| Prior Date | Archive Index | Next Date |
|
WITandWISDOM(tm) - August 29, 2002 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: For what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life. - Arthur Ashe Source: Bits & Pieces: Home Delivery http://your.dailyinbox.com/bp/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: The story is told of how once Frederick the Great, one of the most eccentric sovereigns who ever graced a European throne, was selecting a court chaplain. He advertised for a number of candidates, who preached before the court on successive Sundays. But the requirement was that each preacher should not know in advance what text he was to preach upon. As he was ready to ascend the pulpit, an officer of the court would step up and hand him an envelope; within that envelope was a slip of paper bearing a text; and from that text the candidate must preach. On one Sunday the candidate for the day was handed his envelope; he ascended the pulpit; he opened the envelope, and took out the slip of paper. But it was blank. He examined it carefully to see if any markings had eluded him. But the scrap of paper bore not a single line. Looking calmly at his audience, the preacher said, "The slip in my hand says nothing. Now, my brethren, God made the world out of nothing!" And he went right on to preach a stirring sermon on the creation. By Gwynne Dalrymple Source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) October 27, 1936, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com Submitted by Dale Galusha ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: THE NUMBER NERD He digs digits! He needs to Get A Life! Length of the largest string of firecrackers ever assembled: 18,777 feet Number of individual fireworks it used: 3 million Length of time it exploded for: 9 hours, 27 minutes Number of Florida State University students arrested in March for protesting while not in a designated "free-speech area": 12 Amount the United States spent on international aid and diplomacy in 1949: $66.4 billion Amount the United States plans to spend on this in 2002: $23.8 billion Number of chicken eggs China shot into space this year: 3 Cost of an 18-karat gold mousetrap from jeweler Sidney Mobell: $12,000 Number of keystrokes the average computer worker types in an eight-hour shift: 90,000 Percentage of air (by volume) in Hostess Twinkies: 68 Source: The Oregonian, Copyright (c) July 3, 2002, http://www.oregonian.com/ Submitted by Barbara Henry ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Seen on a T-shirt "Real Men Don't Waste Their Hormones Growing Hair" Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the- funnies ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Why is a foot 12 inches? If the arm of King Henry I of England had been 42 inches long, the unit of measure of a "foot" today would be fourteen inches. But his arm happened to be 36 inches long and he decreed that the "standard" foot should be one-third that length: 12 inches. Reference: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mfoot.html |