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WITandWISDOM(tm) - January 16, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see. – Neil Postman, 1931 – Source: The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time, Edited by John M. Shanahan, Copyright © 1999, http://isbn.nu/0060194111 ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: "A rather strange and rare thing happened to us recently," says Jim Claypool. "My wife Ginni had a bad day at day care. She wandered off unsupervised. I noticed her negative attitude as soon as I picked her up. But it was our forty-eighth wedding anniversary, and I was hoping to cheer her up by taking her out for a nice dinner." Ginni's Alzheimer's is advanced to a point that she really does not notice much difference in restaurants, Jim says, but this time he took her to a local TGI Fridays. The dinner was nice, but "as always, it was necessary for me to help by ordering for her and cutting her meat as she has trouble doing that," Jim says. "I talked at length to her during dinner, assuring her that everything was OK and that I loved her and would always be there for her and do what was right for her. Caring for her is a constant and rather intense activity." As dinner ended, the waitress set down the check and also a box for the food Ginni was not able to finish. Jim was putting her food into the box when the waitress returned with a hand-written note. "Your check has been taken care of," she told Jim. Surprised, he looked at the note: "Watching you guys tonight, it was one of the sweetest things I've seen in a long time. You are one heck of a guy." Although the man signed his note, he had already left before it was delivered, and Jim has been unable to find him. "I want to tell this story, not because he said something nice about me, but to share the account of his generosity and amazing empathy for a complete stranger," Jim says. "I had been feeling a little extra blue because Ginni has little idea of who I am, let alone that we are married and that it was our anniversary. But this really warmed my heart. God works in wonderful ways." My thought as I blink back tears: Jim and countless other caregivers need all the comfort we can offer them in their heroic jobs. If any of us see a similar couple or family, let's think of something to lift their spirits, just as this unidentified Earth Angel did. Source: The Inspired Buffalo, mailto:the-inspired-buffalo-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Famous People 1. After Fred Astaire's first screen test, a 1933 memo from the MGM testing director said: "Can't act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home. 2. An expert said of famous football coach Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks motivation." 3. Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, was advised by her family to find work as a servant or seamstress. 4. Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer. 5. The teacher of famous opera singer Enrico Caruso said Caruso had no voice at all and could not sing. 6. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper for lacking ideas. He also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. 7. Eighteen publishers turned down Richard Bach's 10,000 word story about a soaring seagull before Macmillan finally published it in 1970. By 1975, Jonathan Livingston Seagull had sold more than seven million copies in the U.S. alone." Taken from Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit, written and compiled by Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen, http://isbn.nu/1558745017 Pulpit Pieces Weekly, http://www.net153.com/best.htm ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: During a magazine and newspaper subscription drive, our son Philip, a paperboy, learned about good salesmanship. His supervisor had instructed the kids to maintain a positive attitude, even when turned down. One potential customer told Philip, "I've got papers and magazines strewn all over the place -- I don't need any more." Philip's reply? "Well, how about a subscription to Good Housekeeping?" Contributed to "All In a Day's Work" by Philip O. Simonson Source: Beliefnet Presents, http://www.beliefnet.com/user/newsletter_choose.asp ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: A Little Know-How Can Foil Spammers' Nasty Tricks Elaine in Scottsdale, AZ, called the show because she is frustrated by mysterious spam messages. I say mysterious because they don't have subject lines or sender names. She says she can't block them. She also wants to know how senders get away with this. I hear you, Elaine. I've received a number of these messages myself. It's just another trick in the spammers' arsenal. They've been spoofing addresses for a long time. And it isn't difficult for them to omit sender information altogether. There are a couple solutions, though. First, you can set up a filter that will block e-mail without sender names. I wrote a tip on that a while back. It's on my site: http://komando.com/tips_show.asp?showID=9329 You might also consider using a challenge and response system. Messages from senders not in your address book or on an approved list won't go to your inbox. Instead, the sender is asked to confirm the email. Once the sender responds, the original message is delivered. Spammers don't have time for this. People I've spoken with who use this say it works well. Three popular challenge and response solutions are Qurb, Vanquish Anti-Spam and WinAntiSpam. You can get more information on their Web sites: http://www.qurb.com http://www.vanquish.com http://www.winantispam.com/ Lastly, you can set up an approved list. Only messages from people you add to the list will make it to your inbox. You can find instructions on my site: http://komando.com/kolumns_show.asp?showID=9116 Copyright 2005, The Kim Komando Show. All rights reserved. Source: Kim Komando's Electronic Newsletter http://www.komando.com/newsletter.asp