| Prior Date | Archive Index | Next Date |
|
WITandWISDOM(tm) - April 2, 2004 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle Source: Inspire, http://www.inspirelist.com/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: One spring day a poorly dressed boy appeared at the door of Worthy Taylor, a successful farmer in Portage County, Ohio. The young man asked for work, and he was given a job of heavy chores around the farm. He slept in the haymow and ate in the farm kitchen. Jim worked hard, and in time he formed a strong liking for Worthy's daughter. Later this affection turned to love. When he asked for the daughter's hand, he was refused on the grounds that he had no money, reputation, or apparent talents. Jim took his few belongings, stuffed them into his carpetbag, and went away. Thirty-five years passed. One day Mr. Taylor, now an old man, tore down his barn to make space for a new one. Far up on the rafters above the haymow he found where the hired farmhand Jim had carved his name-James A. Garfield. At that very moment James A Garfield was President of the United States. Worthy Taylor's daughter might have been First Lady of the land. You have a far greater destiny: you deserve to be a citizen of "that better country" which Jesus is preparing. By Kenneth J. Holland Source: These Times, Copyright (c) March 1975, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: This was a quiz on MSN about the proper names of what people fear. Do you know the proper words for these fears? ...unless of course you suffer from testophobia. Scroll down to the bottom for the correct answers. 1. A person who suffers from dendrophobia has a persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of what? a) Trees b) Dentists or dental work c) Nerve damage or nerve pain 2. Aviophobia is also known as which of the following? a) Fear of birds b) Fear of flying c) Fear of lizards or other reptiles 3. Brontophobia, one of the more common phobias, describes an obsessive fear of what? a) Dinosaurs or dinosaur bones b) Suffocation or lung malfunction c) Thunder and lightning 4. A xenophobe possesses an overpowering fear of what? a) Foreigners b) Things that glow in the dark c) Things that are yellow 5. An arachibutyrophobic is obsessively terrified of what? a) Spiders, scorpions, or mites b) Peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth c) Animal fats 6. Which of the following describes a persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of snakes? a) Serpentophobia b) Ophidiophobia c) Squamatophobia 7. One of the most common phobias is agoraphobia, an irrational fear of what? a) Money or coins b) Public or open spaces c) Heights 8. People with triskaidekaphobia are terrified of anything to do with which of the following? a) The number 13 b) Crackers or unleavened bread c) Triplets 9. A person who is terrified of crossing a bridge is afflicted with which of the following? a) Gephyrophobia b) Botanophobia c) Ichthyophobia 10. Sesquipedalophobics are horrified of which of the following? a) Food dishes containing cod fish b) 150th anniversaries c) Long words ANSWERS: 1. The correct answer: A Trees A dendrophobe has an intense and overpowering fear of trees. The prefix dendro "tree or treelike" originates with the Greek dendron "to be solid." This one is a toughie because dendrite, a treelike component of all nerve cells, shares the same prefix. And fear of dentists or dental work, technically known as dentophobia, is one of the most common phobias reported. 2. The correct answer: B Fear of flying Also called aerophobia, aviophobia describes an irrational fear of flying. Many aviophobics learn to control their fear with a behavior therapy known as systematic desensitization, which teaches them to relax in a situation that would normally produce anxiety. For the record, fear of birds is technically termed ornithophobia; fear of reptiles is herpetophobia. 3. The correct answer: C Thunder and lightning Brontophobes have an irrational fear of thunder and lightning. If you guessed dinosaurs or dinosaur bones, worry not – you weren't too far off. The prefix bronto, from the Greek bronté "thunder," also appears in one of the most recognizable dinosaur names, brontosaurus. 4. The correct answer: A Foreigners From the Greek xenos "stranger, foreigner," xenophobia describes an irrational fear of foreign people and cultures. A xenophile, on the other hand, adores foreign people, their customs, and their culture. And just to be fair, the word xenon, which describes a gas used in glow-in-the-dark neon signs, shares the same Greek origin. 5. The correct answer: B Peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth What can we say? Phobias are by nature irrational. The name of this one is quite rational, however. The botanists and nut buffs among us will likely recognize the prefix arachi, which also appears in the scientific name for peanut, Arachis hypogaea. 6. The correct answer: B Ophidiophobia Truth? We have some trouble regarding any fear of snakes as irrational. Nonetheless, the professionals think there's such a thing, and they call it ophidiophobia, from the Greek stem ophid "snake." 7. The correct answer: B Public or open spaces Agoraphobia is characterized by an intense and irrational fear of being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult. The name is derived from the word agora, a public square or marketplace considered an integral component of any ancient Greek city. 8. The correct answer: A The number 13 Blame this one on the Greeks, too. Coined from the Greek word triskaideka "thirteen," triskaidekaphobia describes an irrational fear of the number 13. Not all fear of the number 13 is considered phobia; however, in some cases, it's just superstition. 9. The correct answer: A Gephyrophobia A person with gephyrophobia, sometimes called gephydrophobia, has an overpowering fear of crossing bridges. In many cases, the fear extends beyond bridges to other human-made structures, such as tall buildings. 10. The correct answer: C Long words Whew! If you've made it this far in the phobias quiz, we can say with some assurance that you do not suffer from sesquipedalophobia. From MSN.com, http://www.msn.com/ Source: MountainWings, http://www.mountainwings.com Submitted by Sharon Hamel ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: I have a cousin who was on a plane that had taken off and was approaching cruising altitude, when one of the flight attendants came on the public-address system. She announced that she was sorry, but the plane's restroom was out of order. The flight attendant went on to apologize to the passengers for any inconvenience. But then she finished cheerily with: "So, as compensation, free drinks will be served." - Manjiri V. Oak, San Mateo, Calif. Source: Reader's Digest, Copyright (c) December 2000, http://www.readersdigest.com/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Spybot Search and Destroy Search your hard disk for so-called spybots or adbots, the modules that are responsible for showing ads and transmitting information back to vendors. If Spybot Search and Destroy finds such modules, it will remove them or replace them with empty dummies. http://find.pcworld.com/28403 Source PC World, Copyright (c) February 2004, http://www.pcworld.com |