Two married UNC grads were driving through Louisiana. As they were approaching the town of Natchitoches, they started arguing about the pronunciation of the name. They argued back and forth until they stopped for lunch. As they stood at the counter, one UNC grad asked the manager, "Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are,...very slowly?" The manager leaned over the counter and said, "Burrrrrrrr-gerrrrrrr-Kiiiiing."
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Comments:
"Life isn't fair to men, When we are born, our mother's get the compliments and the flowers. When we are married, our brides get the presents and the publicity. When we die, our widows get the life insurance and winters in Florida. What do women want to be liberated from?"
Golf balls are covered with dimples for the same reason that tennis balls are covered with fuzz -- it helps them fly farther.
When a ball travels rapidly through air, the air is pushed apart by the ball. The air joins back together behind the ball, but the joining is full of eddies and turbulence. The turbulent wake reduces the pressure behind the ball, pulling it back and slowing it down.
The dimples on a golf ball (and the fuzz on a tennis ball) trap a thin layer of turbulent air all around the ball, even wrapping it around the trailing half. Because the turbulent layer is very thin, the air joins together more smoothly behind the ball, creating a smaller wake. The ball feels less backward drag, and it flies farther.
More about golf ball aerodynamics: http://wings.avkids.com/Book/Sports/instructor/golf-01.html
{Double click on the web address above for additional information:}
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One of the reasons for the success of the internet is its open, peer-to-peer nature. All computers on the internet are equal, and in the past it hasn't mattered whether your computer is a 386 in Nguru on the end of a satellite phone or a big monster in a New York rack. If that ever changes, I think we will lose part of the essential, vital character of the internet. Doug Winter
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Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand; lollipop" with your right.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
The Bible does not say there were three wise men; it only says there were three gifts.
The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.
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"God's Instrument" : The Story of Squanto
Most of us know the story of the first Thanksgiving-- at least, we know the Pilgrim version. But how many of us know the Indian viewpoint?
No, I'm not talking about some revisionist, p.c. version of history. I'm talking about the amazing story of the way God used an Indian named Squanto as a special instrument of His providence.
Historical accounts of Squanto's life vary, but historians believe that around 1608--more than a decade before the Pilgrims arrived--a group of English traders sailed to what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts. When the trusting Wampanoag Indians came out to trade, the traders took them prisoner, transported them to Spain, and sold them into slavery.
It was an unimaginable horror--but God had an amazing plan for one of the captured Indians--a boy named Squanto.
Squanto was bought by a well-meaning Spanish monk, who treated him well and taught him the Christian faith. Squanto eventually made his way to England and worked in the stables of a man named John Slaney. Slaney sympathized with Squanto's desire to return home, and he promised to put the Indian on the first vessel bound for America.
It wasn't until 1618--ten years after Squanto was first kidnapped--that a ship was found. Finally, after a decade of exile and heartbreak, Squanto was on his way home.
But when he arrived in Massachusetts, more heartbreak awaited him. An epidemic had wiped out Squanto's entire village.
We can only imagine what must have gone through Squanto's mind. Why had God allowed him to return home, against all odds, only to find his loved ones dead?
A year later, the answer came. A shipload of English families arrived and settled on the very land once occupied by Squanto's people. Squanto went to meet them, greeting the startled Pilgrims in English.
According to the diary of Pilgrim Governor William Bradford, Squanto "became a special instrument sent of God for [our] good . . . He showed [us] how to plant [our] corn, where to take fish and to procure other commodities." He "was also [our] pilot to bring [us] to unknown places for [our] profit, and never left [us] till he died."
When Squanto lay dying of a fever, Bradford wrote that their Indian friend "desir[ed] the Governor to pray for him, that he might go to the Englishmen's God in heaven." Squanto bequeathed his possessions to the Pilgrims "as remembrances of his love."
Who but God could so miraculously convert a lonely Indian and then use him to save a struggling band of Englishmen? It is reminscent of the biblical story of Joseph, who was also sold into slavery--and whom God likewise used as a special instrument for good.
