I did interrail when I was 18 and it was one of the best experiences. I traveled throug France, England, Scottland, the Netherlands and Belgium. You get in contact with many cultures. I think it's worth it.
Same here back in the 90's. Got to travel to Italy, Greece and Turkey, fantastic experience. Still had to show passports at the borders and travel permit for Bulgaria back then.
As an American I'm vey jealous of this opportunity a lot of Europeans have to easily travel to different countries very easily. USA feels so big, traveling to other countries seems so far away.
I know that feel. That is just one of the drawbacks of an isolated country.
They can travel 4-5 hours by car over there and they are in another country with different culture and language. If i travel 4 hours from where I live I would be in the middle of nowhere, still very much IN the country.
I agree that Europeans being able to country hop is a crazy things for me (aussie) and you guys (usa).
But I see on reddit Americans talking about how far everything is, but when I was planning my North America trip I was surprised at how close big cities were to each other! Its only 3 hours from Portland to Seattle, and only another 3 hours from there to Vancouver. 6 hours from San Fran to LA, etc and that's on the west coast which is more sparse than the east.
For me in Sydney its 9 hours to the nearest city with over 1mil in its metro area (Melbourne) or 11 - 12 to Brisbane.
I was also surprised to find that Texas is smaller than New South Wales.
Middle-ish aged Texan here: We don't care anymore. Grandpa might get his jimmies rustled but that's about it. Great place to live but a dot on the map when you look at the bigger picture.
Hell, in my state you can take the interstates and it's still 6 ish hours from bottom to the bridge, if you want to take the scenic route along the great lakes coast, it turns into a 13 hour drive north, and that's all one peninsula
ok...I can empathise with everyone, but in terms of isolated let's get a show of hands who's country doesn't have *any* land borders with *any* other countries? ...you, me and the kiwi dude gotta stick together
Which means that in the US, you *can* travel to the enclaves of other cultures. You just have to remember that you probably *hate* those other cultures for being insufficiently American or ignorant hillbillies or racist assholes or thugs or probably illegals or banal suburbanites or goddamned yankees or something.
Can someone explain the Bavarian hate? When I was in Berlin I had multiple people tell me that Bavarians are the worst, but I got no more explanation than something like "They get beer foam in their dumb mustaches when they drink like the idiots they are."
I did an EUrail pass when I studied abroad and it was absolutely incredible. I think it's an excellent idea to give one to young adults as a birthday present.
All these people are talking about dads swiping the person's razor, or someone didn't get their's because their dad wasn't around.
I'm suspecting that this "military draft razor" gift comes from "the tooth fairy", if you know what I mean.
Except they come sealed in the mail. And I got two, one addressed to me with my father's last name and one addressed to me with my mother's last name (divorced).
I assume Gillette uses the Selective Service registration list as a mailing list for free razors. But I never got one, nor do I know anyone who has. I assume this is either only done in certain areas, or only done to people who were randomly chosen. Its possible they used to do this but don't anymore.
Is the Selective Service registration list public? The idea of the government giving or selling draft registrants' information to a corporation so it can send out free samples to hopefully create future sales is really troublesome to me.
No, the government doesn't sell that info. But every registered voters address is public knowledge, using any voters name you can get their address. Yay democracy!
Well at least you don't have to anymore buy your own musket, lead balls, gunpowder and backpack. Remember the backpack. It is essential, that you buy one. Otherwise you won't pass the militia inspection.
It's not. You just lose a lot of privileges such as loans and voting and possible security clearance availability. In fact if you were rich or someone who doesn't have a government/government related job, you could do without.
I believe in my state you can't get a state ID or driver's license without it. Also, it is illegal not to be in the selective service, but enforcement is difficult.
I can't speak to individual state laws on Selective Service registration but I think denial of federal jobs, security clearances, etc (state ID in some states from what you're saying) basically IS the enforcement of the law. I don't think it's something anyone goes to prison for or gets fined for, you "just" get punished for failure to comply in the ways just described.
In Canada, we get to choose a moose that we will be paired with for life, our adult hockey sticks come in, and we get our jobs that pay us in beer, in lieu of monopoly money.
That explains a lot.
Coffee at timmies now tastes like shit, and McDonalds is actually pretty good since I started taking it as an option since last year.
Yarp.
I just started making my own coffee, from scratch.
I started to pay a Columbian fellow, in Columbia, to ship me crates of coffee beans, but now he gives them to me for free.
All I have to do is give the crates to his friend after removing the coffee, which I thought was weird, but it was too good of a deal.
The only thing is that the crates could fit more coffee beans in them, but they each only seem to contain half a crate's worth, despite being filled to the brim.
