Where should toj emigrate?
Jul 10 2008 18:03
Let's face it: Israel is more pleasant than the newscasts would have you think, but it's still kind of a dump, and things are and will be deteriorating, even if we don't assume that the whole place will be nuked in the near future. So, where should I go?
The US seems like the obvious option, considering that I have a citizenship and that the weakening dollar may well make employment there soar due to back-out-sourcing (it's already cheaper to hire an American than an Israeli for the same high-tech job, or so I've read). Canada is a viable alternative, will be easy for a US citizen to live and work there, and it's a lot like the US only in metric.
Most of Europe isn't very anglophone, so unless I go to the UK (which is bloody expensive), I'll have to start improving my very rudimentary French, say.
Australia/New Zealand could be another alternative, though I'm not sure of how easy it is to live and work there if you're not already a citizen.
Other suggestions? I'm aiming for a metropolitan area since I'd really rather have all the amenities involved (public transportation, 24/7 entertainment and grocery shopping, etc.), and for a relatively benign environment (i.e. not London's "Screw you for being alive and on my way to work/lunch/five O'Clock binge, you cunt!" mentality). I also would rather it be in the English speaking world since it's the language I'd find it easiest to get along in, though I'm willing to consider other kinds of places, if English can give me a head-start.
Jul 10 2008 18:56
#2
U-S-A! U-S-A!
Sure, we're politically backwards...but there is so much money here. I fucking hate living in Houston (all of the soullessness you'd expect from a bloated US metropolis) but there are jobs everywhere and the housing is cheap!
Jul 10 2008 19:38
#3
enggerland.
Jul 10 2008 19:41
#4
Khawaga: Is it true that they give you single cookies out of a box which they keep closed?
Antieverything:
Isn't housing getting expensive, with all this sub-prime crash? Or, well, on the other hand, if a lot of people are being evicted from their homes, this does open up real-estate.. I really have issues with this whole Mile-Inch-Gallon business. I mean, isn't it time that you people moved up to the 20th century? I'm not asking for the 21st century, mind, I know my audience..
How is water over there?
Jul 10 2008 19:43
#5
ein auslander: Is that somewhere in Idaho?
Jul 10 2008 19:52
#6
Quote:
Khawaga: Is it true that they give you single cookies out of a box which they keep closed?
in a nutshell - yeah.
Jul 10 2008 19:54
#7
I don't think I'd like that. I like people to be warmer.
Jul 10 2008 19:59
#8
treeofjudas wrote:
ein auslander: Is that somewhere in Idaho?
something like that. live in nepal, that's where i want to live.
Jul 10 2008 20:03
#9
toj: The housing and everything really depends on where you are. I personally haven't noticed much difference at all, and living in a college town, finding real estate is never exactly a problem, especially in the spring.
And living in Colorado, the water is awesome. As is the beer.
As for metrics...I'll change over when they come out with a metric system for measuring time. Base-10 for everything else, but base-24 and base-60 for mapping out my day? No thank you; might as well stick with none of the measurements making sense.
Jul 11 2008 00:25
#10
Didn't the Soviet Union try out a metric calender? I know there were also some French experiments with 10-hr days.
As far as Houston goes, housing market is strong. Remember, that the subprime thing only affected some markets in a big way and was pretty unnoticable in others due to the overall growth...at least that's what my friend's uncle who's in real estate says.
Also, the water is going to be pretty decent almost anywhere in the US. I've heard of some safety scares but I'm sure that happens all over.
Jul 10 2008 21:12
#11
ein auslander: Too underdeveloped. I want my tram/bus/subway, dammit!
Rev. Tap: With all due respect, Reverend, you're talking out of your ass. Just because one measure hasn't been properly rationalized, mostly due to historical, religious, and natural reasons (Earth's rotation, Earth's period around the Sun, Moon's period around the Earth) that have to do with our as yet incomplete control of agriculture, we should measure distances and lengths in inches, yards, feet and miles, weights in lbs, (non-metric) tons and stones, and volumes in gallons, pints, etc? That's crazy talk. You're crazy. Insane. Deranged. Feeble of mind. Out of this world.
Antieverything: The water thing may seem a trifle to you, but Israel's water is running out.. there's going to be a mess in a few weeks, or so, now that they are days away from being unable to pump any water out of the Sea of Galilee (this should give you a sense of scale, as any of the Great Lakes is bigger than historic Palestine, yet this mote on the map is considered a sea, ffs).
Jul 10 2008 21:15
#12
TOJ, I'd move to the States for most of the reasons you mention.You're already a citizen, you'd be crazy not to. Canada has a better health care system, shoot, practically everywhere has a better health care system, but they're picky about US citizens working there.
Jul 10 2008 21:26
#13
Plus, Americans are all fat and stupid (fact I got off of TV and SomethingAwful.com), I'd be a king there.
So where should I live there? Has any state moved to metric?
Jul 10 2008 21:45
#14
Most products have metric and old fashioned measurements on labels, which helps. The distance thing would be a problem. I don't think an individual state could convert, it would play hell with interstate commerce.
As to where. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/ Best places to live rated in lots of differing categories.
