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WITandWISDOM(tm) - June 30, 2000 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible. - C G Jung - Memories, Dreams, Reflections. - Retrospect. Source: Peter's Pearls, subscribe@peterspearls.com.au via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME? By Professor Kubo via http://www.witandwisdom.org At thirty years old Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) was a rising star in Europe. He had made his mark in music, in theology, and in philosophy. But then he announced to the world that he was going to Africa as a jungle doctor. The world was shocked. His colleagues at the University and his other friends reproached him. Why do such a thing when you are already half way up the ladder? The waste of it! The arguments were many. His biographer writes of the many arguments that were presented to him: His organ teacher scolded him, "You are like a general going into the firing line with a rifle." "Why should you, with the intellectual world at your feet, bury yourself alive in the most neglected corner of the earth?" "You are serving mankind where you are, doing something for which your whole background and education have fitted you. Is not scholarship service? Is not teaching service? Is not preaching service?" "The black man of Central Africa isn't your job. The white man of the western world is. Other men can work among the Africans, men without your gifts for scholarship and art." "Give lectures for the benefit of Africa, if you must," a distinguished woman adjured him. "You can help them much more that way than by going to Africa yourself." Undaunted Schweitzer went about to carry out his intentions. And why was he forsaking all these opportunities to go to Africa? Here's the reason as his biographer gives it. "He had heard of the wretchedness of the jungle peoples, the native diseases and the plagues brought by the European slave dealers and traders. How could the white man sleep nights with such torture under his window - the white man with doctors, hospitals and nurses always within reach? How callous was the white man's world in the face of the torment of the black man's, the torment which the white man had multiplied and in large part directly caused! What a burden of debt lay on the white man, lay on himself, Albert Schweitzer, as one of the guilty race! He must repay what he could of his share by using the white man's science to alleviate the black man's pain. He would repay . . . with his life." Submitted by: Jim Singer ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Children's Answers to Science Questions: Part 2 of 2 [Jun 20, 30] To most people solutions mean finding the answers. But to chemists solutions are things that are still all mixed up. In looking at a drop of water under a microscope, we find there are twice as many H's as O's. Water vapor gets together in a cloud. When it is big enough to be called a drop, it does. Rain is often known as soft water, oppositely known as hail. In some rocks you can find the fossil footprints of fishes. A hurricane is a breeze of a bigly size. A monsoon is a French gentleman. Thunder is a rich source of loudness. Rain is saved up in cloud banks. Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dog's tongue will kill the strongest man. A blizzard is when is snows sideways. Source: The Funnies, andychaps_the-funnies-subscribe@egroups.com via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: There was a very cautious man Who never laughed or played He never risked, he never tried He never sang or prayed And when he one day passed away His insurance was denied For since he never really lived They claimed he never died. Source: Bits & Pieces, July 20, 1995, Copyright (c) Economic Press, Inc., www.epinc.com/ via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Within a few years, many bookstores may have pleasing answer for customers who can't find the book they want on the shelves: "Give us 15 minutes and we'll make you one." Developing technology from the Atlanta-based Sprout Inc. will enable them to provide paperbacks on demand. Borders Group Inc., the nation's second- largest bookstore chain, recently bought part of Sprout. The deal will give Borders - and the reading public - access to older and out-of-print titles that the store wouldn't ordinarily carry. Based in Atlanta, Sprout has about 1,300 titles in a wide variety of topics and expects to acquire thousands more. As envisioned, the system would enable Borders workers to download digital versions of books. Each store would have two digital printers one for the cover and another for the pages. Employees could assemble the books in a binding machine that uses the same adhesive process normally employed for making paperbacks. From: The Oregonian, Copyright (c) 1999, www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/obuffer.ssf via http://www.witandwisdom.org Submitted by: Barbara Henry |