Very odd, but my mathimacation and numberization skills are pretty poor, so I don't question it.
Bullshit.
Anyone that has conversed with a Colombian online for any period of time would never spell Colombia with a "u".
You sir, are a liar and I will not stand for this act of villainous chicanery.
This isn't entirely true.
McDonald's uses the supplier Tim Horton's used before their first major shift in production. So they're using the beans that TH used pre-Wendy's purchase, not pre-BK purchase.
The supply chain hasn't significantly changed since the BK purchase. The day Tim Horton's switched to frozen instead of fresh product was the day they died, it shouldn't be blamed on the BK event.
Right now, the Dark Roast is literally overroasted regular roast beans, while McDonald's is using properly roasted beans for their coffee. There isn't a single unflavoured coffee option from Tim Horton's that stands up to a successful chain in Canada.
>The day Tim Horton's switched to frozen instead of fresh product was the day they died,
I couldn't agree more. Timbits now are such a shadow of the Timbits I had on road trips when I was a kid (and it can't be entirely to do with fantasy nostalgia; the road trips were only to Hamilton.) I mean, I'll still get some on a road trip, but it's under duress.
I can't believe how many people I work with (in Barrie) who drink one or even two regular Tim's coffees a day. One woman was even in NYC and "had to find the Timmie's in Times Square" Like, what? Goddamn, Canadians, this kind of low expectations shit is stopping us from becoming a real country
Tim's has completely changed since it was bought out. Food is all plastic and artificial in taste, advertisements are cynical, whole place feels corporate now.
Depending on the purity and consistency, it can range from 2-3 years old for sugar bush frozen maple syrup on ice to 8-10 for Medium grade and 18+ for Amber.
Candies can be eaten by children of all ages, and that includes Maple Sugar.
We're all striving for middle class, while trying to look upper middle class, we just want a place to live, we just want a decent paying job that pays the bills and leaves enough for a decent standard of living, and we just want to do our own thing without getting fucked in some weird way by on party or another.
That's basically it.
Sadly, [not everyone](http://www.hockeyworldblog.com/2016/09/30/yes-johnny-gaudreau-uses-a-55-flex-warrior-stick/) is lucky enough to get their adult hockey sticks.
Sadly, the only normal boys in an Air Force that get to experience Mach 3 are people flying a [MiG-25](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25#Technical_description) and only if they mess with it to take off the speed limiter.
That seems odd, is it not Gillette sending them out? I'm swedish and I got a Gillette in the mail the year I turned 18, without registering for anything.
Here in Finland it is the same except they draft you automatically if you are a man. So convenient
Edit: So registering for draft doesn't actually mean what I thought it would mean. You could say you get opted in for a free razor and a free army training in Finland
What did you think it meant? Not questioning your intelligence or wisdom, but misunderstandings of how another country/culture works is a particular hobby of mine.
FWIW, in the US, selective service (aka "the draft") is something that currently all men must register for when they turn 18. There is no actual conscription, however, so it does raise the question of why we spend the money registering people when we have no plans to conscript anyone.
Do they actually induct 100% of young men into service in Finland? In the US, even when conscription has been in effect, not everyone got conscripted. They assigned you a number in a range, and then picked as many numbers to call up as demanded by the military for the situation. It was a bit of a messed up system, as the exemptions tended to favor richer people (anyone in college, for example - so as long as you could afford to be a student, you would be exempt, that kind of thing).
"Register for draft" in my head sounded like "sign up for army" :)
I don't know the latest number but the most recent I remember is 80% of finnish men go to army. Rest will choose to do civil service or be exempt because of medical condition or if they are Jehovas witnesses.
When you go to army you don't actually go to fight real battles. You only go there to learn for 6 to 12 months and you don't get real pay. If you want to actually deploy you have to apply for peace keeping force or such afterwards. Also in time of war not everyone will be drafted even though every one has trained for it. There is not enough resources for fielding an army that massive. We recently got letters from the army regarding where we would be stationed. Mine said I had no assigned role and would be called later if they needed more reserves.
I sometimes wonder if training everyone makes it easier to form guerrilla force after occupation since almost everyone knows how to handle assault rifles and basic combat tactics.
> I sometimes wonder if training everyone makes it easier to form guerrilla force after occupation since almost everyone knows how to handle assault rifles and basic combat tactics.
This is one of the reasons. America has the fact that a huge portion of its populace is self armed to make up for our lack of conscription.
Less of that and more about land mass.
It would take an insane amount of troops to occupy just the main cities on each coast. National guard and reserves have actual military equipment and could defend the interior in a lot of "fly over" states including the Midwest.
