Word: earth
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...shaman inhaled the incense smoke and flicked flower petals into the tropical air. My husband and I were sitting on a patch of earth on the Indonesian island of Bali as the local priest, Ida Bagus Putu Wija, communed with the resident spirits about our vague plans to build a holiday home there. Eventually, the Balinese wise man gave us the news that would literally determine the shape of our future villa. In the parallel spirit world of this devoutly Hindu island, our peaceful stretch of riverbank was actually a bustling spirit town, far bigger than the nearby human village...
...there only one heaven on earth? As the holiday-home market has taken off in Asia, Phuket and Bali have nurtured a healthy rivalry with each other, trading off the honor of being listed as Asia's best island in travel magazines. Phuket aficionados talk loftily of the Thai island's superior beaches and cheap but professional hospitals, while Bali fans boast of the island's volcanoes and great surfing spots. Nevertheless, the business of vacation villas isn't a zero-sum game, largely because the members of the international jet set who dig Phuket are a breed apart from...
...Down to Earth For me, my current concerns are less global and more spiritual. The former owner of our land, a rice farmer, feels guilty because he failed to erect an on-site shrine to a local goddess. He thinks we should build it to ease his soul and promote village harmony. After all, locals have heard the spirits on our land wailing when they use a nearby water source. Then, in an offhand remark, our shaman tells us about a Frenchman who had built a villa nearby. Wija was called in to bless the land and chat with...
...TIME published planet Earth: An Illustrated History, a captivating visual journey of the world's sciences and unending beauty. Earth is for the living, said Jefferson, and this book is for you. And speaking of books, congratulations to TIME contributor and former correspondent Aravind Adiga, whose astonishing first novel about India, The White Tiger, won this year's Man Booker Prize...
More ships are on the way, with NASA planning to launch another, larger rover--the Mars Science Laboratory--in 2009 and another orbiter in 2013. The European Space Agency hopes to launch its own rover in 2013. A robotic mission to gather rocks and return them to Earth is a key NASA objective, while the most tantalizing goal of all--a manned landing--remains a remote but credible goal. Until boots are actually on the ground, our robot proxies will have to do the exploring for us. So far, we have no reason to complain about their work...