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WITandWISDOM(tm) - December 22, 2004 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "History is a vast early warning system." - Norman Cousins Source: Quotes of the Day, mailto:rheamo@centurytel.net?subject=Subscribe_Quotes_of_the_Day ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Steamin’ Heap o’ Christmas Facts According to a study by PNC Bank of Pittsburgh, to actually buy the 12 gift items from "The 12 Days of Christmas," you would have to spend more than $65,000. 56 percent of Americans sing holiday carols to their pets. 1 in 3 men will wait until Christmas Eve to finish their shopping. A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard. Days of below-freezing weather last winter in Hell, Michigan: 86 On Christmas Eve in 2001, the Bethlehem Hotel had 208 of its 210 rooms free. Number of men who have dressed up like Santa Claus: 1 in 5 There are 1.76 billion candy canes produced every year. Kris Kringel, a man in his 40s, lives in North Pole, Alaska, and delivers pizzas for a living. He drives a 1984 Ford Tempo. Number of snowflakes in a 3-inch snowball: 1 million Source: The Oregonian, Copyright (c) December 18, 2003, http://www.oregonian.com/ Submitted by Barbara Henry ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Christmas is weird. What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks? Source: Pulpit Supply, mailto:pulpit-supply-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Bats are very interesting, as Leonard Dubin discovered when he found a small cave, or grotto, under a tree in Chicago. It was occupied by more than 200 bats. Often he entered this unusual cave to observe them. One day he witnessed the birth of a baby bat, which to his surprise was a rare albino, completely white. When the baby was a day old she slept beside her mother during the day, hanging upside down from the leafy, sloping roof. With the tiny white bat to guide him, he noted that each bat hung in its own place. Hanging in the wrong spot brought a deluge of threatening squeaks and sharp teeth. Until she was five days old the baby clung to her mother as she flew from the cave at night. Then, when the baby's eyes opened, she stayed in the cave at night, joining other young bats playfully biting, squeaking, and crawling over one another. When 23 days old she flew for the first time, zooming and diving with mature skill. Because of her grace and beauty as she flew in the twilight, he named her White Lady. Always as he came to the grotto when the bats were flying, White Lady, unlike other bats, would dive toward him flashing her wings near his face. One evening as he held a grasshopper in his hand there was a sudden whir of white wings and the grasshopper disappeared. He found a beetle. Almost immediately White Lady swooped down, taking the beetle. Even when it was so dark that he couldn't see the insects moving. White Lady swooped down from twenty feet and snatched four more insects without touching his hand. Source: Stop, Look and Listen by Eileen E. and Jay H. Lantry, Copyright(c)1976 by Review and Herald Publishing Association, LCCN 75-32229 Submitted by Mary Thayne |