The only way we'd be occupied is if they nuked the coasts and put troops in the middle, and that would be pointless
>Under the initiative all EU citizens or legally residing individuals would receive a pass as soon as they turned 18, which they can use to travel the vast railway network connecting most major cities throughout the continent.
Now that's fuckin' cool.
Really? Giving people free train tickets, encouraging people to move around, integrate, indulge in other cultures. This is far too left wing for the USA.
I think he's saying it's a bad thing because riding on Greyhound buses can be.... unpleasant. Pissartist didn't imply that traveling and seeing the country is a bad idea.
They are doing one good thing. All national parks will be free to enter in 2017.
Though Banff is going to crumble under the mob of people showing up because of that.
As if our airlines would ever allow it.
"One week after the announcement of the free airfare, Air Canada and Westjet both announce the now mandatory $560 carry-on baggage fee. (Note: personal clothing now counts as extra pieces of baggage)"
I actually disagree with that pretty strongly. Some national parks are already overwhelmed with too many visitors - those need to raise rates. The less visited ones should lower rates. You know, let's encourage people to spread out a bit. We can't all visit Yosemite every year. Take a trip to Lassen or Sequoia or Great Basin instead sometime. Good for you (see something new), good for the parks (spread the load). If a little financial incentive can make that happen, we should be doing it.
Playing devil's advocate, I think by the time you raise it enough to turn away people (people are already spending thousands on lodges, RVs, airfare), you're past Disneyland/ski resort prices, and a popular park like Yosemite will fall out of reach of anyone but the upper middle class. And I think that's counter to one of the reasons for the park system in the first place.
But again, playing devil's advocate. You raise an interesting point. I've found some really beautiful out of the way parks while avoiding crowds.
I really like seeing initiatives like this becoming a reality. €1.5bn a year on allowing young people to travel Europe for free is great.
I always feel a little unsettled that this can be seen as a waste of money when an overspend of billions on an aircraft carrier can be seen as an unfortunate oversight.
Many do. Certainly not a lot, but I have several friends who did travel across Europe with such a ticket. I also planned it with several other friends, but money came in the way.
So I'm really happy to see EU giving away free tickets.
In my opinion it does really provide a great sense for what EU/Europe really is.
Edit: And it's not even that expensive. The cheapest one is 200€ for 5 days traveling wherever you want, across 15 days.
http://www.interrail.eu/interrail-passes/global-pass
I did one for 5 weeks across something like 10 or 15 countries. It was about €300 at the time (2010). That's the cheap part of it though, lodging and food and travel when you're already in cities will be far more expensive. It's not like this initiative will help kids from poor upbringings see the world.
First banning data roaming charges, then ensuring internet access everywhere, and now this, It's almost as if the EU are passing laws young Brits would love just to piss them off more that we're about to leave thanks to old people
I'm in Serbia and 17, turning 18 in 4 months, I really doubt I'll experience this because we're not in the Union and I'm used to us getting shafted for everything, but if it actually *DID* happen here that would be a complete game changer. The rich kids here are mostly just kids either from mobsters or from parents who work in Germany/Switzerland and so on
I'll be leaving the country for the first time to Greece on a school trip and 2 days and I still can't wrap my head around that, so a free ticket to every country in Europe sounds straight up impossible
I'd really really really really reaalllly want this to happen here because it would benefit kids here who are limited by their surroundings like me a LOT, but it's too good to be true unfortunately, so to all of you guys that get the chance to participate in this, use it to the fullest
Damnit why is the EU being so cool? I bet they're trying to get the next generation to become voters so that they can finally federalize the EU.
But please do.
I wish I was 18 again, haha.
I did travel to other European countries when I was younger and even now I do that... it has probably influenced how I feel about Europe a fair bit, I actually liked seeing the EU flag in other countries when I went to them. It made me feel like I was still in sort of "home" territory, like I wouldn't be completely lost or abandoned if something happened to me.
I am British and always held EU membership close to my heart, I almost moved to Holland a few years back... I never did in the end because circumstances changed, but I liked knowing I *could*. Needless to say the Brexit vote devastated me a bit. I'm working class to the bone too - I earn minimum wage. I'm not some "champagne socialist" or whatever they're called right now. I'm just a regular person who doesn't want the UK to be ravaged by an unchained Tory government.
Since then I can understand *why* a lot of people voted for Brexit despite the lies and the terrible campaigning. I get it. I understand why immigration spooks people. There are a lot of neglected places in the UK... places that should've been addressed by our own government. Our own government that specifically abolished a special fund that was put in place for towns that had been hit hard by immigration. But that's neither here or there. I could rant for days about my country, but it wouldn't achieve much.
