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WITandWISDOM(tm) - August 22, 2007 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: The price of freedom of religion, or of speech, or of the press, is that we must put up with a good deal of rubbish. - Robert Jackson Source: Quotes of the Day, http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: From the standpoint of material wealth, we Americans have difficulty realizing how rich we are. Robert Heilbroner, who has written dozens of books on the subject of the economy, suggest that we go through a little mental exercise that will help us count our blessings. Imagine doing the following, and you will see how daily life is for more than a billion people in the world. 1. Take out all the furniture in your home except for one table and a couple of chairs. Use blanket and pads for beds. 2. Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit, shirt or blouse. Leave only one pair of shoes. 3. Empty the pantry and the refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, some onions, and a dish of dried beans. 4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and remove all the electrical wiring in your house. 5. Take away the house itself and move the family into the tool shed. 6. Place your "house" in a shantytown. 7. Cancel all subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and book clubs. This is no great loss because now none of you can read anyway. 8. Leave only one radio for the whole shantytown. 9. Move the nearest hospital or clinic ten miles away and put a midwife in charge instead of a doctor. 10. Throw away your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies. Leave the family a cash hoard of ten dollars. 11. Give the head of the family a few acres to cultivate on which he can raise a few hundred dollars of cash crops, of which one third will go to the landlord and one tenth to the money lenders. 12. Lop off twenty-five or more years in life expectancy. By comparison how rich we are! And with our wealth comes responsibility. We should use it wisely, not be wasteful, and help others. By Robert Heilbroner, Economist For more information about Robert Heilbroner visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Heilbroner 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: Searching in my library for two books by communications expert Deborah Tannen turned into an Abbott and Costello routine. "What's the first book?" the librarian asked. "That's Not What I meant," I said. "Well, what did you mean?" "That's the title of the book," I explained. "Okay." She looked at me a little skeptically. "And the other book," "You Just Don't Understand." "Excuse me!" I got both books. Eventually. Submitted by Marty ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: After four members of my family turned 40, we found out how much the kids had picked up on their trepidation. The day before my niece's ninth birthday, she observed, "Tomorrow I'll be nine, and next year it's the big one-oh." Submitted by Betsy ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Cheating is certainly not new on campus, but the prevalence may be at an all time high. 74% of business school undergraduates admit to having cheated at some point in college, compared with the 68% of the general student population. Students recognize that cell cheat sheets, phone texts, and writing answers on the insides of water bottle labels are obviously wrong. Cheating has become so common that some students do not even recognize it. In 2002, 40% of college students did not think "cut and paste" plagiarism from the internet was even moderate cheating. 47% of high school students do not think it is wrong to try to find out answers from others who may have taken a test previously. While students become more creative, many researchers say the problem lies beyond the classroom with students simply emulating what they see work in the "real" world. From: Chicago Tribune, June 6, 2007 Source: Preaching Now, http://www.preaching.com/newsletter/preachingnow/