Category Archives: Europe

Your Monday reading

Recommended reading for Tuesday

  • Londonistan Calling – Hitchens goes back to London. Choice quote:

    He was a conspicuous figure because, having lost the use of an eye and both hands in an exchange of views in Afghanistan, he sported an opaque eye plus a hook to theatrical effect. Not as nice as he looked..

  • The Crime Against Kansas – Why isn’t this sort of thing in more history classes? You might hear about John Brown’s raid, but never about any clashes

European vs American Talents

From Marginal Revolution

Because European government works better, Europeans demand more of it and get more of it. American liberals look at Europe and see (sometimes) better results per dollar spent. They then conclude that America should be more like Europe, whereas in reality America would end up spending more to get more bad American government.

It’s a very nice argument against moving towards European style nationalized health care, to wit, we would not get the same results as they do. Instead we would probably just magnify existing problems.

The Germans are German

From a quick read of Der Spiegel

  • They actually have a guide to “Scoring a German
  • German Brothel Offers 50-Percent Discount to Senior Citizens

    The brothel “Pascha” in Cologne is now offering senior citizens a 50 percent discount on sex services — but only between the hours of 12 and 5 p.m., and only upon proof of age. The offer, which many would argue beats free coffee at McDonalds, is valid for clients aged 66 and over.

    Only “many”? Not all? Also from the same article

    A brothel in Dresden in economically hard-hit eastern Germany made headlines in 2005 when it introduced a 20-percent discount for the long-term unemployed.

    I can’t think of a worse incentive…