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Right now she is the media darling. However, all this conspicuous display of affection and doting could have an ulterior motive. Royal consorts, and commoners who have married crown princes, do not appear to have a very optimisitic track record. The world is well familiar with the tragedy, as well as the scandal and unanswered questions, connected with the deaths of Princess Diana and of Princess Grace. Sometimes it seems that the families of the brides pay for the passage of their family member into royalty. The sister of Crown Princess Letizia of Spain was found dead, the apparent victim of a suicide after the marriage of Letizia to Crown Prince Felipe. The sister of Princess Mathilde of Belgium reportedly died in a car accident before Mathilde married Crown Prince Philippe. Mathilde, however, might have known or been involved with her future husband at that time. The father of Princess Mette-Merit of Norway experienced a lot of troubles and ultimately died following his daughter's marriage to Crown Prince Haakon.

It often seems that royalty expects somebody to pay its way, and if the royal brides do not pay for it themselves their sisters or other family members end up paying the price.

For quite a few weeks this year I was receiving spam e-mails on my msn account from some users who had made themselves contacts of mine. The e-mails contained links to a dating site that displayed pictures of sexy women who allegedly were from places local or regional to where I live. I initially did not take them very seriously. I was surprised, however, when I thought I recognized somebody in a picture. She had been known to visit dating sites, and she was sufficiently covered in lounge wear.

I was horrified when I thought I recognized a second person on this web site. She is somebody whom I have never met in person and never want to meet. I only recognized her through pictures, or thought I recognized her. The woman was staring brazenly at me through the camera lens, bare-chested. If she is the same person I think she is, she does not need to be on dating sites. Her family has "high" ambitions for her.

When I tried to save the second picture to get a better look in order to verify whether the woman really was the person I suspected her to be, I immediately received a warning of an attempted intrusion into the picture files of the computer. Although I have received occasional warnings from the installed anti virus software about attempted intrusions, I never before have seen such a message about an attempt to intrude into the picture file.

I was wondering if the rational for the actions of people who bare themselves online might be as follows:

"If I expose myself to you you know me intimately; therefore I can rob you."

If the girl in the second picture should become another Hillary Clinton, would this photograph of her naked upper torso be of value to people who want to expose celebrities for their past indiscretions?

Why did the theatre company see it as important to have this particular person working among the cast and crew?

http://www.tribute.ca/news/index.php/canadian-thea...

The article is short, only a paragraph in length, as are many of the news write-ups found in this online publication.

It seems that over the past year and a half or so the city's municipal department has seen to it that if people refuse to go to church, church will be brought to them in the form of a religious "congregation" of sorts that takes place on the bus. I am forced to rely on bus travel right now, and I do not take the bus on Sundays by choice. It seems, however, that every Sunday when I get on it the bus driver is conducting some sort of service. Often he seems to be holding church on the bus, and he has much of his congregation in transport. He is very, very polite and friendly, but almost seems too exuberant, and animated. I have dubbed this bus service, on which he was placed with intention, "The Sunday Service". It always takes place on the only route near my home.

Annoyance, however, is only part of the problem. It appears that many people who ride "The Sunday Service" seem to be dying or becoming seriously ill. I have noticed that people come to the bus driver and tell them about these misfortunes. I am annoyed that in this country that has taken political correctness to the point of nausea and has many citizens of various non-Christian faiths, this type of behaviour is permitted by a public servant. At least the city's administration could be more considerate of the people who just like to ride the public transit in peace and not have their ride interrupted by exclamations of "Glory Hallelujah!" , "God loves you!", "Jesus loves you!", and "Praise to the Lord!" I have even seen this bus driver hand out religious pamphlets to a passenger, a practice that I thought was against the rules. A woman with a sneaky smile once proclaimed in a loud and conspicuous voice that the Lord decides who is to live die. She looked almost stunned when I reminded her that sometimes people take it into their own hands to decide who is to live and die, and she appeared to be stuck for words. I did not try to convey the impression that I approved of this type of thought, and I at least hope that my disapproval was apparent.

Am I just being paranoid and intolerant?

The number of people being "sacrificed" to the mental health system on the receiving end appears to be growing at a rapid rate, as does the number of people trying to etch a living for themselves by working in it. It has now reached industry proportions in terms of employment as opposed to being a field of endeavour among many job options. In spite of a large demand for nurses in medical wards, many nurses are opting, instead, to work in mental health, dishing out drugs. The dynamic is a testament to a "gathering" society that has lost its resources for real work and must resort to creating a malaise from which some can sustain themselves off others for a while.

Could the same be said about men who trade athletes and slaves?

