养老最好住荷兰

新明日报 (2004-11-23)

　　（综合电）美国退休人士杂志公布最适合退休人士居住的国家排名榜，荷兰和澳洲分别夺得冠亚军，瑞典占第三位，而亚洲国家日本则排第八位，意大利排榜末，而美国则排第十三。

　　退休人士杂志选出十六个居住环境类似的工业国家，再根据十七个生活质素指标，包括反歧视法、税制、家居照顾服务、退休金及医疗，对她们给予分数作出排名。

　　选举的目的不仅是选出最佳退休居住国家，而是让全球其他地方知道这些国家优秀的政策，并作为借镜，如澳洲及美国的法律都反对制订法定退休年龄。在荷兰退休福利非常慷慨，所有居民到了六十五岁都可以取得全额退休金，只要他们在十五至六十四岁时，至少在荷兰住满五十年。

SMH: Most Aussie families not nuclear
Less than half of all Australian families fit the traditional nuclear pattern of mum, dad and the kids, a national report has found.
A rise in the number of couples without children, and single-parent families, had pushed down the proportion of nuclear families to just 47 per cent, from 59.5 per cent in 1976.

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART (Bonnie Tyler ) (liking Sammi's version)

Turnaround, every now and then I get a
little bit lonely and you're never coming around
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit terrified and then I see the look in your eyes
Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and
then I fall apart
Turnaround bright eyes, Every now and
then I fall apart
...
There's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart

Journalist should be an advocate of the truth, not a bunch of "he said, she said"...

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
An extraordinary novel, about a preacher who take his family to change the Congo, and yet finds the Congo overtaking them.