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WITandWISDOM(tm) - August 27, 2003 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "If you are going to walk on water you have to get out of the boat." Source: Daily Change, http://groups.msn.com/dailychange ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Let me tell you a story I once heard speaker Les Brown relate. A particular man played piano in a bar. He was a good piano player. People came out just to hear him play. But one night, a patron told him he didn't want to hear him just play anymore. He wanted him to sing a song. The man said, "I don't sing." But the customer was persistent. He told the bartender, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want that guy to sing!" The bartender shouted across the room, "Hey buddy! If you want to get paid, sing a song. The patrons are asking you to sing!" So he did. He sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. And nobody had ever heard the song, "Mona Lisa" sung the way it was sung that night by Nat King Cole! He had talent he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar, but because he HAD to sing, he went on to become one of the best-known entertainers in America. You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel as if your "talent" is particularly great, but it may be better than you think! And with persistence, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may as well have no ability at all if you sit on whatever talent you possess! The better question is not, "What ability do I have that is useful?" It is rather, "How will I use whatever ability I have?" By Steve Goodier © 2000 Steve Goodier Steve Goodier is the editor of "The Life Support System," a motivational e-newsletter delivered daily to 85,000 subscribers in over 100 nations. His inspirational newsletter and books are available through his website at - http://www.lifesupportsystem.com Source: Life Support System, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lifesupport/ ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Some Camping Tips . . . . by Bruce Cochran Part 1 of 2 [Aug 27 & 28] When using a public campground, a tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side vacant. Get even with a bear who raided your food bag by kicking his favorite stump apart and eating all the ants. Old socks can be made into high fiber beef jerky by smoking them over an open fire. When smoking a fish, never inhale. A hot rock placed in your sleeping bag will keep your feet warm. A hot enchilada works almost as well, but the cheese sticks between your toes. The best backpacks are named for national parks or mountain ranges. Steer clear of parks named for landfills. While the Swiss Army Knife has been popular for years, the Swiss Navy Knife has remained largely unheralded. Its single blade functions as a tiny canoe paddle. Modern rain suits made of fabrics that "breathe" enable campers to stay dry in a downpour. Rain suits that sneeze, cough, and belch, however, have been proven to add absolutely nothing to the wilderness experience. Lint from your navel makes a handy fire starter. Warning: Remove lint from navel before applying the match. You can duplicate the warmth of a down-filled bedroll by climbing into a plastic garbage bag with several geese. From the Sept. ‘96 issue of Backpacker Source: Kitty's Daily Mews, Copyright (c) 1997-2003, Compilation Rights, http://www.katscratch.com/ ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: The bathtub was invented in 1850. The telephone was invented in 1875. This might not seem like much, but if you had lived back then, you could have sat in the bathtub for 25 years without being bothered by the phone. Source: Colorado Comments, http://coloradocomments.com/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: New Internet Speed Record Scientists at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (Slac) Computer Services have set a new Internet speed record by transferring 6.7 gigabytes of data across 10,978 kilometers (6,800 miles), from Sunnyvale in the US to Amsterdam in Holland, in less than one minute. Using a quantity of data equivalent to two feature-length DVD-quality movies, the transfer was accomplished at an average speed of more than 923 megabits per second, or more than 3,500 times faster than a typical home broadband connection. The data were sent across the Internet2 network. This is operated by a consortium of 200 universities working in a worldwide effort to develop and deploy tomorrow's Internet. It is intended to connect and serve research and educational institutions at transmission speeds that allow near-instant transfer of hundreds of megabytes of data. The motivation for the record was the need to transfer and analyze the vast amounts of data produced by particle physicists studying the fundamental building blocks of matter. During its research, Slac has accumulated the largest known database in the world, which grows at one terabyte per day. From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2822333.stm Sou rce: Nybble Weekly Newsletter, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nybble |