What Makes French Country Guesthouses So Charming?

Take a break. Dream of your own year in Provence. It's the rooms, gardens and breakfast tables that make a difference.

Be our guest here (be sure to click on full screen).

Related piece: French Connections

Photo credit here.

Global and Domestic Demand Begins to Return

The Atlantic reports:

Even though the trade gap hit an 18-month high in May, exports rose substantially, by $3.5 billion. Imports just grew faster, by $5.5 billion. But increasing exports is pretty significant news. Last month they declined by $1 billion, so a big bump in the positive direction is welcome news. In fact, exports grew to the largest amount we've seen since September 2008, hitting a 20-month high.

Read more here.

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

Meat from Down Under

As an export, Australia has some convincing to do when it comes to consuming camel meat worldwide. Apparently, the people in the Middle East enjoy it (widely accepted). Vegetarians beware, the following material may not appeal to you (it didn't to us -- not because we're vegetarians or vegans -- more due to the cultural difference).

It tasted like a juicier version of beef. But the meat in question was camel—freshly slaughtered at Dann’s abattoir, Centralian Gold, which he has been running, off and on, since 1986. In that time, the population of Australian camels has escalated to plague proportions, and Dann believes that selling their meat could become a multimillion-dollar industry.

Camels were first brought to Australia ...

Read more:

The Atlantic
Outback Steakhouse

American Rodeos Go Global

The boys from Brazil know that big money can be made in the rodeo.

Learn how and why here:

The Boys from Brazil
Why American rodeos are taking on a Latin flair

Is Canada's Economy Freer?

Than what?

I work for a libertarian think tank, and libertarians are supposed to disdain the land of poutine and Dan Aykroyd for its socialist health-care system and general failure to really love liberty. Yet not only can you get gay-married in any of the provinces, or almost-legally toke up in your toque up there, but Canada’s economy is also slightly freer than that of the global hegemon to its south. According to the Cato Institute, at least.

Read the full whimsical story here.

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