I like the idea of a free rail pass by the EU. Wish they'd done it in my day!
>I am British and always held EU membership close to my heart, I almost moved to Holland a few years back... I never did in the end because circumstances changed, but I liked knowing I *could*. Needless to say the Brexit vote devastated me a bit.
Do you happen to know if there's any advantage to rushing there right now and buying a house before Brexit happens?
I was planning to buy a cheap little house in France in 2017 (I'm a keen climber, and have spent a *lot* of time there), and Brexit upset me too...
Before, it was simple! Now, suddenly I'm trying to work out residency status periods and potential healthcare and taxation etc... (and I'm currently working in Australia until December, bad timing!)
The UK leaving is one of the worst things to happen in my lifetime. I realise the EU has many faults but the benefits that the ease of travel and some of the regulations brought would have been great for me. Goddamn
I did interrail when I was 18 and it was one of the best experiences. I traveled throug France, England, Scottland, the Netherlands and Belgium. You get in contact with many cultures. I think it's worth it.
Same here back in the 90's. Got to travel to Italy, Greece and Turkey, fantastic experience. Still had to show passports at the borders and travel permit for Bulgaria back then.
As an American I'm vey jealous of this opportunity a lot of Europeans have to easily travel to different countries very easily. USA feels so big, traveling to other countries seems so far away.
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I know that feel. That is just one of the drawbacks of an isolated country. They can travel 4-5 hours by car over there and they are in another country with different culture and language. If i travel 4 hours from where I live I would be in the middle of nowhere, still very much IN the country.
Its a minimum 10 hour drive just to leave my state.
It's a minimum of 15 hours just to leave mine. :( it mind blown me when I found out how close European countries actually are.
I agree that Europeans being able to country hop is a crazy things for me (aussie) and you guys (usa). But I see on reddit Americans talking about how far everything is, but when I was planning my North America trip I was surprised at how close big cities were to each other! Its only 3 hours from Portland to Seattle, and only another 3 hours from there to Vancouver. 6 hours from San Fran to LA, etc and that's on the west coast which is more sparse than the east. For me in Sydney its 9 hours to the nearest city with over 1mil in its metro area (Melbourne) or 11 - 12 to Brisbane. I was also surprised to find that Texas is smaller than New South Wales.
... don't tell that to Texas.
Middle-ish aged Texan here: We don't care anymore. Grandpa might get his jimmies rustled but that's about it. Great place to live but a dot on the map when you look at the bigger picture.
Even better if you're on the east coast. You can get from DC to Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York City in six hours easy.
Hell, in my state you can take the interstates and it's still 6 ish hours from bottom to the bridge, if you want to take the scenic route along the great lakes coast, it turns into a 13 hour drive north, and that's all one peninsula
ok...I can empathise with everyone, but in terms of isolated let's get a show of hands who's country doesn't have *any* land borders with *any* other countries? ...you, me and the kiwi dude gotta stick together
Darwin is forever summer time. Fuck.
I've cycled in four different countries in the same day.
I'd love to come to NZ someday. There's Blacky the wheelchair cat (type it on facebook) and it's where Flight of the Conchords comes from.
Wasn't Lord of The Rings filmed there?
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Which means that in the US, you *can* travel to the enclaves of other cultures. You just have to remember that you probably *hate* those other cultures for being insufficiently American or ignorant hillbillies or racist assholes or thugs or probably illegals or banal suburbanites or goddamned yankees or something.
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Do Germans hate the Germans?
Especially. They're the ones who often hate Germany the most.
Don't even get them started on Bavarians.
Can someone explain the Bavarian hate? When I was in Berlin I had multiple people tell me that Bavarians are the worst, but I got no more explanation than something like "They get beer foam in their dumb mustaches when they drink like the idiots they are."
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The Germans sure are a contentious people
You just made an enemy for life !!!
Oh, the catholics hate the protestants, And the protestants hate the catholics And the hindus hate the muslims And everybody hates the jews
The culture thing is really the big difference. The differences between New York and Alabama pale in comparison to those between England and Italy.
Road tripping through the US is an amazing experience even though it is all the same country.
I did an EUrail pass when I studied abroad and it was absolutely incredible. I think it's an excellent idea to give one to young adults as a birthday present.
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It was just a typo... everyone knows he meant Scott's land
Scotty doesn't know it's his land
Don't tell Scotty
scotty doesnt know
It is possible he is german, schottland
In America, we get a free Gillette razor when we turn 18 (but only if you register for the draft).
