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[Sir Abacus]

Melbourne: Because you love toll roads and opening your own train door.

It's funny how similar the US and America are in terms of coasts. The east coast has all the people and toll roads. The west has lifestyle, attitude, does all the productive work along with having the most gorgeous coastline and the best beaches.

 

[commish]

Melbourne: Because you love toll roads and opening your own train door.

It's funny how similar the US and America are in terms of coasts. The east coast has all the people and toll roads. The west has lifestyle, attitude, does all the productive work along with having the most gorgeous coastline and the best beaches.

Yeah, the U.S. and America are strikingly similar. I can barely tell them apart

The tolls for NYC commuters are outrageous. I'd move before I paid those fees.

 

[i_am_ben]

Melbourne: Because you love toll roads and opening your own train door.

It's funny how similar the US and America are in terms of coasts. The east coast has all the people and toll roads. The west has lifestyle, attitude, does all the productive work along with having the most gorgeous coastline and the best beaches.

Historically this hasn't been the case at all.

Victoria and NSW have subsidsed the rest of the Commonwealth every year since federation. WA only stopped being a sponge recently.

 

[Novocaine]

Go Melbourne go!

 

[lachesis]

Are they nicest places for asians and blacks too? The pictures are entirely white...

 

[YaGaMi]

If you are white, Melbourne for sure!

Hahahaha. That's for all of Australia

 

[Victarion]

Looks too much like US, no thanks.

 

[djplaeskool]

Atlanta tied with Chicago

 

[BeEatNU]

BAM

no thanks.

 

[SuperBanana]

If you are white, Melbourne for sure!

What an ignorant comment. Melbourne is extremely diverse in its culture with heaps of Greeks, Italians, Turks, Asians, Russians, Indians, Africans, Middle-Easterners, ect and all with a positive mark on the culture like delicious foods and coffees. If you actually go into the city it's about 90% Asian you'll see. You can walk down an entire city street and not see a single white person.


But you're right. Australia is just 100% white and racist. /s

 

[jim-jam bongs]

It's really hard for people to accept that their ignorant view of Australia, cobbled together from youtube videos and GAF threads, is pretty wide of the mark. Meanwhile, most Australians enjoy a high standard of living, diverse cultural experience and some of the most beautiful natural and constructed environments on the planet.

Stay salty, mates.

 

[commish]

What an ignorant comment. Melbourne is extremely diverse in its culture with heaps of Greeks, Italians, Turks, Asians, Russians, Indians, Africans, Middle-Easterners, ect and all with a positive mark on the culture like delicious foods and coffees. If you actually go into the city it's about 90% Asian you'll see. You can walk down an entire city street and not see a single white person.


But you're right. Australia is just 100% white and racist. /s

So now Melbourne is 90% Asian? Sure don't see a lot of Asians in any of those pictures in the OP!

It's really hard for people to accept that their ignorant view of Australia, cobbled together from youtube videos and GAF threads, is pretty wide of the mark. Meanwhile, most Australians enjoy a high standard of living, diverse cultural experience and some of the most beautiful natural and constructed environments on the planet.

Stay salty, mates.

Yes, yes, we are all jealous of Melbourne because of how they are ranked in a magazine. That's what this entire thread was about.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Do I not count commish?

 

[SuperBanana]

So now Melbourne is 90% Asian?

I was walking in the city for a good 20 minutes last weekend and walked past maybe 3 white people. Everyone else was Asian. There are tons of Asians here. Just because you saw a few photos in a thread don't assume you know about a city. Melbourne would probably be less racist than any American city. It's a progressive city.

 

[milanbaros]

A lot of Australians taking offence because of people making fun of their country. I guess it is like when England makes fun of Wales or Scotland they get annoyed, nobody cares when it's the other way round. Must be a sign of being small fry.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

So now Melbourne is 90% Asian? Sure don't see a lot of Asians in any of those pictures in the OP!

Yes, yes, we are all jealous of Melbourne because of how they are ranked in a magazine. That's what this entire thread was about.

Well you do seem pretty irrational. People keep posting statistics about the diversity of the city and you reply "LA LA LA LA PICTURES IN OP LA LA LA". I mean, the most obvious conclusion based on the facts with which you've been presented is that the pictures on the OP are poorly chosen and unrepresentative. Why you instead choose to stick with your crusade is a mystery, so forgive me if I taste salt.

