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WITandWISDOM(tm) - September 26, 2007 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Greatness after all, in spite of its name, appears to be not so much a certain size as a certain quality in human lives. It may be present in lives whose range is very small. - Author Unknown Source: Monday Fodder by Dave Aufrance, Missionary in Hongkong mailto:daveaufrance@gmail.com?Subject=Subscribe_Monday_Fodder http://www.fishermansnet.com/monday-fodder/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: In the October 2001 issue of Business 2.0, management guru Peter Drucker recalls a conversation he had years ago with Eugene Meyer, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board under President Herbert Hoover. In that conversation, Meyer pointed out that the Great Depression of the 1930's could have been avoided. "The country was recovering from a mild recession when Europe crashed, and that started a run on American banks," Drucker says. "(Meyer) knew perfectly well how to stop a run on the banks. Anybody knew this. You just pay out, you just print money. What can people do with the money? One night they put it under their mattress, then the next day they have to deposit it again. Meyer knew he should just pay out. He went to Hoover after the 1932 election, and Hoover said, 'I am a lame-duck president. Immediate action has to be sanctioned by the president-elect.' So Meyer went to Roosevelt. But Roosevelt said, 'This is Hoover's watch.' "If he had paid off the banks and stopped the run," Drucker explains, "there would have been no bank holiday and there would have been no Depression, except perhaps in the farm sector. Hoover and Roosevelt never met in those four months. They hated each other. Meyer said he should have gone ahead without the president's approval, but that was in hindsight." Drucker, known as the father of management science, draws his own conclusion from this incident: "You go ahead and do things." Meyer's unwillingness to act without permission led to terrible consequences. There is another insight to be drawn from this tragic episode in American history: leaders need to work together, even if they don't like each other personally. If Roosevelt and Hoover had just met and agreed on a course of action quickly, untold misery could have been avoided. But they let their personal antagonism get in the way of effectively serving the nation. Source: Preaching Now, http://www.preaching.com/newsletter/preachingnow/ ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: A friend of mine heard this on a pre-flight announcement from an American Airlines pilot: "On our flight today, we will be flying at 34,000 feet. To give you an idea of how high that is, we would be able to fly over 50 Empire state buildings stacked one on top the other. "Our speed will be about 500 miles per hour. That is just over the muzzle velocity of the standard military .45 pistol." "We will be pushed along by two Pratt and Whitney JT-8D-200 turbofan engines. While thrust to horsepower varies with altitude, the total 40,000 pounds of thrust is greater than the combined power of 10 D-9 diesel locomotives." "In other words, we're faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and as always, your Dallas based crew stands for truth, justice, and the AMERICAN way of life!" Source: Laughter for a Saturday mailto:ed548@yahoo.com?subject=Subscribe_to_Laughter_for_a_Saturday ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Once upon a time a hog drank from a trough into which a barrel of beer had been emptied. He became very much intoxicated. When he came to himself, he was very much ashamed of his conduct. He was truly penitent and said to his friends, “I have always been a beast until this unlucky slip, and I promise you I’ll never make a man of myself again.” – Author Unknown Source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) January 1, 1885, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: A Scottish farmer's wife says her horse saved her life after it fought off a cow that was attacking her. Fiona Boyd, 40, feared she was going to be crushed to death by the cow after it kicked her to the ground, then rolled on top of her. She says she survived only because her horse, Kerry, raced to the rescue and kicked the cow until it moved off her. Mrs Boyd told The Scotsman: "I am in no doubt Kerry saved me. If she hadn't been grazing in the same pasture, I really believe I would have been killed. Kerry was fantastic. She saved my life." Mrs Boyd, a mother of two, was alone at home on her family farm at Chapmanton, near Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, when she heard the cries of a young calf in distress. She went outside to see the calf had become separated from its mother and decided to move the calf and its mother into a shed together. But as she approached the calf, its mother finally heard its distressed cries and charged at Mrs Boyd, knocking her to the ground. As she tried to get to her feet, the cow butted her and shouldered her again to the ground, before dropping its full weight on top of her. As she scrambled for cover, she saw her 15-year-old chestnut mare kicking wildly at the cow. As the horse hit out at the cow, Mrs Boyd managed to crawl 20ft to safety under an electric fence. Mrs Boyd alerted her husband, Matt, 44, who had been working in another field, and who took her to hospital. She said: "Cows are normally placid animals, but during calving they become very protective. I shouldn't have tried to move the calf through the herd on my own, and I certainly won't be doing it again." Source: Ananova (August 17, 2007) http://www.ananova.com