MetaFilter posts tagged with europe and britain

The Big Chill

Artw — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:15:21 -0800

What Britain looks like without the Gulf Stream.

Old Weird Europe

huskerdont — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:53:44 -0800

German newspaper Der Spiegel decided to take a look at Europe's oddest folk traditions and festivals. Perhaps you can have a metaphorical hard-on for the phallus festival of Tyrnavos, Greece. Maybe you're hungry for how a small Belgian town celebrates the practice of swallowing live fish. Or, alternately, you can look down on those bizarre practices... while chasing a giant wheel of cheese down a hill. Or maybe you'd just rather celebrate the annual fireworks war of Chios or jump over a baby while wearing a silly costume. Some of the festivals are recent inventions to boost tourism; others are relics of ancient paganism that survived Christianization. What are your favorites?

Can Two Engineers and Some Elbow Grease Save The World?

chuckdarwin — Tue, 27 May 2008 05:11:09 -0800

What country, friends, is this?

athenian — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 08:57:17 -0800

Born abroad. 7.5% of the UK's population was born outside the UK and Ireland. This fascinating mini-site from the BBC shows where they all came from, and where they live now. Immigration has been a hot-button issue in UK politics for a while now. In Scotland, they want more immigrants. In England, at least on the right, they want far fewer. The conservative right hate Europe, and hate immigration. Perhaps we'd better not tell them that Germans are the third-largest immigrant group (India and Pakistan at 1 and 2), while the USA-icans languish in 5th.

mmm, swastikky

Pretty_Generic — Tue, 08 Jun 2004 08:14:28 -0800

The British National Party discover Flash. Britons: remember to vote on Thursday to stop these guys getting their first European MP.

Medieval Architecture

carter — Sun, 29 Jun 2003 08:33:07 -0800

Images of medieval architecture. A great site put together by Alison Stones, Professor of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. There are two large gazetteers, one for Britain, and one for France. Besides photos, there are many plans, sketches and elevation drawings, which help to give an idea of the sheer scale of gothic cathedrals such as the cathedral of Saint-Étienne at Bourges (scroll down for the human figures at the bottom).