 

[NastyBook]

*abject horror*

No thanks, Australia.

No thanks.

 

[TheSecondSpitter]

A lot of Australians taking offence because of people making fun of their country. I guess it is like when England makes fun of Wales or Scotland they get annoyed, nobody cares when it's the other way round. Must be a sign of being small fry.

The case of Australia is just mind over matter: the rest of the world doesn't mind, because Australia doesn't matter.

 

[PARANO1A]

A lot of Australians taking offence because of people making fun of their country. I guess it is like when England makes fun of Wales or Scotland they get annoyed, nobody cares when it's the other way round. Must be a sign of being small fry.

Making fun is saying we have animals that will kill you everywhere. Which we kind of do.

Saying we're mostly white racists if not making fun. It's incorrect. We have a massive amount of diversity as a country. Melbourne especially.

 

[Schweinehund]

I always wanted to visit Australia but your wildlife scares the fuck out of me. The spiders...

 

[TheSecondSpitter]

I always wanted to visit Australia but your wildlife scares the fuck out of me. The spiders...

The wildlife is benign compared to the humans.

 

[freeofgreed]

So 3 pages in and we're not going to talk about this photo?

 

[tuna_love]

The wildlife is benign compared to the humans.

True. I heard we got some fuck wit lawyers over here.

 

[Antiwhippy]

The wildlife is benign compared to the humans.

As a natural Caucasian Australian you seem to have more troubles with racism than the actual Asian Australians in this thread.

I'm not going to say that there aren't racists in Australia, because that is obviously not true, and also proven by the fact that we elected a government based on racist immigration platforms, but to say all of it is racist? Nah. Especially not in Melbourne. I definitely have relatives who have not experienced racism in Melbourne but complained about experiencing it when they moved to Sydney. Anecdotal and all, but that's been my experience as an Asian Australian in the Asian Australian community.

 

[TheSecondSpitter]

True. I heard we got some fuck wit lawyers over here.

QED.

As luck would have it, I no longer live in the arse end of the world.

 

[JC Sera]

blah blah blah metro blah blah

Spoiler

I often wake up and admire that I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world

 

[commish]

Well you do seem pretty irrational. People keep posting statistics about the diversity of the city and you reply "LA LA LA LA PICTURES IN OP LA LA LA". I mean, the most obvious conclusion based on the facts with which you've been presented is that the pictures on the OP are poorly chosen and unrepresentative. Why you instead choose to stick with your crusade is a mystery, so forgive me if I taste salt.

What statistics have I posted at all in this thread? And I referenced the pictures in the OP once, in my last post and as a joke (hence the ""). Are you confusing me with someone else? Or did you just not read the thread and instead are just raging everyone?

 

[SmackAttack]

What a gorgeous pic, OP.

 

[Walpurgis]

3/5. Canada REPRESENT!

So 3 pages in and we're not going to talk about this photo?

It's Australia. There's not much else to say.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

What statistics have I posted at all in this thread? And I referenced the pictures in the OP once, in my last post and as a joke (hence the ""). Are you confusing me with someone else? Or did you just not read the thread and instead are just raging everyone?

None? That was my point, I was using you as an example. You did have a weird argument with someone presenting you with facts about Vancouver which didn't jive with your feelings, so I just assumed that you were equally irrational in your views of Australia based on the above post. Passive-aggressive smilies notwithstanding.

And why would I be raging? I live in Australia, it's pretty great actually.

 

[Darren870]

So 3 pages in and we're not going to talk about this photo?

It's from the zoo. Obviously there is glass between the lion and kids.

 

[datruth29]

Lived in Melbourne for a year. Was an incredible experience, and would do it again. Some of the best restaurants I've ever been to, great coffee all over the place, a vibrant young game community, and just pure awesome. The only things that through me for a loop were the weather (which wasn't really that bad, considering I've been dealing with New York weather for the majority of my life...) and the Metro. I swear the Myki system was setup just to fuck you over every so often.

 

[CLEEK]

No Ghettos in Melbourne

This is true, not just for Melbourne, but for all major Aussie cites, and one of the reasons they always score so highly in these sorts of lists.

Coming from the UK, where inner city poverty and ghettos in major cities are a real issue, Melbourne isn't laid out that way. You certainly get some suburbs that are at the lower end of the socio-economic scale, but as they're central, they're very desirable for new home owners. Gentrification (which doesn't have the racial connotations here) of the shittier suburbs has been an ongoing process of the past couple of decades, transforming areas into highly desirable places to live.

