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WITandWISDOM(tm) - July 16, 2001 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Make a point to do something every day that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain. - Mark Twain Submitted by Barbara ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Henry Pearce of Australia, competed in the single scull rowing event at the 1928 Olympics. He was leading when a duck and her string of ducklings came into view up ahead. They were on a collision course and Pearce reckoned that his scull would cut the string in two and sink a few ducklings in the process, so he pulled in his oars. When the ducks passed, Pearce again bent his back to the task. There's a happy ending to the story. Pearce won. Usually, acts of sportsmanship result in defeat. Remember Leo Durocher's pronouncement, "Nice guys finish last"? It happened a couple of years ago in the marathon tandem kayak racing event at the world championships in Copenhagen. Danish paddlers were leading when their rudder was damaged in a portage. British paddlers, who were in second place, stopped to help the Danes fix it. The Danes went on to defeat the British by one second in an event that lasted nearly three hours. But there's a happy ending to this story too. According to The Wall Street Journal, the British kayakers won what many people regard as the highest honor in sports. They became the winner of the Pierre de Coubertin International Fair Play Trophy. The trophy is named for the founder of the modern Olympic Games, and it has been awarded annually for the past 28 years to people in sports who have demonstrated nobility of spirit. It is big news in Europe, but it has not been given much recognition in the United States. In the past, the trophy has gone to a Hungarian tennis player who pleaded with officials to give his opponent more time to recover from a cramp, and to a high school basketball coach who forfeited the Georgia (US) state championship after he found out that one of his players was scholastically ineligible. The first trophy went to an Italian bob-sledder named Eugenio Monti for a gesture that exhibited a touch of class. In the two-man bobsled event at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics, Monti was the leader after his final run. The only one given a chance to beat him was Tony Nash of Great Britain. As Nash and his teammate got ready for their final run, they discovered that a critical bolt on their sled had snapped at the last moment. Monti was informed of the problem and immediately took the corresponding bolt from his own sled and sent it up to Nash. Nash fixed his sled, came hurtling down the course to set a record and won the gold medal. Source: Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, Copyright (c) Economic Press, Inc., http://www.epinc.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: REASONS WHY FARM TRUCKS ARE NEVER STOLEN They have a range of about 20 miles before they overheat, break down or run out of gas. Only the owner knows how to operate the door to get in or out. It is difficult to drive fast with all the fence tools, grease rags, ropes, chains, buckets, boots and loose papers in the cab. It takes too long to start and the smoke coming up through the rusted-out floorboard clouds your vision. The Border Collie on the toolbox looks mean. They're too easy to spot. The description might go something like this: The driver's side door is red, the passenger side door is green, the right front fender is yellow, etc. The large round bale in the back makes it hard to see if you're being chased. You could use the mirrors if they weren't cracked and covered with duct tape. Top speed is only about 45 mph. Who wants a truck that needs a year's worth of maintenance, u-joints, $3,000 in bodywork, taillights and a windshield. It's hard to commit a crime with everyone waving at you. Source: Kitty's Daily Mews, Copyright (c) 1997-2001 All rights reserved worldwide, http://www.katscratch.com/ ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: "I can't say I was ever lost, but I was bewildered once for three days." - Daniel Boone, Early American Pioneer and Explorer Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the- funnies ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Mind-it by NetMind Is there a web page you visit and would like to stay informed of changes to information and content? Mind-it will watch this page for you and email when you when relevant changes occur. http://mindit.netmind.com/ An illustration of the way you might use this could be as follows. Let's say that you would like to read WITandWISDOM(tm) via the web. The WITandWISDOM(tm) archive index page at http://www.witandwisdom.org/archive.htm is updated each time another issue of WITandWISDOM(tm) is added to the web site. If you monitored that page with Mind-it you would receive an e-mail notice when it changed. You would click on the link provided in the e-mail and it would take you to the WITandWISDOM(tm) archive index. I have used Mind-it for over two years now and have found it very helpful. You will need to provide some information when you register at Mind-it. When you visit Mind-it at http://mindit.netmind.com/ it is helpful to have copied the URL link you wish to have Mind-it monitor such as http://www.witandwisdom.org/archive.htm . There are other services that provide a similar service. Richard Wimer :o) |