- I don’t understand why supermarkets, all around the world, by the way, are trying to force me to use a metal instrument when I want to buy some bread.
- You remember my article about the longest possible train journey and that it begins in Portugal? A blogger friend went there and found the train:
- This Econ-Talk episode on the connection between slavery and racism was quite interesting, but I wish the participants had looked at other countries with a history of slavery, beyond the US and the UK, too, for example at Brazil and Romania.
- Because refugees are still a topic, I recommend the book In the Sea there are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda.
- In the Roman Empire, the first Christians were regarded as atheists.
- A newspaper in Bolivia confused Martin Luther and Martin Luther King. That happens when people think that an internet search replaces the need for education.
- Malta is probably the most dangerous of all the countries I ever lived in. Already when I moved there, I was greeted with a car bomb. Last year, there were three major car bombs.
- But when you fly to Malta, people wish you a “happy holiday”. When you go to Ukraine, on the other hand, they freak out even if you stay 1000 km away from the fighting.
- People who use selfie sticks look silly. But even sillier are photos taken with selfie sticks that show the stick in the photo.
- Ivanka Trump seemed excited when it looked like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would take over the Presidency of the United States of America. But it was just a visit.
- If you are interested in nuclear weapons at a higher level than Donald Trump seems to grasp, I recommend listening to this interview with James Acton. Insightful and eloquent.
- When we speak about the arbitrariness of borders, we mostly think of the “lines in the sand” in Africa and in the Middle East, drawn by colonial officers. Another striking example were the India-Bangladesh enclaves, a situation that has now been rectified. The world has lost its only third-order enclave, an Indian counter-counter-enclave.
- A similar situation exists in Baarle, which is divided between Belgium and the Netherlands in a rather mazy way.
Donation
If you find this blog funny, clever or even useful, you can keep it alive with a small donation. Thank you!
$10.00
-
Recent Posts
- The real Soviet War Memorial in Berlin
- Journey to the Center of Europe – Locus Perennis, Czech Republic
- Twilight at the Train Station
- Hello from Lake Baikal
- One Hundred Years Ago, Lawrence of Arabia killed the Railroad – March 1923: Transjordan
- Hiking on the First Day of Spring
- One Hundred Years Ago – the episodes you missed in 2022
- Gastronom No. 4
- Müggelheim, where Berlin looks like Sweden
- Journey to the Center of Europe – Kremnica, Slovakia
-
Join 8,762 other subscribers
The Happy Hermit 
nice artical. good news by the way
“Malta is probably the most dangerous of all the countries I ever lived in”
You really believe that, or is it more for comedic content? I am really interested in the answer, it is not a rhetorical question.
Actually just a few days ago, there was another car-bomb, again targeting a criminal. So nothing related to terrorism, mostly seems to be a criminal war, but since they may be availing themselves of not so professional hitmen which don’t care about side-injuries these are happening in traffic. One of the bombs last year was right in front of my office.
However the word “bomb” brings up images of death and destruction however in this case there is barely a blast and all self-contained targeting a single individual
I am not sure how serious my statement was. I mainly wanted to make people think about the cliché of holiday destinations, which are often more dangerous. (e.g. Malta, but also Corsica and Sicily used to have a lot of explosions) than other countries that have a dangerous ring to them, but are actually quite safe now (e.g. when you go to Kosovo or Transnistria, people still act as if you are going to a war zone, when the war has been over for more than 10 years).
But given the small population, there really seems to be a lot of violent crime in Malta. So statistically, it may indeed have been the most dangerous place I ever lived. When I lived in Sicily, I never heard of car bombs, and of course not in Lithuania, Romania or Bolivia.
It’s true that as a visitor, one wouldn’t be the target, but as you say, stuff happens. And each time it reminds you that there are people around who don’t value human life very highly.