The way social housing is planned out means you don't have areas like you do in UK and US cities. There are a certain of suburbs with high volume of social housing, but generally, social housing is found in every suburb. I work in South Melbourne, and there's this huge social housing block just up the road. It is surrounded by town houses which would be work $1-2m each. There's another huge block a couple of KM away in one of the most expensive suburbs in Melbourne, and the block is right on the waterfront with incredible views. It might be social housing, but damn, it's prime real estate.

 

[chicko1983]

You specifically mentioned an NBA ("basketball player") being booed. Would like me to cite the part of your post to this effect?

I know who Richard Sherman is. Thanks for your enlightening take on the saga.

Richard Sherman cut a WWE-style promo on air to female reporter. His behavior was aggressive to both to her and Crabtree. Nobody mentioned his race. Personally I found his conduct highly amusing but put yourself in the position of Erin Andrews. It was obviously from her reaction she was highly intimidated.

You have no fucking clue what i have experienced in Australia, so stop talking out of your ass.

I didn't specifically mention a basketball player being booed. My exact comment was "How do you know some of the boos directed at some of the basketball players are not because of race?". Its a very general question, not even a statement.

I have been to three NBA games (all in NYC), where players have been booed. My statement stands - "How do you know some of the boos directed at some of the basketball players are not because of race?". This was the biggest part of the conundrum around Adam Goodes. Given that some of the consistent booing I witnessed was towards dark skinned players from white supporters, in hindsight, there is some doubt in my mind over what they were booing about.

The Richard Sherman saga was not solely about his comments straight after the game, which were aggressive - TO THE CAMERA (not towards Erin) - and Crabtree. (Also note, this was AFTER Crabtree refused to shake his hand at the end of the game and instead pushed him in the face guard). He even specifically said his comments were towards Crabtree when Andrews asked him.

The biggest part of that issue was the amount of times the white media started calling him a Thug after it. This cartoon sums up the issue that Sherman had being called a Thug repeatedly.

You have completely misunderstood when that 'saga' became a race issue, which was in the hours and days after the interview. Unless your take on it was that you were terrified of the beautiful white woman standing next to a college educated black man who had just made the play of his life, but was angry after being pushed in the face by his opponent when he went to shake his hand...

I never said I had a clue about your experience with racism.

You, yourself, said you only have experience racism in one place in the world. This isn't surprising to me given your skin colour and the cities you have lived in (all of them being some of the most ethnically diverse first world cities in the world).

If you have only experience racism in one city in your life, that is a completely unrealistic view of racism in this world IMO. I stand by that statement too.

 

[NewGame]

Melbourne is honestly fantastic. Everything about it is beautiful and well designed. There's heaps of cultural diversity which means there's heaps of restaurant options.

Public transport is also a breeze to use, the entire city is on a grid system and there's information booths everywhere.

Lots of art displays, busking and performers. The ACMI building opposite Flinders Station is one of the best videogame museums I've ever seen "Screen Worlds".

One day I will live there.

 

[PhantomZone]

Gotta love Melbourne. Home of the mighty MCG!!

 

[chicko1983]

Gotta love Melbourne. Home of the mighty MCG!!

Honestly, sport is the only reason I am jealous of Melbourne.

MCG, Rectangular Stadium and Docklands are all great stadia.

 

[CLEEK]

Honestly, sport is the only reason I am jealous of Melbourne.

Shame it's mostly Australian sport! AFL, Rugby and Cricket are shit-tier sports.

At least the country is embracing football. I went to about half of the home games for Melbourne Victory during the inaugural season, and holy fuck the quality of the league was bad. It is slowly improving year-on-year.

Melbourne is amazing for sporting events though. F1 take place a couple of minutes walk from my office. Australian Open is a cool thing to have every year. A dedicated sporting area like Melbourne Park is an incredible thing for any city to have.

 

[shink]

Honestly, sport is the only reason I am jealous of Melbourne.

MCG, Rectangular Stadium and Docklands are all great stadia.

It's really something else when all the stadiums/arenas are filled on a night. I think that was the White Night weekend actually.

