| Prior Date | Archive Index | Next Date |
|
WITandWISDOM(tm) - December 17, 2004 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: If we were brought to trial for the crimes we have committed against ourselves, few would escape the gallows. - Paul Eldridge Source: DailyInBox Presents, http://dailyinbox.com ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: It was Christmas, 1944. My sister, Betsie, had died. I was in a hospital barracks in Ravensbruck, a Nazi prison camp. Dark it was in my heart, and darkness was around me. There were Christmas trees in the street between the barracks. Dead bodies of prisoners had been thrown under the Christmas trees. I tried to talk to the people around me about Christmas, but they mocked and sneered. At last I kept quiet. In the middle of the night I suddenly heard a child crying and calling, "Mommy! Come to Oelie. Oelie feels so alone." I went to her and saw a child not so young, but feebleminded. "Oelie, Mommy cannot come, but do you know who is willing to come to you? Jesus will come." Oelie was lying on a bed next to the window, not far from lack of food, she had a sweet face and beautiful eyes. A bandage of toilet paper covered an incision from surgery on her back. That night I told this poor child about Jesus. How He came into the world as a little baby how He came to save us from our sins. "The Lord Jesus loves Oelie and has borne her punishment on the cross. . . . Jesus is . . . [in heaven] right now. He is getting a little house ready for Oelie." Later I asked her what she remembered of what I had told her. "What is the little house like?" I asked. "It is very beautiful. There are no wicked people as in Ravensbruck only good people and angels. And Oelie will see Jesus there." The child added, "I will ask Jesus to make me brave when I have a pain. I will think of the pain that Jesus suffered to show Oelie the way to heaven." Oelie folded her hands; together we gave thanks. Then I knew why I had to spend this Christmas in Ravensbruck. By Corrie ten Boom Source: These Times, Copyright (c) December 1980, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: A Thinking Man's Haven I planted some bird seed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it. I had amnesia once -- maybe twice. I went to San Francisco. I found someone's heart. Photons have mass? I didn't even know they were Catholic. All I ask is a chance to prove money can't make me happy. I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous. What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free? They told me I was gullible.... and I believed them. Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to edge his car onto a freeway. Two can live as cheaply as one, for half as long. Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone. What if there were no hypothetical questions? One nice thing about egotists... they don't talk about other people. When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail. A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries. What was the greatest thing before sliced bread? Source: Free Family Humor, mailto:freefamilyhumor-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Our 15-year-old daughter, Melanie, had to write a report for school about World War II, specifically D-Day and the invasion of Normandy. "Isn't there a movie about that?" she asked. I told her there was, but I couldn't think of the name. Then it came to her, "Oh, I remember! Isn't it something like 'Finding Private Nemo'?" Source: Top Greetings ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: How long does a copyright last? First, here's a little primer about copyright. U.S. copyright law protects the author of an original work and allows the author exclusive right to reproduce, display, perform, and distribute copies of his or her work, as well as create derivative works. Copyright law applies to literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, and it's applicable whether or not the work is published. If a work has multiple creators, the authors share the copyright equally unless other arrangements are made in advance. The copyright for works created by an employee as part of their job or under a work-for-hire contract is owned by the employer. An author's copyright begins as soon as the work is created in a fixed form. How long copyright lasts depends on when the work was created. The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended many copyrights by 20 years. Here are the details, straight from the Copyright Office FAQ: For works created after January 1, 1978, copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. In the case of a joint work, copyright lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death. For anonymous and pseudonymous works and works made for hire, copyright lasts 95 years from the year of first publication or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever ends first. For works created but not published or registered before January 1, 1978, copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, but it will not expire earlier than December 31, 2002. If the work is published before December 31, 2002, copyright will not expire before December 31, 2047. For pre-1978 works still in their original or renewal term of copyright, copyright is extended to 95 years from the date that copyright was originally secured. For more information visit: http://www.copyright.gov/ Source: Top Greetings |