Fun & Learning

This Frog Is Seeing Something

12/16/2018

This frog is seeing what is on the Make Fun Of Life! Website and is absolutely delighted . . . perhaps you will be, too . . .

If you came here looking for fun, you are in the right place . . . just travel down this page, skipping the topics that do not interest you, until you come to the ones that appeal to you. When you have a moment, be sure to explore some of the other pages on the website, such as the Silly and the Holidays pages, which can be viewed by clicking on the menu bar at the top of this page. Welcome to MFOL!

Riiiiiibbbittt!

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Cookies

12/15/2018

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Sunny yellow optimism cookies, or gloomy blue-gray pessimism cookies . . . if only all decisions in life were so easy to make!

Elvis: What kind of cookies do birds like?
Priscilla: Chocolate-chirp cookies.

“In the cookie of life, friends are the sweet chocolate chips.” -Author Unknown

The American word ‘cookie’ comes from the Dutch word ‘koekjes,’ which came from the Dutch word ‘koek’ meaning ‘cake.’ ‘Cookie’ was introduced into the English language in the early eighteenth century. It is thought the term caught on in early America because of the evident Dutch presence. The British call cookies ‘small cakes,’ ‘sea biscuits,’ or ‘tea cakes.’

Victoria: Why was the little cookie sad?
Flora: Because its mom had been a wafer so long.

Tough cookie, noun: 1. Someone with just the right mixture of sweetness and strength. 2. Someone who does not crumble under pressure.

Making Cookies

I am making cookie dough
     Round and round the beaters go
Add some flour from a cup
     Stir and stir the batter up
Roll them, cut them nice and neat
     Put them on a cookie sheet
Bake them, count them - one, two, three
     Serve them to my friends for tea.*

by Author Unknown
*‘Tea’ is this instance refers not merely to the beverage, but to ‘teatime,’ the time traditionally set aside each day in many places for partaking in tea and sometimes edibles such as cookies.

“I just figured if I was going to make the world a better place, I’d do it with cookies.” -Ana Pascal: “Stranger than Fiction” (10 November 2006); type of work: movie

Cookies baked in a muffin tray will not spread out and stick together, and may be fluffier.

Let us all return to a kinder, gentler, simpler time . . . a time of milk and cookies!

Overheard: I went to dunk my cookie in a glass of milk . . . and I fell right in! Good thing the cookie fell in with me . . . crunch, crunch . . . glug, glug . . . mmm-mmm, yummy!

George: What kind of snack do little monkeys like with milk?
Geoffrey: Chocolate-chimp cookies.

Making Cookies

Stir the dough and roll it flat
     Then cut cookies just like that
Into the oven, watch them go
     They must bake a while, you know
When they’re brown and nicely done
     We’ll have cookies for everyone!

by Author Unknown

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, just as the name suggests, need no baking. For the recipe, please visit our activities page by clicking on the link here: https://www.makefunoflife.net/activities.

Penny: Why did the cookie go to the doctor?
Penelope: Because it was feeling crumby.

Cookie: A method for converting sugar, flour, and butter into body fat.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe for Engineers and Scientists

Ingredients

□ 532.35 cm3 gluten
□ 4.9 cm3 NaHCO3
□ 4.9 cm3 refined halite
□ 236.6 cm3 partially hydrogenated tallow triglyceride
□ 177.45 cm3 crystalline C12H22O11
□ 177.45 cm3 unrefined C12H22O11
□ 4.9 cm3 methyl ether of protocatechuic aldehyde
□ Two calcium carbonate-encapsulated avian albumen-coated protein units
□ 473.2 cm3 theobroma cacao
□ 236.6 cm3 de-encapsulated legume meats (sieve size #10)

Directions

To a 2-L jacketed round reactor vessel (reactor #1) with an overall heat transfer coefficient of about 100 Btu/F-ft2-hr, add ingredients one, two, and three with constant agitation. In a second 2-L reactor vessel with a radial flow impeller operating at 100 rpm, add ingredients four, five, six, and seven until the mixture is homogenous.

To reactor #2, add ingredient eight, followed by three equal volumes of the homogenous mixture in reactor #1. Additionally, add ingredient nine and ten slowly, with constant agitation. Care must be taken at this point in the reaction to control any temperature rise that may be the result of an exothermic reaction.

Using a screw extrude attached to a #4 nodulizer, place the mixture piecemeal on a 316SS sheet (300 x 600 mm). Heat in a 460K oven for a period of time that is in agreement with Frank & Johnston’s first order rate expression (see JACOS, 21, 55), or until golden brown. Once the reaction is complete, place the sheet on a 25C heat-transfer table, allowing the product to come to equilibrium before serving.

by Steve Strunk

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We are trying really hard to remember . . . what is it Moses, Noah, or Job who led the Canaanites to the land of milk and cookies?

Common Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Fortune Cookies
- Ginger Snaps
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Sandwich Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Vanilla Wafers
Can you think of other types of cookies?

Image shown above is from “A Field Guide to Animal Crackers” by Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

Animal Crackers are cookies that were imported to the United States of America from England in the late 1800’s. Barnum’s Circus-like boxes were designed with a string handle so that they could be hung on Christmas trees.

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Animal Crackers

Animal crackers, and cocoa to drink,
     That is the finest of suppers, I think;
When I’m grown up and can have what I please
     I think I shall always insist upon these.

What do you choose when you’re offered a treat?
     When Mother says, “What would you like best to eat?”
Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?
     It’s cocoa and animals that I love most!

The kitchen’s the cosiest place that I know:
     The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,
And there in the twilight, how jolly to see
     The cocoa and animals waiting for me.

by Christopher Morley (Christopher Darlington Morley (1890 - 1957)): “Chimneysmoke” (1921)

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National Animal Crackers Day is observed on 18 April of each year.

If the folks at ‘Make Fun Of Life!’ made the “Sesame Street” television show . . .
Scene: Bert and Ernie are seeing Oscar the Grouch for the first time, as Mr. Grouch suddenly pops up out of a garbage can, and Bert points at him.
Bert: Hey, Ernie, is that a cookie over there?
Ernie: Gee, I don’t know, Bert. Let’s dunk it in a glass of milk and find out!
Just then, Cookie Monster appears and says: Cookie?!
Oscar the Grouch makes a surprised shriek and disappears back into the garbage can. Bert, Ernie, and Cookie Monster all laugh.
Cut to next scene: The actual producers of “Sesame Street” are shown taking out a restraining order against the folks at ‘Make Fun Of Life!’

This is MFOL! . . . the search for funny continues . . . along with milk and cookies . . .

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Farming and Farmers

12/8/2018

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Now, everybody hold still while we try to figure out how to work the camera . . . hey, where did the pig run off to this time?

Marvin: Why are barns so noisy?
Martin: Because all the cows have horns.

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The Farmer

Sun is coming up
     Farmer’s out the door,
He will go to milk the cows,
     And start his daily chores.

Sun is going down
     Horse is in the stable,
All the fields are planted now,
     Supper’s on the table.

by Author Unknown

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Young man, age 26, with 350 acres of farmland, would like to meet charming, intelligent young lady with tractor. Please send picture of tractor.

Farming and Farmers Facts
- Most of the plants and animals on farms are ‘domesticated’ rather than wild or natural.
- Domesticated plants and animals are ones that have been developed with specific traits in mind, such as rapid growth, hardiness, and high yield.
- Many different types of farms exist, including family farms, corporate farms, pig farms, fish farms, dairy farms . . . and for those with limited space, ant farms.

Joey: How do you spell farm?
Jody: ‘E-I-E-I-O’!

A man owned a small farm. The Wage and Hour Department claimed he was not paying proper wages to his help and sent a social security agent to interview him. “You just give me a list of your employees and tell me how much you pay them.” “All right,” said the farmer. “I have a hired man. Been with me for three years. I pay him $400 a week, plus room and board. I have a cook. She’s been here six months. She gets $300 a week plus room and board.” “Anybody else?” asked the agent as he scribbled on a note pad. “Yeah,” the farmer said. “There’s a half-wit here. Works about eighteen hours a day. I pay him five dollars a week and give him a day off once every ten years.” “Aha!” the agent roared. “I want to talk to that man!” “You’re talkin’ to him now,” said the farmer.

“When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.” -Daniel Webster: remarks on the Agriculture of England at the Boston, Massachusetts State House (13 January 1840)

Pearl: What runs around a farm without moving?
Earl: A fence.

Farming and Farmers Wisdom
- Rise before the Sun and go to bed when the chickens do.
- Fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong.
- An agitated bumblebee is considerably faster than a tractor.
- Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
- After a bad harvest, sow again.
- There is talking and there is doing, and it isn’t the talking that gets the work done.

Gilbert: What does a farmer grow if he works very hard?
Herbert: Tired.

After running over a rooster that had been crossing the road, a motorist stopped his car at a nearby farmhouse to find the chicken’s owner. Seeing the farmer, the motorist rushed over to him and said, “I’m very, very sorry. I’ve just run over your rooster, but I want you to know that I’m prepared to replace him.” “Alright,” said the farmer, “let’s hear you crow.”

“If one plants in the Springtime, one will harvest in the Fall.” -Author Unknown

Wally: Why did the farmer not become upset with his wife when she traded their prize milk-cow for a book of poetry?
Walter: Because he had vowed to love her for butter or for verse.

An efficient farmer can make use of every part of a pig, even the ears, which can become chew toys for dogs and the feet, which can become pickled pigs’ feet - in fact, a farmer can make good use of every part of a pig - except for the squeal.

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Farm Animal Roll Call

Baa-baa black sheep, have you any wool?
     Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
One for your sweater, and one for your rug . . .
     One for your blanket that keeps you warm and snug.

Cluck-cluck red hen, have you any eggs?
     Yes sir, yes sir, as many as your legs.
One for your breakfast, and one for your lunch.
     Come back tomorrow; I’ll have another bunch.

Moo-moo brown cow, have you milk for me?
     Yes sir, yes sir, tasty as can be.
Churn it into butter or make it into cheese.
     Freeze it into ice cream or drink it if you please.

Buzz-buzz busy bee, is your honey sweet?
     Yes sir, yes sir, sweet enough to eat.
Honey on your muffin and honey on your cake.
     Honey by the spoonful as much as I can make.

by Author Unknown

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A farmer who was much troubled by trespassers during the nutting season consulted his botanical friend. The botanist furnished him with the technical name of the hazelnut, and the farmer placed the following notice at conspicuous points: Trespassers Take Warning! All Persons Entering This Wood Do So At Their Own Risk, For Although Common Snakes Are Not Found, The Corylus Avellana Abounds Everywhere, And Never Gives Warning Of Its Presence. The place was undisturbed after that, and the farmer gathered his crops of hazelnuts in peace.

To the Farm!

Horses, donkeys, cows that moo,
     Chickens, kittens, piglets too,
Fish that swim down in the pond,
     Ducklings quacking all day long.
All these animals you can see
     If you go to the farm with me!

by Author Unknown

Meanwhile, back at the farm, the chickens had completely surrounded the strange looking beast . . . when suddenly it grunted, “Hey, I’m trying to take a nap here!”

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from a cornfield.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower (Dwight David 'Ike' Eisenhower (1890 - 1969))

All Around the Barnyard

All around the barnyard
     The animals are fast asleep.
Sleeping cows and horses,
     Sleeping pigs and sheep.
Here comes the cocky rooster,
     To sound his daily alarm.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!
     Wake up, sleepy farm!”

by Author Unknown

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” -David Bly

Marty: Why did the farmer plough his field with a steamroller?
Martha: Because he wanted to grow mashed potatoes.

“It is a rule of nature that taking a day off on a farm sets a person back at least a week.” -Jane Hamilton: “A Map of the World” (1994), Chapter Eleven

Cybil: What is the best kind of beans to raise on a farm?
Tyrone: Jellybeans!

“If you tickle the Earth with a hoe she laughs with a harvest.” -Douglas Jerrold (Douglas William Jerrold (1803 - 1857))

Barry: If a farmer raises wheat in dry weather, what does he raise in wet weather?
Manny: An umbrella.

“What do you raise on this farm?” the big-city lawyer asked. “Cotton, corn, lima beans, and other things,” the farmer answered. “It must keep you pretty busy. What time do you go to work in the morning?” asked the lawyer. “I don’t go to work,” the farmer said. “I wake up surrounded by it.”

Chuck: What is green and yellow, ploughs fields, harvests corn, and pulls a trailer load of hay?
Hank: A John Deere tractor!
When you visit the John Deere Company website at www.Deere.com to see their lineup of tractors, mowers, earthmovers, and other equipment for your needs, please be sure to tell them you found out about them from www.MakeFunOfLife.net.

Pinky: What has five fingers and drives a tractor?
Thumb: A farm hand.

“Agriculture is the earliest and most honorable of arts.” -Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778)

“And so we plow along, as the fly said to the ox.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

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We’re Going to the Farm

We’re going to the farm . . .

We’ll see the chickens and the ducks,
     We’ll hear the quacks and all the clucks!

We’ll ride a big tractor, and feed a tall horse,
     But the best will be the goats, of course!!!

by Hilary Martin

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“Even if the farmer intends to loaf, he gets up in time to get an early start.” -Edgar W. Howe (Edgar Watson ‘Ed’ Howe, also known as E. W. Howe (1853 - 1937))

A farmer’s son was returning home from the chicken show at the county fair, with a crate of chickens his father had entrusted to him, when all of a sudden the crate fell off the cart and broke open. Chickens scurried off in all different directions, but the determined boy walked through the neighborhood, scooping up the wayward birds and returning them to the crate. Hoping he had found them all, the boy returned home, expecting the worst. “Pa, the chickens got loose,” the boy confessed sadly, “but I managed to find all twelve of them.” “Well, you did real well, son,” the farmer beamed. “You left with seven.”

“To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch the renewal of life - this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do.” -Charles Dudley Warner (1829 - 1900)

A farmer was counting his cows when they were all out grazing in the field. He counted 196, but when he ‘rounded them up,’ he had 200.

The Giving Farm

Hens give eggs.
     Pigs give ham.
Cows give milk.
     Strawberries give jam.
Bees give honey.
     Goats give cheese.
Farms give food,
     I’d like some, please.

by Vicki Witcher

A magical tractor was driving down the road - and it turned into a field!

Jacob: Why was the farmer surprised when he found cucumbers growing out of his ears?
Jake: Because he had planted carrots.

“No farmer ever plowed a field by turning it over in his mind.” -George E. Woodbury (George Edward Woodbury (1855 - 1930))

“You must plow with such Oxen as you have.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 5968

“When the Sun shineth*, make hay.” -John Heywood (1497 - 1580): “A Dialogue of Proverbs” (1546)
*shineth: archaic form of ‘shines.’

“It is thus with farming, if you do one thing late, you will be late in all your work.” -Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato (233 B.C.E. - 148 B.C.E.))