 

[Biff]

So here's how the liveability index works:

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability survey

How the rating works

The concept of liveability is simple: it assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions. Assessing liveability has a broad range of uses, from benchmarking perceptions of development levels to assigning a hardship allowance as part of expatriate relocation packages. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability rating quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual’s lifestyle in any given location, and allows for direct comparison between locations.

Every city is assigned a rating of relative comfort for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure. Each factor in a city is rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable. For qualitative indicators, a rating is awarded based on the judgment of in-house analysts and in-city contributors. For quantitative indicators, a rating is calculated based on the relative performance of a number of external data points.

The scores are then compiled and weighted to provide a score of 1–100, where 1 is considered intolerable and 100 is considered ideal. The liveability rating is provided both as an overall score and as a score for each category. To provide points of reference, the score is also given for each category relative to New York and an overall position in the ranking of 140 cities is provided.

The suggested liveability scale

Companies pay a premium (usually a percentage of a salary) to employees who move to cities where living conditions are particularly difficult and there is excessive physical hardship or a notably unhealthy environment.

The Economist Intelligence Unit has given a suggested allowance to correspond with the rating. However, the actual level of the allowance is often a matter of company policy. It is not uncommon, for example, for companies to pay higher allowances—perhaps up to double The Economist Intelligence Unit’s suggested level.

Rating Description Suggested allowance (%)
80–100 There are few, if any, challenges to living standards 0
70–80 Day–to–day living is fine, in general, but some aspects of life may entail problems 5
60–70 Negative factors have an impact on day-to-day living 10
50–60 Liveability is substantially constrained 15
50 or less Most aspects of living are severely restricted 20

Liveability ranking and overview

How the rating is calculated

The liveability score is reached through category weights, which are equally divided into relevant subcategories to ensure that the score covers as many indicators as possible. Indicators are scored as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable. These are then weighted to produce a rating, where 100 means that liveability in a city is ideal and 1 means that it is intolerable.

For qualitative variables, an “EIU rating” is awarded based on the judgment of in–house expert country analysts and a field correspondent based in each city. For quantitative variables, a rating is calculated based on the relative performance of a location using external data sources.

Category 1: Stability (weight: 25% of total) Indicator Source
Prevalence of petty crime EIU rating
Prevalence of violent crime EIU rating
Threat of terror EIU rating
Threat of military conflict EIU rating
Threat of civil unrest/conflict EIU rating

Category 2: Healthcare (weight: 20% of total) Indicator Source
Availability of private healthcare EIU rating
Quality of private healthcare EIU rating
Availability of public healthcare EIU rating
Quality of public healthcare EIU rating
Availability of over-the-counter drugs EIU rating
General healthcare indicators Adapted from World Bank

Category 3: Culture and Environment (weight: 25% of total) Indicator Source
Humidity/temperature rating Adapted from average weather conditions
Discomfort of climate to travellers EIU rating
Level of corruption Adapted from Transparency International
Social or religious restrictions EIU rating
Level of censorship EIU rating
Sporting availability EIU field rating of 3 sport indicators
Cultural availability EIU field rating of 4 cultural indicators
Food and drink EIU field rating of 4 cultural indicators
Consumer goods and services EIU rating of product availability

Category 4: Education (weight: 10% of total) Indicator Source
Availability of private education EIU rating
Quality of private education EIU rating
Public education indicators Adapted from World Bank

Category 5: Infrastructure (weight: 20% of total) Indicator Source
Quality of road network EIU rating
Quality of public transport EIU rating
Quality of international links EIU rating
Availability of good quality housing EIU rating
Quality of energy provision EIU rating
Quality of water provision EIU rating
Quality of telecommunications EIU rating

To be honest, this is a lot more logical and well conceived than I was expecting.
It's basically an index of "How comfortable is the average life?"

After understanding how the index works, as someone who lives in Toronto, I can 100% see how we are in the Top 5. I have very few hurdles to living a comfortable life.

Is housing expensive? Hell yes. But unmanageable? No.
Does our transit system need work? Yup. But it still gets me where I need to be most of the time.
Does our telecom industry suck? 100%. But I mean... I have LTE data and 45 mbps internet. I pay more than I should, but hey, it's fast and works.
etc. etc.

 

[chicko1983]

Shame it's mostly Australian sport! AFL, Rugby and Cricket are shit-tier sports.

At least the country is embracing football. I went to about half of the home games for Melbourne Victory during the inaugural season, and holy fuck the quality of the league was bad. It is slowly improving year-on-year.

