Now I know there are "American Football" Leagues in Europe, and I knew this even before Doc's excellent recommendation (I have long wanted to see the Vienna Vikings play), but this poster in Cologne caught me utterly off guard.
If I am translating it correctly, it indicated that there is an "American Football" developmental league for women! Do we even have that in North America? Moreover, somebody thinks spectators can be attracted to see the Cologne Falconets play against the Stuttgart Scorpions Sisters.
Regrettably, I arrived in Cologne after this game had completed.
The "Dancing with Stars" memes appear to have spread rapidly, and now many countries can feature pairings of celebrity non-dancers with dancers, and the BBC tonight make it clear there is a European dance-off. I really wish I would get this on North American TV - or perhaps a world dance-off. From the Azerbaijani guy proposing to his partner on the show, to the amazing happiness of the Ukrainians (though their non-dancing celebrity was an Olympic gold gymnast, surely stretching the rules), this is just a great show. This is yet one more case of me fearing that I was in that lucky generation that got to see so many wonderful things of this sort, and that life won't be so nice in 20 years. I hope I am wrong. I think there is good reason to think I am wrong.
UPDATE: Final voting seems to favor Poland - I agree.
UPDATE: Don't think I was frivolous - it is exactly silly shows like this that create the civil society that will make the European Union the great model it might well become.
What I find stunning is the audience vote. These are those oh-so-sophisticated Europeans, who sneer at American creationists (I do too, but I know the answer!).
For those who might have been concerned about house sparrows as a result of this post, I would like to report that since leaving Darmstadt, traveling over a large part of southern Germany, I can now report seeing very many house sparrows.
Where I am today, everybody at this meeting who has wandered around town has taken note of the freedom of the dogs to go anywhere, compared to where they live (all over high-tech North America).
Nobody here is quite as sympathetic as Aaron to the smokers, and the clampdown is proceeding apace here, and apparently actually having an impact (as it did not, as I recall, in Austria, when first made law).
