The Corner (National Review)

A great bit by Mark Steyn on NR's 'The corner'

Saturday, October 20, 2007


Re: I have returned [Mark Steyn]

Jonah, re your comments on Montreal: lots of great restaurants but what would appear to be an insufficient populace to support them, etc. Many Americans have made similar observations to me.

One reason is a simple cultural difference: If I recall correctly, Quebec has the highest number of restaurants per capita of any jurisdiction in North America. Our Corner colleague Peter Robinson, who used to jet in to New Hampshire from California on Dartmouth College business, would occasionally ask me where the nearest decent restaurant to Dartmouth was, and I'd reply Magog, Quebec. Accustomed to all those West Coast arugula joints, Peter would marvel: "You have to leave the country to get a good local meal?" I love my favorite North Country diners, but to be honest I sometimes envy a small town like Victoriaville north of the border which is a broken-down nowheresville loser burg that nevertheless manages to sustain a Main Street (or rue principale) hippity-hopping with a dozen good eateries.

Thereason for all this quickly becomes evident in the rest....

Fjordman: Islam, the Greeks and the Scientific Revolution, part 1

September 20, 2007

Original here.....

The renowned European essayist Fjordman discusses Islam's encounter with Greek philosophy:
I have written a couple of essays regarding the Greek impact on the rise of modern science, and why the Scientific Revolution didn't happen in the Islamic world. I find this to be an interesting topic, especially since there are so many myths regarding this perpetrated by Muslims and their apologists today, so I will explore the subject in some detail........