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0 pointssamiv6mo ago0 comments

There's a saying

"In a developing country nothing works but everything is possible. In a developed country everything works but nothing is possible"

In Lord of the Rings, fellowship of the ring when Gandalf arrives in Shire and Sam runs to meet him he says, "you're late!" to which Gandalf replies, "Deutsche Bahn is never late but arrives precisely when it means to".

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2 comments · 2 top-level

potato37328426mo ago

The quality of culture and people you're dealing with has a huge multiplicative factor as well.

"I'm going to manufacture precision optics at competitive prices, right here, and I'm gonna tool up a factory to do it" is bold but believable in Houston or Dallas. It's a fucking joke in Trenton or Newark.

Likewise there's a whole bunch of ex-soviet 'stans and random east asian countries where such a statement is far more believable than middle easter, african and latin american ones that are of comparable GDP.

cameronh906mo ago

And in Germany - it seems - nothing works and nothing is possible?

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