“My father asserted that there was no better place to bring up a family than in a rural environment . . . There’s something about getting up at 5 a.m., feeding the stock and chickens, and milking a couple of cows before breakfast that gives you a lifelong respect for the price of butter and eggs.” -Burton Hillis (pseudonym of William Edward ‘Bill’ Vaughan (1915 - 1977))

We plough the fields and scatter
     The good seeds on the land,
But it is fed and watered
     By God’s almighty hand.
-Jane Montgomery Campbell (1817 - 1878): “We Plough the Fields, and Scatter” (1861) hymn

“He gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.” -Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

Farmyard

Little hen
     feathered and red
          pecking round for scraps of bread.
Little goat
     fierce and white
          thinks his rope is much too tight.
Little calf
     soft and shy
          peeking out with one brown eye.
Little cat
     black and lean
          crouching so he won’t be seen.
Little pig
     muddy and stout
          trying hard to wriggle out.

by Gail Gregory

Math Problem: If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4 haystacks in another field, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in the center field?
Solution: One, because if the farmer combines all of his haystacks, they all become one big stack.

Well, the farmers are plain tuckered out from all this silliness. It is time to hit the sack so we can be up before the Sun to milk the chickens and see if the cows laid any eggs. Oink! Moo! Baa! Goodnight, all!

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Housekeeping and Housecleaning

12/1/2018

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It turns out that real men actually can do real housecleaning . . . when they have an admiring audience . . .

“The obvious and fair solution to the housework problem is to let men do the housework for, say, the next six thousand years, to even things up. The trouble is that men, over the years, have developed an inflated notion of the importance of everything they do, so that before long they would turn housework into just as much of a charade as business is now. They would hire secretaries and buy computers and fly off to housework conferences in Bermuda, but they’d never clean anything.” -Dave Barry (David McAlister ‘Dave’ Barry (born 1947))

Dorothy Parker was a writer and a humorist who led a very busy life. One day she was foolish enough to accept two baby alligators as a gift. She brought them home, ran a little water in the bathtub, and put them there until she could decide what to do with them. The next day, the cleaning woman came by while Parker was out. When Parker returned that evening, she found the house uncleaned and this note: “Dear Madam, I am leaving. I cannot work in a house with alligators. I would have told you this before, but I never thought the subject would come up.”

“Twenty-one percent of people do not make their beds in morning.” -Author Unknown

Bed-Making Machine

“I’ve been thinking it over, I mean,”
Said a child to her girl-friend Irene,
     “It’s a shame and a crime,
     After all this long time,
No one’s built a bed-making machine.”

by Author Unknown

Does vacuuming count as aerobic exercise?

Overheard: A clean house is a happy house!

“I keep a bowl of plastic fruit on the table in case a couple of mannequins drop in for a visit.” -Author Unknown

Dirty Dishes

Thank God for dirty dishes,
     They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
     We’ve eaten very well.
With home, health, and happiness;
     I shouldn’t want to fuss.
By the stack of evidence,
     God’s been very good to us.

by Author Unknown

“I’m not going to vacuum ’til Sears makes one you can ride on.” -Roseanne Barr (Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born 1952))

“I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes - and six months later you have to start all over again.” -Joan Rivers (pseudonym of Joan Alexandra Molinsky (1933 - 2014)): as quoted in Michèle Brown and Ann O’Connor, editors: “Woman Talk” (1984), ‘Work’

“Cleaning: Moving dirt from one place to another.” -Author Unknown

Why is there a light in the refrigerator and not in the freezer? Why do home refrigerators not have windows in the doors so people can look inside them without opening the doors?

“My husband and I have figured out a really good system about the housework: neither one of us does it.” -Dottie Archibald (Dorothy Bales ‘Dottie’ Archibald (born 1942))

Spring Cleaning

I’m really determined and keen
To start giving this house a Spring clean.
     I will do it I say,
     Yes, I’ll do it today . . .
Well, I’ll do it tomorrow, I mean.

by Author Unknown

“Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy.” -Author Unknown

A woman admitted to being a less than fastidious housekeeper. One evening her husband returned home from work, walked into the kitchen, and said, “You know, dear, I can write my name in the dust on the mantel.” The woman turned to him and sweetly replied, “Well, darling, that’s why I married a college graduate.”

Fred: Why do refrigerators hum?
Ginger: Because they do not know the words.

“A new broom sweeps clean, but the old one knows the corners.” -Author Unknown

When Young Melissa Sweeps

When young Melissa sweeps a room
     I vow she dances with the broom!
She curtsies in a corner brightly
     And leads her partner forth politely.
Then up and down in jigs and reels,
     With gold dust flying at their heels,
They caper. With a whirl or two
     They make the wainscot shine like new;
They waltz beside the hearth, and quick
     It brightens, shabby brick by brick.
A gay gavotte across the floor,
     A Highland fling from door to door,
And every crack and corner’s clean
     Enough to suit a dainty queen.
If ever you are full of gloom,
     Just watch Melissa sweep a room!

by Nancy Byrd Turner (1880 - 1971)

“Housework is like stringing beads with no knot on the end.” -Author Unknown

“The washing of dishes does seem to me the most absurd and unsatisfactory business that I ever undertook. If, when once washed, they would remain clean forever and ever (which they ought in all reason to do, considering how much trouble it is), there would be less occasion to grumble; but no sooner is it done, than it requires to be done again. On the whole, I have come to the resolution not to use more than one dish at each meal.” -Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864)

“Please Do Not Feed The Dust Bunnies.” -Author Unknown

Dust bunnies are magical. Santa’s elves make them at the North Pole during the off-season, and they are then delivered to people’s homes by the other little people: fairies, gnomes, pixies, leprechauns, and so forth, just in time for Spring cleaning.

“A house becomes a home when you can write, ‘I love you’ on the furniture.” -Author Unknown: “Dust If You Must”

A Request

Please be a dear
     And do your dish here
For if you do not
     The house will be wrought
With people disgusted
     By the mess that’s displayed
And hence are not able
     To dine at the table
For lack of clean dishes
     Restricts their good wishes.

by Author Unknown

“Cleaning is just putting stuff in less obvious places.” -Author Unknown

“There were times, indeed, when the vigor she put into her work was more of a relief to her feelings than it was an ardor to efface dirt . . .” -Eleanor H. Porter (Eleanor Emily Hodgman Porter (1868 - 1920)): “Pollyanna” (1912)

Amathophobia is a persistent fear of dust. Amathophobia is derived from the Greek words ‘amathos’ meaning ‘sand’ and ‘phobos’ meaning ‘fear.’

“Dust is a protective coating for fine furniture.” -Mario Buatta (1935 - 2018)

Ivy: What do you call a pretty woman using a broom?
Ivan: Sweeping beauty.

“The meal’s complete when the kitchen’s neat.” -Author Unknown

“There was no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn’t get any worse.” -Quentin Crisp (Denis Charles Pratt (1908 - 1999))

“Nature abhors a vacuum. And so do I.” -Anne Gibbons

“Housework is something you do that nobody notices until you don’t do it.” -Author Unknown

Don’t overlook any available tongues when cleaning. Cats and dogs and other pets can lick clean food surfaces such as plates and floors; children can lick clean mixing spoons and eggbeaters.

“You sometimes see a woman who would have made a Joan of Arc in another century and climate, threshing herself to pieces over all the mean worry of housekeeping.” -Rudyard Kipling (Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936))

“I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.” -D. H. Lawrence (David Herbert Lawrence (1885 - 1930))

“My theory on housework is, if the item doesn’t multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?” -Erma Bombeck (Erma Louise Bombeck (1927 - 1996))

“The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes.” -Agatha Christie (Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (1890 - 1976))

“You don’t get anything clean without getting something else dirty.” -Cecil Baxter (Cecil Richard Baxter (1922 - 2014))

“When it comes to housework, the one thing no book of household management can ever tell you is how to begin. Or maybe I mean why.” -Katharine Whitehorn (Katharine Elizabeth Whitehorn (born 1928)): “Roundabout” (1962), ‘Nought for Homework’

Overheard: I got a new dishwasher today . . . I don’t know how long she will want the job.

If the shelves are dusty and the pots don’t shine,
It’s because I have better things to do with my time.
-Author Unknown

“The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.” -Author Unknown

“There may be dust in my house but there isn’t any on me.” -Author Unknown

“Have a place for everything and keep the thing somewhere else; this is not a piece of advice, it is merely a custom.” -Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910))

What I Like

I like hugs
     And I like kisses,
But what I really love
     Is help with the dishes!

by Author Unknown

Overheard: When it comes to house cleaning, I always keep the nuclear option open.

May

Scrub and polish, - sweep and clean, -
     Fling your windows wide!
See, the trees are clad in green!
     Coax the Spring inside!
Home, be shining fair to-day
     For the guest whose name is May!

by Louise Bennett Weaver (Louise Bennett Weaver George (1889 - 1949)) and Helen Cowles LeCron (1886 - 1963): “A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband with Bettina’s Best Recipes” (1917)

“Are you an untidy or forgetful housekeeper? Just remember this simple saying, ‘ABC - Always Be Cleaning.’” -Author Unknown

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.” -Phyllis Diller (pseudonym of Phyllis Ada Driver (1917 - 2012)): as quoted in Jilly Cooper and Tom Hartman: “Violets and Vinegar” (1980), ‘I Liked You Better Smaller’

Housecleanin’ Time

Well, housecleanin’ time is with us once more;
     And, landsakes alive, it’s an awful chore!
What with scrubbin’, rubbin’, and washin’ paint,
     It’s not any picnic; you bet it ain’t! . . .
For it has to be done each Spring and Fall:
     The attic and cellar, bedrooms and hall.
Each room, in its order, gives up its dirt,
     Till I am weary and my back does hurt!

by Gertrude Tooley Buckingham (born 1880) (1940’s)

“My idea of superwoman is someone who scrubs her own floors.” -Bette Midler (born 1945)

“This business is ‘really cleaning up’!” -Author Unknown: owner of a successful cleaning service

“I make no secret of the fact that I would rather lie on the sofa than sweep underneath it. But you have to be efficient if you’re going to be lazy.” -Shirley Conran (born 1932): “Superwoman” (1975), ‘The Reason Why’

“At my house, ‘dust’ is a noun, not a verb.” -Author Unknown

“Housekeeping is like being caught in a revolving door.” -Marcelene Cox

“I think housework is the reason most women go to the office!” -Heloise Cruse (Ponce Kiah Marchelle Heloise Cruse Evans (born 1951))

“This is a honeydew day. That is when you get a day off and the wife says, ‘Honey, do this,’ and ‘Honey, do that,’ around the house.” -Jim Lemon (James Robert ‘Jim’ Lemon (1928 - 2006))

“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.” -A. A. Milne (Alan Alexander Milne (1882 - 1956))

Overheard: I avoid cleaning my house because I get easily distracted by all of the interesting things I keep finding.

Ethan: Did you hear about the man who crossed a bale of straw with an octopus?
Ethel: Yes, he got a broom with eight handles.

“Housekeeping ain’t no joke.” -Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888): “Little Women” (1868), part 1, chapter 11; line spoken by cook Hannah

“Always turn out your closet light. Otherwise, you’ll get up some morning and find you can’t start your closet.” -Charles Schulz (Charles Monroe ‘Sparky’ Schulz (1922 - 2000))

“An efficient homemaker is one who, after dinner, gives the children something to play with in the bathtub, namely, the dinner dishes!” -Author Unknown

“A place for everything, and everything in its place.” -Author Unknown: proverb

May the very lightness of your being have you walking on air . . . as you ‘Make Fun Of Life!’ each and every day . . .

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The Future and Predictions

11/23/2018

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People who have looked into the future say that while we might think it would be exciting, it is actually pretty boring, because in the future, many problems have been solved, and very few new problems have been found to take their place . . . how can humankind possibly be happy with fewer problems to solve?

What Lies Ahead?

I wish, I wish that I could know
     The places I have yet to go,
The ways I’ll change, the things I’ll do,
     The special dreams I’ll make come true,
I wish, I wish that I could see
     The life that lies ahead of me.

by Author Unknown

All right, who is ready for the future? Good, then let us get started!

“By the year 1975, people will be shot from city to city across the country in tubes.” -Edward Everett Hale (1822 - 1909) (1899)

Watch Your Step

The future lies before you,
     Like a field of driven snow,
Be careful how you tread it,
     For every step will show.

by Author Unknown

“We must discipline ourselves to convert dreams into plans, and plans into goals, and goals into those small daily activities that will lead us, one sure step at a time, toward a better future.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009)): “Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle” (1991)

“A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in the “New York Times” (1936) newspaper

“Your future is as bright as your faith!” -Thomas S. Monson (Thomas Spencer Monson (1927 - 2018))

“It looks like the future’s really bright.” -Michael P. Anderson (Michael Philip Anderson (1959 - 2003))

“Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.” -Thomas Edison (Thomas Alva Edison (1847 - 1931)) (1889)

“By the year 2000, amid general plenty, politics will simply fade away.” -R. Buckminster Fuller (Richard Buckminster ‘Bucky’ Fuller (1895 - 1983)) (1966)

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt (Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945)): “The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1944 - 1945” (1950), page 616

“I must confess that my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocating its crew and floundering at sea.” -H. G. Wells (Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946)) (1901)

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacriﬁce, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places - and there are so many - where people have behaved magniﬁcently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an inﬁnite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in deﬁance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” -Howard Zinn (1922 - 2010): “A Power Governments Cannot Suppress” (1 December 2006), page 270

“In the year 3000, everything will be instant.” -Dane Cook (Dane Jeffrey Cook (born 1972))

“The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present.” -Bill Watterson (William Boyd ‘Bill’ Watterson II (born 1958)): “Calvin & Hobbes” (1985) cartoon

“The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.” -Unidentified Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service; Fred Smith went on to found the Federal Express Corporation

“The future, according to some scientists, will be exactly like the past, only more expensive.” -John Sladek (John Thomas Sladek (1937 -2000))

“Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in ten years.” -Alex Lewyt (Alexander M. Lewyt (1908 - 1988)): as quoted in the “New York Times” (1955) newspaper

“The future is not what it used to be.” -Paul Valéry (1871 - 1945)

“The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.” -Ernest Rutherford (1871 - 1937), shortly after the atom had been split for the first time.

“We have no way of knowing what lays ahead for us in the future. All we can do is use the information at hand to make the best decision possible.” -Christopher ‘Chris’ Walken (born Ronald ‘Ronnie’ Walken (born 1943))

“The world potential market for copying machines is 5,000 at most.” -Author Unknown: statement of International Business Machines (1959), to the eventual founders of Xerox

“The future is not laid out on a track. It is something that we can decide, and to the extent that we do not violate any known laws of the Universe, we can probably make it work the way that we want to.” -Alan Kay (Alan Curtis Kay (born 1940)): in his paper ‘Inventing the Future,’ as published in Patrick Henry Winston and Karen Prendergast, editors: “The AI Business: The Commercial Uses of Artificial Intelligence” (1984)

“The cinema is little more than a fad. It’s canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage.” -Charlie Chaplin (Charles Spencer ‘Charlie’ Chaplin (1889 - 1977)) (1916)

“You create a good future by creating a good present.” -Eckhart Tolle (born Ulrich Leonard Tölle (born 1948))

“Law will be simplified. Lawyers will have diminished, and their fees will have been vastly curtailed.” -Junius Henri Browne (1833 - 1902) (1893), predictions he made for over the next century

“I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.” -William Allen White (1868 - 1944)

We are now living in the future, so where are the flying cars the futurists promised us all those years ago . . . it seems we have no choice but to build them ourselves!

