| Draine: Garden epiphany starts new year
In our house we have two sorts of Aha! moments. One is the Major Life Decision, the MLD, and the other is the personal epiphany. The MLD seems more a self-indulgent choice rather than one of insight. For example, I can play the MLD card to justify my decision to be in the garden rather than to dust the furniture.Many years ago when we lived in the Canary Islands (Spain), we joined the crowd filling the narrow cobbled streets of the medieval part of Las Palmas to watch, amidst lights and flowers and music, the parade of camels and the Magi to celebrate the Festival of Three Kings or the visiting of the baby Jesus by the Wise Men. It was these memories wakened by the approaching (Jan. 6) Christian celebration of Epiphany (or Twelfth Night the last of the 12 days of Christmas) that encouraged me to explore the phenomenon of insight and new awareness the personal epiphany.Epiphany with a capital "E" commonly is a religious reference to the appearance of the Magi.
Spanish Bullfighter to Stage Comeback
MADRID, Spain (AP) -- He was one of Spain's top bullfighters but mysteriously withdrew from the ring at the peak of his career. Now he is back, electrifying the national pastime with plans to perform in a city where anti-bullfighting sentiment is strong. Jose Tomas, 31, slipped away in September 2002 without explanation. He never confirmed he was retiring and has hinted since then he might fight again. Now he will, on June 17 in Barcelona, the city where he served up some of his best fights against the snorting beasts of 1,100 pounds that make up the other half of the deadly minuet that is bullfighting. The announcement came Thursday from Tomas' manager, Salvador Boix, who said "starting today, Barcelona will be the center of the bullfighting world." "He is coming back because it is his profession, and I imagine he has not said everything he has to say," Boix told a news conference.
Pilot, passengers foil hijacker
A fast-thinking pilot, with the help of passengers, fooled a gunman who had hijacked a jetliner flying from Africa to the Canary Islands, braking hard upon landing then quickly accelerating to knock the man down so travelers could pounce on him, Spanish officials said Friday. .
Mauritanian Hijacker Gets in Hot Water
TENERIFE, Canary Islands (AP) -- A fast-thinking pilot with passengers in cahoots fooled a hijacker by braking hard upon landing, then accelerating to knock the man down. When he fell, flight attendants threw boiling water in his face, and about 10 people pounced on him, Spanish officials said Friday. The Air Mauritania Boeing 737 carrying 71 passengers and a crew of eight was hijacked by a lone gunman brandishing two pistols Thursday evening shortly after it took off from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, for Gran Canaria, one of Spain's Canary Islands, with a planned stopover in Nouadhibou in northern Mauritania. The hijacking alarmed Spanish officials because a trial of 29 people accused in the Madrid terrorist bombings of 2004 had begun the same day in Madrid.
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