Fascinating profile of Nicolas Sarkozy, that most loathed of French presidents, from a British journalist’s perspective. I’ve long had a (mild) fondness for his policies, and this confirmed that to some extent. Definitely a good read for Francophiles with an interest in le Président de la République.

Well, that settles it. I have to go to Cologne now. What a beautiful photo.

“How Coffee Changed America”

One could rename this “How Coffee Created America”. My favorite bit:

“Colonist found that they could import coffee from central and south America, and more importantly, without the help of the British. Drinking coffee became a sign of independence and American autonomy. [sic]”

(Source: reddit.com)

The Earth’s seasons, in a gif. Awesome.

(Source: reddit.com)

Heart of Moscow (by b80399)

Walker is my favorite transportation blogger. This is a review of his new book. Pretty good read.

I just … go look. I can identify locations on three of them (Seattle, New Orleans, Montréal), and that makes me happy, although I’ve only seen one in person. I went looking for the New Orleans one, but didn’t end up finding it.

(via World Subways at Scale - fake is the new real)

Apparently somebody decided to make an infographic specifically for me. After a lot (read: five seconds) of thought, I decided to go with Madrid as the featured system because it’s the closest one to me at the moment. Of course, it helps that I love Madrid.