From Columbia University:
Many strands of Eric Kandel’s life come together in his latest work, The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present. The 82-year-old University Professor and co-director of the Mind Brain Behavior Initiative was born in Vienna, where, as a boy of 8, he witnessed the Nazis march into the Austrian capital.
I've become a fan of wooden architecture. Can't imagine a healthier living environment than that. Here is a barn style house in Southern Burgenland (Austria), which also contains rooms for wine production (very common in that area) and a cellar.
As the house is not inhabited during winter months, it is possible to shut down the whole house with folding and flap shutters.
Ski-sailing, a new sport invented in Austria, demonstrated in St. Moritz, Switzerland, January 1938.
Lord Northesk on his bobsleigh in St. Moritz, Switzerland, 1935.
Sailing on ice.
A team of five men riding a bobsleigh, 1931.
Young skater with safety cushion.
Skating mom pushing a sledge pram on the ice. St. Moritz, Switzerland, 1926.
Indoor skiing. France, 1939.
Sleigh leaving ski-jump. Alexandra Palace, London, England, 1933.
The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra has every New Year’s Day since 1 January 1941, sponsored the Vienna New Year’s Concerts. The event is dedicated to the music of the Strauss family, and Johann Strauss II in particular.
Shot from a single-pipe alpine coaster in Mieders, Austria. No brakes involved.
The New Yorker Interviews 50 Interesting People.
WSJ 2011 Summer Reading List Is Out.
An Instrument Of Total Domination: The Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport.
Lambo’s Latest Rambo Has a Heart.
How Do CEOs Spend Their Time? A New Study Yields Some Surprising Results.
BMW Blames Speculators As Aluminium Costs Rise.
How To Beat The Market: Follow The Senators On The Senate Armed Services Committee Who Own Stocks On The Prohibited List.
The Case Of The Speculator Who Tried To Game The Cocoa Market.
Behavioral Economist, Dan Ariely, Studies All The Ways Our Psychology Disrupts Our Financial Lives.
A Solar Panel Field Of The Size Of Austria, In The Desert, Could Produce Enough Electricity For The Whole World.
What A Weekend In The Heart Of Europe Looks Like. Location: Solvayhütte, Zermatt, Switzerland.
Liechtenstein: Dinner overlooking Vaduz Castle is included in the price. Image via Wikipedia
The Principality of Liechtenstein is up for rent and according to the Daily Mail, the temporary owner will get treated to this:
Price for the whole country: £40,000 a night.
Gøsta Esping-Andersen’s The Three Worlds Of Welfare Capitalism, from 1990, explains the historical backdrop of democracy and different tax regimes:
«The first major welfare-state initiatives occurred prior to democracy and were powerfully motivated by the desire to arrest its realization. This was certainly the case in France under Napoleon III, in Germany under Bismarck, and in Austria under von Taaffe. Conversely, welfare-state development was most retarded where democracy arrived early, such as in the United States, Australia, and Switzerland. This apparent contradiction can be explained, but only with reference to social classes and social structure: nations with early democracy were overwhelmingly agrarian and dominated by small property owners who used their electoral powers to reduce, not raise, taxes (Dich, 1973). In contrast, ruling classes in authoritarian polities were better positioned to impose high taxes on an unwilling populace.»
HT: darrylzuk & Paul Kedrosky.
French strike by castorjovial via Flickr
When lawmakers in France suggested a higher retirement age for full pension benefits; from 60 to 62, workers and Unions organized violent protests. In many other countries, workers would welcome an age-62 rule. Maybe except for Turkey:
“Of the 30 countries the OECD studied, Turkey has the lowest age for receiving full retirement benefits. Greece came in second, with a retirement age of 57 for men and women. The Slovak Republic? 57 for women, but 62 for men.”
Get the whole article from Yahoo Finance: Retire in France at 62? In Turkey, It’s 45.
Retirement ages, by country and year
| 1971 | 1971 | 2010 | 2010 | 2050 | 2050 | |
| Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | |
| Australia | 60 | 65 | 62 | 65 | 67 | 67 |
| Austria | 60 | 65 | 60 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Belgium | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Canada | 68 | 68 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Czech Republic | 55 | 60 | 58.7 | 61 | 65 | 65 |
| Denmark | 62 | 67 | 65 | 65 | 67 | 67 |
| Finland | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| France | 65 | 65 | 60.5 | 60.5 | 61 | 61 |
| Germany | 60 | 63 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Greece | 57 | 57 | 57 | 57 | 60 | 60 |
| Hungary | 55 | 60 | 59 | 60 | 65 | 65 |
| Iceland | 67 | 67 | 67 | 67 | 67 | 67 |
| Ireland | 70 | 70 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Italy | 55 | 60 | 59 | 59 | 65 | 65 |
| Japan | 60 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Korea | N/A | N/A | 60 | 60 | 65 | 65 |
| Luxembourg | 65 | 65 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Mexico | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Netherlands | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| New Zealand | 60 | 60 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Norway | 70 | 70 | 67 | 67 | 67 | 67 |
| Poland | 60 | 60 | 60 | 65 | 60 | 65 |
| Portugal | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Slovak Republic | 55 | 60 | 57 | 62 | 62 | 62 |
| Spain | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Sweden | 67 | 67 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Switzerland | 60 | 65 | 63 | 65 | 64 | 65 |
| Turkey | 60 | 60 | 41 | 44.9 | 60.8 | 62.3 |
| United Kingdom | 60 | 65 | 60 | 65 | 68 | 68 |
| United States | 65 | 65 | 66 | 66 | 67 | 67 |
| Average | 62.1 | 63.9 | 61.9 | 63 | 64.4 | 64.6 |
Source: OECD (Note: data predates France’s age-62 rule)
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