Japan is buying 42 F-35s, and participating in parts manufacturing (as someone else pointed out they will be making Japanese versions of the electronics systems), so actually this Mitsubishi airplane is expected to benefit from shared knowledge derived from the F-35 program.

France and England have pretty sizeable armed forces... and French COIN operations are top notch; the other countries of Western Europe at least have militaries using advanced equipment although small in size.

The order was so far only tentative, and there are as of yet no cancellation fees.

See that's what I'm not convinced of "that institutions in effect have adapted to nature, not the other way around." I think you're taking for granted that the physical requirement as presently stated by the army/marines are the only standards possible- because we know that the present standards have problems (like…

I feel though that the solution is to re-examine the physical standards and physical activity practices of the army: it's not about "watering down" the army/marines, but being smarter about the system as a whole works. The often cited "marching with 100 pound packs" example is perfect: because it's a figure that has…

Good luck! Toronto can be a really expensive city- but it's also very large, so don't be discouraged at first, just keep looking around till you find something.... I don't know where the cool kids live these days, but they can't all be paying $1000 month rent. The music scene is also supposed to be pretty good, but…

Champ. +1

Is it possible to visit the city before hand? Honestly having internationally swapped cities four times in the past six years, even the "tough" markets aren't that bad as long as you're diligent about sending out emails (sometimes alot of emails- and of good quality, not 20 copy-pastes)... and really search out new…

My Canadian highschool (near Toronto) changed its mascot from "Redmen" in the early 2000s because it is totally racist. :/

As an another ex-pat in Berlin (student!) you're both right... I see/hear "Nazi" and "Neo-Nazi both used interchangeably here... I suppose to American English speakers though the term "Nazi" refers only to the historical figures and not really contemporary ones, and so (with the prefix) "Neo-Nazi" would always be used…

Not sure about reggae, but Germany has since the 80's had its own German-language native hip-hop scene, which while obviously influenced by American culture, it is its own thing now (with local topics etc). It's also very popular... so like anything other culture medium I guess some assholes make a racist version of…

This is a bit of a myth about Europe though... cause like nudity depends greatly on where you are, even in Germany which is infamous for nudity (hahaha)- it's much more an east German thing than a western thing because of cultural reasons (the "Free Body Culture" movement specifically), and it also depends on rural vs…

The fine arts thing I think is a bit unhelpful though- since what constitutes a "fine arts" degree varies so widely. Like people who studying advertising and graphic design at NYC area schools can get obscenely well paid jobs right out of school, and they are awarded BFA's just like painting grads from the University…

In Canada (and I image rural parts of the states too), they do have a bad reputation, and yet somehow retain popularity... my parents from when we were kids told us not drive them even at a friends cottage.

On another level a false sense of security generated by ineffective safety gear is also dangerous- another example would the "fire shields" that forest firefighters are instructed to wrap themselves in to ride-out-the-storm as an absolute last resort. Many other countries have discontinued the use of such measures,…

It's a strange mentality.... I kind of wonder about the cultural basis, like I came from an immigrant family where the idea was more that money belongs to the whole family and so of course parents would pick helping their kids well into adult instead of buying second houses/vacations etc., but had friends who got…

Because there's a culture where everyone goes to university, and young students/parents don't know that university quality varies widely and that other options are available.

I think parents also don't know better because it was different in their generation- where college tuition was actually affordable to the…

It's all context, here the genders are the same, it wasn't in the slightest bit sexual, and there's a cultural history of it being a harmless boyish prank.

Had it been a man doing this to a woman of course it would be totally different (and not ok). I concede that maybe pantsing someone is kinda a borderline thing…