Legoland is in Billund. He clearly knows nothing about Jutland.
…and we have a thread winner!
That literally made me laugh out loud. Thanks, Shodan.
Yeah, Shodan, I’ll give you TWO Internet cookies for that one.
Anybody who thinks Swedes are happy has never seen and Ingmar Bergman film.
I have plans on visiting Denmark someday - I played EVE Online for a number of years in a European based corp made up of Scandanavians and British with a liberal salting of others tossed in for fun. I also plan on visiting Norway and Sweden as well.
And I deliberately flew into Frankfurt, met up with a Romanian friend [who I have plans on visiting in Bucharest one day] and we bombed around between Ramstein and Amsterdam [and yes, I drove the Kuga around old town Amsterdam’s Canal District looking for our hotel…] because I wanted to feed Jin Ente some Popeye’s Fried Chicken, and the only place to get it in Europe is on an American military base…[and if that isn’t a silly reason to fly to Germany for 4 days, I don’t know what is.:smack:]
On Finland:
What the writer is failing to understand is that Kaurismaki’s films are comedies.
Hang on, wait. Maybe that actually makes it worse.
Because…The Seventh Seal is a documentary about Swedish society? All Swedes are somehow cloned Ingmar Bergmans? You’ll need to help us out here, what exactly is the point you are so ineptly trying to make?
“You said Lithuania twice.”
“I like Lithuania.”
You know what makes me want to kill myself? Adam Sandler films.
Bergman is awesome. Nothing depressing about him.
Let’s just pretend that I totally did that on purpose. 
Guys, I just had an epiphany of sorts. It occurred to me what bothers me about Scandinavians claiming to be happy on happiness surveys.
A Scandinavian who is beaming and smiling, all thumbs up, and cheerfully telling you how happy s/he is, isn’t actually happy. Because that’s not how a Scandinavian expresses genuine happiness.
A Scandinavian who is gloomy, morose, alcoholic, suicidal and fucking a pig is a *real *happy Scandinavian.
It doesn’t seem to work on Safari.
I agree, apart from nasty doings with the pig.
On scandinavian happiness, also speaking as a Norwegian: we have a lot of old, worn carpets full of dust underneath. We do not have free healthcare, by the way. And our "safety net is a joke. It’s primarily designed to make people dependent on it, by making it’s users expend all their “assets”, even their family, before giving “assistance”. One of Norways biggest problems is big, **inefficient **bureaucracy. Emphasis on inefficient, as I would have no problem with a big, efficient bureaucracy.
But I was still pretty happy living there.
From what I understand very few western countries have ‘free’ healthcare, almost all require some form of insurance or small payments (here in Sweden it costs about 200 SEK to see a doctor and there’s a cap of about 2000 SEK that you can pay a year). The UK is one of the few where it really is ‘free’ (beyond tax) and you just turn up and see a doctor.
The problem there is that Safari is not a good browser, no matter what Apple tells us.
And I use OSX at home and work.
I’m an American who has been to Legoland in Billund. Great place. So the premise that no one is interested is false. Ever been to a Lego convention? Billund is like Mecca to Lego aficionados. He’s just clearly not hanging out with the people with the appropriate hobbies.
I am of Scandinavian-American descent, & seem to keep wandering into Scandinavians somehow (some uni acquaintances, a webcomic artist I follow, etc.); and I rate this maybe a third true. True for some more than others. Possibly truer for Finns and Scots than for Scandinavians. Possibly considerably less true for the Icelandics. I haven’t met enough Estonians to have a stereotypical view of them yet. 
I still don’t understand how you get a human penis in a sow’s vagina.
At least a few of them find it Hven.
Danish artist Humon on Nordic “comedy”:
[Nitpick] Finland is NOT part of Scandahoovia. Cite: Wiki or the side if any SAS airplane [/Nitpick]
I have visited Sweden a number of times and I have many Swedes and a few Danes among my friends. The Swedes I know bitch like hell about their government Heath care. Inefficient and hard to get an appointment mainly.
Swedes do drink. However I did read an article that compared alcohol consumption now vs historically. Swedes drink a LOT less now. Alcohol is taxed out the ass in Sweden. Going to Sweden and want to make a friend for life? Pack a bottle of booze.
The Swedes I have met are friendly and outgoing and seem to enjoy life.
Are they happier than Americans? I don’t know. I know a lot of happy people here too.
I do know I have been warned that there are parts of Gothenburg I should not walk through at night, and when I asked why when bicycle racing is so big in Europe all the commuter bikes I saw parked at the Central Station were old beat up POS, I was told if you parked a nice bike even with the best locks it would get stolen. So it is not crime free.