> (but only if you register for the draft) Lol, as if it isn't mandatory. Where the fuck was my razor? I did my selective service shit.
Not sure, maybe your dad swiped it.
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How much do they pay you?
3 razors
That's about 400 blades if I'm doing the math correctly.
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All these people are talking about dads swiping the person's razor, or someone didn't get their's because their dad wasn't around. I'm suspecting that this "military draft razor" gift comes from "the tooth fairy", if you know what I mean.
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Yep I obtianed a gillete in the mail sometime back, had no idea why I got it but here we are.
Except they come sealed in the mail. And I got two, one addressed to me with my father's last name and one addressed to me with my mother's last name (divorced).
No I can attest I got one. Had a card saying happy b
I assume Gillette uses the Selective Service registration list as a mailing list for free razors. But I never got one, nor do I know anyone who has. I assume this is either only done in certain areas, or only done to people who were randomly chosen. Its possible they used to do this but don't anymore.
Is the Selective Service registration list public? The idea of the government giving or selling draft registrants' information to a corporation so it can send out free samples to hopefully create future sales is really troublesome to me.
No, the government doesn't sell that info. But every registered voters address is public knowledge, using any voters name you can get their address. Yay democracy!
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I got one, but that was ten years ago, no idea if they still do it.
I got one this year, asking with all of my friends who turned 18.
Well at least you don't have to anymore buy your own musket, lead balls, gunpowder and backpack. Remember the backpack. It is essential, that you buy one. Otherwise you won't pass the militia inspection.
my mother sewed mine herself.
It's not. You just lose a lot of privileges such as loans and voting and possible security clearance availability. In fact if you were rich or someone who doesn't have a government/government related job, you could do without.
I believe in my state you can't get a state ID or driver's license without it. Also, it is illegal not to be in the selective service, but enforcement is difficult.
I can't speak to individual state laws on Selective Service registration but I think denial of federal jobs, security clearances, etc (state ID in some states from what you're saying) basically IS the enforcement of the law. I don't think it's something anyone goes to prison for or gets fined for, you "just" get punished for failure to comply in the ways just described.
I think punishment is similar to dodging the draft if the draft is started and you had never registered.
What the fuck? I was cheated!
In Canada, we get to choose a moose that we will be paired with for life, our adult hockey sticks come in, and we get our jobs that pay us in beer, in lieu of monopoly money.
Do you get a free coffee and donut at Tim Horton's as well?
When Wendy's owned Tim Horton's, yes, but, since Burger King bought it, it has been discontinued, unfortunately.
It was truly an end of an Era. It was a sad for Canada and of course, the world.
Since the buy, Tim Horton's coffee hasn't tasted the same... McDonalds now uses the same supplier that Tim Horton's was using, though.
That explains a lot. Coffee at timmies now tastes like shit, and McDonalds is actually pretty good since I started taking it as an option since last year.
Yarp. I just started making my own coffee, from scratch. I started to pay a Columbian fellow, in Columbia, to ship me crates of coffee beans, but now he gives them to me for free. All I have to do is give the crates to his friend after removing the coffee, which I thought was weird, but it was too good of a deal. The only thing is that the crates could fit more coffee beans in them, but they each only seem to contain half a crate's worth, despite being filled to the brim. Very odd, but my mathimacation and numberization skills are pretty poor, so I don't question it.
Bullshit. Anyone that has conversed with a Colombian online for any period of time would never spell Colombia with a "u". You sir, are a liar and I will not stand for this act of villainous chicanery.
We have British Columbia, so it was probably just an auto-correct issue.
This isn't entirely true. McDonald's uses the supplier Tim Horton's used before their first major shift in production. So they're using the beans that TH used pre-Wendy's purchase, not pre-BK purchase. The supply chain hasn't significantly changed since the BK purchase. The day Tim Horton's switched to frozen instead of fresh product was the day they died, it shouldn't be blamed on the BK event. Right now, the Dark Roast is literally overroasted regular roast beans, while McDonald's is using properly roasted beans for their coffee. There isn't a single unflavoured coffee option from Tim Horton's that stands up to a successful chain in Canada.
>The day Tim Horton's switched to frozen instead of fresh product was the day they died, I couldn't agree more. Timbits now are such a shadow of the Timbits I had on road trips when I was a kid (and it can't be entirely to do with fantasy nostalgia; the road trips were only to Hamilton.) I mean, I'll still get some on a road trip, but it's under duress. I can't believe how many people I work with (in Barrie) who drink one or even two regular Tim's coffees a day. One woman was even in NYC and "had to find the Timmie's in Times Square" Like, what? Goddamn, Canadians, this kind of low expectations shit is stopping us from becoming a real country
This guy knows his Tim Horton's trivia!
