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WITandWISDOM(tm) - May 25, 2000
~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: No man can ever end with being superior who will not begin with being inferior. - Sydney Smith Source: The Daily Quote, quotes-on@mail-list.com via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: One day a small opening appeared on a cocoon, a man sat and watched for the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly, he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly. I asked for Strength...........And God gave me Difficulties to make me strong. I asked for Wisdom...........And God gave me Problems to solve. I asked for Prosperity........And God gave me a Brain and Brawn to work. I asked for Courage...........And God gave me Danger to overcome. I asked for Love................And God gave me Troubled people to help. I asked for Favors..............And God gave me Opportunities. I received nothing I wanted. I received everything I needed. Submitted by: Jean Nunez via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: In the photographic collection of the Bavarian National Museum in Munich, Germany, is a daguerreotype dated 1839. It was taken by Louis Daguerre himself, apparently from the highest window of a Paris building. The scene is one of a beautiful boulevard stretching into the distance. On the sidewalk below, a man stands with one foot up on a bootblack's platform. A tiny, blurry image. This is the first human figure ever photographed. There is something else intriguing about this Paris city-scape. Something almost unearthly. Looking at the picture, one slowly becomes aware of it. Then one is haunted by the desire to learn The Rest of the Story. Louis Daguerre was an opera scenery painter with an unquenchable scientific curiosity. For many years he worked with photographic pioneer Neipce toward the perfection of so-called "heliographic" reproduction. After Neipce's death Daguerre continued to experiment, ultimately discovering the process that was to bear his name. The early daguerreotype we've been discussing is entitled Paris Boulevard. One appreciates the exquisite detail in the picture from that distance, even the brickwork in the buildings, the tilework on the roofs, the individual cobblestones in the street. In the windows across the way one sees the wooden mullions and muntins clearly defined. The pleats in the curtains are easily counted. Yet, with the exception of that one tiny, lonely figure on the corner, the entire boulevard, a half-mile or more plainly visible in the gleaming sunshine, is utterly devoid of life! The shadows cast by the slender trees suggest that it is neither early morning nor late afternoon. The boulevard should be bustling with strollers and shoppers and horse-drawn carriages, delivery wagons, perhaps even romping dogs and children. But no one, save that one man on the corner, is anywhere in this downtown Paris scene. Pervading the ancient daguerreotype is an eerie calm, as though someone had just dropped the neutron bomb. The glorious Paris daylight, praised as unique by generations of artists, shimmers everywhere, illuminating the intricacies of the ubiquitous lifeless objects. As we observe, we are convinced if there were life to be seen, we would see it. Down through the ages it has been said in various ways that all around us is an unseen world. Many say they feel its presence; others claim to have parted the curtain and peered inside. The skeptics cling to a claim of their own: no camera ever lied. So now it ought to be told. That Paris boulevard photographed by Louis Daguerre was, during the moments the daguerreotype was taken, teaming with flesh-and-blood phantoms, people roaming the sidewalks, horses pulling carriages. And yet that early daguerreotype process was so slow that only stationary objects could be captured on the plate, like that one man patiently waiting for his boots to be brushed. History honors him as the first man ever photographed, only because he was standing still! - Paul Harvey's The Rest Of The Story Source: Giggles & Grins Copyright (c) 2000 by Igiggle@aol.com All Rights Reserved, gigglesngrins-subscribe@topica.com via http://www.witandwisdom.org Merriam-Webster definition of daguerreotype: An early photograph produced on a silver or a silver-covered copper plate. Full Picture: http://web.missouri.edu/~aha11www/aha11/parisblvd.jpg Close Up: (in middle of the page) http://www.arts.usf.edu/~marcus/hop/slides99/page2/page2.html ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: "Dad, will you help me with my homework?" "I'm sorry," replied the father. "It wouldn't be right." "Well, " said the boy, "at least you could try." Source: America's Joke, subscribe-aj@listserve.onlineventures.net via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: FRUIT Americans eat 12 billion bananas a year. Bananas do not grow on trees, but on rhizomes. Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball. Source: Today's Useless Facts, Useless_Facts- subscribe@listbot.com via http://www.witandwisdom.org |