“The future lies hidden in the past, waiting for us to uncover it, quite as surely as history repeats itself.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this.” -Spencer Silver (Spencer Ferguson Silver (born 1941)): on the work that led to the unique adhesive used in 3-M ‘Post-It’ notepads

“My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man’s doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.” -Elaine Maxwell

“Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further development.” -Julius Sextus Frontinus (1st century C.E.)

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” -Charles H. Duell (Charles Holland Duell (1850 - 1920)) (1899)

“If you take no part in the design of your future, it will be designed for you by others.” -Edward de Bono (born 1933)

“The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.” -Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

“When the Paris Exhibition closes, electric light will close with it and no more will be heard of it.” -Erasmus Wilson (William James Erasmus Wilson (1809 - 1884)) (1878)

“The best way to suppose what may come, is to remember what is past.” -George Savile (1633 - 1695): “Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections” (1750), ‘Miscellaneous: Experience’

“The idea that cavalry will be replaced by these iron coaches is absurd. It is little short of treasonous.” -Unidentified Aide-de-camp (1916), speaking to Field Marshal Haig at a tank demonstration

“When all else is lost, the future still remains.” -Christian Nestell Bovée (1820 - 1904)

“X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” -Lord Kelvin (William Thomson (1824 - 1907)) (1883)

“Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.” -Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 B.C.E. - 8 B.C.E.)): “Carmina,” book I, number 9, line 13

“Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.” -Mary Somerville (1897 - 1963) (1948)

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” -Peter F. Drucker (Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1909 - 2005))

“Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction” -Pierre Pachet (1937 - 2016) (1872)

“I have seen the future and it’s like the present, only longer.” -Dan Quisenberry (Daniel Raymond ‘Quiz’ Quisenberry (1953 - 1998))

“You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can’t be done. It’s just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training.” -Author Unknown: response to Arthur Jones, who solved the ‘unsolvable’ problem by inventing Nautilus

“We could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade.” -Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Junior (born 1924)) (18 April 1977), televised speech

“The future is made of the same stuff as the present.” -Simone Weil (Simone Adolphine Weil (1909 - 1943))

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to no one in particular?” -Unidentified Associates (1921) of David Sarnoff, responding to his urging for investment in radio

“Coming events cast their shadows before.” -Thomas Campbell (1777 - 1844): “Lochiel’s Warning” (1802), line 56; type of work: poem

“I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year.” -Unidentified Editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall (1957)

“Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present.” -Roger Babson (1875 - 1967)

“Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.” -Irving Fisher: speech (16 October 1929) to the Purchasing Agents Association, 5 days before the stock market crash leading into the Great Depression Era

“The future has a habit of suddenly and dramatically becoming the present.” -Roger Babson (1875 - 1967)

“There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States.” -T. Craven (Tunis Augustus Macdonough Craven, also known as T. A. M. Craven (1893 - 1972)) (1961); the first commercial communications satellite went into service in 1965

“The future’s already here - it just isn’t evenly distributed.” -William Gibson (William Ford Gibson (born 1948))

“Fifty years hence automobile traffic will have entirely disappeared from the surface thoroughfares of New York City, and people will be shot through tubes like merchandise.” -Harvey W. Corbett (Harvey Wiley Corbett (1873 - 1954)): as attributed in “The American Institute of Architects” (1925)

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” -Jesus of Nazareth: as quoted in “The Bible,” ‘Matthew,’ chapter 6, verse 34

“To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the Moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to Earth - all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.” -Lee de Forest (born Lee DeForest (1873 - 1961)) (1926)

“The future you shall know when it has come; before then forget it.” -Aeschylus (about 525 B.C.E. - about 456 B.C.E.)

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” -Author Unknown: Western Union internal memo (1876)

Your Future Is Up to You

What does your future hold?
     Some things new and some things old,
Some things lead and some things gold.
     All will be determined, it can be foretold,
Whether, as this passing moment does unfold,
     You choose to be timid or decide to be bold.

by Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“But what . . . is it good for?” -Unidentified Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of International Business Machines (1968), commenting on the microchip

“The trouble with the future is that it usually arrives before we are ready for it.” -Arnold H. Glasow (Arnold Henry Glasow (1905 - 1998))

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” -Ken Olson (1977), president, chairman, and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, maker of mainframe computers, arguing against the personal computer

“Our futures are formed by the thoughts we hold most often.” -Wayne Dyer (Wayne Walter Dyer (born 1940))

“The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots.” -Erich Fromm (1900 - 1980)

“The future will soon be a thing of the past.” -George Carlin (George Denis Patrick Carlin (1937 - 2008)): “Napalm and Silly Putty” (2001), page 260

“Men might as well project a voyage to the Moon as attempt to employ steam navigation against the stormy North Atlantic Ocean.” -Dionysius Lardner (1793 - 1859)

At the beginning of this topic, we mentioned that there will be fewer problems remaining to be solved in the future, and how, in order to be happy, people need problems to solve. There is good news about this: Folks in the future, upon finding that few problems remain to be solved, will decide that they will all share the remaining problems and work on them together, so that there will still be some happiness to go around for all the folks . . . isn’t that nice?

“Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.” -Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919)

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor ‘Eleanor’ Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)): as quoted in Leonard C. Schlup and Donald W. Whisenhunt: “It Seems to Me: Selected Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt” (2001), page 2

“Your future depends on many things, but mostly you.” -Frank Tyger (1929 - 2011)

This is MFOL! . . . and here comes the future . . . wow, it sure is moving fast . . . it just flew right by us . . . and now it is the gone into the past . . . wait, here it comes again . . . see if you can grab onto it this time!

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Gardening and Gardeners

11/17/2018

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“Gardening and laughing are two of the best things in life you can do to promote good health and a sense of well-being.” -David Hobson (David M. Hobson): “Diary of a Mad Gardener” (2000)

“Gardening adds years to your life and life to your years.” -Author Unknown

“Growing your own food is like printing your own money.” -Ron Finley (2013)

I’m a Gardener

I’m a gardener and I’m okay;
     I sleep all night and I plant all day!
I dress in grubby clothing,
     And hang around with slugs.
Oh, I’m happy in the garden,
     With dirt and plants and bugs!

by Author Unknown: sung to the same tune as that of Monty Python’s “I’m a Lumberjack” (14 December 1969)

“Our vegetable garden is coming along well, with radishes and beans up, and we are less worried about revolution than we used to be.” -E. B. White (Elwyn Brooks White (1899 - 1985))

“A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.” -May Sarton (pseudonym of Eleanore Marie Sarton (1912 - 1995))

The very first secret to having a great garden is the soil, not the plants. Mix into the soil large amounts of organic materials, such as leaves, grass clippings, broken up or chopped up twigs, and kitchen waste to nourish the plants.

Rosemary: Do you know about the woman who planted an herb garden?
Cinnamon: Yes, I heard she is having the thyme of her life!

“True gardeners never cease to garden, not even in their sleep, because gardening is not just something they do. It is how they live.” -Vigen Guroian (born 1948), author website www.Guroian.com

“God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done.” -Author Unknown

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
   How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle-shells,
   And pretty maids all of a row.

by Author Unknown

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Garden Types
- Backyard garden
- Community garden
- English garden
- Flower garden
- Herb garden
- Rose garden
- Salad garden
- Tea garden
- Vegetable garden
- Wildflower garden
What type of garden would you like to have?

“In the Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” -Margaret Atwood (born 1939)

Signs of Gardening
- Watch Out For Snap Dragons!
- Cultivate Lasting Friendships In A Garden
- Do Not Let The Little Things Bug You!
- Free Weeds - Pick Your Own
- Gardeners Have The Best Dirt
- Grow Happy In A Garden
- How’s It Growing?
- So Many Weeds . . . So Little Thyme
- Sow Seeds Of Kindness

“I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I worked in a garden.” -John Erskine

Sundial Poem

The kiss of the Sun for pardon,
     The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s Heart in a garden
     Than anywhere else on Earth.

by Dorothy Frances Gurney (Dorothy Frances Blomfield Gurney (1858 - 1932)): “Poems” (1913), ‘God’s Garden’

“Plant the garden of your life with friendship’s lovely flowers.” -Author Unknown

You can grow your own salad in a space-efficient garden made of rain gutters. How about a nice cup of tea? Yes, you can grow your own tea, too! And herbs for cooking, and strawberries for dessert . . . and lots more! (Small plants work best, and be sure to use a drill or a hammer and a nail to make a few holes in the bottom of each rain gutter for water drainage.)

“When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.” -Author Unknown

Garden of Love
(A Gardener’s Valentine)

Cabbage always has a heart;
     Green beans string along.
You’re such a Tomato,
     Will you Peas to me belong?

You’ve been the Apple of my eye,
     You know how much I care;
So Lettuce get together,
     We’d make a perfect Pear.

Now, something’s sure to Turnip,
     To prove you can’t be Beet;
So, if you Carrot all for me
     Let’s let our Tulips meet.

Don’t Squash my hopes and dreams now,
     Bee my Honey, dear;
Or tears will fill Potato’s eyes,
     While Sweet Corn lends an ear.

I’ll Cauliflower shop and say
     Your dreams are Parsley mine.
I’ll work and share my Celery,
     So be my Valentine.

by Author Unknown

“When all the chores are done, the avid gardener will invent new ones.” -Author Unknown

Gardener’s Palindrome: Mr. Owl ate my metal worm. (A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same both forward and backward.)

What are weeds good for? Pull them up with their roots, before they have grown flowers or seeds, let them dry in the sun, chop them up, and mix them with soil to provide nutrients for the non-weed plants.

“What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.” -Charles Dudley Warner (1829 - 1900): “My Summer in a Garden” (1870), ‘Third Week’

“A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.” -Doug Larson (1902 - 1981)

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Mary, Mary quite contrary,
     How has your garden thrived?
With fertilizers and chemicals?
     Or is it genetically modified?

by Paul Curtis

Dirt + Seeds + Water + Sun = Weeds.

Lou: How do you get a dog to stop digging in the garden?
Lulu: Take away his shovel!

“No Garden is without its Weeds.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 3576

Whether you need wild flower bulbs to grow flowers around your front door, tomato seeds for your container vegetable garden, Gala apple tree seedlings for your side yard or orchard, ladybugs for natural pest control, or any of many different varieties of plants and gardening supplies, please visit www.Gurneys.com - and be sure to tell them you found out about them from www.MakeFunOfLife.net. Have you ever considered giving someone seeds or a tree or other plant as a gift?

Gardening: A person’s efforts to improve their lot.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Gruesome.
Gruesome, who?
Gruesome tomatoes in my garden - would you care for some?

“The philosopher who said that work well done never needs doing over never weeded a garden.” -Ray D. Everson (Raymond D. ‘Ray’ Everson (1884 - 1960))

Barney: What kind of jokes do gardeners tell?
Bernard: Corny ones!

And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
-Rudyard Kipling (Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)): “The Glory of the Garden” (1923)

“He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.” -Basil (C.E. 330 - C.E. 379)

“There’s little risk in becoming overly proud of one’s garden, because by its very nature, it is humbling. It has a way of keeping you on your knees.” -JoAnn Barwick

“New gardeners learn by trowel and error.” -Author Unknown

“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.” -Janet Kilburn Phillips

Knock, Knock!
Who’s there?
Lettuce.
Lettuce, who?
Lettuce in, it’s freezing out here!

“Hoeing: A manual method of severing roots from stems of newly planted flowers and vegetables.” -Henry Beard (Henry Nichols Beard (born 1945))

“Every garden may have some weeds.” -Author Unknown: English proverb

Fern: What do you call an avid gardener?
Rose: Herb.

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” -Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)

“All the flowers and fruit of tomorrow are in the seeds of today.” -Author Unknown

I have a little garden, I scratch it with a hoe
I happily plant the seeds and happily watch them grow.
-Author Unknown

Kelly: Why do melons have fancy weddings?
Nellie: Because they ‘cantaloupe.’

“Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination.” -Alice Morse Earle (1851 - 1911)

“If you need five tools to solve a problem in the garden, four of them will be easy to find.” -Mike Garofalo (Michael Peter Garofalo (born 1946)): “Pulling Onions” (May 2007)

“Though an old man, I am but a young gardener.” -Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

“All gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so.” -Joseph Joubert (1754 - 1824), as quoted in Paul Auster, translator: “The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert” (1883)

“Give weeds an inch, and they’ll soon take a yard.” -Author Unknown

Holly: Who says, “Hoe, hoe, hoe!”
Ivy: A gardener laughing at your jokes.

“Your first job is to prepare the soil. The best tool for this is your neighbor’s motorized garden tiller. If your neighbor does not own a garden tiller, suggest that he buy one.” -Dave Barry (born 1947)

“Gardening: A leisure activity that is much activity and little leisure.” -Author Unknown

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” -Audrey Hepburn (1929 -1993)

Inch by inch and row by row,
I’m gonna make this garden grow.
-Author Unknown

“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.” -Gordon B. Hinckley (Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 - 2008))

“Maybe a person’s time would be as well spent raising food as raising money to buy food.” -Frank A. Clark (Frank Atherton Clark (1911 - 1991))

“My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant’s point of view.” -H. Fred Dale (H. Frederick Dale (1924 - 1994))

“You must have a garden. Wherever you are.” -Patricia MacLachlan (Patricia ‘Patty’ MacLachlan (born 1938)): “Sarah, Plain and Tall” (1985)

This is MFOL! . . . the most down-to-earth people we know grow their food for thought in a vegetable garden . . .

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Astronomy

11/14/2018

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Never stop looking up . . .

“We can’t all be stars, but we can all sparkle.” -Author Unknown

What are stars? Stars are massive spheres, or balls, of very hot burning gases, called plasma, held together by their own gravity. Most stars contain mostly hydrogen, with small amounts of helium. Some stars have tiny amounts of other elements as well.

“At night, an enormous blanket is put over the Earth to keep it warm. The blanket is very old and worn out, and so it has many tiny holes in it. The holes where the Sun’s light comes through are called stars.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

Stars form in nebulas, which are large gaseous areas of space. As gravity attracts and condenses more and more gas into clusters, young stars called protostars start to form.

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Stars radiate energy created from nuclear fusion, which is a process that takes place in a star’s core and involves hydrogen fusing, or burning, to make helium. Once nuclear fusion has begun in the core, a star is sufficiently fueled to spend the majority of its life as a main sequence star, or twinkly thing, in its most stable form.

The Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
     How I wonder what you are.
Giant thermonuclear reaction,
     Held by gravitational attraction.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
     You look small ’cause you’re so far.
As you burn through constant fusion,
     Your twinkle’s just an optical illusion
That happens when your light gets near,
     Distorted by our atmosphere.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
     Spreading light and heat so far.
As you use up fuel you’ll grow,
     And give off a scarlet glow.
Maybe you’ll go supernova
     Exploding elements all over.
Now I know just what you are,
     And I know I’m made of stars.

by Author Unknown: parody of “The Star” (1806) by Jane Taylor

“Even a small star shines in the darkness.” -Author Unknown: Finnish proverb

A brown dwarf forms if a star does not become hot enough to reach nuclear fusion. While a brown dwarf has failed to become a proper star, it is not a planet because it does glow dimly.

