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WITandWISDOM(tm) - December 26, 2005 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: A wise man’s questions contain half the answer. – Gabirol [Solomon ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol], c. 1022 – c. 1070 Source: The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time, Edited by John M. Shanahan, Copyright © 1999, http://isbn.nu/0060194111 ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Barbara Ehrenreich has written an engaging but disturbing book about the plight of people trying to get by at the low end of America's economy. "Nickel and Dimed" narrates some of her experiences in the minimum-wage workforce. http://isbn.nu/1587243687 Ehrenreich found out that even the most "unskilled" job does indeed require both mental and physical effort that leaves one exhausted. Yet she also learned that only one job at that earnings level is insufficient for getting by at a standard of adequacy that most human beings need. She also found out that people working at the lower end of the economic scale take a disproportionate amount of abuse. In describing her experience as a waitress -- making $2.13 an hour in direct wages and depending on tips to boost her to a livable income -- she points out that certain groups are harder to deal with than others. Predictably, fraternity guys with a few beers in them make her List of the Unpleasant and Dreaded. But I was shocked to find out who was at the very top of her list. "The worst, for some reason, are the Visible Christians -- like the ten-person table, all jolly and sanctified after Sunday night service, who run me mercilessly and then leave me $1 on a $92 bill. Or the guy with the crucifixion T-shirt (someone to look up to) who complains that his baked potato is too hard and his iced tea too icy (I cheerfully fix both) and leaves no tip at all. As a general rule, people wearing crosses or WWJD? ("What Would Jesus Do?") buttons look at us disapprovingly no matter what we do, as if they were confusing waitressing with Mary Magdalene's original profession." From The FAX of Life is a free weekly service from Rubel Shelly and the Family of God at Woodmont Hills, http://www.rubelshelly.com/default.asp Source: Christian Voices, http://www.christianvoices.org ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: The Oddball Wall - Hoops In 1891, James Naismith revealed his sporting invention...the game of basketball. The rest is history, so let's see what you know about it. 1) What kind of ball was first used for basketball? a. d-oh, a basketball b. a soccer ball c. a red rubber gym ball 2) What were the first baskets (the actual hoops) made from? a. peach baskets b. pickle barrels c. wash tubs 3) Iron hoops and nets were introduced in 1893, but the nets weren't open at the bottom so each time a team scored, someone would have to manually retrieve the ball. How long was it before someone wised up and made the net have a hole in it so the ball would fall through? a. 3 years b. 7 years c. 10 years 4) Was James Naismith ever inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame? a. Yes, in 1959 b. Yes, in 2003 c. No 5) Why did Naismith invent the game? a. He owned an empty building and needed to raise money. b. It was a job assigned to him by his boss. c. He longed to be a professional athlete but was good enough at the traditional sports. 6) How many rules were there originally? a. 3 b. 13 c. 23 7) According to the original rules, if one team fouled the other team three times in a row, without the other team committing a foul, what happened? a. The team that was fouled got the ball out of bounds. b. The offending team had to play with one less player. c. The team that was fouled was given points. 8) How old was Naismith when he invented the game? a. 70 b. 50 c. 30 And now for a question you can't dribble around... 9) What was the final score of the very first basketball game? a. 1-0 b. 14-6 c. 23-9 Answers below, here's the scoring: 9 correct: Outstanding 5-8 correct: Very Good 1-4 correct: Fairly Fair 0 correct: Wake Up! Answers: 1) b. a soccer ball 2) a. peach baskets 3) c. 10 years 4) a. Yes, in 1959 5) b. It was a job assigned to him by his boss. 6) b. 13 7) c. The team that was fouled was given points. 8) c. 30 9) a. 1-0 Source: Internet Tutor, http://www.gophercentral.com/sub/sub-tutor.html ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: "I fell in love once, and I thought she fell in love with me too. Are you familiar with the situation? I sat with an engagement ring, waiting for an answer. I was a single guy with an engagement ring. It was like having a loaded gun laying around the house. I was frightened I'd marry somebody by accident." -Jake Johannsen Source: ArcaMax - Jokes, http://tinyurl.com/9kf44 ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Use the Web to check for plagiarism Q. I am a new English teacher doing a poetry unit. I suspect one of my "cherubs" of lifting his poems from the Internet. Is there a site I can use to help me determine if the poems came from an Internet site? I do not know who else to turn to who might know. A. Plagiarism has been an increasing problem in many schools, even universities. I think that some students see assignments as obstacles rather than opportunities. It's important to set them straight before they enter the working world. Fortunately, there is a simple way to check the Internet for plagiarized text. You can use Google to search for whole phrases or sentences. http://www.google.com/ First, identify the portion of the student's work hat seems out of character for his or her ability and personality. From there, pick a phrase or sentence that is unusual or uncommon. A line of eight or 10 words should be enough to match plagiarized text. Copy and paste the phrase into the search box at Google. But before you click the Search button, put the phrase in quotation marks. That tells Google to search for the entire phrase, rather than individual words. If the student stole from an online text, you'll most likely find it. If you don't get any hits, remove the quotation marks. If the student rewrote the text slightly, it may still turn up. A few sites like Turnitin http://www.google.com/ and MyDropBox http://www.mydropbox.com/ offer services to detect plagiarism for teachers. But they don't do much more than you can using Web searches. And they'll bill you for the pleasure. A similar site called Copyscape http://www.copyscape.com/ will also check for plagiarism. Its basic service is free, but again, it doesn't do much more than Google. Copyright 2005, The Kim Komando Show. All rights reserved. Source: Kim Komando's Daily Tip http://www.komando.com/newsletter.asp