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WITandWISDOM(tm) - March 21, 2000 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another." - Charles Dickens (E-zine: ANCESTRY DAILY NEWS http://www.ancestry.com ) ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: A PERFECT MISTAKE - Author Unknown Mother's father worked as a carpenter. On this particular day, he was building some crates for the clothes his church was sending to some orphanage in China. On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone. When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what happened; the glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the crates, which he had nailed shut. His brand new glasses were heading for China! The Great Depression was at it's height and Grandpa had six children. He had spent $20 for those glasses that very morning. He was upset by the thought of having to buy another pair. "It's not fair," he told God as he drove home in frustration. "I've been very faithful in giving of my time and money to your work, an now this." Several months later, the director of the orphanage was on furlough in the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China, so he came to speak one Sunday at my grandfather's small church in Chicago. The missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the orphanage. "But most of all," he said, "I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and I were much in prayer about this. Then your crates arrived. When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on top. The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued: "Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom-made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that." The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. But the missionary surely must have confused their church with another, they thought. There were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas. But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way. (George Haig, Jo Walters) ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: USEFUL ENGLISH SYSTEM CONVERSIONS/UNITS: Part 1 of 2 [March 21&31] Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter: Eskimo Pi 2.4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University Hospital: 1 I.V. League 2000 pounds of Chinese soup: Won ton 1 millionth mouthwash: 1 microscope Speed of a tortoise breaking the sound barrier: Mach Turtle Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour: Knot-furlong 16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone: 1 Rod Sterling Half of a large intestine: 1 semicolon 1000 aches: 1 megahurtz Basic unit of laryngitis: 1 hoarsepower (Stan Kegel ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: A Georgian and a Texan met and were discussing the size of their property. The Georgian told how many acres he had, obviously pleased with the immensity of his land. The Texan said "Well, when I drive the perimeter of MY land, I head out before daylight, eat at noon, eat at suppertime, and it's MIDNIGHT before we get all the way around our property." The Georgian replied: "Yup, I had a truck like that once." (E-zine: THE FUNNIES Mailto:andychaps_the-funnies-subscribe@egroups.com) ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Cape Canaveral, Florida (AP): 3-2-1-Rrring! With the push of 10 telephone buttons, Gov. Jeb Bush launched a new area code last fall for the Cape Canaveral area: 321. That's 3-2-1 as in Liftoff! Bush used the new area code to call a video conferencing room at the Kennedy Space Center, where 25 NASA officials and local dignitaries were gathered. The new area code was the "one of those light-bulb ideas," Bush said, that should draw even more attention to Brevard County and the space industry. Three-two-one replaces the 407 area code, which will remain in effect locally for another year as a transition period. (Website: WhiteBoard News http://www.joeha.com/whiteboard/ ) |