rand(life)

The fool was prominently employed by European royalty in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Because of his ability to open up people's thinking, the fool was held in as much esteem as the priest and the medicine man. What did he do? Simply stated, it was his job to "whack" the king's thinking out of habitual thought patterns. The king's advisers were often "yes-men" who told him exactly what ① he ..

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) was an English poet who emigrated to the United States in 1939. Before Auden left England, his poetry was directed toward a small group of intellectuals. After coming to America, he deliberately tried to write for the general public. Auden had a profound knowledge and love of music and the fine arts. His "Song for St. Cecilia's Day," with its intricate rhyme pattern..

The toilet is a fairly recent invention. The person responsible for the first flush toilet was Sir John Harington. He built two prototypes. (A) But his writings never succeeded in persuading the English that it was time for the flush toilet. At that time the English relied on chamber pots, which they then would empty onto the street below. (B) One was installed in his house, and the other in Ric..

Unfortunately, over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are not the answer. Because young children average ten to twelve colds a year, it seems like they are sick all the time. ( ① ) As pediatricians, we really wish that we could recommend something to help children feel better. ( ② ) First of all, they don't work. ( ③ ) All six randomized, placebo-controlled studies of the use of cough and col..

Even worse than reaching a conclusion with just a little evidence is the fallacy of reaching a conclusion without any evidence at all. Sometimes people mistake a separate event for a cause-and-effect relationship. They see that A happened before B, so they mistakenly assume that A caused B. This is an error known in logic as a post hoc fallacy ("after this, therefore because of this"). For exam..

In 1334, the castle of Hochosterwitz in Austria was besieged by the Duchess of Tyrol. The Duchess knew that the siege would take some months because the fortress was located on a cliff high above the valley floor. As time wore on, the defenders became desperate: their only remaining food was an ox. The Duchess's situation was also severe: her troops had become unruly, and she had urgent matters ..

The sculptures of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), one of the greatest medieval sculptors, seem like living stones. They convey both powerful emotion and a lively sense of motion. The feeling of movement is often caused by a wound-up tension as in his remarkable David (1623). Michelangelo's David also has a powerful tension but it is passive and stays inside David's mind and muscles. Bernini's ..

There were two men traveling in a distant land. They were exposed to a variety of dangers. They therefore resolved to keep a strict watch as they passed along. One, whose sight was keen in discerning distant objects, looked carefully to see if there was any danger ahead or approaching from behind. The other was looking well to their pathway to see if there was no lurking beast or poisonous rept..