Interesting look at another side of international relations.  Hm, what's the state of British-German ties at the World Cup?  Fans who travel to Germany this summer will be singing from the unr

Is this news come as a surprise to anybody?  Really. Life imitates art, people, life imitates art (or science-fiction literature, as it were). I suddenly feel the urge to watch "I, Robot" again.

His name is Nathaniel Blake, and he is an undergraduate studying microbiology.  He somehow has time to write some rather thoughtful columns about campus culture, and here is one of them: An excerpt about the odd double-mindedness of academia:

*Insert bitter laugh here from MM* This comes as NO SURPRISE AT ALL  to anyone who is familiar with the Ivy League or with higher education and academia in general.  Few people really care about education.  The grand emphasis is on mu

Congratulations to the winemakers of California, who have once more proven themselves worthy to be ranked among the best in the world!  Hooray! Thirty years had passed since the Judgment of Paris, w

As you all know, it is exam time on campus, and everyone (instructors and students alike) is frazzled, overworked, stressed-out, sleepless, and going crazy. As an instructor, I say this too: we have deadlines.  We have to mark exam papers, calc

It's pretty much a case of "life imitates satire," because I was going to write a little satire on the hoopla surrounding "The Da Vinci Code." But once again, life has beaten me to the punch line.  Here is the headline (&quo

Illegal immigration isn't just an American problem. Look at the current mess in Italy.  And for anyone who still thinks amnesty solves anything, well, amnesty simply encourages more illegal immigration.  Have a look at this:

Usually when I start a post with "Great Moments in . . ." you know I'm being sarcastic or ironic.  But this time, I'm perfectly serious.  This is a rare and great moment in some historical honesty on a campus! This story out of N

Gentle reader, here you have a chance to compare how the U.S. and Mexico treat their legal immigrants.  Does the following report seem rather hypocritical to you?  Because it rather does to me:

Here's the latest news from the Washington Post, with link xie-xie to View from Taiwan. An excerpt: Taiwan unveiled its first formal national security policy Saturday, pledging to increase defense spend

Brussels Journal has the best comment yet on Lordi, the recent winner of the 2006 Eurovision competition! Honestly, I watched this and thought, "Hm, this looks like 'Lord of the Rings' meets 'American Idol.'  And hm, who knew orcs and Uruk

Well, it should come as no surprise that the BBC nowadays has its fair share (maybe more than its fair share) of dim bulbs. But this time, the "Beeb" has turned itself into a farce and a joke.  How many people does it take to cha

I just had to post this because it sounds so strange:  apparently wallaby milk might be the next medical miracle!  (Er, how does one milk a wallaby, exactly?) In the interim, I guess wallaby milk will go on simply being breakfast, lunch, t

Who doesn't love a beautiful auto?  A great auto is like a moving work of art.  And to celebrate Germany's tradition of cars, a brand-new car museum has just opened in Stuttgart!  It's done by Mercedes-Benz (of course) and it is

I forgot to post this on May 16, the actual date, since I was running around campus in a screaming panic. But I post this now, because the Cultural Revolution is too horrible and important to forget.  And especially because the Beijing governme

This is so bizarre that I had to post it, even though it's been posted on Instapundit (which means that half the world has already seen it). Yes, on this map by Foreign Policy, Taiwan doesn't appear at all!  Now I know there's constant internat

Like a lot of my friends last night, I watched President Bush give his speech on immigration (transcript here). Then I watched a lot of analysts and pundits talk and talk and talk.  This blog post is not going to be my reply (I'll post later i

*cough*  I thought everyone said that the EU was a model for responsible environmental policy, Kyoto, fewer emissions, etc. etc. etc.  Blah blah blah.  So much better than the evil U.S., blah blah blah. Well, apparently it's all 

South Africa's former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Frederik Willem de Klerk is currently in Taiwan.  (You may remember that de Klerk won the 1993 Nobel, and he was co-winners with Nelson Mandela; they both played important roles in e

Despite what you may think, I don't actually hate the EU.  In fact, I find it a fine source not only of trans-Atlantic social, cultural, and political commentary, but also of endless amusement.  Yes, yes, I do study the EU seriously, but

There hasn't been much bloggage lately because of school.  Right now it is the end of the semester on campus, classes are coming to an end, and exam time is here.  The whole thing is like one big academic hurricane.  I am exhausted.&nb

Very interesting read indeed in the Sunday Times of London.  Do read the whole thing.  Here is a piece of it (and yes, once again EU legislation proves to create massive headache): Last week sa

Here is the headline: "Vienna digs out its Che Guevara T-shirts for Chavez." No, I'm not making this up!  Here is the start of the news story: The Che Guevara T-shirts and berets were out

I'll let you ponder the implications of cake-eating, politics, Europe, Marie Antoinette, and elite attitudes toward the supposedly insignificant "masses." But for today I'll simply say: Bring on the cake!  The European Union fina