English author H. G. Wells, famous for science fiction novels like The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds, once wrote a short story called "The Country of the Blind." It's about an inaccessible, luxurious valley in Ecuador where, due to a strange disease, everyone is blind. After 15 generations of this blindness there was no recollection of sight or color or the outside world ...

Reasons drivers ages 18 or older get lost while driving:

• Bad directions: 47 percent
• Unclear, missing highway signs: 45 percent
• Detours: 38 percent
• Confusing maps: 21 percent
• Auto distractions: 13 percent

Jesus is clear that it is dangerous to close one's ears, eyes, and heart to the leadings of the Holy Spirit. In The Magician's Nephew, a novel from C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series, Narnia is created when Aslan—the lion who represents Jesus—sings it into being. The creation song reveals Aslan's majesty and glory. It is a grand "call to worship!" But there is one, Uncle Andrew, who ...

Stefania Fraccalvieri now knows that tongue piercing costs a lot more than expected. Just after she had a metal stud put through her tongue—a popular fashion trend among teenagers—Stefania began to experience sharp, stabbing pains in her face that lasted up to half a minute, 20-30 times a day. Doctors soon diagnosed her with trigeminal neuralgia, a condition more commonly known as "suicide ...

My Uncle Greig suffered from diabetes. Diagnosed as a youngster, the disease progressively worsened until he lost his sight as an adult. At the time he became blind, Greig had been married eight years and had two daughters. He had been working as a nurse, but his blindness cost him the job. Although his wife, Sondra, worked as an elementary teacher, they still lost their house and car.

The couple had ...

Thank You For Smoking is about the shameless tactics of pro-cigarette lobbyists and their efforts to both protect and promote the tobacco industry.

Lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) and his 12-year-old son Joey are having a conversation as they walk through a Santa Monica amusement park.

"So, you go to an office, then you go on TV to talk about cigarettes. Then you fly out to L.A. to talk to some ...

The Devil Wears Prada tells the story of Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a journalism graduate who takes a job as second assistant at a prestigious fashion magazine. Caring nothing for fashion, Andrea finds herself answering the beck and call of Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the ultra-demanding, diva-like editor. Andrea not only survives, but thrives in her role, changing in both appearance and values. ...

Camp Quest West, just north of Sacramento, California, is no church camp. Designed for children of agnostics, atheists, freethinkers, and humanists, the mission of the camp is to "promote respect for others with different viewpoints, values, and beliefs." It goes one step further to say, "we deplore efforts … to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms and to look outside nature for ...

The following warnings were found on consumer products:

On a Duraflame fireplace log: "Caution—Risk of Fire."

On a Batman costume: "Warning: Cape does not enable user to fly."

On a bottle of hair coloring: "Do not use as an ice cream topping."

On a cardboard sun shield for a car: "Do not drive with sun shield in place."

On a portable stroller: "Caution: Remove infant before folding for storage."

In a book titled, An Anthropologist on Mars, neurologist Oliver Sacks tells about Virgil, a man who had been blind from early childhood. When he was 50, Virgil underwent surgery and was given the gift of sight. But as he and Dr. Sacks found out, having the physical capacity for sight is not the same as seeing. Virgil’s first experiences with sight were confusing. He was able to make out colors and ...