“There are stars called white dwarfs and red giants . . . but, alas, no jelly donuts.” -Author Unknown

The most common stars are red dwarfs. They are less than half the size and mass of our Sun, and burn their fuel very slowly. Red dwarfs last longer than any other type of star, at more than 100 billion years. They are cooler than most stars, and so shine less, eventually growing dimmer.

“We are made of stardust. Every atom of every element in your body except for hydrogen has been manufactured inside stars, scattered across the Universe in great stellar explosions, and recycled to become part of you.” -John Gribbin (John R. Gribbin (born 1946)): “Stardust” (10 September 2000)

When smaller stars such as red dwarfs or red giants use up all of their fuel and nuclear fusion slows, they start to die, and become small white dwarf stars, which emit white light until they finally darken into black dwarfs.

“All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems . . . But all these stars are silent. You - you alone, will have stars as no one else has them . . .” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger (1900 - 1944))

A dwarf star is so dense that it would take eight people to lift a teaspoonful of its matter. As yellow dwarf stars like our Sun start to run out of hydrogen fuel, the core shrinks, heats, and pushes out the rest of the star, turning it into a red giant.

Wish Upon a Star

Star light, star bright,
     The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
     Have this wish I wish tonight.

by Author Unknown

Red supergiants, such as Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion, make our Sun look small, having 20 times its mass, and being 1,000 times bigger in size. Red hypergiants, such as the largest known star, VY Canis Majoris, are even bigger, at more than 1,800 times the size of our Sun.

“It is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars.” -Author Unknown

Big stars like supergiants and hypergiants have shorter lives because they consume their fuel at a faster rate than smaller stars. As these massive stars die, they explode into massive bright supernovas.

“Why does someone believe you when you say there are four hundred billion stars in the sky, but when you say the paint is wet they have to touch it themselves to find out?” -Author Unknown

Star matter blown apart in supernova explosions forms new stellar nebula, and the process of making stars begins all over again.

“Stars are beautiful, but they may not take an active part in anything; they must just look on forever. It is a punishment put on them for something they did so long ago that no star now knows what it is.” -J. M. Barrie (James Matthew Barrie (1860 - 1937)): “Peter Pan” (????)

Very heavy stars that go supernova can actually turn into black holes, while other supernovas leave behind white neutron stars that are 20 to 40 kilometers (12.5 to 25 miles) in diameter and have dense cores made of neutrons.

Riddle: I shine high in the sky - what am I?
Solution: I am a star.

As a star approaches the end of its life, it begins to change the helium into heavier chemical elements, such as carbon and oxygen, and the star will begin to change its color, density, mass, and size.

“With every passing hour our solar system comes forty-three thousand miles closer to globular cluster M13 in the constellation Hercules, and still there are some misfits who continue to insist that there is no such thing as progress.” -Kurt Vonnegut, Junior (1922 - 2007): “The Sirens of Titan” (1959), type of work: novel; line spoken by fictional character Ransom K. Ferm (printed as Ransom K. Fern in some instances)

Astronomers . . . mapping the way to future homeworlds for humanity . . .

An ancient astronomer stayed up all night trying to figure out where the Sun had gone. In the morning, it finally dawned on him.

Stars range in color depending on how hot they are. In order from lowest to highest temperature, they can be brown, red, orange, yellow, white, or blue in color.

“Stars have always helped me to get things into perspective . . . I tried to let the starlight heal something deep in me that hurt.” -Madeleine L’Engle (Madeleine L’Engle Camp (1918 - 2007))

Stars are often between 1 and 10 billion years old. Some stars may even be close to the age of the observed Universe, at nearly 13.8 billion years old.

There are more stars in the Universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. We know this because we have been traveling the world’s beaches with a pencil, a notebook, and a magnifying glass, counting all of the itsy-bitsy granules of sand . . . if you see us out there, be sure to say hello!

Stars

The stars are tiny daisies high,
     Opening and shutting in the sky.
The daisies are the stars below,
     Twinkling and sparkling as they grow.

by Authors Unknown

Each galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars and there are estimated to be more than 100 billion galaxies in the Universe. The total number of stars in the Universe is mind boggling, estimated to be at least 70 sextillion and possibly as high as 300 sextillion, which is 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

“Put three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars.” -James Jeans (James Hopwood Jeans (1877 - 1946)): as attributed in Laurence J. Peter’s “Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time” (1993)

Our Milky Way Galaxy is an area in space crowded with lots of stars - so many that it resembles a road of spilled milk. That is how it got its name! There are estimated to be somewhere between 200 and 400 billion stars in the Milky Way.

Galaxies are speeding away from Earth at 90,000 miles per second. What do you suppose they know that we don’t?

The light emitted by 200,000 galaxies makes our Universe a shade of beige. Scientists call the color ‘cosmic latte.’ Of course, if a scientist is up late at night looking at stars, it might be because he or she is highly caffeinated.

“There they stand, the innumerable stars, shining in order like a living hymn, written in light.” -Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806 - 1867)

The light from stars takes millions of years to reach Earth, so when you look at the stars, you are literally looking back in time.

“The stars are not so strange as the mind that studies them, analyzes their light, and measures their distances.” -Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878 - 1969): “On Being a Real Person” (1943)

While a clear night sky may appear to be full of stars, there are really only about 2,000 to 3,000 stars visible to the unaided eye, meaning without the use of a telescope. These stars are all either close to the Earth or intensely luminous, meaning very bright, like yourself.

Visiting an observatory, the backwoods man watched the astronomer look through his telescope. Just then a star fell. “Wow-weee!” exclaimed the man. “You sure are a great shot!”

Stars only appear to twinkle because we see them through the Earth’s atmosphere. Stars shine at an unblinking steady state, but atmospheric disturbances called eddies, which we experience as slight breezes and winds, make stars look sparkly.

If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day. We know this because we spend a lot of time hanging out at the bottom of old wells and chimneys . . .

At an average distance of just 149,597,870 kilometers (92,955,807 miles), the nearest star to Earth is a yellow dwarf star called the Sun. The next nearest star to Earth is a red dwarf star called Proxima Centauri, also known as Alpha Centauri C. It was discovered in 1915 by Scottish astronomer Robert Innes while he was working at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is about 39.9 trillion kilometers (24.79 trillion miles) or 4.25 light years away. Light from this star reaches Earth in 4.25 years. A spacecraft using the newest, fastest propulsion systems would take about 75,000 years to get there.

Arnold: Did you know there’s a star called the Dog Star?
Owen: Are you Sirius?

Binary stars and multi-star systems are made up of two or more stars that are gravitationally linked, so that they orbit around each other.

“There wouldn’t be a sky full of stars if we were all meant to wish on the same one.” -Frances Clark (Frances Mary Clark (1860 - 1958))

A comet is a relatively small solar system body that orbits the Sun. When close enough to the Sun, comets display a visible coma, which is a fuzzy outline or atmosphere due to solar radiation, and sometimes also a tail.

When asked about flying saucers, the astronomer replied, “No comet.”

Asteroids are small solar system bodies that orbit the Sun. Made of rock and metal, they can also contain organic compounds. Asteroids are similar to comets but do not have a visible coma (fuzzy outline and tail) like comets do.

Telescope: A device for bringing the sky closer.

A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our solar system. They range in size from dust to around 10 meters in diameter. Larger objects are usually referred to as asteroids.

Star

Star light, star bright,
     First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
     No - it’s just a satellite!

by Author Unknown

So-called ‘shooting stars’ and ‘falling stars’ are not actually stars, but are meteors. A meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere is known as a meteor. A meteoroid that survives falling through the Earth’s atmosphere and colliding with the Earth’s surface is known as a meteorite.

The odds of anyone being struck by a meteorite are said to be ‘astronomical.’

*******************************************************************

When You Wish Upon a Star

When you wish upon a star
     Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
     Will come to you.

If your heart is in your dreams
     No request is to extreme
When you wish upon a star
     As dreamers do.

Fate is kind
     She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment
     of their secret longing.

Like a bolt out of the blue
     Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
     Your dreams come true.

If your heart is in your dreams
     No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
     As dreamers do.

When you wish upon a star
     Your dream comes true.

by Jesse McCartney

*******************************************************************

Stars have played a very important role throughout human history. They have formed a part of religious practices, been grouped into constellations, used in astrological star signs, helped to design calendars, and were very important navigational tools for early explorations across lands and seas.

“Silently, one by one in the infinite meadows of Heaven, blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of angels.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

If you would like to keep up-to-date on the goings on in a whole Universe of stars, click on the link www.stardate.org.

Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul.
Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
-Pamela Vaull Starr (pseudonym of Violet Isabelle (Carter) Popp (1909 - 1993))

At ‘MFOL!’ we think stars are, like, so stellar . . . and far out, too! Yeah, we know, we’re kinda weird sometimes . . . now go have fun with your life!

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Shyness and Shy People

11/7/2018

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“Even wallflowers bloom.” -Author Unknown

“There is a shyness about me, and I really need to get out more.” -Priscilla Presley (Priscilla Ann Presley (born 1945))

“What the word shyness basically refers to is if someone is worried about how he or she appears to other people.” -Wanda Bethea

“Shyness displays itself differently in me. I think it’s more an awkwardness.” -Daniel Radcliffe

“Quiet people have the loudest minds.” -Stephen King (Stephen Edwin King (born 1947))

“If you want to do something big in your life, you must remember that shyness is only in the mind. If you think shy, you act shy. If you think confidant, you act confidant. Therefore, never let shyness conquer your mind.” -Arfa Karim Randhawa (Arfa Abdul Karim Randhawa (1995 - 2012))

“You know what my greatest personal stumbling block is? My shyness.” -Susan Lucci (Susan Victoria Lucci (born 1946))

“I like parties, but I’m shy, and I often find myself standing around, feeling awkward.” -Michael Bergin (Michael John Bergin (born 1969))

What is shyness? Shyness is a feeling of extreme discomfort and intense inhibition in social situations, preventing an individual from participating in interpersonal interactions and relationships. The physical symptoms of shyness can include blushing, sweating, rapid heartbeat, trembling or shaking, difficulty speaking, and upset stomach. Shy individuals feel insecure about themselves, have huge concerns about how others view them, and have a strong tendency to withdraw from and avoid social situations.

“I am quite shy and people think I’m aloof.” -Kristen Stewart (Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born 1990))

“The two commonest mistakes in judgement . . . are, the confounding of shyness with arrogance - a very common mistake indeed - and the not understanding that an obstinate nature exists in a perpetual struggle with itself.” -Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812 -1870))

“When you’re worried, tell yourself the truth: Shyness is a strength to build on, not a character flaw to be stamped out.” -Author Unknown: “Shyness Is Not a Character Flaw” (at the Malvern School)

“Scientists have found the gene for shyness. They would have found it years ago, but it was hiding behind a couple of other genes.” -Jonathan Katz (Jonathan Paul Katz (born 1946))

What causes shyness? Some people claim shyness is caused entirely by genetics, but it is likely closer to the truth that shyness has more than a single cause. Individuals vary, but other possible causes of shyness include emotional abuse, physical abuse, being bullied, moving often, being different from other people - and there are so many ways in which people are different that there is not enough space to list them here, prolonged isolation, poverty, hardships, losses, medical conditions, traumatization, upbringing, being the new guy or gal, culture shock, social inexperience, or a general difference in life experiences. Some shy people may have dealt with every single one of these things and more in their lives.

“If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.” -Dorothy Law Nolte (1924 - 2005): “Children Learn What They Live: Parenting to Inspire Values” (1998), page vi

“I bought a book to help me overcome my shyness and it really works - now I can talk to people while hiding behind it!” -Author Unknown

Shyness can hold back a student’s progress in school . . .

“I was actually pretty shy in school. My defense mechanism was to be the class clown. I remember getting into a lot of trouble for being disruptive, and I was brought in front of the head teacher, who said, ‘What’s going to happen to you - what are you going to do when you grow up?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m obviously going to be a comedian.’” -Adam Clayton

“I’m very shy, so I became very outgoing to protect my shyness.” -Don Rickles (Donald Jay ‘Don’ Rickles (1926 - 2017))

“And like the old stereotype, I overcame my shyness by making my friends laugh.” -Paul Merton (pseudonym of Paul James Martin (born 1957))

“The level of shyness has gone up dramatically in the last decade. I think shyness is an index of social pathology rather than a pathology of the individual.” -Philip Zimbardo (Philip George Zimbardo (born 1933))

“In talking, shyness and timidity distort the very meaning of my words. I don’t pretend to know anybody well. People are like shadows to me and I am like a shadow.” -Gwen John (Gwendolen Mary John (1876 - 1939))

Wallflower: A decoration for ballrooms.

“If you do not make small talk, you will never make big talk.” -Author Unknown

Is it possible that shyness is sometimes a temporary state, like anger or fear, rather than being something permanent, like height or eye color?

“Life is too short to be shy!” -Carolyn Schrieber

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Shyness and Self-Esteem

While not all shy people have low self-esteem, shyness is often seen as a symptom of fear or lack of self-confidence. When you’re shy, it usually means that you’re self-conscious and worried about what other people think about you. Occasional shyness is normal, but when it becomes a habit, it can be detrimental to your progress in all of life: work, school, friendships, and social activities.

Because of the connection between shyness and self-esteem, building your self-esteem step-by-step can help you overcome your shyness. There are several things you can do to boost your self-esteem, whether you’re suffering from depression or you’re just having a bad day.

Make an inventory of things that you like about yourself. Do this as often as necessary. You can write anything - from simple things such as your ability to whistle, or more complex things such as your strength of character. It doesn’t mean that you should ignore your weaknesses and pretend that they don’t exist, you just have to accept yourself for who you are. Don’t include things such as financial success, the admiration of your peers, or the way you look. After all, self-esteem is about how you view yourself - these external factors don’t matter. When you gauge your strengths, you’ll be able to see how unique and valuable you are.

Find something that you’re good at, and work on it. If you have the talent for cooking, why not work on some new and original dishes? Activities involving art, such as painting and writing, can definitely give your mind a feeling of freedom and accomplishment. Even bird watching can improve your mood greatly. Whatever your talents are, make sure that you get to ‘practice’ them once a week, so that your mind will be given a chance to refresh itself after a stressful week of work or school.

Only recall good, happy, and exciting memories. Whenever you’re sitting down to think, make sure that you actively call out happy memories. This is because when you start thinking negatively, an entire swarm of negative feelings and memories will come right at you. Don’t waste your time with the bad. Think only of the good things you experienced, the great people you encountered, and even funny jokes you have heard.

Volunteer your time to the community or work with outreach programs. Being in a team that helps others allows you to think beyond yourself. Keep yourself busy by interacting with other people and learning from them. You’ll find that most people are very much like you - they all want to be surrounded by their loved ones, they have their own fears, and they also deal with feelings of inadequacy. When you realize that other people are just like you, you’ll see that there’s nothing to fear in social situations.