Jul 10 2008 21:59
#15
Come to Belfast. We have the soundest anarchists - we're all a good laugh. It's cheaper than most of the UK.
Plus Belfast people are nice, but also kinda scary so it's got that cool factor that at least you wouldn't be living in a poncy part of UK like Brighton.
Jul 10 2008 22:06
#16
Bah, Brighton. Every time I hear of this place, I think "Tel Aviv Activist Scene" * Gazilion.. Brr. Wouldn't they deport my yank/kike ass faster than an Irishman drinks a pint of Guiness, or some other culturally insensitive simile? How's public transport there? How cold is it in winter? What's the overland speed of an unladen swallow in them parts?
Jul 10 2008 22:11
#17
Presuming it isn't carrying a coconut?
Belfast winter is cold, windy, and wet
Belfast summer is less cold, less windy, but just as wet.
Public transport is awful, but it's small enough that you can walk anywhere that's worth going.
Jul 10 2008 22:27
#18
xConorx wrote:
Public transport is awful.
Here, shut up.
Jul 10 2008 22:55
#19
Oh except Notch8's trains.
Just the ones he drives though - the rest are drunk sex pests.
Jul 10 2008 23:12
#20
If you can get work there i'd do germany, public transports good, you can get to anywhere in europe cheaply and easily, reasonable public services (and ones which are more likely to be there in ten years time) and big unions.
Wgile pensions are good welfare and the casual economy there sounds really shite though so i think it;d only be worth it if you have organised work plans. Though once your a citizen you can doss around at one of their universities for ages, a german degree lasts a somewhat ridiculous 5 years from what i hear.
Jul 11 2008 04:17
#21
"With all due respect?" Since when am I due respect?
Don't take my anti-metric bullshittery too seriously. We don't have a whole lot of air at this altitude and that was my oxygen-starved brain's attempt at humor.
We do have really really good beer, though. That alone should be enough.
Jul 11 2008 07:45
#22
Reverend Tap wrote:
"With all due respect?" Since when am I due respect?
Well you are a man of the cloth, after all. Kind of a dirty cloth you'd find under the sink where the cat dumped it after his "accident", maybe, but still.
Reverend Tap wrote:
Don't take my anti-metric bullshittery too seriously. We don't have a whole lot of air at this altitude and that was my oxygen-starved brain's attempt at humor.
I don't usually use a ridiculously long string of silly abuse unless I'm being facetious. Well, unless I'm drunk. And sometimes when I'm sober. Not usually, though.
Reverend Tap wrote:
We do have really really good beer, though. That alone should be enough.
I don't like beer. I like the harder stuff, that gets you drunk in a hurry, that way you don't have to taste the alcohol for too long. Yeast piss as a drink, who'd a thunk it?
Jul 11 2008 07:48
#23
cantdocartwheels wrote:
If you can get work there i'd do germany, public transports good, you can get to anywhere in europe cheaply and easily, reasonable public services (and ones which are more likely to be there in ten years time) and big unions.
Wgile pensions are good welfare and the casual economy there sounds really shite though so i think it;d only be worth it if you have organised work plans. Though once your a citizen you can doss around at one of their universities for ages, a german degree lasts a somewhat ridiculous 5 years from what i hear.
Isn't there a law over there, though, retained from the time of Bismark, that if you're more than two minutes late for a meeting with someone they're allowed to shoot you as if it were self-defense?
Jul 11 2008 08:12
#24
Dont come to Ireland we hate jews and are planning a pogrom against them soon enough. 
Jul 11 2008 08:18
#25
Nooo! Not teh j00z!
Jul 11 2008 08:18
#26
treeofjudas wrote:
I don't think I'd like that. I like people to be warmer.
oh what like israelis? 
Even the Rough Guide says israelis are the rudest people in world lol
Jul 11 2008 08:23
#27
They are the new South Africans. Great ice breaker at parties, "oh hai - im from israel, yeh that israel".
Jul 11 2008 09:29
#28
Weeler wrote:
Dont come to Ireland we hate jews and are planning a pogrom against them soon enough. :)
I'm still not sure if you're talking of the real Ireland or that fake one that's actually a part of England.
Jul 11 2008 09:32
#29
Yeah, that's 'cause it was written by a Brit. Israelis may be rude, but they're warm and helpful, they love helping out tourists (in hopes of getting into their pants), as opposed to pushing them out of the way like the bloody Londoners. Also, if you're staying at an Israeli's home, you're welcome to just use all of their stuff, loot their fridge, fondle their privates, etc. Well, the last one's only if you're a good-looking tourist and you play your cards right.
Jul 11 2008 09:34
#30
Weeler wrote:
They are the new South Africans. Great ice breaker at parties, "oh hai - im from israel, yeh that israel".
It beats being an American, though.
The Netherlands is ok if you want to live with English speakers. Most of them are bilingual. Rotterdam is buzzing, and Utrecht is a very nice place (in a quaint kind of way). You can get a job there without speaking Dutch. But Dutchies are xenophobic, rude and cheap - huge cons.
Other than that there are plenty of developing countries where English will give you a head start.