mandarine

‘For as long as we both shall live’: how long might this be? To back up Litlove’s recent illustration of this question, let me point out that a couple of centuries ago, people who had survived to the age of marriage could reasonably expect to live until 40. This means that roughly half the people died before that age. Therefore, the probability that someone would stay married to the same person for more than 20 years was at most one in four. Nowadays, the probability that both husband and wife
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I recently saw The Meaning of Life for the umpteeth time, and could not resist sharing some of it:
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After a very long indian summer, November has come, with temperatures plummeting into zero (Celsius).

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As I continue to delve into Lorelle’s phenomenal heap of blogging treasures, I found a challenge that I could not resist taking:

I challenge all bloggers to blog about 30 things that can be done to change the world in 30 seconds.[…]There is a lot you can do to change the world in 30 seconds. In thirty seconds or less, what are the things you can do to make the world a better place[…]

Update: Lorelle has now included this one in her official blogging challenge. An excellent opportunity for me to re-read my list, and deeply agree with myself that I should read it more often (how about daily?).

Without further ado, the list I came up with:

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When I drive my car — yes, I do occasionally drive a car, although I would not boast about my driving abilities — and an inarticulate fellow driver brakes abruptly just in front of me, passes me on the wrong side, or flashes his lights at me when I am peacefully passing a line of slowish trucks, I generally hear the non-driving driver sitting next to me utter a number of barely polite reproaches to the indelicate vehicle, while I am keeping a very cool-headed, totally non-french phlegm. One day I was trying to get the beloved one to calm down, I made up the rhino analogy.

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I apologize to those who fell for the controversial title: I only have a proof that God partially exists, although if you can hang on through the (mildly-)mathematical developments, you will see how it is sufficient.

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I relish these peaceful moments when my mind and body are at rest, just enjoying the eternity of an instant. The following list is an attempt at conveying the look-and-feel of these bubbles of perfect tranquility, when time seems to slow down and hold on.

• Listening to Norah Jones in the shade, on a white hot July afternoon, my hand holding a glass of icy water dripping with condensation.

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