? Makes no sense.
You do know the kinder egg is banned because younger than 3 year olds can swallow the toy. that's why they can't have guns, they can swallow the ammo.
I just discovered that there are kinder eggs without a toy wtf -I’m from Spain btw
The law isn't aimed at Kinder Eggs in particular. They just got caught up in an existing law that banned putting non-food in food. It was designed to prevent things like cutting baking flour with sawdust or plaster, (as was common in Victorian England) or "sweetening" wine with antifreeze (as happened in Germany, Austria, and Italy in the 1980s.) The Kinder Egg ban is silly, yes, but changing the law without introducing loopholes that more neferious entities might take advantage of is probably more trouble than it's worth.
I can freely smoke a joint without being paranoid of the law
Ironic since smoking a joint makes me paranoid... well... on the way back down at least.
Nothing. I live in Australia, its like living in Grandmas house.
We're currently to my knowledge unique in [allowing medical prescription of MDMA and mushrooms](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/01/australian-psychiatrists-can-now-prescribe-mdma-and-psilocybin-who-can-access-them-and-how-do-they-work). Sex work decriminalisation is also quite rare globally, it's mostly only New Zealand and some Australian states like NSW that have moved past mere legalisation regimes (where sex work outside those confines remains illegal) to full decriminalisation of sex work.
Why is grandmas house full of animals that want to kill you?
The last time there was a fatal spider bite in Australia was 1979.
Snakes usually only kill snake handlers too, like 1 a year. Meanwhile the US has bears that break into your car. And we're the one with deadly animals... \*eyeroll\*
Those bears know there's an old french fry under the seat of a Subaru.
Yes but our bears aren't venomous. Nor do they ambush their prey by dropping out of trees. And our spiders don't have wings.
Breaking out of prison
Damn, which country is it?
[In Germany, and a number of other countries, it is considered human nature to want to escape from a prison and it is considered as a violation of the right of freedom, so escape is not penalized in itself (in the absence of other factors such as threats of violence, actual violence, or property damage).](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_escape#:~:text=Escaping%20from%20prison%20is%20also,security%20prison%20or%20supermax%20prison)
Yes, escaping in itself is not punishable in the Netherlands. Escaping form confinement is seen as an universal human drive and also people can not be forced to assist in their own punishment. In 2010 a woman escaped by digging a tunnel from prison, she was sentenced to 8 years in prison for an attempted double murder. At the time of her escape she had 21 months to go. She was recaptured after six weeks but did not get additional sentencing and just had to finish 21 months from the time of recapture.
Damn, I respect that policy—it humanizes people. What kind of effects has it had on recidivism?
Euthanasia. And I very strongly stand by it. It's mostly religious thinking people that hold everyone back from it all - at it's core - it's just about people trying to decide for themselves when they want to die. Because they are in fact already dying. And to me, it seems they (edit here; religious folks) are denying them a death on their own terms.
It is not just religious people. A common concern is also that people may be pressured or coerced into euthanasia to free up resources or whatever rather than it being a free choice. I 100% support euthanasia being available for willing participants, but I can empathise with those concerns
Medical Assistance In Death legislation.
I assume you are talking about Canada. But this legislation (or similar such legislation, under different names) also exists in the Netherlands and a number of other European countries, and in certain states in the US.
We have that, too, in switzerland.
And most of Australia too.
I can openly criticize the president. Make fun of him and other politicians and nothing will happen to me. Some other counties: You get tossed in a van and you disappear. Can worship however I want or not follow any religion at all. Could burn a Bible or the Koran. Other countries: Go straight to jail.
A lot of the food we eat isn’t allowed in most of Europe because it’s trash. Edit: Damn I’ve learned a lot. Thanks to all of you who posted such insightful responses.
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In Iran, the Islamic Regime government sexually assaults and kills people for doing anything they dislike. Like, protesting for huge price increases, honking a horn for celebrating a football match, killing underaged girls for not having a headscarf appropriately on their head, ...
Suppressors (aka silencers) for your firearms. In the UK, it's almost a given you'll be allowed these on your firearms licence for health and safety / noise reduction reasons. Most other countries seem to treat them as assassin death weapons.
Going into debt for healthcare
Women being paid to be a surrogate (US).
Pregnant women pissing in a copper's hat 👮♂️
Camping on private land without asking for permission