this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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Asklemmy

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Australia: carrying out elections.

Voting is compulsory and you will be fined if you don’t vote without an acceptable reason.

But because voting is compulsory, it’s extremely easy and accessible. Waiting in line for more than 15 minutes is a long wait. Even in the suburbs you’re not usually more than a five minute drive from a polling place.

If you think you’ll have trouble getting to a polling place on election day (a Saturday), you can request a postal ballot or vote early at a different polling place.

We have an independent electoral commission federally and in each state/territory to organise elections (depending on which level of government you’re voting for). They also handle district boundaries to remove gerrymandering.

All ballots are marked and counted by hand. The counting process is open and transparent: any candidate can send people to inspect the counting process and ensure there are no irregularities.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

And the democracy sausage!

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Canada: we're the best at being annoyingly modest while simultaneously feeling smugly superior.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Playing football in Australia. The Australian version AFL we are the best at it

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

Turkiye: E-Devlet.

We have this E-Government system that centralizes almost all relations with the State, I really don’t remember when was the last time I saw an official document in paper. With all 1000+ official agencies involved, you can access and manage over 8000+ services like GDPR permissions, analogue tv frequency infos, paying traffic tickets, state-backed escrowing, fraud checks, my kids grades, my medical records etc within an handsome mobile/web app.

It was shocking to see even my German friends still need to use their physical mailboxes to handle official stuff. I can imagine it’s even worse at the rest of the western world.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Same in Spain.

Everything is digitalized and you have the right to do everything digitally. I've never mailed anything to the government.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 day ago (4 children)

France - treating people the same no matter what they do for a living.

It's really nice to be respected even if you're a cleaner or a bin man, and very much deserved

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I've only spent a couple months in France, but I agree from my experience. I think that foreigners that complain about the French being rude were just expecting special treatment, didn't put in any effort themselves to be friendly, then shocked that the storekeeper/waiter wasn't kissing their ass, even though they didn't even manage to say 'bonjour'.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Who complains the most about the so-called french "attitude"?

Brits and Yanks, the ones that think cleaners and waiters are beneath them and need to dance to earn tips

Makes sense

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Billiard balls and playing cards. Belgium is world leader in both.

Edit: forgot to add pigeons. Belgian competition pigeons are the most expensive in the world.

Edit 2: Belfries. Clock-O-Matic is a Belgian company and world leader in the automation of Belfries. It's not that hard because most Belfries are located in Belgium and France, if not all of them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Damn. This actually makes me want to live in Belgium. If not for the billiards,then for the church bells. If not for those, then for the competitive pigeons... Then the cards. (In that order)

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Man, it feels weird to think of USPCC as a Cartamundi subsidiary, but I guess you're right β€” since 2019 (had to look that up) Belgium really has been the playing-card hub of the world! (A little American patriotism just died in me...)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

USPCC only makes for a fourth of Cartamundi's revenue. And to make it even more Belgian, Cartamundi is still run by the same two families that founded the company 6 generations ago Each family owns 50% of the shares.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago

Say what you will about the chaebols running the country and the rampant corruption, Korean roadworkers are incredibly fast and efficient. There's never some guy standing around doing nothing.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

UK: Crumpets. Crumpets lightly toasted with butter soaking into its pores, and then lightly toasted once more with a slather of Marmite.

These are nothing like pancakes. You bite into the crispy surface and are met with a butter/Marmite infusion that explodes into the back of your mouth, and whilst you're dealing with that sensual assault, your teeth sink into the soft almost creamy texture of the crumpet itself.

They are divine, and are the sole reason I stay in this cold dreary backwater of a country.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (4 children)

the sole reason I stay in this cold dreary backwater of a country.

You do know you can get crumpets in any supermarket in sunny Queensland, yeah? You can even get Marmite (but why would you when Vegemite is superior).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yes, yes, there there, now...
*smothers face with a pillow whilst making shushing noises*

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Australian Marmite is from New Zealand and is not quite the same as British.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Is that the same thing we Americans refer to as an "English Muffin"? I always thought crumpets were cookies or something lol.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No it's not. It's more of a spongy consistency compared to a the dry, breadiness of an English muffin.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Exactly. It is the optimal food sponge; not too deep, not too shallow.

It's also a fantastically endearing insult to use, since it means someone is a little dense but not actually stupid, and I like to believe that we are all crumpets in this way.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In my dad's era, a bit of crumpet was something completely different

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

(I might actually be using it wrong. What does it mean?)

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