I just thought of something: "Iceland" is a funny name for a country.

Move to New Zealand.

People like rock music and sports there.

As you are impervious to the elements you could live in the South Island – not that it’s extreme by any measure, they just get cold winters. Has the bonus or good outdoor sports – skiing, climbing, hiking, kayaking etc. Not so great if you are into surfing as the water is icy. Both Christchurch and Dunedin have a well established independent music tradition and communities.

Nice place for a family – decent education system, good healthcare, low crime and corruption and they’re pretty tolerant of unusual/eccentric behaviour – not saying you’re a freak or anything, but if you were people tend to not notice.

They’re also trying to encourage immigration so if you have qualifications and/or decent work experience you should be able to get in fairly easily.

Want me to go into the downsides to living there?

I think New Zealand is the best answer thus far.

Aside from the risk of skin cancer, I can't think of a reason not to go.

I've had it with people judging other people and telling them what to do

New Zealand should be the last place you live if that's priority number one, according to the Kiwi wife.

My arrival there is a matter of time. Imagine being across the planet from the United States and having a neighbor with all kinds of Yankee paraphernalia drilled into his walls and on his person.

Alaska.

vockins wrote:

I've had it with people judging other people and telling them what to do

New Zealand should be the last place you live if that's priority number one, according to the Kiwi wife.

I never remember it being like (judgemental) - but I guess it depends on your experience.

Are you going there to live Vockins?

Costa Rica is meant to be the happiest place on earth. My friend visits his family there every now and then and he highly recommends it.

Denmark has a superior social security system. You really get looked after when you're old - due to taxation of course. BUT in Copengahen, you're just 12miles over the bridge form Malmo, Sweden. This is a goodthing.

Malmo has a week long, FREE music festival each year. The summers are nice over there, clean waters. It is very multicultural and they make most of the worlds medicine over there so you know, you could start up you're own business or something.

Cape Cod?

Vermont or New Hampshire. That stereotype of the eccentric but tolerant New Englander is fucking spot-on in those states. They don't give a damn what you do as long as it's not inside their fence.

projectMalamute wrote:

Christopher J. McGarvey wrote:

242sumner wrote:Finland is a highly democratic welfare state with low levels of corruption, consistently ranking at or near the top in international comparisons of national performance...etc

Good choice.
I've thought long and hard about moving there.
To be fair, I've thought about moving to every Scandinavian at some point or another.
I would probably pick Norway over Finland though.

Where do these places rank in terms of cultural diversity? They strike me as pretty fucking boring really. As fucked up as the United States is, it is still one of the most, if not the most, diverse places on earth.

I decided some time ago that the only cities I have any real interest in living in correspond precisely to those having original six hockey teams.

In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
Orson Welles, The Third Man, 1949
US actor & director (1915 - 1985)
(From: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/4018.html)

Finland probably sits closer to Switzerland rather than Italy, so may not fit the BRW criteria, if rock 'n' roll is what he wants.

In all honesty-I realize this is going to get shot down immediately-you should move to Gainesville, FL. I have lived here since middle school (1985) and would probably not move anywhere else. I realize there is a supreme disgust for the state of Florida but our city is different.

Yes, most of the architecture is boring and spread out but that allows for a great deal of sun and foliage.

Housing is ridiculously cheap here; $140,000 buys you a nice three bedroom house in a safe and quiet part of town.

Less than two hours away are all the spring training games you could stomach.

Less than an hour away are no less than five natural springs with crystal clear water that maintains a temperature of 72F year round.

There is a reasonably sized community of people that have been playing music together for a number of years without attitude, entitlement or pretense.

Most of the schools here are fantastic.

We are currently in a state of extreme development so there is manual labor out the ass.

Boiled peanuts as far as the eye can see.

The winters are fantastic (high today of 72 and partly cloudy) although the summers can be a bit humid.

The drawbacks are the same that you could expect from any smaller city: skipped over by many touring bands, museums and theaters are minimal, and there is not a major airport Also, the rapid college sports fanbase does get a bit annoying but they are pretty easy to ignore.

I realize Florida is pretty much on the bottom of most people's list due to its location in the the deep south, but Gainesville is a pretty decent place to live. Seriously.

Jon

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:I've had it with people judging other people and telling them what to do, whether here in the U.S. or otherwise.

so, folks are finally all up in yer shit for not using those tori amos tickets. it was just a matter of time.