The Virtue of Temperance

I am not a huge fan of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. While I appreciate the artistry of the 16th and 17th century European oils which are the bulk of the collection, I find the works’ motifs and the overabundance of portraits tedious. When I travel to my nation’s capital for some cultural edification, I …

Taxation without representation

In my last post I raised questions about the prudency of my son including designer sneakers in his investment portfolio. While I may have reservations about what my son invests in, at least he understands the importance of financial planning and the basics of investing. This raises him above others in his age group. A …

Comrades, visit Graz!

Municipal tourist boards invest significant effort in promoting the local character of their cities. Convincing potential visitors in advance of the beauty and distinctive allure of their hamlets, however, can be challenging. This is especially true for Graz as we have to compete against our globally recognized federal capital with its Sachertorte, imperial architecture, and …

Flight shame reloaded

One of my earliest posts back in October 2019 was about flight shame. I wrote it in the international departures terminal of Frankfurt Airport waiting for a flight to the United States. My return flight a week later was my last time on a plane. As data from Eurocontrol shows, in 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic …

Sparty rocks!

Yesterday I wrote about my extracurricular activities at the University of Michigan back in the 1980s. Although I moved to Europe after graduating in 1991, I am still attune to the Michigan / Michigan State rivalry and must grudgingly concede one point where Moo U tops Big Blue: mascots. MSU has Sparty. Michigan has a …

Book Recommendation: Epitaph for a Spy

If you enjoy old school crime fiction and are looking for an entertaining fast paced read for the weekend, get a copy of  Eric Ambler’s Epitaph for a Spy. Written and set in 1938, it casts an unlikely protagonist into the role of spy. Josef Vadassy is a language teacher of Hungarian descent. He is …

Correcting the EU’s failed immigration policy

This is the third in a series of slightly longer posts drawing on some of my academic work. Following up on my last post, here I propose an alternative to current failed EU immigration policies. As Europeans we stand before a caesura. Our unity, our democratic institutions, our belief in the inviolability of human dignity, …

The true legacy of the Cold War

This is the second in a series of slightly longer posts drawing on some of my academic work. Following up on my last post, here I examine how post Cold War hubris has laid the groundwork for current Europe nationalism and xenophobia. When the Berlin Wall fell, neoconservative policy makers in the West broke into …

It was early morning yesterday …

… I was up before the dawn. Actually, early morning yesterday I was not up before the dawn, but today I was. If Rick Davies was truly up before the dawn yesterday I don’t know. There is a decent probability that he was, however, because today at 3:00 A.M. we set the clocks back one …

Knocking down the walls

Today marks 30 years of German Reunification, and next week classes start again at the Karl-Franzens-Universität. One seminar I will be taking sounds very promising – The Desire for Walls After 1989. The course description : Thirty years ago the wall between East and West Germany fell. For many people, 1989 was also seen as …