Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

You’ve planned a trip to Russia, but how do you prepare? Do bears and wolves roam the city streets? Does everyone wear fluffy fur hats? Do old men play balalaikas in the metro? While you’ll find almost anything going on in the metro, there are certainly no bears or wolves in the city. The fluffy…

If you’ve been following the international Occupy movement, which started with Occupy Dataran in Malaysia, spread to the US with Occupy Wall Street, joined the Spanish 15-M Indignados protests on October 15th, and continues to spread worldwide, then you may be interested to know that the movement has gotten off to a rough start in…

One could have thought that animals speak an international language. Guess what? They don’t! Since you’re learning French you gotta learn how French animals sound too. Because if American ducks go “quack quack”, French ducks prefer to emit a more sophisticate nasal sound that goes “coin coin” (practice those nasal sounds right now please!).

One of the most difficult things to get accustomed to in a different country is the differing standards of politeness. Something that is OK in Taiwanese culture might seem offensive in American culture and vice-versa. How can you avoid being offended or making a horrible faux pas? Just keep these three tips in mind during…

If you haven’t been following the recent problems Greece has been having with paying off their debts, basically the story is that Greece is on the verge of bankruptcy and has to decide whether it is going to stay with the euro or not. Their decision will not only affect their own debt, but also…

Jokes, anecdotes, and tongue twisters play a huge role in Russian culture. Their topics and form vary as widely as those of American jokes, but political ones which make fun of Russians themselves or the Russian government are fairly popular. Despite being the current Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin is not above telling a…

Oh the 80s! Time of big hair, ray-ban sunglasses, skin-tight miniskirts, electro-pop… well, everything that is in this video, actually! I think it’s time for another sing-a-long.

Music in France is thriving, and Paris is in the center of it. If you turn on the radio in Paris you will hear some top forty songs, like Lady Gaga or Jay Z, and some cheesy French pop. But go outside and you wont hear that homogenized pop culture. You WILL hear music from…

If you’re staying in Russia for longer than a week, you’re probably going to want phone or mobile Internet service (or both). Setting these up in Russia has gotten a lot easier in the last few years, but there are still a few things to note about the way Russia does phone/Internet service.

You’re going to travel to Taipei. Plane tickets purchased, hotel rooms booked, Do’s and Dont’s memorized. But are you excited yet? If not, you’ll be pumped after watching this video of Taipei from film artist Salvo Severino.