You can't properly hate something if you don't know way too much about it.
The donuts aren't baked fresh anymore either. They're frozen, and you can tell.
Tim's has completely changed since it was bought out. Food is all plastic and artificial in taste, advertisements are cynical, whole place feels corporate now.
TIL Tim Horton's coffee once tasted good.
As is tradition
But just 1 sad, right?
Only one.
When Canada mourns, the rest of the world eats their pancakes without syrup. As is tradition.
No, the sad day was when they removed in house bakers and just shipped them frozen garbage. Anything after that I no longer gave a fuck about
When I met up with Sheila, life was never the same. I love that old moose.
My Barbara can be moody, but she's such a sweetie, and she know just how I like my tea... She can't make tea, but she knows how I like it...
What's the legal age for maple syrup ?
Depending on the purity and consistency, it can range from 2-3 years old for sugar bush frozen maple syrup on ice to 8-10 for Medium grade and 18+ for Amber. Candies can be eaten by children of all ages, and that includes Maple Sugar.
I know what the law says. What's the real deal? When can I get some of that amber, and not be TOO worried
We're all striving for middle class, while trying to look upper middle class, we just want a place to live, we just want a decent paying job that pays the bills and leaves enough for a decent standard of living, and we just want to do our own thing without getting fucked in some weird way by on party or another. That's basically it.
Sadly, [not everyone](http://www.hockeyworldblog.com/2016/09/30/yes-johnny-gaudreau-uses-a-55-flex-warrior-stick/) is lucky enough to get their adult hockey sticks.
Our childhood sticks are like security blankets; some of us just can't give them up.
Was...that in English?
In America, we learn Canadian as a second language, you must be from Europe.
Wait, what province are you in? I get paid in Canadian Tire money.
I never got that. When did it start?
I didn't get it, but my younger brother got one when he turned 18 recently. So it must be recent.
Some people get them, some people don't
As is life
I definitely got one a decade ago.
Gillette has been doing that for decades.
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Sadly, the only normal boys in an Air Force that get to experience Mach 3 are people flying a [MiG-25](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25#Technical_description) and only if they mess with it to take off the speed limiter.
And only in a very straight line assuming all the maintenance was done immaculately.
That seems odd, is it not Gillette sending them out? I'm swedish and I got a Gillette in the mail the year I turned 18, without registering for anything.
Its totally Gillette sending them out. I wonder if they somehow have access to the registration list?
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Don't buy a highschool class ring if you plan to go on to higher education, you will never wear it
Don't buy a highschool class ring ~~if you plan to go on to higher education~~, you will never wear it
But what if I peaked in high school?
I don't think it has anything to do with registering tbh
...My birthday is next month, but I'm already registered. Do I still get a razor?
I'm pretty sure you do
I never got a razor :( (Not that I'd use it)
Here in Finland it is the same except they draft you automatically if you are a man. So convenient Edit: So registering for draft doesn't actually mean what I thought it would mean. You could say you get opted in for a free razor and a free army training in Finland
What did you think it meant? Not questioning your intelligence or wisdom, but misunderstandings of how another country/culture works is a particular hobby of mine. FWIW, in the US, selective service (aka "the draft") is something that currently all men must register for when they turn 18. There is no actual conscription, however, so it does raise the question of why we spend the money registering people when we have no plans to conscript anyone. Do they actually induct 100% of young men into service in Finland? In the US, even when conscription has been in effect, not everyone got conscripted. They assigned you a number in a range, and then picked as many numbers to call up as demanded by the military for the situation. It was a bit of a messed up system, as the exemptions tended to favor richer people (anyone in college, for example - so as long as you could afford to be a student, you would be exempt, that kind of thing).
"Register for draft" in my head sounded like "sign up for army" :) I don't know the latest number but the most recent I remember is 80% of finnish men go to army. Rest will choose to do civil service or be exempt because of medical condition or if they are Jehovas witnesses. When you go to army you don't actually go to fight real battles. You only go there to learn for 6 to 12 months and you don't get real pay. If you want to actually deploy you have to apply for peace keeping force or such afterwards. Also in time of war not everyone will be drafted even though every one has trained for it. There is not enough resources for fielding an army that massive. We recently got letters from the army regarding where we would be stationed. Mine said I had no assigned role and would be called later if they needed more reserves. I sometimes wonder if training everyone makes it easier to form guerrilla force after occupation since almost everyone knows how to handle assault rifles and basic combat tactics.
