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WITandWISDOM(tm) - June 21, 2005 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "The kinder and more thoughtful a person is, the more kindness they can find in other people." - Leo Tolstoy, 1828-1910, Novelist and Philosopher Source: Insight of the Day, http://www.insightoftheday.com/default.asp?affid=1336 ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Dr. Judah Folkman keeps a reproduction of a 1903 New York Times article in his archives. In it two physics professors explain why airplanes could not possibly fly. The article appeared just three months before the Wright brothers split the air at Kitty Hawk. In the early 1970s, Folkman proposed an idea in cancer research that did not fit what scientists "knew" to be true: that tumors did not generate new blood vessels to "feed" themselves and grow. He was convinced that they did. But colleagues kept telling him, "You're studying dirt," meaning his project was futile science. Folkman disregarded the catcalls of the research community. For two decades, he met with disinterest or hostility as he pursued his work in angiogenesis, the study of the growth of new blood vessels. At one research convention, half the audience walked out. "He's only a surgeon," he heard someone say. But he always believed that his work might help stop the growth of tumors, and might help find ways to grow blood vessels where they were needed - like around clogged arteries in the heart. Folkman and his colleagues discovered the first angiogenesis inhibitors in the 1980s. Today more than 100,000 cancer patients are benefiting from the research he pioneered. His work is now recognized as being on the forefront in the fight to cure cancer. "There is a fine line between persistence and obstinacy," Folkman says. "I have come to realize the key is to choose a problem that is worth persistent effort." By Fran Lostys Source: Copyright © July 2005, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved., http://www.readersdigest.com/ ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Ways To Get Your Teenager To Mow The Yard Hide his car keys out there somewhere. Four bags o'grass = one tank o'gas. Lightly spray paint an embarrassing message about your teen on the lawn. "Well, there's only one way to get rid of it, son...." Put a video game controller on the lawn mower handle. "If you don't, I will ... in Bermuda shorts with black socks and dress shoes." Submitted by B.B. ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: My three-year-old insisted on toting her share at the hardware store. As she struggled along with a can of paint, she exclaimed, "I thought you said you were going to buy light blue paint!" Submitted by Betsy ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Bendable Concrete Scientists from University of Michigan have developed a new type of fiber-reinforced bendable concrete that is 500 times more resistant to cracking and 40 percent lighter in weight. Tiny fibers that comprise about 2 percent of the mixture's volume partly account for its performance. Also, the materials in the concrete itself are designed for maximum flexibility. Because of its long life, the Engineered Cement Composites (ECC) are expected to cost less in the long run, as well. For more about bendable concrete including its uses visit: http://www.physorg.com/news3985.html Source: Nybble Bi-Weekly Newsletter, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nybble