When I was a kid I lived down the street from a girl who was a real live version of Rose from 'The Golden Girls'. She was fair and looked quite a bit like her. To my distress, she was constantly monitoring my vocabulary. Frequently she would come out with remarks like "Don't you know that heck is "short for" Hell?" and "Don't you know that darn is "short for" damn?" Often her chastisements would be based on what her clergyman, Pastor Olson, had said and would begin with the words "Pastor Olson said...". I recall that, according to this role model, "shucks" is a polite form of "****" and Golly stands for the so-called "G word". I once recited a verse that began "Lincoln, Lincoln, I've been think'in, Oh My Gosh! You've been drinking!" I thought it was funny at the time because I was quite young. You would have thought it was the end of the world! She informed me that "Gosh" was a bad word because it was another word for "God". It seemed that according to Pastor Olson (Pastor Olson was his real name) I was condemned from a very early age. I had never even met him.

She sat through kindergarten with her hands folded like a still life statue and hardly budged a muscle or said a word. I thought that, based on her outwardly angelic behaviour, she would be a very good student. However, she had a lot of trouble in school, whether or not her bad grades were merited. She frequently would go around complaining about the schools in a tone that sounded really profound, making remarks like, "The schools shouldn't make us learn French. After all, French is a foreign language". I suppose, in the same vein, students should not have to learn math because it is abstract. The girl also would boast about singing in a church choir and having to go to choir practise on a frequent basis. Her social skills really were nothing to brag about. She would pass remarks suggesting that others were envious of her and would try to taunt me with the line "Jealousy gets you nowhere".

Do you think that Pastor Olson might have tried to teach her too much at too early a stage?

The quotation pertains to the Jack the Ripper case of the late 1800s. It allegedly was a graffiti message found, along with an apron, near the scene of one of the murders attributed to him. It subsequently became associated with the case.

Why would an identifiable group of people be implicated in a case such as that of Jack the Ripper? Could any other group have been responsible for the killings? If the acts of Jack the Ripper were believed to have been committed by a solitary individual why would the murders be considered as part of a larger agenda?

Why do some people seem to think they can recover it this way? Is this rationale the cause of much of the strife that unfolds in the name of religion?

A relative of mine once sent a number of valentines to the home through the mail in July. They were addressed to different combinations of people in the household. More recently, an acquaintance of my mother sent a Christmas card to her in the summertime. The card took the form of a photgraph with his children on it and it had a seasonal greeting for Christmas written on it.

Is it possible that they speak in another language, such as Arabic, Chinese or Swahili?

If you think I should post this question under another category such as Religion & Spirituality, please let me know.

A few nights ago encountered a man on a downtown sidewalk who asked me if I knew of a place he could sleep for the night. The temperature was bitterly cold. He was polite, He was not drunk and he did not smell from alcohol. He was not pushy. I suggested that he stay at the local Salvation Army, but he said that the Salvation Army, (which is fundamentally a religious organization), would not accept him because he had a drinking problem. I asked him where he had slept the night before, and he told me that he had spent the night outdoors beside a public building because it had a vent from which the heat escaped. I then told him to consider an automated bank teller, because it is what I would do if I were in that situation. He told me he thought he would go along with that idea. I later began to fear that I might have given him some wrong advice. I began to wonder whether extending one's time in such a place might result in a bigger price down the road. I wonder how friendly the police are to people they come across in such circumstances. I do not own the place where I live and do not have permission to allow others a shelter for the night.

Many of the people who own business property in town appear to be wealthy. A number of their offices appear to be vacant. The buildings still have to be heated and lit. A shelter for the homeless would be relatively small in size and it would not required large amounts of fuel to heat. I am sure that the public would be happy to drop in varying amounts of money to keep it maintained.

The owners of business blocks frequently are guilty of slum lording. They often charge exorbitant rent, which forces occupants and businesses to close down or to relocate. At the same time, they receive recognition for their donations to registered charities. It is not clear how far some of these registered charities benefit others. A shelter for the homeless would be more tangible proof that their donations are really being used for the larger good.

They are used to convey wishes for a happy new year.

"Evtikhes to neon etos!"

"Eftikhismenos o kenourghios khronos!"

Which is the more standard greeting?

It is part of a question posted on Yahoo! Answers over a year ago. In his question the Yahoo! Answers user invoked me, almost like a deity, and asked me to help him with a problem involving a girl in his class. The line that puzzles me is as follows:

"We left and gathered several times now. how many times should it happen before she accepts?"

"What does "gathered" mean?

The question can be viewed at the link I am including:

http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ar...

Please try to be realistic in your answers.

By a serial polygamist, I am referring to a person who has a number of wives in succession rather than at the same time.

The women are at least 20 years younger than he is and much be of good reproductive age. Essential to the marriages seems to be a reproductive system. Furthermore, the dames have to be knocked up right away.

To support a single child is very expensive these days. How can somebody support all the children who result from these marriages as well as pay alimony?