London - the Swiss Alps, one way

Off-peak rail fares are higher in Britain than anywhere else in Europe, the Liberal Democrats are to say today. They looked at "anytime" single rail tickets across Europe, and found that in Britain, £10 only takes travellers an average of 26 miles. In contrast, £10 in Serbia provides 512 miles of rail travel. The Lib Dem transport spokesman, Norman Baker, said: "In Serbia, £10 will take you almost the distance between London and the Swiss Alps while an English ticket will take you only as far as Basildon."
Press Association -
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
The Guardian, Monday 19 January 2009

Great... wonderful... terrific... fantastic!!!

Timothy F. Geithner, the man tapped to lead the nation out of the greatest economic crisis in decades -- and who would oversee the Internal Revenue Service -- trekked to Capitol Hill yesterday to explain to senators how he made almost $43,000 worth of mistakes on his own tax returns.

By Michael D. Shear and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 -- and posted by Giulio Gambarota....

Joyful Aura or Inexcusably Flirtatious/Slutty Chick ?

From a reader: "Would you be interested in doing a column on the tension between married and single women? Cocktail parties can be miserable between us. The men are attracted to some of us happy singles because of the joyful aura. Their wives think we're out to get their deadbeat husbands. In reality, there is total sympathy for their unhappy lives."


cookgirl1 > The woman who originally wrote in must either be an inexcusably flirtatious/slutty chick since men seemingly won't leave her alone, or she is completely out of touch. Could it have been a joke? I mean seriously, no one could be that self-centered, could they?

Alice1231 > I don't think either married or single women have a lock on the 'joyful aura' thing. If you are threatening your friends, you might want to rethink your actions. Or you might want to rethink your friends.

hereandnow1 > I'm a single woman and I find this notion to not only be offensive, but degrading to all women and men as well. Personally, the person who wrote in needs in a massive reality check because I highly doubt too many people notice her and if they do, I'd bet it's mainly pity. Most people who think that highly of themselves tend to be pitied and mocked by everyone else.

Hax-Philes, 2009 The Washington Post Company

We live...

... in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal one.

And this deep power in which we exist, and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul.

ESSAY IX The Over-Soul, Ralph Waldo Emerson