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WITandWISDOM(tm) - June 19, 2002 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. - Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion and Death 1961 Source: Peter's Pearls, http://www.peterspearls.com.au Subjects: Freedom ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Seventeen-forty-one was a very depressing year for George Frederick Handel. His latest opera failed. His Italian opera company in London was disbanded. That same year Queen Caroline passed away and the commissions Handel had received for composing music for royal occasions all but dried up. A stroke experienced several years prior not only affected him physically, but affected his music. It seemed like he had lost the genius that made his music so popular. Late that year, Charles Jennens, a poet known by few, sent Handel a manuscript with a request that Handel set it to music. When Handel read the copy, the words gripped him. Suddenly he came alive. Immediately, he began to put the words to music. He labored all through that night and much of the following day. In fact, he worked day and night for 22 more days, barely stopping to eat or sleep. When his composition was finished, he sensed that it would be a true masterpiece. His "Messiah" was performed the following year and was an immediate success. The words that Jennens wrote that inspired Handel and lifted him out of the pit of despair were about the Savior: "He was despised and rejected of men. He looked for someone to have pity on him, but there was no man. He trusted in God. God did not leave his soul in hell. I know that my Redeemer lives. Rejoice. Hallelujah!" Source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes, Copyright 2002, http://www.actsweb.org/subscribe.htm Subjects: Handel, Music, Messiah ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: SIMPLY SAID . . . Jack and Jill: Accident Report The party of the first part hereinafter known as Jack and the party of the second part hereinafter known as Jill ascended or caused to be ascended an elevation of undetermined height and degree of slope, hereinafter referred to as "hill," whose purpose it was to obtain, attain, procure, secure or otherwise gain acquisition to, by any and/or all means available to them a receptacle or container, hereinafter known as "pail," suitable for the transport of a liquid whose chemical properties shall be limited to hydrogen and oxygen, the proportions of which shall not be less than or exceed two parts for the first mentioned element and one part for the latter. Such combination will hereinafter be called "water." From the May 1983 issue of the "California Lawyer" p. 48 Source: The Legal Guide to Mother Goose, translated by Don Sandburg, 1981, Price/Stern/Sloan Submitted by Kiri Christina Hyatt Subjects: Accidents, Lawyers ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: There was an old man from Verheath Who sat on his set of false teeth He jumped with a start- said, "O, dear, bless my heart... I've bitten myself underneath." Source: Able to Grin, http://topica.com/lists/Able2Grin/ Subjects: Limericks, Teeth ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: BROCCOLI Broccoli and broccoli sprouts contain a chemical that kills the bacteria responsible for most stomach cancer, say researchers, confirming the dietary advice that moms have been handing out for years. In laboratory tests the chemical, sulforaphane, killed helicobacter pylori, a bacteria that causes stomach ulcers and often fatal stomach cancers. And the good news is there appears to be enough of it in broccoli sprouts and some varieties of broccoli to benefit people who eat the vegetables. "The levels at which we tested it. . . are such that those could be achieved by eating broccoli or broccoli sprouts. It's a reasonable level that we think would be reached in the stomach," said Jed W. Fahey of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The findings are in an issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Source: Peninsula Daily News, May 28, 2002, http://www.peninsuladailynews.com Subjects: Broccoli, Cancer |