By conquering any feelings of low self-esteem, you will realize that you are deserving of love, admiration, and respect. When you realize this, you will also be able to conquer your shyness during social situations.

by Author Unknown

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“I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky.” -Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

“My personality is hard to explain. I’m a big personality, and I enjoy being social. But I’m shy at first and sometimes ramble too much. I’m a shy extrovert.” -Author Unknown

Being ‘introverted’ and being ‘shy’ are not the same thing. Many introverts are not shy and many shy people are not introverts. The literal meaning of ‘introvert’ is ‘inward focused’ and usually refers to people who give their greatest attention to their own interests, often having little inclination to the interests of others. Shy people, however, are very often frustrated extroverts, that is, people who would like to be outgoing and social, but who also feel inhibited or held back.

“Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating. Shyness is inherently painful; introversion is not.” -Susan Cain (Susan Horowitz Cain (born 1968)): “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” (24 January 2012)

Shyness can stall a person’s work and career success - if he or she can get started at all . . .

“Shyness is nice, but shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life that you’d like to do.” -Steven Morrissey (Steven Patrick Morrissey (born 1959))

“Introductions are hard to come by when your natural state is shyness.” -Steve Martin (Stephen Glenn ‘Steve’ Martin (born 1945))

“We fail more often by timidity than by over-daring.” -David Grayson (1870 - 1946)

“I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it myself.” -Author Unknown

“The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.” -Claudia Alta (Taylor) ‘Lady Bird’ Johnson (1912 - 2007)

“I grew up being very shy, very much a bookworm, and I remember desperately wondering how to be accepted by the popular kids.” -Lisa Kleypas (born 1964)

“I genuinely enjoy talking one-to-one. I have no shyness about that.” -Stephanie Beacham (born 1947)

“Sometimes those who don’t socialize much aren’t actually anti-social, they just have no tolerance for drama and fake people.” -Author Unknown

“I’m just shy - not antisocial - you can talk to me!” -Author Unknown

“Even when a person is as shy as a mouse, you still have to beware of the tiger within.” -Author Unknown

“I have had strange animals as pets all my life. I was shy growing up, and shy people tend to interact better with animals than people. Animals are direct, not duplicitous.” -Yvonne Craig (Yvonne Joyce Craig (1937 - 2015))

We cannot make shy people suddenly become non-shy by causing them to feel bad about being shy. Do not call a shy person antisocial, arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic, self-centered, mentally ill, introverted, slow, or sneaky - none of these things are what shyness is, and name calling and labeling will not help. Always remember: Just because you have labeled people does not mean you have helped them. Do not ridicule, tease, shame, or bully shy people. Instead, focus on encouragement, and if you know how, coaching or social skills teaching, keeping in mind that many shy people may very well know more about social skills than you do, but may simply have never had a safe opportunity to try them out and put them into regular practice.

“Women like silent men. They think they’re listening.” -Marcel Achard (born Marcel-Augustin Ferréol (1899 - 1974))

Overheard: My shyness has ruined so many opportunities.

“Cameras are a lifesaver for very shy people who have nowhere else to hide. Behind a lens they can disguise the fact that they have nothing to say to strangers.” -Pat Conroy: “Beach Music” (July 1995) novel

“It’s funny - when people call you ‘shy,’ they usually smile. Like it’s cute, some funny little habit you’ll grow out of when you’re older, like the gaps in your grin when your baby teeth fall out. If they knew how it felt - really being shy, not just unsure at first - they wouldn’t smile. Not if they knew how the feeling knots up your stomach or makes your palms sweat or robs you of the ability to say anything that makes sense. It’s not cute at all.” -Author Unknown

“A struggle with shyness is in every actor more than anyone can imagine.” -Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson (1926 - 1962))

“Stage persona notwithstanding, I’m extremely shy and quiet. Almost painfully shy. People misinterpret that as being above it all or not interested.” -J. Michael Straczynski (Joseph Michael Straczynski (born 1954))

“The fact of the matter is that most actors are shy people.” -Roger Moore (Roger George Moore (born 1927))

“I think I had a shyness about me, I think I discovered acting as a way to break out of that and as a way of belonging, a sense of being special.” -Michael C. Hall (Michael Carlyle Hall (born 1971))

Perhaps the most important consideration in addressing shyness is that we not waste people’s entire lifetimes while we argue over how to categorize shyness, whether it is caused by nature or nurture, or genetics or environment, or who is at fault. Instead, we need to focus on determining whether particular shy individuals are comfortable with their shyness or if they are suffering from their shyness. If they are comfortable with their shyness, we should let them be who they are. If they are suffering from their shyness, we should use the best of our humanity to help them. We can experiment a little - trying different ideas, discarding ideas that do not work and keeping ideas that do work.

“Shyness is really wondering if you have other people’s approval.” -Dorothy Sarnoff (1914 - 2008)

“I am very shy - really shy - I even had a stutter as a kid, which I slowly got over, but I still regress into that shyness. So I don’t like walking into a crowded restaurant by myself; I don’t like going to a party by myself.” -Nicole Kidman (Nicole Mary Kidman (born 1967))

“Writing is show business for shy people. That’s how I see it.” -Lee Child (pseudonym of James D. ‘Jim’ Grant (born 1954))

“I’ve gotten better at not making people feel uncomfortable with my shyness.” -Clea DuVall (Clea Helen D’Etienne DuVall (born 1977))

“I don’t really want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive, you got to flap your arms and legs, you got to jump around a lot, you got to make a lot of noise . . . as I see it, if you’re quiet, you’re not living. You’ve got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively.” -Mel Brooks (born Melvin Kaminsky (born 1926))

“Sometimes quiet people really do have a lot to say, they’re just being careful about who they open up to.” -Author Unknown

Maribelle: What did the shy pebble say?
Clarabelle: “I wish I was a little boulder.”

“If you are shy, know that there can be some situations and circumstances in which you are not shy. Try to find them, and within them, give yourself the chance to learn and grow and develop, and in time, you will find yourself less shy in a wider range of situations and circumstances.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

Golly, you sure look swell when you smile - you should do that more often! Much more MFOL! follows . . .

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Zig Ziglar

11/4/2018

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“Among the things you can give and still keep are your word, a smile, and a grateful heart.” -Zig Ziglar

“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” -Zig Ziglar

“There is no such thing as a lazy person; he is either sick or uninspired.” -Zig Ziglar: “See You at the Top” (2000)

“People who have good relationships at home are more effective in the marketplace.” -Zig Ziglar

“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember - the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” -Zig Ziglar

“The way you see life will largely determine what you get out of it.” -Zig Ziglar

“Failure has been correctly identified as the line of least persistence.” -Zig Ziglar: “See You at the Top” (2000)

“You are free to choose, but the choices you make today will determine what you will have, be, and do in the tomorrow of your life.” -Zig Ziglar

“Don’t wait until you feel like taking a positive action. Take the action and then you will feel like doing it.” -Zig Ziglar

“If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.” -Zig Ziglar: as quoted in Deborah Norville: “The Power of Respect: Benefit from the Most Forgotten Element of Success” (2009), page 65

“When your image improves, your performance improves.” -Zig Ziglar

“Many people spend more time in planning the wedding than they do in planning the marriage.” -Zig Ziglar

“I am intelligent, competent, persistent, and creative. I am health conscious, balanced, and clean. I am flexible, punctual, and thrifty.” -Zig Ziglar

“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” -Zig Ziglar

“How you see your future is much more important than what happened in your past.” Zig Ziglar

“For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you’re not enthusiastic enough.” -Zig Ziglar

“Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission.” -Zig Ziglar: as quoted in Kevin Baerg: “Created for Excellence: 12 keys to Godly Success” (1996), page 25

“Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is.” -Zig Ziglar

“Obviously, there is little you can learn from doing nothing.” -Zig Ziglar

“People who truly understand God’s purpose for their lives know that we are called to be intimately involved with one another.” -Zig Ziglar: “Better than Good: Creating a Life You Can’t Wait to Live” (2007)

“People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.” -Zig Ziglar

“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” -Zig Ziglar: as quoted in Alen Majer: “Trigger Events - How to Find Your Next Customer” (2007), page 22

“A man or woman is seldom happy unless he or she is sustaining him or herself and making a contribution to others.” -Zig Ziglar: “See You at the Top” (2000)

“End the day with gratitude. There is someone, somewhere, that has less than you.” -Zig Ziglar

“Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.” -Zig Ziglar: “See You at the Top” (2000)

“Kids go where there is excitement. They stay where there is love.” -Zig Ziglar

“A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.” -Zig Ziglar

“You build a successful career, regardless of your field of endeavor, by the dozens of little things you do on and off the job.” -Zig Ziglar

“When you forgive somebody else you accept the responsibility for your own future.” -Zig Ziglar

“Success is in the details.” -Zig Ziglar

“You are at the top when you’ve made friends with the past, are focused on the present, and optimistic about your future.” -Zig Ziglar

“The most practical, beautiful, workable philosophy in the world won’t work - if you won’t.” -Zig Ziglar

“The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty.” -Zig Ziglar

“Be firm on principle but flexible on method.” -Zig Ziglar

“Never let your past determine your future.” -attributed to Zig Ziglar

“For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you’re not enthusiastic enough.” -Zig Ziglar

“The only way to coast is downhill.” -Zig Ziglar

“A positive attitude will have positive results because attitudes are contagious.” -Zig Ziglar

“If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.” -Zig Ziglar

“There’s often no way you can look into the game of life and determine whether or not you’ll get that big break tomorrow or whether it will take another week, month, year or even longer. But it will come!” -Zig Ziglar

“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” -Zig Ziglar: “Secrets of Closing the Sale” (1984)

“You cannot consistently perform in a manner which is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.” -Zig Ziglar

“They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” -Zig Ziglar

“It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.” -Zig Ziglar

“Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.” -Zig Ziglar

“You’ve got to be before you can do, and you’ve got to do before you can have.” -Zig Ziglar

“What comes out of your mouth is determined by what goes into your mind.” -Zig Ziglar

“As I point out in another section, when you’re frustrated you can either wring your hands and lose what you have or roll up your sleeves and get what you want.” -Zig Ziglar: “Biscuits, Fleas, and Pump Handles” (1974), page 145

“It is easy to get to the top after you get through the crowd at the bottom.” -Zig Ziglar

“When things seem bad, look to see if you’re not facing the wrong direction . . . When the outlook isn’t good, try the uplook - it’s always good.” -Zig Ziglar

In addition to the books mentioned in this topic, Zig Ziglar wrote other books, available in paperback from your favorite bookseller and as downloads for your favorite e-reader device. Following is a partial list.
□ “Conversations with My Dog” (2004)
□ “How to Get What You Want” (1987)
□ “Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World” (1985)
□ “Zig Ziglar’s Life Lifters” (2003)
□ “Secrets of Closing the Sale” (1982)
□ “Developing the Qualities of Success” (2010)
□ “See You at the Top” (1975)
□ “Confessions of a Happy Christian” (1978)
□ “Zig: The Autobiography” (2002)
□ “Courtship After Marriage” (1990)
The above list of works by Zig Ziglar is far from complete, so if you would like to see other titles included, please let us know.

“If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.” -Zig Ziglar

“Ability is important in our quest for success, but dependability is critical.” -Zig Ziglar

“Failure is an event, never a person; an attitude, not an outcome.” -Zig Ziglar

“The most influential person who will talk to you all day is you, so you should be very careful about what you say to you!” -Zig Ziglar

“When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.” -Zig Ziglar

“When you are tough on yourself, life is going to be infinitely easier on you.” -Zig Ziglar

“You cannot tailor-make the situations in life, but you can tailor-make your attitudes to fit those situations.” -Zig Ziglar

“The more you recognize and express gratitude for the things you have, the more things you will have to express gratitude for.” -Zig Ziglar

“Fortunately, problems are an everyday part of our life. Consider this: If there were no problems, most of us would be unemployed. Realistically, the more problems we have and the larger they are, the greater our value to our employer.” -Zig Ziglar

“Will you look back on life and say, ‘I wish I had’ or ‘I’m glad I did’?” -Zig Ziglar

“Desire is the ingredient that changes the hot water of mediocrity to the steam of outstanding success.” -Zig Ziglar: “See You at the Top” (2000)

“If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.” -Zig Ziglar

“Obstacles are the things we see when we take our eyes off our goals.” -Zig Ziglar

“Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.” -Zig Ziglar

“There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.” -Zig Ziglar

“When we do more than we are paid to do, eventually we will be paid more for what we do.” -Zig Ziglar

“When you focus on problems, you get more problems. When you focus on possibilities, you have more opportunities.” -Zig Ziglar

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” -Zig Ziglar

“You cannot climb the ladder of success dressed in the costume of failure.” -Zig Ziglar

“If God would have wanted us to live in a permissive society He would have given us Ten Suggestions and not Ten Commandments.” -Zig Ziglar

“You don’t have to have it all figured out to move forward.” -Zig Ziglar

“Success is like a ladder, and no one has ever climbed a ladder with their hands in their pockets.” -Zig Ziglar

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” -Zig Ziglar

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.” -Zig Ziglar

“Fewer people are bent from hard work than are crooked from avoiding it.” -Zig Ziglar: “See You at the Top” (2000)

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” -Zig Ziglar: as quoted in Lilly Walters: “Secrets of Superstar Speakers: Wisdom from the Greatest Motivators of Our Time” (2000), page 96

“When you give a man a dole, you deny him his dignity, and when you deny him his dignity you rob him of his destiny.” -Zig Ziglar: “See You at the Top” (2000)

“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.” -Zig Ziglar

“Happiness is not pleasure - it is victory.” -Zig Ziglar: “See You at the Top” (2000)

“Other people and things can stop you temporarily . . . You’re the only one who can do it permanently!” -Zig Ziglar

“Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking the tartar sauce with you.” -Zig Ziglar

“The price of success is much lower than the price of failure.” -Zig Ziglar

“Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them!” -Zig Ziglar

“Of all the ‘attitudes’ we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.” -Zig Ziglar

“If you don’t save something on your current income, you won’t save anything on your future income.” -Zig Ziglar: “See You at the Top” (2000)

“Most people who fail in their dreams fail not from lack of ability but from lack of commitment.” -Zig Ziglar

“The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.” -Zig Ziglar: as quoted in Dave Stone: “Refining Your Style: Learning from Respected Communicators” (2004), page 143

“Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting - in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard - reaching for the highest that is in us - becoming all that we can be. If we do our best, we are a success. Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have.” -Zig Ziglar: as quoted in Hugh B. Sanders: “The Subconscious Diet: It’s Not What You Put in Your Mouth; It Is What You Put in Your Mind” (2005), page 104

“The way to get what you want is to help others get what they want.” -Zig Ziglar

“Far too many people have no idea of what they can do because all they have been told is what they can’t do. They don’t know what they want because they don’t know what’s available for them.” -Zig Ziglar

“When you associate with winners, your chances of winning go up!” -Zig Ziglar

Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar was born on 6 November 1926 in Coffee County, Alabama, United States of America, as the tenth of twelve children to parents John Silas Ziglar and Lila Wescott Ziglar. He became a writer, a salesman, and a motivational speaker. Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar passed on at 86 years of age on 28 November 2012 in Plano, Texas, United States of America.

“People who build hope into their own lives and who share hope with others become powerful people.” -Zig Ziglar

Zig Ziglar devoted his life to helping others get what they want in their lives. To find out what this can mean for your own professional and personal development, click on Zig Ziglar.