Squanto's life story is remarkable, and we ought to make sure our children learn about it. Sadly, most books about Squanto omit his Christian faith. But I'm delighted to say my former associate Eric Metaxas has just written a children's book called "Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving. I highly recommend it.
It will teach your kids about the "special instrument sent of God"--who changed the course of American history.
Charles Colson
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This is a good site because you can type in the name of a drug and find out in plain English why it was prescribed and any side effects. You can find clinical trials of drugs, information on diseases and more. There's information on how to prevent illnesses and disease through diet, fitness and overall wellness.
TO VISIT THIS SITE, GO HERE: http://www.pdrhealth.com/
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Question on UNC Physical Science test: Tell which is more important, the sun or the moon and defend your answer in 50 words or less.
UNC Senior: The moon is more important than the sun, because it is already light in the day making the sun useless.
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Pythagorean theorem : 24 Words
The Lord's Prayer : 66 Words
Archimedes' Principle : 67 Words
The 10 Commandments : 179 Words
The Gettysburg Address : 286 Words
The Declaration of Independence : 1,300 Words
The U. S. Government regulations on the sale of cabbage : 26,911 Words
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Many voices have been heard in the last few centuries speaking of Christianity, if not religion in general, as a psychological crutch. The idea is that time has moved forward such that we have outgrown the superstition, and along with it, the need to explain life and comfort ourselves with archaic religious myth. And though by equating religion with "myth" some mean to suggest that religion is fanciful and untrue, the comparison between Christianity and the genre of myth is absolutely fascinating. In fact, it is a comparison C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton found altogether fitting, altogether revealing.
Lewis recognized the great Greek, Roman, and Nordic myths as being a genre of narrative that wrestled as fiercely as the human heart can wrestle with its yearning to know the gods. In this, he reasoned that what we glean from the myth is not truth but reality, as myths concern themselves with questions of ultimate reality and theological inquiry. One pictures Sisyphus rolling the great stone up the hill, only to find it tumbling down the hill before he reaches the top, and then having to roll it back up again—endlessly. Through myth we ask profoundly, does life have meaning? Do the gods hate us? Do they even care? Is life worth living? As Chesterton comments in Everlasting Man, "In a word, mythology is a search; it is something that combines a recurrent desire with a recurrent doubt, mixing a most hungry sincerity in the idea of seeking for a place with a most dark and deep and mysterious levity about all the places found." Indeed, myth has concerned itself with the great and impenetrable questions of life, questions that every worldview must answer.
And yet of the parallels between myth and Christianity, the modern mind argues that Jesus is just one more attempt at explaining what we merely wish were true. And that is partially correct. There are elements in myth that we want to believe: Namely that the gods do reveal themselves to us, that heavenly mysteries can be known on some real level, that life is saturated with purpose and meaning. Indeed, such qualities reach the deepest thirsts and longings of mankind; they are things we want to be true. But Christianity would take this one step further. It would argue that these are actually the stories that we knew on some real level had to be true. In myth, mankind has revealed what is engraved deeply on our hearts.
You see, within the great myths life is lived under that which is beyond us. There is an understanding that there is something to which we must bow, that we are required to answer to someone. There is awareness that our stories are lived alongside and touched by stories of the transcendent, of the ultimate. And we were right. What man has somehow always known has in fact happened. Or as Lewis remarks, "Myth became Fact." For the Christian story is exactly that. God did show Himself. He stepped through the unseen and came to dwell within the seen. The Eternal reached into time and touched real and datable history. In our creed it is stated that Jesus, "suffered under Pontius Pilate…" A reminder that what man has longed for most has really happened: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." (Footnote 1: John 1:14)
Lewis' words provide a fitting conclusion. "For this is the marriage of heaven and earth: Perfect Myth and Perfect Fact, claiming not only our love and our obedience, but also our wonder and delight, addressed to the savage, the child, and the poet in each one of us no less than to the moralist, the scholar, and the philosopher." (Footnote 2: God in the Dock (Grand Rapids: Eerdman's, 1970) 67.) May the One who was, and is, and is to come be to you all things this day and always. Jill Carattini
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Q: What's served and never eaten? A: A tennis ball
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If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep... you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace... you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If you woke up this morning with good health... you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle unfolding all around you, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of persecution, harassment, arrest, torture, or death... you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If your parents are still alive and still married... you are very rare, even in the United States.
