Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Nothing earth-shattering or politically edgy here, but having recently moved to UK after 10 years in Japan, I really wish we'd adopt the whole "remove your street shoes when entering a home" thing...

 AlexHolker wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Scottish take on r*pe allegations (apologies for the spelling. Work filter, not trying to look edgy).

Onus is on the accused to show the alleged victim gave active consent.

If the alleged victim was drunk/stoned/unconscious etc, considered incapable of giving consent - much the same legal thinking as people under the age of consent.

"Active consent" does not necessarily produce physical evidence that can be presented in court. Declaring a man guilty by default of rape because he didn't get his sexual partner to express her consent in writing is obscene.

Seems ridiculous, no one can prove what is said behind closed doors. That someone can point the finger at someone for something so serious and the onus falls upon them to prove a private conversation went differently is indeed obscene and somewhat impossible for them. No wonder they have the ‘guilty but not proven’ verdict to stitch people up when you haven’t got evidence.

Apparently rape trials in Scotland disproportionately end in a ‘not proven’ verdict rather than genuine acquittal compared to other crimes, amounts to a tenth of rape trials. Rather dubious.

The USA's system of residential addresses could be useful to other countries with breathtakingly archaic and complex systems. Seriously, some places' addresses can take up to five or seven lines.

 Frazzled wrote:
1. Canadian or Swiss medical system.

Yes, I agree. I'd say the NHS but we'd just screw it up.

I think if you're in the US it's hard to say anything else other than one thing thing we obviously do way worse than every other 1st world country.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Along with making Election day a national holiday lasting a period of at least 3 whole days, during which time employers must give all of their employees at least one day off to go vote.

Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

1. Gondolas. Not the boats in Venice, the overhead hanging from a cable things. Statistically, they are (by far) the cheapest, fastest to build mass public transportation. A Gondola system moving at a constant 3.5 miles per hour will get you to your destination faster than a bus or subway you wait for and could be caught in traffic. They are harder to vandalize, and require less maintenance and fewer workers to operate.

2. Get rid of birthright citizenship

This isn’t a government thing as such, but I’d like Australian Gw to adopt the “reasonable” prices the rest of the world gets

 whembly wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
The U.S. needs more ruins of ancient civilizations like Turkey, Greece, Rome, etc. I guess we have some cool stuff like mounds and pueblos, but we need more!

The guy who built Carhenge had the right idea!

We do!
Monks Mound.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Pueblo Native Americans.

Spoiler:

I've been to those cliff villages. Some of them are crazy difficult to get to. Also those are pre-pueblo.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Lorek wrote:
If we're just freewheeling about "what would be cool", that'll fly even if you're talking about the US.

Just don't start arguing stances and such.

Speaking of stances, we should adopt hakka war dances before all birthdays and sporting events. I am trying to convince my wife's tennis team to start with a hakka.

 Frazzled wrote:

Speaking of stances, we should adopt hakka war dances before all birthdays and sporting events. I am trying to convince my wife's tennis team to start with a hakka.

The haka is cool because of the passion the NZ teams and people have for it. Another mob just picking it up wouldn't have the same impact

Good god no. No more hakas ever please unless its for rugby.
Still this was pretty cool (and a much better haka than the crap the All Blacks use).

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
Apparently rape trials in Scotland disproportionately end in a ‘not proven’ verdict rather than genuine acquittal compared to other crimes, amounts to a tenth of rape trials. Rather dubious.

Legally speaking, "not proven" is exactly the same as "not guilty", from when the two verdicts were "proven" and "not proven". However, to quote Wikipedia, "The result is the modern perception that the "not proven" verdict is an acquittal used when the judge or jury does not have enough evidence to convict but is not sufficiently convinced of the accused person's innocence to bring in a "not guilty" verdict. Essentially, the judge or jury is unconvinced that the suspect is innocent, but has insufficient evidence to the contrary." Or, as it has been put, "Not guilty, and don't do it again."