“Life is an echo. What you send out comes back. What you sow you reap. What you give you get. What you see in others exists in you. Regardless of who you are or what you do, if you are looking for the best way to reap the most reward in all areas of life, you should look for the good in every person and in every situation and adopt the golden rule as a way of life.” -Zig Ziglar

“Make today worth remembering.” -Zig Ziglar

This is MFOL! . . . your wonderful free source for the good in life: humor, inspiration, motivation, learning, and more . . .

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Elephants

10/29/2018

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William: What is gray and tons of fun?
Katherine: An elephant!

The Elephant

The elephant is quite a beast,
     He’s rather large to say the least,
And though his size is quite impressive,
     The elephant is not aggressive,
He never throws his weight around,
     Still he always holds his ground.
He only wants to feel secure.
     Long may the elephant endure!

by Arnold Sundgaard (Arnold Olaf Sundgaard (1909 - 2006))

Minerva: What is big and gray and goes, “Bubble-bubble-ka-boom!”
Minnie: An elephant experimenting with a chemistry set.

Elephants Facts
- An adult male elephant is called a bull.
- An adult female elephant is called a cow.
- A young elephant is called a calf.
- The plural of elephant is elephants.
- A group of elephants is called a herd, or imaginatively, a memory.
- A group of elephants walking in single-file is called a parade.
- The sound made by elephants is called trumpeting.
- Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth.
- Elephants are herbivores, or plants-eaters.

Terry: How can you tell when there are elephants in your refrigerator?
Theresa: You can hear them giggling.

Elephants belong to the family of animals known as pachyderms, meaning thick-skinned animals. Other members of the pachyderm family are rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, pigs, tapirs, and extinct wooly mammoths and mastodons.

Sandra: Why do elephants catch colds?
Sandy: Well, you would too, if you ran around all the time without any clothes on!

The two main types of elephants are the African elephant and the Asian elephant.

Lee: What is the difference between African elephants and Asian elephants?
Lars: About three thousand miles!

Both male and female African elephants have tusks. Their ears are about 1.5 meters (5 feet) long. African elephants are known by the scientific name Loxodonta africana. They are divided into two subspecies: the African Forest Elephant and the African Bush Elephant.

Bill: Why do elephants live in the jungle?
Glen: Because they are too big to fit in Tarzan’s treehouse.

Asian elephants have smaller bodies and smaller ears than African elephants, and only the males of the Asian elephants have tusks. The scientific name for Asian elephants is Elephas maximus. The four subspecies of Asian elephants are Indian, Ceylon, Sumatran, and Malaysian.

Marybeth: What is gray and weighs 200 pounds?
Maribelle: A bouncing baby elephant!

Newborn baby elephants weight about 91 kilograms (200 pounds). Adult elephants weigh between 2,268 and 6,350 kilograms (5,000 and 14,000 pounds). Some male elephants can grow to be 4 meters (13 feet tall) and weigh between 4,536 and 6,350 kilograms (10,000 and 14,000 pounds). The largest elephant on record weighed about 12,000 kilograms (26,000 pounds).

Darlene: What do elephants say when they bump into each other?
Charlene: “Small world, isn’t it?”

Elephants are the only mammals that cannot jump, and that is good, because the last thing we need is more earthquakes!

Hickory dickory dock,
An elephant ran up the clock,
The clock is being repaired.

Arvin: How can you tell that elephants are always ready for adventure?
Allen: They always have their trunks ready to go!

Anne: What has four legs and a trunk?
Drew: An elephant?
Anne: A mouse going on vacation - fooled you!

After their size, the most noticeable feature of elephants is their trunks. A trunk is an elongation of an elephant’s nose and upper lip. An elephant’s trunk can grow to be about 2 meters (6.5 feet) long, and has about 40,000 muscles, but contains no bones. Besides being used for breathing and smelling, the trunk can be used in much the same way that humans use their arms and hands. Elephants are able to sense the size, shape, texture, and temperature of objects by feeling with their trunks. Elephants have two finger-like projections at the tips of their trunks, which can be used to manipulate and grasp small objects and to pluck grass and leaves to eat. Elephants use their trunks to lift food and to suck up water, which they then pour into their mouths. In summary, elephant’s trunks are very useful tools.

Michelle: Why do elephants have trunks?
Mabelle: Because glove compartments are not nearly so stylish.

Geronimo: What do you say when you scold an elephant?
Tecumseh: “Tusk! Tusk!”

Elephants have pairs of tusks, which are long teeth made of a substance called ivory. Elephant tusks grow throughout their lifetimes and can weigh more than 200 pounds. Their tusks help them obtain food and dig in the ground for water. Elephants can also use their tusks to carry heavy objects such as tree trunks.

Jeremy: What is big and gray and protects you from the rain?
Jered: An umbrellaphant!

Elephants have large, thin ears. Within them is a complex network of blood vessels. As blood circulates through their ears, it releases heat into the air. Elephants can flap their ears, causing the blood within them to release heat at an even faster rate. The cooled blood then circulates through the rest of the elephants’ massive bodies, helping to keep elephants cool in the hot climates where they live.

Pete: What is big and gray and hums?
Paul: An electric elephant!

Rudy: Why do more elephants not go to college?
Ruby: Because so few of them graduate from high school.

Bernice: What is large, gray, and writes?
Brad: A ballpoint elephant!

Willow: Why do you never see elephants hiding up in trees?
Mahogany: Because they are really good at it.

Jimmy: Why can elephants not fly?
James: Because they do not have propellers.

“Nature’s great masterpiece, an elephant, the only harmless great thing.” -John Donne (1572 - 1631)

Owen: How do elephants get squinty eyes?
Wendell: From reading the small print on peanut packages.

Elephants are herbivores, and spend 16 to 20 hours a day eating leaves, twigs (small branches), bark, tree roots, bamboo, and grasses. They especially like leaves from upper branches, which they get by pushing down trees with their large heads and bodies. They get bark by scraping it off trees with their sharp tusks. During the wet or rainy season, elephants eat things low to the ground, and during the dry season, they use their trunks to gather food from trees and bushes that are higher off the ground. Adult elephants eat 136 to 272 kilograms (300 to 600 pounds) of food every day.

Aaron: Why do elephants eat raw plants?
Isaac: Because they do not know how to cook.

Beverly: Why was the elephant sitting on the marshmallow?
Christine: Because she did not want to fall into the hot chocolate.

Adult elephants need to drink at least 210 liters (55 gallons) of water every day. If an elephant’s trunk holds about 9.5 liters (2.5 gallons) of water, how many times would an elephant need to fill its trunk each day?

Roderick: Why is it dangerous to tell elephant jokes?
Reginald: Because elephants never forget!

Patrice: Why do elephants not like elephant jokes?
Patrick: They think they are Dumbo.

Melanie: Who started all these crazy elephant jokes?
Pamela: That is what the elephants would like to know!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Gladys.
Gladys, who?
Gladys you and not another elephant joke!

Tabitha: Why did the elephant cross the road?
Tabbie: Because she did not want to hear that last joke.

Elephants . . . among the last dignified inhabitants of Earth . . .

Adult elephants sleep between 4 and 5 hours in a 24-hour time period. Their sleep is often broken up into shorter time periods and naps throughout the day and night. In family herds, some of the elephants stay awake while others are sleeping, to guard against predators, especially when the herd has baby elephants to protect. Elephants can adjust their sleep patterns when the weather is hot, napping more in the daytime and staying awake during the cooler nighttime to find food and water.

Male elephant mature and leave their herds at about 12 or 13 years of age, living fairly solitary lives from that point onward.

Ernest: Why do elephants travel in herds?
Otis: Because if they traveled in flocks, they might be mistaken for sheep.

Female elephants spend their entire lives living in family herds of up to ten females and their young. Each family herd is led by a female elephant called a matriarch, usually the oldest and largest female in the herd. All of the females in the herd are directly related to the matriarch. Herds are known to travel distances of 16 kilometers (10 miles) or farther in a day to look for food and water. When elephants travel, they walk very quietly in single file. Young elephants are led by the older elephants with their tails. They stay close to their mothers at all times. The entire herd will protect the young ones if there are any signs of danger.

Chad: What is big and gray, and wears glass slippers?
Chet: Cinderelephant.

Carrie: What is big and grey and has horns?
Karen: An elephant marching band!

While not noted for their musical talent, the most familiar sound made by elephants is called trumpeting. Elephants can purr as cats do. Elephants can also communicate by making singing and rumbling sounds at between 14 and 35 hertz, which is below human hearing range. Elephants can communicate by stomping on the ground, which makes sounds and vibrations that can be detected by other elephants. These varied types of communication allow elephants to locate other elephants and to call wandering individuals back to the herd, and can ever allow several different herds to stay in direct contact over distances of many miles.

Maude: How can you tell if there is an elephant in your snack food?
Todd: Read the list of ingredients.

Overheard: The only reason that a great many people do not own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for ten dollars down and ten dollars a week.

Going to Work

An elephant, going to work,
Was heard to remark, with a smirk,
     “I’ll keep my good manners
     For hay and bananers
But quit if my mahout should shirk.”

by Author Unknown

Danny: What would you get if you crossed an elephant and a computer?
Daniel: The biggest know-it-all you ever saw.

Because of their large size, great strength, and defensive capabilities, full-grown elephants have few natural predators. Elephants can fight with their tusks to defend themselves, and wrap their muscular trunks around other animals. They can push things around with their sheer weight and strength. Elephants can raise their front legs off the ground, standing briefly on just their rear legs, and kick with their front legs or drop their front legs and crushing body weight back down onto any threatening animal. If need be, elephants can also run about 39 kilometers (24 miles) an hour for short distances. Even so, elephants in the wild are vulnerable to lions that prey on young or weak elephants, and humans destroy elephant habitats and kill elephants for their ivory tusks.

Darcy: What is big and gray and takes the bus everywhere?
Marcy: An elephant who failed her driver’s license test.

Mortimer: What is gray, has 800 feet, and cannot get off the ground?
Gerard: An airplane full of elephants.

Elephants are good swimmers. They can also walk along the bottom of a lake or river while extending their trunks up to the surface like snorkels to breathe air. Going into water helps them to stay cool when the weather is hot, and they also bathe themselves in the water.

Sherman: Why are elephants wrinkled?
Herman: Have you ever tried to iron one?

Opal: Why are elephants so poor?
Violet: Because they work for peanuts!

Eva: Why is an elephant gray?
Evaline: So you will not mistake him for a bluebird.

Dana: Why do elephants not ride bicycles?
Gina: They do not have thumbs to ring the bells.

Elephantine: Resembling or characteristic of an elephant or elephants, especially in being large, clambering, or awkward. Agile elephants may disagree with this generalization!

John: Why do elephants not use computers?
Joan: They are afraid of the mouse.

Alexander: How would you recognize an elephant on the Moon?
Alexia: By the big ‘E’ on her spacesuit.

An Elephant

When people call this beast to mind
     They marvel more and more
At such a little tail behind
     So large a trunk before.

by Author Unknown

Merry: What did the elephant wish for on his birthday?
Mary: A trunkful of presents!

Alice: What should you always remember when telling elephant jokes?
Ellis: Elephants never forget!

This is MFOL! . . . Ha, ha, ha - wait, we don’t get it . . .

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Poetic Epigrams

10/26/2018

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Look around the habitable world: how few
Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.
-Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (about C.E. 55 - about C.E. 130)): as quoted in John Dryden (1631 - 1700), translator: “The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis: And of Aulus Persius Flaccus” (1693), Satire 10, lines 1 and 2

Once upon a time, it happened to me,
     the very sweetest thing, that could even be.
It was a fantasy, a dream come true,
     it was the day I saw you.
-Author Unknown

It sounds like stories from the land of spirits
If any man obtain that which he merits,
Or any merit that which he obtains.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)

Two cats can live as cheaply as one,
And their owner has twice as much fun.
-Lloyd Alexander (Lloyd Chudley Alexander (1924 - 2007))

A poetic epigram is a short and often witty poem expressing a single thought or observation. The word ‘epigram’ comes from the Greek word ‘epigraphein’ meaning ‘to write on’ or ‘to inscribe,’ and originally referred to inscriptions written on stone monuments in ancient Greece.

What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole;
Its body brevity, and wit its soul.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834) (1802)

A house is built of logs and stone,
     of piles and post and piers;
A home is built of loving deeds,
     that stand a thousand years.
-Victor Hugo (Victor Marie Hugo (1802 - 1885))

A house is made of bricks and beams,
A home is made of love and dreams.
-Author Unknown

Early to bed,
     Early to rise
Makes a man healthy,
     Wealthy and wise.
-Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

The Joke

The joke you just told isn’t funny one bit;
     It’s pointless and dull, wholly lacking in wit;
It’s so old and stale, it’s beginning to smell -
     Besides, it’s the one I was going to tell!

by Author Unknown

Contentment is wealth, the riches of the mind;
And happy is he who can such riches find.
-John Dryden (1631 - 1700)

My mom (who’s on a diet)
     says she’s lost another pound.
I’ve tried to help her find it,
     but it’s nowhere to be found.
-Babs Bell Hajdusiewicz (born 1944)

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
     Two things stand like stone:
Kindness in another’s trouble,
     Courage in your own.
-Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833 - 1870)

When Adam Joked

Whatever trouble Adam had,
     No man in days of yore
Could say, when Adam cracked a joke,
     “I’ve heard that one before.”

by Author Unknown

Pursue thy work without delay,
For the short hours run fast away.
-Author Unknown

Words

A careless word may kindle strife;
     A cruel word may wreck a life;
A timely word may level stress;
     A loving word may heal and bless.

-Author Unknown

Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes,
Is oft’ but perseverance in disguise.
-Henry W. Austin (Henry Willard Austin (1858 - 1912)): “Perseverance Conquers All”

Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.
-John Dryden (1631 - 1700): “Absalom and Achitophel” (1681), part I, line 163

Whirls

Big whirls have little whirls,
     That feed on their velocity;
And little whirls have lesser whirls,
     And so on to viscosity.

by Lewis Fry Richardson (1881 - 1953): “The Supply of Energy from and to Atmospheric Eddies” (1920)

“An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly.” -Edwin Percy Whipple (1819 - 1886): lecture to the Boston Mercantile Library Association (October 1846), as quoted in Edwin Percy Whipple: “Lectures on Subjects Connected with Literature and Life” (1850)

No bees, no honey;
No work, no money.
-Author Unknown

Oh, words may rhyme,
     And sound sublime,
And sing and shout,
     Yet still say nowt.
-Author Unknown
nowt: nothing; naught

Keep out of ruts; a rut is something which
If traveled in too much, becomes a ditch.
-Arthur Guiterman (1871 - 1943)

Short Sermon

To give and forgive
Is a good way to live.

by Author Unknown

Joy and Temperance and Repose
Slam the door on the doctor’s nose.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

Happy Ending?

There are no happy endings.
     Endings are the saddest part,
So just give me a happy middle
     And a very happy start.

by Author Unknown

Could fools to keep their own contrive,
On what, on whom could gamesters thrive?
-John Gay (1685 - 1732): as quoted in W. H. Kearley Wright, editor: “The Fables of John Gay" (1889), 'Fable XII: Pan and Fortune,' lines 25 and 26

Are You a Poet?