Melbourne is amazing for sporting events though. F1 take place a couple of minutes walk from my office. Australian Open is a cool thing to have every year. A dedicated sporting area like Melbourne Park is an incredible thing for any city to have.

I agree AFL and Rugby are shit-tier sports.

Cricket is not in that same tier though.

Adelaide United v Victory is my favourite domestic rivalry too. I saw that at Aami park, that was good fun.

 

[CLEEK]

I agree AFL and Rugby are shit-tier sports.

Cricket is not in that same tier though.

Yeah, you're right. Cricket is even worse!

 

[TheSecondSpitter]

I didn't specifically mention a basketball player being booed. My exact comment was "How do you know some of the boos directed at some of the basketball players are not because of race?". Its a very general question, not even a statement.

I have been to three NBA games (all in NYC), where players have been booed. My statement stands - "How do you know some of the boos directed at some of the basketball players are not because of race?". This was the biggest part of the conundrum around Adam Goodes. Given that some of the consistent booing I witnessed was towards dark skinned players from white supporters, in hindsight, there is some doubt in my mind over what they were booing about.

The Richard Sherman saga was not solely about his comments straight after the game, which were aggressive - TO THE CAMERA (not towards Erin) - and Crabtree. (Also note, this was AFTER Crabtree refused to shake his hand at the end of the game and instead pushed him in the face guard). He even specifically said his comments were towards Crabtree when Andrews asked him.

The biggest part of that issue was the amount of times the white media started calling him a Thug after it. This cartoon sums up the issue that Sherman had being called a Thug repeatedly.

You have completely misunderstood when that 'saga' became a race issue, which was in the hours and days after the interview. Unless your take on it was that you were terrified of the beautiful white woman standing next to a college educated black man who had just made the play of his life, but was angry after being pushed in the face by his opponent when he went to shake his hand...

I never said I had a clue about your experience with racism.

You, yourself, said you only have experience racism in one place in the world. This isn't surprising to me given your skin colour and the cities you have lived in (all of them being some of the most ethnically diverse first world cities in the world).

If you have only experience racism in one city in your life, that is a completely unrealistic view of racism in this world IMO. I stand by that statement too.

Boy, you certainly know how to bludgeon somebody to death with verbiage.

The booing directed at Goodes emanated directly from his homage and celebration of his Aboriginal heritage. Only somebody with a two-digit IQ can't see that .

I misunderstood shit. I was in the US when Sherman went on his rant. He ignored her question and went on a tirade. Simple as that. Stop deflecting and see it for what it was.

Ah yes, victim blaming another proud Aussie response to racism. I don't pick and choose where I experience racism -- my father, my mother and other members of my family all experienced racial prejudice in Australia. Consequently, I'll never, ever have any respect for that country. Ever.

 

[Dastardly Jerks]

We also got the best meth in Australia, cunts!

 

[Deleted member 30609]

there's too much ocean between here and everything else.

 

[A More Normal Bird]

Which NBA player are you talking about?

I never knew the term 'thug' carried with it a racist connotation.

I never disputed the existence of racism against soccer players of African heritage in Europe.

Each to his own, I can only cite my personal experiences.

Almost as good as the diet racist posts by US posters saying that racism against Aboriginal Australians is particularly bad because "they aren't even black".
EDIT: It gets better:

I misunderstood shit. I was in the US when Sherman went on his rant. He ignored her question and went on a tirade. Simple as that. Stop deflecting and see it for what it was.

Ah yes, victim blaming another proud Aussie response to racism.

 

[anaslexy]

Adelaide represent!!

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

Melbourne is a fantastic city. Autumn and Winter Melb can't be beaten. But when it comes to summertime, Sydney is my bae.

 

[Poona]

So 3 pages in and we're not going to talk about this photo?

That is from Werribee Open Range Zoo:

http://www.zoo.org.au/werribee

It's just a section where you can see lions through glass and they've placed a vehicle there going through the glass. So you can sit in a seat and a lion may decide to get on top if it so wishes as can be seen in the pic.

More can be seen here:

http://tinyurl.com/9m8trkm (from Daily Mail - website seems to be censored so placed the url into tinyurl. Anyway it is one of the male lions on the jeep there).

 

[ItIsOkBro]

You probably have to be a little racist to get an entire Wikipedia article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_Indians_in_Australia_controversy