However, I'm not sure I like the idea that the law is essentially "guilty until proven innocent" in this circumstance.

I'd like to copy the idea that 27 other countries have of being part of a large multi-national grouping in Europe, but that's a subject for another thread. On-topic, I'd like to adopt France, Italy, Spain, Greece's attitude to drinking, rather than having city centre A&E departments and police cells fill up with idiots every weekend.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
On-topic, I'd like to adopt France, Italy, Spain, Greece's attitude to drinking, rather than having city centre A&E departments and police cells fill up with idiots every weekend.

I could go for this. The US, especially the younger side, has an incredible unhealthy attitude towards liquor.

I don't know if any other countries have a limit on the brightness of combo LED-Halogen car headlights but good lord do they need to stop allowing these ultra bright blueish white headlights that seem to be all the rage. I'm sure the owner of those cars love them but they are absolutely blinding to oncoming traffic especially when they are on a giant SUV or lifted up DBag truck which puts them right at eye level for everybody else.

From a certain low angle they are fine if the car is driving on even ground but it's a very narrow range and if they are accelerating, on an incline or just hit a mild bump it lift that angle enough that it's a blindingly flash. It also totally sucks to have one behind you at a light or tailgating as it seems like the light is so intense you can see through your car like you're inside a xray machine.

 stanman wrote:
I don't know if any other countries have a limit on the brightness of combo LED-Halogen car headlights but good lord do they need to stop allowing these ultra bright blueish white headlights that seem to be all the rage. I'm sure the owner of those cars love them but they are absolutely blinding to oncoming traffic especially when they are on a giant SUV or lifted up DBag truck which puts them right at eye level for everybody else.

From a certain low angle they are fine if the car is driving on even ground but it's a very narrow range and if they are accelerating, on an incline or just hit a mild bump it lift that angle enough that it's a blindingly flash. It also totally sucks to have one behind you at a light or tailgating as it seems like the light is so intense you can see through your car like you're inside a xray machine.

On most cars they can be dimmed dipped or changed. A lot of drivers are halfwits and don't bother.

I've noticed that a lot while commuting through rural UK this winter.

A lot of the time I've been steering my car with "The Force", thanks to the amount of blinding white light in front and behind, reflecting off rain, snow or fog.

Things I'd like the US to adopt:

Germany's campaign laws, most of their labor laws (seriously. . . having factory worker/union representation mandatory on a corporate board should simply be a thing), the engineering behind the Autobahn, their system of traffic enforcement.

Switzerland's firearm laws

New Zealand's Rugby stance, to include the abolition of the NFL.

Norway, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Iceland. . . really I could go on here, but. . . "universal" healthcare, ffs.

 Mr. Burning wrote:

 stanman wrote:
I don't know if any other countries have a limit on the brightness of combo LED-Halogen car headlights but good lord do they need to stop allowing these ultra bright blueish white headlights that seem to be all the rage. I'm sure the owner of those cars love them but they are absolutely blinding to oncoming traffic especially when they are on a giant SUV or lifted up DBag truck which puts them right at eye level for everybody else.

From a certain low angle they are fine if the car is driving on even ground but it's a very narrow range and if they are accelerating, on an incline or just hit a mild bump it lift that angle enough that it's a blindingly flash. It also totally sucks to have one behind you at a light or tailgating as it seems like the light is so intense you can see through your car like you're inside a xray machine.

On most cars they can be dimmed dipped or changed. A lot of drivers are halfwits and don't bother.

I have higher power lights similar ish on my car, mostly for safety so I can see further down road. My set increased headlight range dramatically. I'm also in a lower normal car. There not a danger if remotely sensible.

The bulbs Don, t cost that much from Halfords it's like a 40 quid or so max job with fitting.

I dip mine when oncoming traffic so whats the harm.

