“I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end…I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.”
Abraham Lincoln
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
Abraham Lincoln
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Well, what do you know?
A recent study conducted by Harvard University found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year.
Another study by the American Medical Association found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year.
This means Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon.
Another study by the American Medical Association found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year.
This means Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Cool Story
This article, written by Brian McMahon, appears in the November- December issue of mental_floss. Pick up a copy wherever brilliant (or lots of) magazines are sold. To subscribe, click here.
Picture 12.pngDuring World War II, the British secret service hatched a master plan to smuggle escape gear to captured Allied soldiers inside Germany. Their secret weapon? Monopoly boxes. The original notion was simple enough: Find a way to sneak useful items into prison camps in an unassuming form. But the idea to use Monopoly came from a series of happy coincidences, all of which started with maps.
Smooth As Silk
Maps are harder to smuggle than you might think. They fall apart when wet, and they make a lot of noise when unfolded. Allied officials feared paper maps might draw the attention of German troops, so they turned to an unlikely source for help—silk. Not only would silk maps hold up in all kinds of weather, but they’d also come with the life-saving benefit of being whisper quiet.
To produce these silent maps, the Brits turned to John Waddington Ltd., a company that had recently perfected the process of printing on silk and was already manufacturing silk escape maps for British airmen to carry. What else was Waddington known for? You guessed it—being the licensed manufacturer of Monopoly outside the United States.
Suddenly, the popular board game seemed like the perfect way to get supplies inside German-run POW camps. At the time, the Nazis were hard-pressed to get provisions to their own troops, much less to the Allied soldiers they’d captured. Wishing to hide this less-than-stellar upholding of the Geneva Convention, they happily welcomed Red Cross aid packages for POWs. So throwing Monopoly games into the care kits along with food and clothing was met with little scrutiny. Monopoly was already a well-known game throughout Europe, and the German guards saw it as the perfect way for their detainees to remain occupied for hours.
Picture 12.pngDuring World War II, the British secret service hatched a master plan to smuggle escape gear to captured Allied soldiers inside Germany. Their secret weapon? Monopoly boxes. The original notion was simple enough: Find a way to sneak useful items into prison camps in an unassuming form. But the idea to use Monopoly came from a series of happy coincidences, all of which started with maps.
Smooth As Silk
Maps are harder to smuggle than you might think. They fall apart when wet, and they make a lot of noise when unfolded. Allied officials feared paper maps might draw the attention of German troops, so they turned to an unlikely source for help—silk. Not only would silk maps hold up in all kinds of weather, but they’d also come with the life-saving benefit of being whisper quiet.
To produce these silent maps, the Brits turned to John Waddington Ltd., a company that had recently perfected the process of printing on silk and was already manufacturing silk escape maps for British airmen to carry. What else was Waddington known for? You guessed it—being the licensed manufacturer of Monopoly outside the United States.
Suddenly, the popular board game seemed like the perfect way to get supplies inside German-run POW camps. At the time, the Nazis were hard-pressed to get provisions to their own troops, much less to the Allied soldiers they’d captured. Wishing to hide this less-than-stellar upholding of the Geneva Convention, they happily welcomed Red Cross aid packages for POWs. So throwing Monopoly games into the care kits along with food and clothing was met with little scrutiny. Monopoly was already a well-known game throughout Europe, and the German guards saw it as the perfect way for their detainees to remain occupied for hours.
It's a Joke!
I bought a new truck this year and had to return to the dealership the next day because I couldn't get the radio to work. The salesman explained that the radio was voice activated. "Nelson," the salesman said to the radio. The radio replied,"Ricky or Willie?" "Willie!" he continued and "On The Road Again" started playing from the speakers. Then he said, "Ray Charles!", and in an instant " Georgia On My Mind" replaced Willie Nelson.
I drove away happy, and for the next few days, every time I'd say, "Beethoven," I'd get beautiful classical music, and if I said, "Beatles," I'd get one of their awesome songs from the '60s.
Yesterday, some jerk ran a red light and almost smashed into my new Tundra, but I swerved in time to avoid him. I yelled, "You idiot!"
Immediately the French National Anthem began to play, sung by Jane Fonda, Barbara Streisand, and The Dixie Chicks, with John Kerry, backed up by Michael Moore on guitar, Al Gore on drums, Dan Rather on harmonica, Nancy Pelosi on tambourine, Walter Cronkite on spoons, Bill Clinton on sax and Ted Kennedy on Scotch.
I drove away happy, and for the next few days, every time I'd say, "Beethoven," I'd get beautiful classical music, and if I said, "Beatles," I'd get one of their awesome songs from the '60s.
Yesterday, some jerk ran a red light and almost smashed into my new Tundra, but I swerved in time to avoid him. I yelled, "You idiot!"
Immediately the French National Anthem began to play, sung by Jane Fonda, Barbara Streisand, and The Dixie Chicks, with John Kerry, backed up by Michael Moore on guitar, Al Gore on drums, Dan Rather on harmonica, Nancy Pelosi on tambourine, Walter Cronkite on spoons, Bill Clinton on sax and Ted Kennedy on Scotch.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
True That
"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
— Albert Einstein
— Albert Einstein
Quote to make you think!
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
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