Interesting; where do you go to get contact lenses?
What happens if more than once MD runs?
And there are no meth dealers in the US, because meth is illegal!
As far as I know, there is no requirement to see an ophthalmologist either if you want to get contact lenses in Germany, however, it is strongly recommended. I believe folks who are going to wear contact lenses usually go to an ophthalmologist first. Most opticians also sell contact lenses. But again, if you’re the kind of person who is hell-bent on never setting foot in a doctor’s office, you don’t have to in order to get eyeglasses or contact lenses.
One thing the US lacks are thousands of little old ladies swarming the city streets every night selling heavily subsidized condoms. Another are similar people (more often men) on every other corner selling not-so-subsidized motorbike gas and having an air pump and a few tools so one never needs a gas station. Another like that are scads of teenagers selling lottery tickets.
Vietnam has what the economists call an “underemployment” problem. Pretty much everyone is kept busy, mainly by small family enterprises that employ second cousins and people who live next door who are related distantly, but all these people are not really needed and as soon as a factory opens up this becomes obvious.
I believe Iceland doesn’t have a standing military either, just a few coast guard ships and maybe a small HRT/GSG9 type of outfit.
I would expect the list of professions that do not exist in the Federated States of Micronesia to run several volumes.
There’s this little door in the alley that runs just behind the great mosque in Dubai. Knock and say Tariq sent you. The password is “al-sword ibn fish”.
I don’t think this should be surprising. Don’t most common-law jurisdictions employ lay magistrates and justices of the peace? I know that at least England, Wales, Australia, and Canada do. In fact, in England and Wales the majority of criminal cases are handled by lay magistrates without any legal qualifications. Even countries outside the common-law tradition employ lay judges to adjudicate cases alongside or instead of professional judges. I think this would have been the case for the majority of European countries in the mid-20th century, and it’s probably still the case today.
The Thai government occasionally comes out to say there is no prostitution here.
Along those lines was one cabinet minister who in the 1990s I think it was made an inspection tour of the Gomorrah called Pattaya. Upon her return to Bangkok, she declared with a perfectly straight face that she could not find the slightest evidence of prostitution there. For those of you who know Pattaya, you’ll understand why that made her a laughingstock.
On the contrary, one-party states are chock full of campaign managers. Most of these states go to great lengths to maintain the pretence of democracy, and so always make sure that there’s lots of fresh posters, advertisements, and news coverage reminding voters how wonderful the party and leadership are (even if there’s no choice of voting for anyone else). North Korea has been financing one continuous, massive political campaign for the Workers’ Party of Korea and its Fatherland Front since the 1950s.
Does the MD win by virtue of a law specifically mandating that the MD automatically wins and the actual vote doesn’t matter, or does the MD win because practically speaking, very few voters are willing to vote for a non-MD if an MD is on the ballot?
That’s some Baghdad Bobbery indeed 
No button artists and snake assemblers in the Philippines. We also don’t have sleep sculptors nor dog weavers. The princess of Kansas City was extruded in her pajamas and my hunger remains - so no jelly hunters here as well.
In AUS almost all magistrates are now legally qualified. This is partly due to the huge number of unemployed legal graduates produced by the universities, partly due to creeping credentialism and the destruction of the appreticeship system, and partly the tail end of a class-warefare myth that equated JP’s and magistrates with inherited wealth.
In my state the term “JP” was abolished for the same reasons, but partly re-created and re-established in a bunch of similar roles (bail justice, witness, administrative appeals,mental health review). Some of those are being infiltrated by legal graduates also, just because there are so many legal graduates around, others are the preserve of technical experts.
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We have “Notary Public”, and a variety of registered witnesses, some of which are called “JP” in some states. The two problems are (1) that the names of the functions don’t match the American terms, and (2) there are a number of acts which require a witness to be registered in an particular American registration system. That means that getting documents witnessed for an American Bank/Stock Exchange/Court/Regulation can be anything from easy, to expensive, to almost impossible.
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Our Coroner is a judge, legally qualified, and, in our system, a senior lawyer appointed by the goverment in a (mostly) apolitical manner.
I’m pretty sure you can BYO booze to Brunei, provided A) You’re not Muslim and B) You stick to certain limits (a dozen beers and two bottles of spirits every other day or something like that).
You don’t need any sort of tertiary qualification to be a Justice of the Peace in Queensland - I know a couple who have never been anywhere a university or TAFE (Polytech).
But they don’t have bench duties, do they? I would think that there could still be magistrates in Queensland who came up the old way, from clerk of court, and there could still be JP’s (magistrates courts) doing non-judging court tasks, but the basic role of a JP (qualified) in Queensland is as “commisioner for taking affidavits” – what is sometimes called a Notary Public in some places –
Although all JP’s are by definition quallified for some bench duties in Queensland, other regulations only allow a JP (qualified) to do documentation type duties, not judging.
I believe that’s what JP’s do in Queensland. Most people’s dealings with them are for getting important documents/certified copies of things witnessed.
I’m not an expert on the subject but yes, I also believe it’s possible to have a “lay” person appointed as a Magistrate, although it’s pretty unlikely in most cases for reasons you noted earlier. However, Queensland’s a predominantly regional state so I would suspect there’s provision to appoint a member of the community in good standing to the role, especially in rural areas where there may not be anyone with a law degree (or with a degree and prepared to stop being a lawyer :p) in the region.
That’s sort of how it works in Spain as well, although we do distinguish between “someone who works at an optics store” and “an optometrist”. The optometrist is qualified to prescribe glasses, the other one isn’t. The optometrist cannot treat your pinkeye or your detached retina: s/he can detect it, but not treat it; for detached retina you have to go to the ophtalmologist; for pinkeye and since there are OTC medications, just to the nearest pharmacy.
Good point, however there are plenty of race car drivers.