If you can read this message... you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
Remember to count your blessings.
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Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in money and you may have it taken from you; but trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity. - D.L. Moody
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Who is Jesus? (http://www.ccci.org/whoisjesus/interactive-journey/)
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If you think that folding paper isn't hard, you haven't tried origami. It can be difficult to learn but loads of fun once you get the hang of it. Best of all, there is always some new design to try.
This site makes it a snap with printable instructions. You can fold yourself a C3PO from Star Wars, birds, bugs and dinosaurs, as well as a multitude of intricate designs.
There are pictures of the final product, so you can choose which ones you would like to try. You can also check out the list of sites devoted to origami and affiliated products.
TO VISIT THIS SITE, GO HERE: http://www.paperfolding.com
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He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness, by His wounds you have been healed. --1 Peter 2
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To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet. To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train. To realize the value of ONE-SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident. To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics. TREASURE EVERY MOMENT THAT YOU HAVE. Treasure every moment that you have!
Journalism or Advocacy? The Times Strikes Out on Abortion
May 22, 2006
Dr. Ted Joyce, an economist at Baruch College at the City University of New York, says that parental notification laws have little effect on teenage abortion rates.
Dr. Joyce also says that parental notification laws have a significant effect on teenage abortion rates.
Well, which Dr. Joyce is talking? Or is there something else going on here? Apparently, it all depends on what you read.
The New York Times recently conducted its own study on parental notification laws. The paper reported that it had found "no evidence that the laws had a significant impact on the number of minors who got pregnant, or, once pregnant, the number who had abortions." And then the Times quoted Dr. Ted Joyce as saying, "There are ongoing trends that are pushing both birth rates and abortion rates down significantly, and those larger trends are more important than the effect of these laws." The paper added, "[Joyce] found that they had limited effects on small subgroups of minors but little impact over all."
How strange that just two days later, the Dallas Morning News reported on a new study by—you guessed it—Dr. Ted Joyce, which showed that abortion rates among teenagers in Texas experienced a major drop after the passing of a notification law.
The paper stated that, according to Joyce, "the authors of the study tried to overcome flaws in previous work. . . . For example, the scientists pinned the analysis to a girl's age at [time of] conception, not just at delivery or abortion. Other studies also have not effectively accounted for girls traveling to neighboring states for abortions." Joyce's new study showed that such factors alone cannot account for the drop. The Texas law is clearly causing more teenage girls to carry their babies to term. (As Joyce himself is pro-choice, and was not sure that this was a positive outcome, it would be hard to argue that his bias affected the study.)
We can only assume from all of this that the flawed "previous work" Joyce mentioned would include the New York Times study. Could it be that the Times quoted Joyce out of context—and that the Times's own researchers were not as objective or thorough as Joyce and his team? Given the fact that the Times has very rarely managed to maintain neutrality on abortion, I'd say there's a distinct possibility.
As the Heritage Foundation reports, "This continues the newspaper's trend of poor reporting on abortion statistics over the last decade. For example, during the 2004 election season, the Times reported Glen Harold Stassen's erroneous finding that abortions had increased [under] George W. Bush's presidency. When the Alan Guttmacher Institute later released more comprehensive data showing that abortions had actually declined since President Bush's inauguration, the Times was among the media outlets that failed to report the finding."
This kind of advocacy journalism casts serious doubts about the Times's reputation for veracity. If only the Times were able to show the same objectivity as this pro-choice scientist, we might actually be able to have an honest dialogue in this country about how to help young girls and reduce the number of abortions.
This is part four in the "War on the Weak" series.
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