A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche freed himself by drinking 60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it Rescue teams found Richard Kral drunk and staggering along a mountain path four days after his Audi car was buried in the Slovak Tatra mountains. Parts of Europe have this week been hit by the heaviest snowfalls since 1941, with some places registering more than ten feet of snow in 24 hours.
Sun exposure can prevent death from skin cancer, even though it causes the cancer itself Culprit or cure? Sun exposure may slow that growth down
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Desperate Housewives: Pouring the Cold Water of Facts
The residents of Wisteria Lane might not look like philosophers, but that's what they are
When Susan Meyer realised her marriage was in trouble, philosophy was ultimately to blame. Paraphrasing Henry David Thoreau, her ex-husband told her that most men lead lives of quiet desperation. The premise upon which the hit television series Desperate Housewives is built is that so, too, do most women. Or, as Susan puts it: "Really, do most women lead lives of noisy fulfilment?"
Her ex-husband, like the rest of us, is a philosopher. Philosophy is all around us, in the culture we inhabit, in the television programmes we watch and the magazines we read. All of us are the authors, producers, directors, stars and guest stars in various philosophical questions, issues, disputes, conflations and confusions - even though, most of the time, we have no idea of this. If you live life, and ever think about it, you're a philosopher.
• The picket fences and polished fingernails contrast sharply with the harsh realities of human existence
The picket fences and polished fingernails contrast sharply with the harsh realities of human existence [credits: Should Your Next Head of the House Be a Philosopher? ;
Does low self-esteem lie at the root of all human suffering, failure and evil? Thinking you're hot stuff isn't the promised cure-all ]
• · Sydney Has Harbour Views especially if you felt compromised at Parliament House (smile) Love My Way finished on Monday night, however, on Sunday night the ABC casted Matt Day as Hugh Walker. Hugh is a walking irony he is a lawyer with conscience. He is having nightmares about the little people he once promised to help and now shafts at every turn in pursuit of an office with a view. The parliamentary/law office is complete with backstabbing, gossiping and hell. The real horror lies in power’s sheer futility. Most lawyers are smart enough to get power and money, but they are dumb enough in the first place to want it ... The Memory of Childhood Promises; [All lawyers should read this book. They will not like a lot of what they read, but it will be good for them, and those who are not so pompous as to have entirely lost their sense of humour will enjoy, as well as be chastened and perhaps improved by it. I strongly recommend Hell Has Harbour Views and congratulate the author on an accomplished and impressive first novel. As I’ve said before, I really enjoyed Richard Beasley’s Hell Has Harbour Views. As, I understand, did many junior solicitors. And we weren’t the only ones]
• · · I love books. I love the smell of 'em, the feel of 'em, and I love the look of 'em. In fact, I even like to read them, but that's another story. The main preoccupation of this site is the covers of books. Each book cover will be put alongside its backcover blurb, plot synopsis or whatever, as well as details about the books publication and publisher ; [Caterina: I think a lot about people who have survived terrible trials, and thrived. (snip) The thing I've noticed is that people who have suffered and survived terrible things are stronger than the rest of us, and they almost invariably become existentialists, and obsess about their own responsibility for making the meaning in their lives Meaning, perhaps never to be repeated!]
• · · · Here, a guide to words of the moment Suddenly, the word "bankrupt" is in vogue among some in Washington, while "crisis" is not
• · · · · When an informant tells you that six people he knows are planning on detonating a dirty bomb in Boston, should you believe him? That is no hypothetical question -- which is why psychologists who study lie detection, like Paul Ekman, a retired psychologist at the University of California at San Francisco, are getting more calls from the government than they used to. Ekman's specialty is the human face and the emotion it reveals. How good is he at spotting lies? In Malcolm Gladwell's new book "Blink" -- an exploration of the brain's ability to make good snap judgments -- Ekman is quoted as saying that he knew President Clinton was lying the second he saw the videotape of the president's infamous finger-wagging statement about Monica Lewinsky. Ekman saw giveaway flashes on Clinton's face -- a "hand-in-the-cookie-jar, love-me-Mommy-because-I'm-a-rascal look," he says. Liar, liar The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions. - Donald Calne, author of Within Reason
• · · · · · Digital Lit Words without Borders ; [Arts and minds Our cultural organisations know where you live - and what turns you on]