You might not think it,
     You might not know it,
But somewhere inside you,
     There might be a poet!

by Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

Do not loiter or shirk,
Do not falter or shrink
But just think out your work
And then work out your think.
-Nixon Waterman (1859 - 1944)

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
but go with good fortune:
I wish you a kinder sea.
-Plato (about 427 B.C.E. - 347 B.C.E.)

Getting Along

We know how to get along
     every single day.
We take turns and share a lot
     while we work and play.

by Author Unknown

That man who lives for self alone
Lives for the meanest mortal known.
-Joaquin Miller (pseudonym of Cincinnatus Heine Miller (born Cincinnatus Hiner Miller (1837 - 1913)): “The Building of the City Beautiful” (1905), Chapter V: ‘How Beautiful!’ page 48

Always Finish

If a task is once begun
     Never leave it till it’s done.
Be the labor great or small,
     Do it well or not at all.

by Author Unknown: possibly also known by the title “Perseverance”

For every evil under the sun
     There is a remedy, or there is none;
If there be one, try and find it;
     If there be none, never mind it.
by Author Unknown: as published in John Newbery, editor: “Mother Goose’s Melody” (1765)

Poetic epigrams vary in structure. They are typically couplets, or poems having two lines; tercets, or poems having three lines; and quatrains, or poems having four lines. Poetic epigrams of more than four lines are less common, in keeping with ‘brevity,’ a word often used in describing them. Some have titles, some have none. Poetic epigrams can be found as a few lines within longer poems, in much the same way that couplets, tercets, quatrains, and structures of more lines can be found within much longer poems.

Little strokes
Fell great oaks
-Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

Think that day lost whose low descending sun
Views from thy hand no noble action done.
-Jacob Bobart (1641 - 1719)

So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.
-William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): ‘Sonnet 76’

Day-Dreamer

Too much thought:
Too little wrought.

by Author Unknown
wrought: brought into being or put together; archaic past tense of ‘work’

That man is thought a dangerouse knave,
     Or zealot plotting crime,
Who for advancement of his kind
      Is wiser than his time.
-Richard Monckton Milnes (also known as 1st Baron Houghton or Lord Houghton (1809 - 1885))
dangerouse: dangerous
knave: a no-good person
zealot: a fanatic

A Man Said to the Universe

A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”

by Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900): “War Is Kind and Other Lines” (1899)

For he who fights and runs away
     May live to fight another day;
But he who is in battle slain
     Can never rise and fight again.
-Author Unknown: as published in Oliver Goldsmith, editor: “The Art of Poetry on a New Plan” (1762)

The Rooster

Hear the rooster crow out loud,
At the break of day:
“R-r-r-r-r, r-r-r-r-r!”
He says, “Get your chores done,
If you want to play.”
“R-r-r-r-r, r-r-r-r-r!”

by Author Unknown

Would you like to speak to your contemporaries, meaning people now living, or pass on learning across a great span of years, perhaps to coming generations, who have not yet arrived? Write a poetic epigram, carve it in stone, and let the passage of time carry your message to them.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
     And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
     And Eternity in an hour.
-William Blake (1757 - 1827): “Auguries of Innocence” (1803), lines 1 through 4

This is Make Fun Of Life! . . . the website for which you have been looking . . . is not proper English . . . ever so . . . peculiar?

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Homes and Families

10/19/2018

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“The family is the nucleus of civilization.” -Will Durant (William James ‘Will’ Durant (1885 - 1981))

“In most homes, the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space.” -Evan Esar (1899 - 1995)

“What makes a house a home are the people who live there.” -Author Unknown

“My dad, he’s a nuclear physicist, my mom, she’s a mathematician, my brother is a chemical engineer - and I like to color.” -Shashi Bhatia

“There is no synthetic replacement for a decent home life. Our high crime rate, particularly among juveniles, is directly traceable to a breakdown in moral fiber - to the disintegration of home and family life. Religion and home life are supplementary. Each strengthens the other. It is seldom that a solid and wholesome home life can be found in the absence of religious inspiration.” -J. Edgar Hoover (John Edgar Hoover (1895 - 1972)): as quoted in the “Christian Herald”

Father: Did you children help your mother today?
First Child: Yes, daddy. I washed the dishes.
Second Child: I dried them.
Third Child: I picked up the pieces.

“A clean, comfortable dwelling, with wholesome meals, is no small aid to intellectual and moral progress. A man living in a damp cellar or a garret open to rain and snow, breathing the foul air of a filthy room, and striving without success to appease hunger on scanty or unsavory food, is in danger of abandoning himself to a desperate, selfish recklessness. Improve, then, your lot. Multiply comforts, and, still more, get wealth if you can by honorable means, and if it does not cost too much.” -William Ellery Channing (1780 - 1842)

My Little Sister

My little sister
     Likes to eat.
But when she does
     She’s not too neat.
The trouble is
     She doesn’t know
Exactly where
     The food should go!

by William Wise (born 1923)

“We often speak of a family circle, but there are none too many of them. Parallel lines never meeting, squares, triangles . . . these and other geometrical figures abound, but circles are comparatively few.” -Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856 - 1923): “Mother Carey’s Chickens” (1911)

Daryl: Your sister is spoiled, isn’t she?
Aaron: No, that’s just the perfume she’s wearing.

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

The Family Bible

Old Brother Higgins built a shelf
     for the Family Bible to rest itself
lest a sticky finger or grimy thumb
     might injure the delicate pages some.
He cautioned his children to touch it not
     and it rested there with never a blot
     though the Higgins tribe were a troublesome lot.

His neighbor, Miggins, built a shelf
     “Come children,” he said, “and help yourself.”
His book is old and ragged and worn,
     with some of the choicest pages torn,
where children have fingered and thumbed and read.
     But of the Miggins tribe I’ve heard it said,
     each carries a Bible in his head.

by Author Unknown

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

“In our family,” a little girl told her teacher, “everybody married relatives. My father married my mother, my uncle married my aunt, and just the other day I found out that my grandfather married my grandmother.”

“One day as we were driving through the country, my small son David spoke up excitedly, saying, “Oh, mother, look at the cow’s popsicle!” I looked over in a field and saw a cow calmly licking a large block of salt which was placed atop a small post in the ground.” -Helen MacMillan

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room, the television was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside, he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Towels lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, “What happened here today?” She again smiled and answered, “You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?” “Yes?” was his incredulous reply. She answered, “Well, today I didn’t do it.”

“The family is both the fundamental unit of society as well as the root of culture. It . . . is a perpetual source of encouragement, advocacy, assurance, and emotional refueling that empowers a child to venture with confidence into the greater world and to become all that he can be.” -Marianne E. Neifert: “Dr. Mom’s Parenting Guide” (1991)

Home: A place where a man can say what he likes - because no one takes any notice of him anyway.

“All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” -Leo Tolstoy (Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828 - 1910)): “Anna Karenina” (1875 - 1877), part I, chapter 1

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” -George Moore (George Augustus Moore (1852 - 1933)): “The Brook Kerith” (1916), chapter 11

“Having a family is like having a bowling alley installed in your head.” -Martin Mull (Martin Eugene Mull (born 1943))

“Home is where the heart is.” -Pliny (Gaius Plinius Secundus, also known as Pliny the Elder (C.E. 23 - C.E. 79)) (similar quotation attributed to James J. McCloskey)

Homes and Families Quiz
- What is fun for the whole family?
- How often should a family share a meal together?
- Who leads a family?

“[Matthew] knows what he would like to do but he’s not sure where he could find a rocket that would shoot [his sister] Vanessa to Mars.” -Paula Danziger: “Earth to Matthew” (1991)

“A family is a haven of rest, a sanctuary of peace, and most of all, a harbor of love.” -Manny Feldman

“For a man’s home is his castle.” -Edward Coke (1552 - 1634): “Third Institute” (1644)

“I was raised as an only child, which really annoyed my sister.” -Will Marsh (2012)

“The family that prays together stays together.” -Al Scalpone (Alfred James Scalpone (1913 - 2000))

“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” -Maya Angelou (Marguerite Ann Johnson (1928 - 2014))

“A loving family provides the foundation children need to succeed, and strong families with a man and a woman - bonded together for life - always have been, and always will be, the key to such families.” -Jim Bunning (James Paul David Bunning (1931 - 2017))

“This world will be no better than its homes.” -Richard L. Evans (Richard Louis Evans (1906 - 1971))

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” -George Santayana (1863 - 1952): “The Life of Reason” (1905)

’Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.
-J. H. Payne (John Howard Payne (1791 - 1852)): “Clari, or The Maid of Milan” (1823), ‘Home! Sweet Home!’; poem and ballad (song) within an opera

“A happy family is but an earlier Heaven.” -John Bowring (1792 - 1872) (similar quotation attributed to George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950))

There Was an Old Woman

There was an old woman
     Who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children
     She didn’t know what to do.
She gave them some broth
     Without any bread.
She kissed them all sweetly
     And sent them to bed.

by Author Unknown: a Mother Goose rhyme

“He that will have none but a perfect brother must resign himself to remain brotherless.” -Author Unknown

“Wherever we are together, that is home.” -Author Unknown

“What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” -Teresa of Calcutta (Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (1910 - 1997))

“Blessed be the ties that bind generations.” -Author Unknown

“Having a place to go - is a home. Having someone to love - is a family. Having both - is a blessing.” -Donna Hedges

“Family: A unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold virus.” -Ogden Nash (Frederick Ogden Nash (1902 - 1971))

“Good homes are still the best source of good humans.” -Neal A. Maxwell (Neal Ash Maxwell (1926 - 2004)): as quoted in “Ensign” (October 1974), page 71

“Family: A group of people, no two of whom like their breakfast eggs cooked the same way.” -Author Unknown

“Home is home, be it never so homely.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 2523

“Three essential ingredients in the recipe for a happier family life are prayer, patience, and understanding.” -Author Unknown

“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862): letter (20 May 1860) to Harrison Gray Otis Blake, as published in “Familiar Letters” (1865)

“The family unit plays a critical role in our society and in the training of the generation to come.” -Sandra Day O’Connor (born 1930)

“If this world affords true happiness, it is to be found in a home where love and confidence increase with the years, where the necessities of life come without severe strain, where luxuries enter only after their cost has been carefully considered.” -Alfred Edward Newton

“Family is just accident . . . They don’t mean to get on your nerves. They don’t even mean to be your family, they just are.” -Marsha Norman (born 1947)

“Home wasn’t built in a day.” -Jane Sherwood Ace (1905 - 1974): “Easy Aces” radio show (1928 - 1945): “The Fine Art of Hypochondria by Goodman Ace” (1966)

“A family is where holidays are celebrated with feasting, birthdays are acknowledged with gifts, and thoughts of days gone by kept alive with fond remembrances.” -Manny Feldman

“When there is love in the home there is joy in the heart.” -Author Unknown

“Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.” -David Ogden Stiers (David Allen Ogden Stiers (1942 - 2018))

A house is made of wood and stone,
But only love can make a home.
-Author Unknown

“Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.” -Virginia Satir

This is ‘MFOL!’ . . . much more follows below . . . some serious and some not so serious . . . and some that is difficult to be sure of at all . . .

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Ice Cream and Frozen Treats

10/11/2018

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“Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.” -Don Kardong (Donald Franklin Kardong (born 1948))

Charlene: When does an ice cream cone carry an umbrella?
Pauline: When there is a chance of sprinkles.

Clark: Why did the reporter run into the ice cream shop?
Kent: He was hoping to get a big scoop.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Ice cream.
Ice cream, who?
Ice cream every time I see a ghost!

Myrna: Why does everyone invite ice cream to the party?
Martha: It’s cool.

Bert: Would you like some ice cream?
Ernie: “Sherbert!” (“Sure, Bert!”)

Sherbert is a common corruption of the word sherbet, a frozen dessert made of fruit syrup, milk, and the white of an egg, whisked until smooth and opaque, and then frozen.

Sorbets are generally thought of as being fruit based, but can be made with other ingredients. Sorbets belong in the category of what are called ‘ices,’ and are sometimes referred to as granitas or Italian ices. Sorbets made without dairy products are preferred by some people, but always check the ingredients list on the package or ask the food server to find out what the sorbet contains.

Brenda: What did the chocolate syrup say to the ice cream?
Bernard: “I’m sweet on you!”

“My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate - that’s my philosophy.” -Thornton Wilder (Thornton Niven Wilder (1897 - 1975))

Ice cream soda was invented in 1874 by Robert Green. He was serving a mixture of syrup, sweet cream, and carbonated water at a celebration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America. He ran out of sweet cream and in its place used ice cream.

Sally: What is ice cream’s favorite day of the week?
Molly: Sundae.

A ‘Classic Ice Cream Sundae’ consists of vanilla ice cream topped with flavored syrup, whipped cream, and a maraschino cherry with stem. The word ‘sundae’ (pronounced like Sunday, the day of the week) comes from sundae syrups commonly made in chocolate, butterscotch, or any of various fruit flavors.

Jasmine: What does ice cream do between Saturday and Monday?
Amber: It goes to Sundae School!

Laws forbidding the sale of sodas on Sundays prompted William Garwood of Evanston, Illinois, United States of America, to invent the ice cream sundae in 1875.

An ice cream cone is an edible wafer or waffle that facilitates the consumption of the melting frozen confection known as ice cream. What was that again, we couldn’t hear you, because we’re too busy eating ice cream.

Tip: Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a rolled waffle cone or sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.

Timmy: Who serves ice cream faster than a speeding bullet?
Jimmy: Scooperman!

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Overheard: You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream, and that’s kind of the same thing.

Is there a ‘plain ice cream’ that has no flavors, sweeteners, or colors added to it, just as there is ‘plain yogurt’? Not vanilla ice cream, just plain ice cream? Wow, like, somebody could totally invent that! Howza ’bout you there?

‘À la mode’ is a French phrase meaning ‘fashionable’ or ‘up to date.’ In the world of dessert foods, it refers to a dish served with ice cream on the side or on the top of the food, as for example, a slice of pie with ice cream, called ‘pie à la mode.’ We’ll have ‘pie à la mode’ . . . because we are trying to keep up with the latest in food fashions!

Why can’t a fish stick be a frozen treat - just insert a chopstick in it! Wait, would that be redundant . . . a frozen fish stick on a stick . . . and then make it sticky with tartar sauce . . . a sticky frozen fish stick on a stick . . . this is why they won’t let us anywhere near places where food is being made - or let us engage in conversations with grownups!

Frank Epperson of California, United States of America, invented the Popsicle in 1905 when he was 11 years old.

The next time you go to a grocery store, look to see if ice cream is spelled as one word or two words on packages. You could be that person who leads the cause to change the world by spelling ‘ice cream’ as ‘icecream.’ After all, there is no country called ‘Ice Land,’ is there? Nope, instead it is ‘Iceland’!

“Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone.” -Jim Fiebig (1956 - 2016)

Boris: What do you do when you see a Siberian ghost enjoying its favorite frozen dessert?
Igor: I-scream!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Ice cream soda.
Ice cream soda, who?
Ice cream soda people can hear me!

Dustin: When is ice cream bad at tennis?
Darren: When it’s a soft serve.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Bernice: What happens when I watch a scary movie with my favorite frozen dessert?
Dennis: I don’t know - what?
Bernice: I scream!

