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~~~~~~~ WIT and WISDOM - February 24, 1999 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money. - Author Unknown (Big Al via E- zine: FAST EDDIE'S FUNNIES http://recommend- it.com/l.z.e?s=154533) ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: A man once came to D. L. Moody with a long list of theological questions. Mr. Moody said he would answer if the man would do one thing. "What is that?" he asked. "Well, you go and give yourself to the Lord and become a Christian; then come to me with your questions and I will answer them." The man went away, and in a few days came back and told Moody that he had done as he told him, and that they were the happiest family in the city. "Well," said Moody, "where are your questions?" "O, I have none now; they are all answered; it is all plain now." - Selected, Signs of the Times, June 6, 1906 (Dale Galusha ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: I climbed my family tree and found It wasn't worth the climb And so I scrambled down convinced It wasn't worth the time Some branches on my tree I found were rotten to the core and all the tree was full of sap and hung with nuts galore I used to brag my family up before I made the climb But truth compels me now to tell Of those not worth a dime I beg my friends who boast aloud of ancestors so great To climb their family tree and learn Of those who weren't so straight I've learned what family trees are like That's why I scrambled down They're like a "tater vine" because The best are underground. (E-zine: KITTY'S DAILY MEWS http://www.katscratch.com) ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Joe was in court charged with parking his car in a restricted area. The judge asked him if he had anything to say in his defense. "They should not put up such misleading notices", said Joe. "It said, FINE FOR PARKING HERE." (Joke Review ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Frank Lloyd Wright is among the most innovative architects this country ever produced. But his fame wasn't limited to the United States. About 70 years ago, Japan asked Wright to design a hotel for Tokyo that would be capable of surviving an earthquake. When the architect visited Japan to see where the Imperial Hotel was to be built, he was appalled to find only about eight feet of earth on the site. Beneath that was 60 feet of soft mud that slipped and shook like jelly. Every test hole he dug filled up immediately with water. A lesser man probably would have given up right there. But not Frank Lloyd Wright. Since the hotel was going to rest on fluid ground, Wright decided to build it like a ship. Instead of trying to keep the structure from moving during a quake, he incorporated features that would allow the hotel to ride out the shock without damage. Supports were sunk into the soft mud, and sections of the foundation were cantilevered from the supports. The rooms were built in sections like a train and hinged together. Water pipes and electric lines, usually the first to shear off in an earthquake, were hung in vertical shafts where they could sway freely if necessary. Wright knew that the major cause of destruction after an earthquake was fire, because water lines are apt to be broken in the ground and there is no way to put the fire out. So he insisted on a large outdoor pool in the courtyard of his hotel, "just in case." On September 1, 1923, Tokyo had the greatest earthquake in its history. There were fires all over the city, and 140,000 people died. Back in the U.S., news reports were slow coming in. One newspaper wanted to print the story that the Imperial Hotel had been destroyed, as rumor had it. But when a reporter called Frank Lloyd Wright, he said that they could print the story if they wished, but they would only have to retract it later. He knew the hotel would not collapse. Shortly afterward, Wright got a telegram from Japan. The Imperial Hotel was completely undamaged. Not only that - it had provided a home for hundreds of people. And when fires that raged all around the hotel threatened to spread, bucket brigades kept the structure wetted down with water from the hotel's pool. The Imperial Hotel isn't there anymore. It was finally torn down in the 1960's to be replaced by a more modern structure. - Bits & Pieces, January 7, 1993 (Magazine: BITS & PIECES http://www.epinc.com/) |