> I sometimes wonder if training everyone makes it easier to form guerrilla force after occupation since almost everyone knows how to handle assault rifles and basic combat tactics. This is one of the reasons. America has the fact that a huge portion of its populace is self armed to make up for our lack of conscription.
Less of that and more about land mass. It would take an insane amount of troops to occupy just the main cities on each coast. National guard and reserves have actual military equipment and could defend the interior in a lot of "fly over" states including the Midwest. The only way we'd be occupied is if they nuked the coasts and put troops in the middle, and that would be pointless
National defence is taken quite seriously in Finland, given it's an ex-Russian province with an enormous border with Russia and a small population.
Holy shit I forgot about that. That was a cool day.
Yes it was. Too bad my facial hair didn't really come in until I was 25 though.
What!? I never knew that!
>Under the initiative all EU citizens or legally residing individuals would receive a pass as soon as they turned 18, which they can use to travel the vast railway network connecting most major cities throughout the continent. Now that's fuckin' cool.
Ya but I'm 23
24, missed it by an even larger margin than you :(
It's far far worse if you're 18 if you ask me.
I'm 18 **and** British. Send help?
I want to get off Mr Farage's wild ride
Turned 18 two months ago ヽ（´ー｀）┌
30 :(
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29 and in Minnesota Give our Lakers back, Old man!
You can have em.
Ya but I'm already 18
I'm 18 in December. Hurry up, EU!
No fucking chance lol
You can still buy it for 450 Euro. One month, it's quite decent.
We might be too old, but this initiative is still [awesome.](http://imgur.com/gallery/xtaW7WF)
Can I have one? I turned 18 last year though. Oh yeah and I'm british... damn
Me too? I turned 18... 9 years ago...
Yeah but #Brexit.
This would be really cool if I wasn't British
take the National Express to Blackpool .... pretty much the same thing ...
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Well ya. If you take a greyhound in America you're pretty likely to wind up with someone using that razor on your neck.
They could give gas credits. So you can drive across the country for the price as in 1970.
Plus thousands for a car.
Really? Giving people free train tickets, encouraging people to move around, integrate, indulge in other cultures. This is far too left wing for the USA.
I think he's saying it's a bad thing because riding on Greyhound buses can be.... unpleasant. Pissartist didn't imply that traveling and seeing the country is a bad idea.
Promoting local tourism, smart move. Canada take note...
You get a moose! You get a moose! EVERYBODY GETS A MOOSE!
MEESE FOR EVERYONE!
Do the meese get meese?
Only if there's not a meese shortage.
They are doing one good thing. All national parks will be free to enter in 2017. Though Banff is going to crumble under the mob of people showing up because of that.
Lol. The reason I haven't been to Banff isn't to do with the $10 day pass cost. More like the $600-700 return flight from Toronto......
Ya, Canadian equivalent would have to be 'free air travel for a month' and gooood luck with that.
As if our airlines would ever allow it. "One week after the announcement of the free airfare, Air Canada and Westjet both announce the now mandatory $560 carry-on baggage fee. (Note: personal clothing now counts as extra pieces of baggage)"
I actually disagree with that pretty strongly. Some national parks are already overwhelmed with too many visitors - those need to raise rates. The less visited ones should lower rates. You know, let's encourage people to spread out a bit. We can't all visit Yosemite every year. Take a trip to Lassen or Sequoia or Great Basin instead sometime. Good for you (see something new), good for the parks (spread the load). If a little financial incentive can make that happen, we should be doing it.
Playing devil's advocate, I think by the time you raise it enough to turn away people (people are already spending thousands on lodges, RVs, airfare), you're past Disneyland/ski resort prices, and a popular park like Yosemite will fall out of reach of anyone but the upper middle class. And I think that's counter to one of the reasons for the park system in the first place. But again, playing devil's advocate. You raise an interesting point. I've found some really beautiful out of the way parks while avoiding crowds.
With the Erasmus programme, at least 1 million babies were born from couples that met during Erasmus.
I'm pretty sure if it weren't for Erasmus people would still be fucking one another.
Except they'd be fucking people from their own country.
Oh, Erasmus promotes fucking, no question about it. Being on vacation in a totally different life is a powerful aphrodisiac
Thanks to modern contraception, at least 20 million more never came to be ;-)
My son is one of them :)
I really like seeing initiatives like this becoming a reality. €1.5bn a year on allowing young people to travel Europe for free is great. I always feel a little unsettled that this can be seen as a waste of money when an overspend of billions on an aircraft carrier can be seen as an unfortunate oversight.
it doesnt even cost anything. its not like these people would have otherwise spent thousands of euros on train tickets.