In the US it is legal in most places to turn on a red traffic light, if you're turning away from the intersection (turning right in the US, which would be turning left in Australia). I really want that to be legal here.

 sebster wrote:
In the US it is legal in most places to turn on a red traffic light, if you're turning away from the intersection (turning right in the US, which would be turning left in Australia). I really want that to be legal here.

I lived in NYC for most of my life and didn't know this was a thing until I was almost 30. Now I can't imagine not being able to turn right on red.

 Mr. Burning wrote:

 stanman wrote:
I don't know if any other countries have a limit on the brightness of combo LED-Halogen car headlights but good lord do they need to stop allowing these ultra bright blueish white headlights that seem to be all the rage. I'm sure the owner of those cars love them but they are absolutely blinding to oncoming traffic especially when they are on a giant SUV or lifted up DBag truck which puts them right at eye level for everybody else.

From a certain low angle they are fine if the car is driving on even ground but it's a very narrow range and if they are accelerating, on an incline or just hit a mild bump it lift that angle enough that it's a blindingly flash. It also totally sucks to have one behind you at a light or tailgating as it seems like the light is so intense you can see through your car like you're inside a xray machine.

On most cars they can be dimmed dipped or changed. A lot of drivers are halfwits and don't bother.

I got a new car a few months ago, and it's the first car I've owned that has automatic headlights. It's nice to be able to never remember if you left your lights on, because you never have to turn them on. I have also noticed, however, that the logic it uses to determine if it should be hi beams or regular isn't as great as it could be - I noticed pretty quickly that if I was driving at night (which I usually am), sometimes it wouldn't detect oncoming headlights very fast, or sometimes at all, and switch to normal beams. I wind up toggling the brights off manually now and then when I can tell it's struggling.

I also hate getting blinded by brights but now at least I have a little insight into how it happens, at least sometimes.

 Breotan wrote:
The USA's system of residential addresses could be useful to other countries with breathtakingly archaic and complex systems. Seriously, some places' addresses can take up to five or seven lines.

Southern Ireland has no post code or zip code system....

 sebster wrote:
In the US it is legal in most places to turn on a red traffic light, if you're turning away from the intersection (turning right in the US, which would be turning left in Australia). I really want that to be legal here.

They added one a few years ago near where my folks live, big "turn left on red after coming to a stop" sort of sign. I still feel like it's a trap when I turn there. No way the road rules suddenly became logical...

UK street number system. There are 8 houses on my street yet somehow my house number is 5 digits.

 motyak wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

Speaking of stances, we should adopt hakka war dances before all birthdays and sporting events. I am trying to convince my wife's tennis team to start with a hakka.

The haka is cool because of the passion the NZ teams and people have for it. Another mob just picking it up wouldn't have the same impact

How about Comanche war cry?

 jhe90 wrote:
[]
I dip mine when oncoming traffic so whats the harm.

My lights are always dipped, unless there's nothing in front of me. That means I need to remember to use full beam, not remember to turn it off.

The high-colour-temperature LEDS bug me because if I catch a glimpse of them flickering through the central barriers, it looks like blue emergency lights.

 Frazzled wrote:

 motyak wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

Speaking of stances, we should adopt hakka war dances before all birthdays and sporting events. I am trying to convince my wife's tennis team to start with a hakka.

The haka is cool because of the passion the NZ teams and people have for it. Another mob just picking it up wouldn't have the same impact

How about Comanche war cry?

Would probably be called racist and cultural appropriation.

 Nostromodamus wrote:
UK street number system. There are 8 houses on my street yet somehow my house number is 5 digits.

The US system has its benefits (as does your freeway exit numbering); the house numbers go up by 100 each block, don't they? Or something like that? That gives you an idea of how far away a property is. In the UK, if one side of the road has loads of small ouses and the other has one or two mansions or big commercial properties, you'll get the one side being numbered 1,3,5,... up to 29 or something, while the other side will be 2,4,6,8.
Still, at least it's not Japan.

 motyak wrote:

 sebster wrote:
In the US it is legal in most places to turn on a red traffic light, if you're turning away from the intersection (turning right in the US, which would be turning left in Australia). I really want that to be legal here.

