where curious minds meet
From the category archives:
The economics behind women’s tennis tournaments.
Eurozone’s dysfunctional internal markets.
Does the special relationship across the pond still exist?
How the German language evolved from the primordial Germanic soup.
Can the French economy be in better shape than the German’s?
Interesting short story from the perspective of a mail-order bride.
Nationalistic sentiments running high everywhere, including Japan.
EU project going into slow reverse? Rather simplistic view draw from a distance, but causes much more nuanced in my opinion.
And I’m sure the next generation of palliative patients will have a different set of regrets.
How little thoughts we give to dying.
On the German versus American attitudes when it comes to labour.
How Trader Joe works.
Who has the freedom to travel without a visa?
What makes a global city?
What education should seek to teach.
No representation, low taxes.
On class, facial hair, and Turkish politics.
Things to know about start-ups.
The case for learning foreign languages not strong enough for the British.
Brussels’ image overhaul campaign.
Americans can’t relax nor vacation the way Europeans do.
How to make knockoffs in hopes of making the real thing one day.
Nice transition from the last piece, this was apparently how Germany did it back then.
-vores are the new –isms.
Eurocrats salaries going up or down?
Commercialization of Ramadan.
The absurdity behind the consulting industry.
To be a weed dealer in Amsterdam.
It’s one thing to make money as a writer, another to be prolific and respected.
Eurasia and a new great game?
Sex and real estate in China.
US and Europe converge.
Tunnel vision in the Internet age.
Using disgust to police the boundaries of acceptable behaviour.
McDonald marking a first in China.
Burma’s version of politicized Spice Girls.
Another pointless exercise in populism. France again leads the way.
Early puberty, or a case of House?
Austerity turning out to be a bit too austere for Greece.
Brazil brimming with opportunities?
I’m not completely sold on this: women’s success in finding a male partner don’t pay off in the labor market.
Ambiguity over just exactly what “blood diamond” means.
When the EU Parliament “cuts” its budget.
Call centres are coming back onshore?
How can Sweden come up on top, when the majority of working women there work for the public sector and get paid less? Or is it merely a study of gender pay based on the same job, not accounting for the difference in how socio-economic factors sway career choices?
On the ascent of Serge Gainsbourg’s as a historical reflection on the ongoing battle for French identity.
Finland, the best country in the world? More like Jekyll-and-Hyde?
Emerging adulthood, except we never come out on the other side.
Girls aren’t the only ones with issues.
How to write? Don’t even try.
India and its lasting caste privileges.
Some natural disasters get more donations than others.
What is love?
Why Russians are sad and like to brood.
Detroit’s decline reflected in its specific breed of strip bars.
Two sides of history on Churchill.
A divided India.
Power and ethical lapses.
Helping girls in conflict resolution and confidence building early on.
Everyone has an opinion on if and how the Internet might be changing the way we think.
Caucasus, pipelines, and the new silk road.
China takes over Japan, officially second largest economy.
Russia’s “legal nihilism” and the exile generation.
A nationally aware grammatical system.
Where Yahoo didn’t go.
On identical cousins that are the US and Europe.
On the problems with tenure and doing away with it.
Promoting materialism and dependency masked as empowerment, and the rise of priv-lit.
The happiness that comes with not owning things.
“The American life does not exist until it is filled up.” And how to take a walk properly.
Economic steady state, the future of developed world?
Does the Chinese economy favour its corporations and against its households?
Avoid the idea generation trap.
The real reason parents don’t like parenting: expectations.
How the Economist out-marketed all its rivals, although using the word marketing is selling its accomplishments short.
The cost of dying.
Why we like porn: because our brains are more like the Internet.
Japan’s missing senior citizens.
EU license plates are for the most part, pretty uniform, Belgian and UK ones being the main exceptions.
The family that started the concept of discount shopping.
The charitable mindset is very much related to social contracts.
In the midst of all that cry about the lost American dream/generation, how much substance and how much plain spoiledness?
This level of self-awareness is exceptional at 18: The downside of becoming the class valedictorian.
Why New York will never overtake the Valley as tech/innovation hub.
Tax reasons still drive the majority of citizenship renouncements.
The journalism job market hasn’t been decimated.
On getting off of “dopamine squirts”.
Some arguments for single-founder start-ups.
Wedding season = celebration of the ego.
Divorce occurs at a higher rate in more religious and less-educated communities.
Laura Davis: The thing that I love about European vacations is that they can be so much longer than U.S. ones. They get soooo much... The right to vacation 
Bad Credit Auto Loans: Well, the fact's are that there are going to be people on the top and the bottom,... Inequality is Shrinking, Does Anyone Care? 
DoctorJ: I agree completely that Ayn Rand was a typical Russian reactionary, with neither a proper... Ayn Rand belongs to Russian history, not American? 
Dana: A somewhat unexpected Cup this year, no? Which one are you cheering for? French World Cup meltdown Dana: There’s of course a balance that needs to be found. I do think that the US’ welfare safety net is perhaps a bit... Insidious benevolence