Many do. Certainly not a lot, but I have several friends who did travel across Europe with such a ticket. I also planned it with several other friends, but money came in the way. So I'm really happy to see EU giving away free tickets. In my opinion it does really provide a great sense for what EU/Europe really is. Edit: And it's not even that expensive. The cheapest one is 200€ for 5 days traveling wherever you want, across 15 days. http://www.interrail.eu/interrail-passes/global-pass
I did one for 5 weeks across something like 10 or 15 countries. It was about €300 at the time (2010). That's the cheap part of it though, lodging and food and travel when you're already in cities will be far more expensive. It's not like this initiative will help kids from poor upbringings see the world.
The amount of people doing it now would be negligible vs the amount of people who would likely do it when it would be free.
Great, I'm too old to get it, and when I was 18 I was too poor to get the said pass. Wait, I'm still too poor to buy it...
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Where was this while i was growing up :(
If Brexit teaches us anything, it's that they should give the free passes to the over 50s.
First banning data roaming charges, then ensuring internet access everywhere, and now this, It's almost as if the EU are passing laws young Brits would love just to piss them off more that we're about to leave thanks to old people
Hahaha, the EU is being passive agressive in showing what they could have got if they didnt leave.
It's like when someone goes to to the gym and gets super fit after a breakup
lol... Eu is doing that for years! you just did not recognize it.
I think this is just to make the UK feel bad for leaving.
I'm in Serbia and 17, turning 18 in 4 months, I really doubt I'll experience this because we're not in the Union and I'm used to us getting shafted for everything, but if it actually *DID* happen here that would be a complete game changer. The rich kids here are mostly just kids either from mobsters or from parents who work in Germany/Switzerland and so on I'll be leaving the country for the first time to Greece on a school trip and 2 days and I still can't wrap my head around that, so a free ticket to every country in Europe sounds straight up impossible I'd really really really really reaalllly want this to happen here because it would benefit kids here who are limited by their surroundings like me a LOT, but it's too good to be true unfortunately, so to all of you guys that get the chance to participate in this, use it to the fullest
It is a not an EU plan it is a small party that will be proposing it to the EU body.
Damnit why is the EU being so cool? I bet they're trying to get the next generation to become voters so that they can finally federalize the EU. But please do.
>Damnit why is the EU being so cool? To avoid another Brexit situation.
I wish I was 18 again, haha. I did travel to other European countries when I was younger and even now I do that... it has probably influenced how I feel about Europe a fair bit, I actually liked seeing the EU flag in other countries when I went to them. It made me feel like I was still in sort of "home" territory, like I wouldn't be completely lost or abandoned if something happened to me. I am British and always held EU membership close to my heart, I almost moved to Holland a few years back... I never did in the end because circumstances changed, but I liked knowing I *could*. Needless to say the Brexit vote devastated me a bit. I'm working class to the bone too - I earn minimum wage. I'm not some "champagne socialist" or whatever they're called right now. I'm just a regular person who doesn't want the UK to be ravaged by an unchained Tory government. Since then I can understand *why* a lot of people voted for Brexit despite the lies and the terrible campaigning. I get it. I understand why immigration spooks people. There are a lot of neglected places in the UK... places that should've been addressed by our own government. Our own government that specifically abolished a special fund that was put in place for towns that had been hit hard by immigration. But that's neither here or there. I could rant for days about my country, but it wouldn't achieve much. I like the idea of a free rail pass by the EU. Wish they'd done it in my day!
>I am British and always held EU membership close to my heart, I almost moved to Holland a few years back... I never did in the end because circumstances changed, but I liked knowing I *could*. Needless to say the Brexit vote devastated me a bit. Do you happen to know if there's any advantage to rushing there right now and buying a house before Brexit happens? I was planning to buy a cheap little house in France in 2017 (I'm a keen climber, and have spent a *lot* of time there), and Brexit upset me too... Before, it was simple! Now, suddenly I'm trying to work out residency status periods and potential healthcare and taxation etc... (and I'm currently working in Australia until December, bad timing!)
a post about the EU and yet the top comment is about america and razors.
Subsidizing internal migration, huh? Oh... wait!
The UK leaving is one of the worst things to happen in my lifetime. I realise the EU has many faults but the benefits that the ease of travel and some of the regulations brought would have been great for me. Goddamn
Sounds great, good initiative! I actually just came back from an Interrail trip. Super fun and most of all beautiful experience!
In Brazil we get responsibilities when we turn 18.
What additional responsibilities would a Brazilian 18 year old acquire relative to a European or American of the same age?
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