There are about 280 billion litres of water per person in the world but only 0.00003% of that amount is drinkable...
Iconic Australian and long-time Audi Ambassador, Ian Thorpe, has joined forces with the German luxury marque with the four-ring badge to launch its newest, compact model – the A3 Sportback. Why do such expensive small cars exist? For the same reason there are $12 cappuccinos and $3000 handbags. Giant lump of iron curtain
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Doing It Down Under: Crimes against language
To Don Watson the abuse of English is tragic because it is language that makes us human
Language is what can give us joy, express grief. We can have fun with it, we can understand each other better with it. We express our deepest longings and emotions with it, we crack jokes with it. Even worse, he said, the new dead language is killing the vibrant old, people are forgetting how they once spoke and felt.
It starts when a child hits puberty. They get a bike and write a mission statement for their paper round
I read on the train, wrote it down and found it in my backpack: “My brother, who grew up with three sisters, was I won't say how many years old when he finally realized that he did not have to wrap the towel around his chest when he came out of the shower.” I know the feeling I had four older sisters and a house full of aunties! Even at the Bondi Iceberg my towel was always higher than anyone elses. At the Parliament House I am informed that my nickname (among many :-) was Bouncing Czech. I let you guess what my nickname used to be at the tip of the Iceberg club...
• Death Sentence and Weasel Words [credits: In 1916 Theodore Roosevelt declared that the 'tendency to use what have been called weasel words was "one of the defects of our nation ; ]
• · There are all manner of ways of presenting and spinning Amazon's fourth quarter results, but we'll start by focusing on the things that might be of the most interest to the book publishing world. Sales for the quarter reached $2.54 billion, up 31 percent overall (including an $85 million "benefit" from exchange rates). The company overall hit sales of $6.92 billion for the year, also up 31 percent from a year ago. At the same time, the company announced an "all-you-can-eat" shipping program called Amazon Prime, which provides unlimited two-day shipping at no extra cost after paying a $79 annual fee, and overnight shipping for $3.99 per item. Hard Cold Cash Flow: Fueled by Lower Prices and Free Shipping
• · · When Treasurer Peter Costello told Australians to have "one for your husband, one for your wife and one for the country", perhaps he should have specified he meant babies, not just pleasure beneath the sheets. We like sex, but most get a lot less of it; Fashion is always looking for the next wave: Today heralds the beginning of a Down Under invasion of New York, with about a dozen Australian models poised for a slice of runway action. Aussies in vogue in New York
• · · · Similarities between a prize-winning novel and a textbook may seem sinister, but Malcolm Knox finds that literary borrowing is not as simple as black and white. You won't have read anything like it; Times’ Hollywood reporter, author, and nice Jewish girl Sharon Waxman is profiled by The Forward. Journalist Travels a Long, Winding Road to Tinseltown; BBC Catalogue of Priceless Interviews
• · · · · Amazing bibliophile: Galley Cat of books; Homaro Cantu serves edible photos and sushi prepared on an inkjet printer at Moto in Chicago When the Sous-Chef Is an Inkjet
• · · · · · Last week marked "The Day the Music Died," when a plane carrying pioneering rock-and-rollers Ritchie Valens, Jiles Perry Richardson (aka The Big Bopper) and Buddy Holly crashed in 1959: Clever blog with a clever name asks: What do you get when you cross The Monkeys with The Beatles? Paperback Believer Mixed by Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions Music Best seller: TEARS FOR WATER, Alicia Keys (Grosset & Dunlap, Hardcover, 0399152571)