They added one a few years ago near where my folks live, big "turn left on red after coming to a stop" sort of sign. I still feel like it's a trap when I turn there. No way the road rules suddenly became logical...

Fun fact, I was pulled over for that in NYC. They saw I was from PA and let me off with a warning. Didn't know it was illegal there. I've never driven there since (not just because of that. I honestly don't know how people drive there without running out of gas).

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
the engineering behind the Autobahn

Trust me, you don't. German highways are horrible. It is nothing but mile and mile of parts closed of for completely useless maintenance which just lasts for months and months without any apparent progress made. In the Netherlands meanwhile, they get much more work done in a single night, usually without bothering traffic and creating miles of jams, and Dutch highways are virtually always in a better condition to boot. You want Dutch highways, not German ones.

 War Drone wrote:
Nothing earth-shattering or politically edgy here, but having recently moved to UK after 10 years in Japan, I really wish we'd adopt the whole "remove your street shoes when entering a home" thing...

You can easily adopt that for yourself. In Russia we have the same custom, where it is taboo to enter the house wearing outdoor shoes (instead we usually have house slippers). However, despite Dutch people liking to just barge in everywhere wearing their dirty shoes, nobody ever enters my house wearing shoes. People are usually quite understanding if you ask them to remove their shoes before coming in and offer them house slippers. You just have to ask them because they don't do it on their own.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
the engineering behind the Autobahn

Trust me, you don't. German highways are horrible. It is nothing but mile and mile of parts closed of for completely useless maintenance which just lasts for months and months without any apparent progress made. In the Netherlands meanwhile, they get much more work done in a single night, usually without bothering traffic and creating miles of jams, and Dutch highways are virtually always in a better condition to boot. You want Dutch highways, not German ones.

Mate, I lived in Germany for 3 years. Yeah, I do. . . Specifically, I want the depth of material which can withstand the loads it bears for 30 years. I want the angle of the road as it is there in Germany, where water runs off at the "perfect" rate that there's very little standing water on the road, but there's also basically no risk of hydroplaning. On the standpoint of maintenance, sure it created some "problems" for motorists, but it was planned maintenance all the time and it actually did move quite a bit.

At any rate, this is all better than the US interstate system. The road constructors use the thinnest amount of materials to get the job done quickly (and maximize profits) with there usually being ruts and/or potholes within weeks precisely because of how thin the driving surface is.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
the engineering behind the Autobahn

Trust me, you don't. German highways are horrible. It is nothing but mile and mile of parts closed of for completely useless maintenance which just lasts for months and months without any apparent progress made. In the Netherlands meanwhile, they get much more work done in a single night, usually without bothering traffic and creating miles of jams, and Dutch highways are virtually always in a better condition to boot. You want Dutch highways, not German ones.

That's not far from the reality here already. Highways in some cities will have half their lanes closed for maintenance at any given time. They just alternate which side is closed. Now, that's pretty reasonable on paper, particularly for places that are the major thoroughfare between the Eastern and Western halves of the US. Those roads see heavy travel and more wear and tear than some remote highway in, like, Montana or something. The problem is when you're on it and you see that the road was clearly designed with the expectation that every lane is running at once. Suddenly then it turns into that scene from Office Space where the guy is walking faster than everyone driving in the traffic jam.

Still other places, like Illinois, will close lanes for maintenance, but not have the money to actually pay for construction, so it'll just sit there closed off for a year with nothing significantly wrong with the road other than maybe moderate wear and no actual work being performed.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 War Drone wrote:
Nothing earth-shattering or politically edgy here, but having recently moved to UK after 10 years in Japan, I really wish we'd adopt the whole "remove your street shoes when entering a home" thing...

You can easily adopt that for yourself.

Obviously have done, and it's not been a problem for anyone yet. Of course the homeowner/tenant has the duty to provide clean slippers.
Wasn't aware Russians do the same.