Lifestyle topics
The spotlight effect describes how we exaggerate the amount of attention is fixed upon us in any gathering of people. A study showed that, for instance, a person entering a room wearing an embarrassing T-shirt imagines everyone is looking at him. The people carrying out the research assumed, before they did it, that half the …
Who makes the worst company chairman: a cokehead or a blockhead? Some will say the two go hand in hand – if you’re on drugs your command of the facts is likely to be hazy. Coke can also make people irritable, unpredictable and paranoid. “None of that is desirable, but it’s still better than being …
Continue reading ‘Sorting out the competent from the incompetent’ »
3.3 million. That is the population of Uruguay. And yet England, with a population of 60 million and able to cosset and train players to international standards, cannot beat Uruguay at soccer! Pathetic. England invented the game, dammit! Epicurus might have advised the English soccer fat-cats to pay the players 500 pounds retainer each year, …
Continue reading ‘Is this the most pathetic news in six months?’ »
Once, children brought in an apple for teacher. Now, at private schools, Hermès handbags, diamond necklaces and even wads of cash are the order of the day. According to the magazine Tatler, rich parents are giving such “inappropriately extravagant” gifts to their children’s teachers that some schools have imposed “ceilings”, amid fears that they could …
The objective of the medical profession should be to prolong life, not to prolong death. The preoccupation among doctors with keeping alive those who will be on life support indefinitely is perverse. Indeed, it is cruel. We should all have the right to end our lives when we want to and sign a piece of …
