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WITandWISDOM(tm) - July 5, 2007 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and, for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of this. Always" - Mahatma Gandhi Submitted by Malladi Murthy in India ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: A Child's Prayer: Dear Lord, tonight I want to ask something special of you... change me into a TV set. I want to take it's place to be able live the life that the TV lives in our house: - To have a special room just for me; - To bring together the members of my family, all around me; - To be the center of attention, that all want to hear without being interrupted or questioned; - To have them take me seriously when I speak; - To feel the special and immediate care the TV receives when it doesn't work perfectly; - To have the company of my father even though he arrives tired from work; - To have my mom seek me out when she's alone and bored, instead of ignoring me; - To have my brothers and sisters fight amongst themselves to be with me and to have them all enjoy themselves with me even though sometimes I don't have anything to say to them; - To live the feeling that they will drop everything to spend some time at my side I'm not asking a lot of you Lord - all of this is what every TV experiences!! Source: Monday Fodder by Dave Aufrance, Missionary in Hongkong mailto:daveaufrance@gmail.com?Subject=Subscribe_Monday_Fodder http://www.fishermansnet.com/monday-fodder/ ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Random Thoughts 1. When something is "new and improved," which is it? If it's new, then there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement, then there must have been something before it. 2. When people say, "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too." What good is a cake you can't eat? What, should I eat someone else's cake instead? 3. When people say, "It's always in the last place you look." Of course it is. Why would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they? 4. When people say, while watching a movie, "Did you see that?" No, I paid $12.00 to come to the theatre and stare at my popcorn. What did you come here for? 5. People who ask, "Can I ask you a question?" Didn't really give me a choice, did ya there buddy? Source: Chapnotes, mailto:xanmansa@chapnotes.org?Subject=Subscribe ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Money can't buy happiness but it can buy ice cream, and that's close enough. Source: Laughter for a Saturday mailto:ed548@yahoo.com?subject=Subscribe_to_Laughter_for_a_Saturday ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: A Pensioner Used Live Artillery Shell As A Doorstop For 20 Years For decades the seven-inch-long shell had been a family memento, polished and given pride of place on the mantlepiece. The First World War relic also served as a toy and finally, for the past 20 years, as a front doorstop at the home of 68-year-old Thelma Bonnett. At any time during all those years, however, it could have exploded. The German squat shell was live, packed with its original payload and with its firing mechanism primed, experts have said. Armed and dangerous: The live artillery shell has been used as a doorstep for over 20 years It was only when a neighbour saw the shell outside Mrs Bonnett's door that the danger became clear. The police were called and they summoned Royal Navy bomb disposal experts to the house in Paignton, Devon. Several neighbours were evacuated from their homes and the device was taken to a local quarry and exploded. It had been in the family for nearly a century after her grandfather Arthur Croxall brought it home in 1918. "I had no idea it was dangerous," Mrs Bonnett said. "Grandfather picked it up on his travels with the Merchant Navy in 1918. My father used to polish it all the time and kept it on the mantelpiece. "It looked German because of the writing on the top. "When I was young, five of us children would play with it. I don't think he would have brought it back if he'd known it was live." The mortar shell was seen propping open the door by neighbour John Malinovskis. He said: "I put two and two together and thought, 'That really shouldn't be there'. "I asked Thelma if she knew about it and she said, 'Oh yes, it's from the war'. She said her father had polished it and kept it on the sideboard." Mrs Bonnett's son Steve added: "I remember it in my grandparents' house when I was growing up. I probably played with it a few times. It was just one of those things that was always around." A spokesman for the bomb squad said a firing mechanism had been activated during the First World War but the shell failed to go off. The mechanism had since fallen off but the 'live' charge could have exploded at any time. Mortar shells are fired at a steep angle with a plunging trajectory so they either explode in the air above the enemy positions or upon impact. Light and portable, mortars were an effective weapon on the Western Front where soldiers faced one another in well-defended trenches. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "The shell was packed full of explosives and it could have gone off at any time. "It was brought back from France in 1914 and had been used in battle when it had been fired but failed to go off. "There is a time delay on these type of shells. A brass ring could be turned on top which gave them enough time to fire it to go off in the air or on the ground." To see a picture of the shell and one of Thelma Bonnett visit: http://tinyurl.com/ywtb8p Source: Daily Mail, London, England, July 2, 2007