Tony Judt reviews three books about Europe and America in the New York Review of Books. He’s nothing extremely original to say, but he’s eminently, and refreshingly sensible. Go read it.
The general topic should be good for a discussion.

It’s in German, but the idea behind this game should be obvious to everyone - it gives you a capital city and you have to ‘throw’ a dart to hit its location on the map. I was closest to the centre of Lisbon (just 18km out, which is effectively a direct hit, given the scale [...]

For those of you who haven’t alrady seen it through other blogs, European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstr?m now has a weblog on her official site. There are no comments yet, and no gossip about what happens in meetings of the Commission, but it’s an interesting step forward.

In addition to our own European blog awards, I note that via Crooked Timber (and in turn from The Head Heeb) the people at alt.muslim are taking votes for the First Annual Brass Crescent Awards. This selection of blogs and posts on Islam or by Muslims offers some much needed diversity in the discussion [...]

With their symposium on China Mi?ville, our friends over at Crooked Timber have set a mark for the rest of us to jump for. Seven perceptive posts all about one author, along with a response from the writer himself. Plus lively debates in the comments on several of the threads.
Thanks for the great reading, and [...]

Slate announces that its parent, Microsoft, has sold the pioneering online magazine (where afoe’s own Scott MacMillan’s byline appears from time to time) to the Washington Post. I haven’t seen Slate’s figures, but it’s just possible that Microsoft might not need to show its financial statements pro forma for the divestiture.
At this juncture it would [...]

Get Germanized.It’s Saturday, so just a little entertainment… Deutsche Welle offers a fun way to assess your knowledge of Kraut-related affairs - the Instant Germanizer. But don’t be afraid, resistance is not futile, and the Germanizer won’t confiscate your native passport, even if you manage to win… enjoy.

If you want to, you can take a break from nominating blogs for the European Weblog Awards, and go and nominate A Fistful of Euros for the 2004 Koufax Awards. I think we’re a credible choice for Best Group Blog, Most Deserving of Wider Recognition, Best Writing (Mrs Tilton on her own would qualify [...]

A couple of newish blogs that Fistful readers might find interesting: Transition Trends, a blog from the people behind Transitions Online, and Lose The Delusion, a British blog that describes itself as ‘proudly battling Euroscepticism’. Feel free to plug any other new and interesting blogs in the comments.
And to plug ourselves, if you’re a LiveJournal [...]

I just noticed that afoe has been nominated for the Wizbang 2004 Weblog Awards in the category “Best European (non-UK) Blog”. As usual with blog awards, the opportunity to find great blogs one has not been aware of so far seems more important than winning. But if you, gentle readers, should decide afoe is worth [...]