August 6th of each year is National Root Beer Float Day.

Kenny: We’re having root beer floats - would you like one?
Lenny: Root beer floats?!
Kenny: No, it just kind of sits there in the mug - but it’s still pretty good!

To see our easy “Root Beer Float Recipe,” with picture, please visit the ‘Activities’ page by clicking on the link here:
www.MakeFunOfLife.net/activities.

Greg: How do you make an elephant float?
Judy: You take some soda water, add two scoops of ice cream, and then one elephant.

This is ‘MFOL!’ . . . we are diagonally parked somewhere in a parallel universe . . . and we are dripping melting ice cream all over the vehicle interior . . . it’s a good thing we brought the dogs along with us this time!

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Manners and Etiquette

10/5/2018

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When people speak of ‘quaint old-fashioned manners,’ they seem as if by magic to reappear . . .

Magic Words

There are three little magic words
     That will open any door with ease.
Two little words are “Thank you!”
     And the other little word is “Please!”

by Author Unknown

Elvis: May I have an apple?
Sylvia: What is the magic word?
Elvis: Abracadabra?

Overheard: Try being nice to people, even if it does scare them a little bit at first.

Too Polite

Broad met Stout
At the gate, and each
Was too polite to brush past.
“After you!” said Broad.
“After you!” said Stout.
They got in a dither
And went through together
And both
stuck
fast.

by Ian Serraillier (1912 - 1994)

“The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.” -Fred Astaire (pseudonym of Frederick Austerlitz (1899 - 1987))

Lawrence: What do well-behaved young lambs say to their mothers?
Florence: “Thank ewe!”

“Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back.” -Thomas Sowell (born 1930)

Al: When you yawn, you are supposed to put your hand over your mouth!
Lex: What, and get bitten?!

“Good manners and soft words have brought many a difficult thing to pass.” -John Vanbrugh (1664 - 1726)

Share Your Toys

Share, share, share your toys,
     Share them with your friends
It’s so much fun to share your toys,
     Sharing has no end.

by Author Unknown, sung to the melody of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

Etiquette is the glue that holds society together. It enables people to get on with other human beings without causing offense. It is manners, codified, or formalized. By learning a number of the various rules of etiquette, a person will eventually begin to understand the basic concept and perhaps perceive the overall underlying common thread that makes up the pattern, sometimes called ‘the Golden Rule.’

Netiquette: Manners on the internet, such as not using all-caps, or all-capital letters, which is referred to as, ‘SHOUTING!’

When it comes to jokes and funny stories, before you growl, “I’ve heard that one before,” consider this: Do you stop a pianist who is playing Chopin because you have heard that musical piece before?

Three Nice Mice

Three nice mice!
Three nice mice!
See how nice they are!
See how nice they are!
They’re always polite when they nibble their cheese;
They never forget to say thank you and please;
They cover their noses whenever they sneeze -
Ahhh ahhh ahhh-choo! (pretend sneeze)
Three nice mice!
Three nice mice!

by Author Unknown, sung to the melody of “Three Blind Mice”

Etiquette and manners vary greatly geographically, culturally, religiously, and by economic classes all around the world. There are even variations by generation or age, gender, trade or profession, subculture, other group identity, and other factors. ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ is an old proverb that means one should respect and follow local laws, customs, and manners.

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Elbows.
Elbows, who?
Elbows off the table, please!

“Good manners will often take people where neither money nor education will take them.” -Author Unknown

“Manners make man.” [Modern English translation]
“Manners makyth man.” [original Middle English]
-William of Wykeham (1320 - 1404); adopted as the motto of Winchester College and New College in Oxford, England

Overheard: Politeness is an inexpensive way of making friends.

Overheard: Be polite to the aged, because you will be one of them soon enough yourself - if you are fortunate.

“Allowing an unimportant mistake to pass without comment is a wonderful social grace.” -Judith ‘Miss Manners’ Martin (born 1938)

“I don’t recall your name, but your manners are familiar.” -Oliver Herford (1863 - 1935)

“Nothing is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of the pleasures; costs nothing and conveys much. It pleases him who gives and him who receives, and thus, like mercy, is twice blessed.” -Erastus Wiman (1834 - 1904): “Chances of Success” (1893)

“He was so generally civil, that nobody thanked him for it.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“Hail the small sweet courtesies of life, for smooth do they make the road of it.” -Laurence Sterne (1713 - 1768)

“Manners are of more importance than laws. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in.” -Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

Mabel: What person do you always take your hat off to?
Abel: The barber.

“Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.” -Clarence Thomas (born 1948)

“Those that are good manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country, as the behavior of the country is most mockable at the court.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

“Good manners: The noise you don’t make when you’re eating soup.” -Bennett Cerf (1898 - 1971)

“We must recall the most humanitarian guideline of all: be polite. Being polite is possibly the greatest daily contribution everyone can make to life on Earth.” -Caitlin Moran: “How to be a Woman” (16 June 2011)

Jimmy: Don’t you want to be well-mannered and polite?
Jenny: No, thank you.

“Hospitality is making your guests feel at home, even if you wish they were.” -Author Unknown

Do you recall those quaint old customs and manners of yesteryear? Tip your hats to the ladies, gentlemen. Girls curtsy, and boys bow. A gentleman always has a handkerchief to offer to a lady. A lady drops her handkerchief so that a gentleman can pick it up and hand it to her, a ruse used by the lady to get the gentleman to say a word to her. Gentlemen had calling cards, which they would leave so that people could contact them later. People smiled at strangers as they passed, and often greeted them, as for example, saying, “How do you do?” Well, don’t be sad at their passing - times haven’t changed so much - what’s old can be new again; all it takes is for you to demonstrate the newer versions of these acts yourself when opportunities avail themselves to you, and continue doing them until others begin to emulate you.

“Good manners are just a way of showing other people that we have respect for them.” -Bill Kelly

“One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness.” -Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw (1818 - 1885))

“Should you happen to notice that another person is extremely tall or overweight, eats too much or declines convivial drinks, has red hair, or goes about in a wheelchair, ought to get married or ought not to be pregnant - see if you can refrain from bringing these astonishing observations to that person’s attention.” -Judith ‘Miss Manners’ Martin (born 1938), as quoted in William Safire and Leonard Safir: “Words of Wisdom: More Good Advice” (1989)

“Dressing well is a form of good manners.” -Tom Ford

“Your mood should not dictate your manners.” -Author Unknown

“Associate with well-manner persons and your manners will improve. Run around with decent folk and your own decent instincts will be strengthened.” -Stanley Walker (1898 - 1962)

“Politeness is the art of choosing among one’s real thoughts.” -Abel Stevens (1815 - 1897): “Madame de Staël” (1881)

“Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners.” -Author Unknown

“Politeness a sign of dignity, not subservience.” -Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt (1858 - 1919)

“A man has no more right to say an uncivil thing than to act one; no more right to say a rude thing to another than to knock him down.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“A Man without Ceremony has need of great Merit in its Place.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 315

“Manners easily and rapidly mature into morals.” -Horace Mann (1796 - 1859)

“Politeness makes one appear outwardly as they should be within.” -Jean de la Bruyère (1645 - 1696)

“Visitors should behave in such a way that the host and hostess feel at home.” -J. S. Farynski (Jerzy Stanislaw Farynski)

“He is the very pineapple of politeness!” -Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 - 1816)

“Something happens inside of us when we are courteous and deferential toward others. It is all part of a refining process, which if persisted in, will change our very natures.” -Gordon B. Hinckley (Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 - 2008))

“The knowledge of courtesy and good manners is a very necessary study. It is like grace and beauty, that which begets liking and an inclination to love one another at the first sight.” -Michel de Montaigne (Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)): “Essais” (“Essays”) (1595), Book 1, chapter 7

“Politeness costs nothing and gains everything.” -Mary Montagu (Mary Wortley Montagu (1689 - 1762)): letter (30 May 1756) to Mary, Countess of Bute

“Every generation is convinced there has been a deplorable breakdown of manners.” -Byron Dobell (1927 - 2017)

“Politeness is the flower of humanity.” -Joseph Joubert (1754 - 1824)

“Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people’s bad manners.” -H. Jackson Brown, Junior (Harriett Jackson Brown (born 1940))

“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” -Emily Post (1873 - 1960): as attributed in Matthew Gara: “Hey! Let’s Talk It Over” (1967)

“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.” -Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983): “The Passionate State of Mind” (1955)

“To be a successful hostess, when guest arrive say, ‘At last!’ and when they leave say, ‘So soon!’” -Author Unknown

“Being nice to someone you dislike doesn’t mean you’re fake. It means you are mature enough to tolerate your dislike towards them.” -Author Unknown

“We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.” -Voltaire (pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778))

“Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.” -Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

“Courtesy that is all on one side cannot last long.” -Author Unknown

“Good manners must be inspired by the good heart. There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

“Anyone can be polite to a king. It takes a gentleman to be polite to a beggar.” -Author Unknown

“Etiquette is all human social behavior. If you’re a hermit on a mountain, you don’t have to worry about etiquette; if somebody comes up the mountain, then you’ve got a problem. It matters because we want to live in reasonably harmonious communities.” -Judith ‘Miss Manners’ Martin (born 1938)

“The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.” -Gabirol (Solomon Ibn Gabirol (about 1022 - 1058))

“We’ve learned to dress for success, to speak for success. Now we need to learn how to behave for success.” -Marjabelle Young Stewart (1924 - 2007)

“Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

“To sleep when others speak, to sit when others stand, to walk on when others stay, to speak when one should hold his peace, or hear others, are all things of ill manners.” -Francis Hawkins (1628 - 1624)

Manners

We say, “Thank you.”
     We say, “Please.”
We don’t interrupt or tease.
     We don’t argue. We don’t fuss.
We listen when folks talk to us.
     We share our toys and take our turn.
Good manners aren’t too hard to learn.
     It’s really easy, when you find
Good manners means
     Just being kind!

by Author Unknown

“Politeness is to do and say the nicest thing in the nicest way.” -Author Unknown

Goodness, how well-mannered you are! You must have had a very good upbringing, or you have taught yourself very well. Perhaps you can teach us a few of your ways of politeness . . . and be sure to come by for a visit from time to time . . . on your way to greatness . . . this is MFOL!

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Ducks

9/28/2018

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To succeed in life, we must be like ducks, which seem to effortlessly float along in the water, but which paddle energetically just out of sight beneath the water’s surface. Shown above is a pair of Pekin Ducks.

Pekin Ducks are a common farm duck raised for meat and eggs. The ducklings are covered in yellow down, and the adult birds have white feathers. They were brought to America from China in the 1870’s. Another popular farm duck is the Rouen duck, which was originally from France; this duck still has Mallard-like coloring. The Muscovy is an American breed of farm duck having dark feathers.

Jenny: What time do ducks wake up?
Denny: At the quack of dawn!

Ducks are mostly aquatic, or water, birds that live in freshwater and seawater. They can swim on the water’s surface by paddling with their webbed feet, and dive below the water’s surface to find food. Ducks can walk on land and fly through the air. Ducks build nests and lay eggs in them that hatch into ducklings.

Amelia: What type of movie is about water fowl?
Cecelia: A duckumentary.

Gretchen: Why did the duck join the military?
Gerard: She was good at quacking codes.

“When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.” -James Whitcomb Riley (1849 - 1916)

“Suppose you see a bird walking around in a farm yard. This bird has no label that says ‘duck.’ But the bird certainly looks like a duck. Also, he goes to the pond and you notice that he swims like a duck. Then he opens his beak and quacks like a duck. Well, by this time you have probably reached the conclusion that the bird is a duck, whether he’s wearing a label or not.” -Richard Cunningham Patterson, Junior (1886 - 1966)

“If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family Anatidae on our hands.” -Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001): “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” (1987)

“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, but it needs batteries, you probably have the wrong abstraction.” -Author Unknown: analogy of the Liskov Substitution Principle, suggested by Barbara Liskov: “Data Extraction and Hierarchy” (1987) speech

Ducks cannot walk without bobbing their heads.

A duck was about to cross the road when a chicken walked up and said, “Don’t do it, Duck, because you’ll never hear the end of it!”

Amos: What do ducks put on their Christmas trees?
Moses: Duckerations!

Ducks Facts
- An adult male duck is called a drake.
- An adult female duck is called a hen.
- A young duck is called a duckling.
- The plural of duck is ducks.
- A group of ducks is called a flock.
- A group of ducks in water is called a raft.
- The sound made by ducks is called quacking.
- Ducks are omnivores, or animals that eat both plants and animals.
- Ducks can live for 3 to 10 years in the wild.
- Ducks can live for 8 or more years in captivity.
- Ducks are found on every continent except Antarctica.

Diving ducks and sea ducks search for food deep underwater. To be able to stay underwater more easily, diving ducks are heavy.

Mandarin Ducks seem to be in competition with butterflies for colors and patterns. The female Mandarin Duck is on the left, and the male Mandarin Duck is the colorful one on the right.

Laura: What do ducks like to eat with soup?
Lauren: Quackers!

Ducks in the wild are omnivores, or animals that eat plants and animals. They have a varied diet, feeding on aquatic (water) plants, grasses, frogs, small fish, small shellfish, snails, slugs, worms, grubs, insects, and other edibles in their environment.

Troubled Duck

A duck that I happened to hear
Was complaining quite sadly, “Oh, dear!
     Our picnic’s today,
     But the weathermen say
That the skies will be sunny and clear.”

by Author Unknown

Let’s make a new animal that we’ll call the ‘duckopotamus.’ Half duck, half hippopotamus, and perfect for flying between bodies of water like rivers and lakes to remove algae overgrowths from them with its huge appetite. Quick, let’s get to the patent office before anyone else thinks of doing this!

Jake: Why was the duck’s medical license revoked?
Jack: Because he was a quack.

A duck waddled into a store to buy some lipstick. The clerk asked how she would like to pay for it, and the duck said, “Just put it on my bill.”

Dabbling ducks feed on the surface of water, on land, or by ducking their heads underwater. Along the edge of their beaks is a comb-like structure called a pecten, which enables them to filter nutrients from the water and hold onto slippery food.

Margie: What goes, “Quick, quick!”?
Maggie: A duck with the hiccups.

Humans often throw pieces of bread to ducks as the ducks swim around in the water of lakes and rivers in parks. People consider this a relaxing recreational activity. To the ducks, it is free food that they get just for being ducks!

Riddle: A duck opens this a crack, and out comes a quack - what is it?
Answer: A bill.

“I was in downtown Boise, Idaho, and I saw a duck. I knew the duck was lost, because ducks aren’t supposed to be downtown. There’s nothing for them there. So I went to a Subway sandwich shop. I said, ‘Let me have a bun.’ She wouldn’t sell me just the bun; she said it had to have something on it. She said it’s against Subway regulations to sell just the bun. I guess the two halves aren’t supposed to touch. So, I said, ‘All right, put some lettuce on it.’ ‘That’ll be $1.75!’ I said, ‘It’s for a duck!’ ‘Oh, then it’s free.’ I did not know that ducks eat for free at Subway! Had I known that, I would have ordered a much larger sandwich. ‘Let me have the steak fajita sub, and don’t bother ringing it up - it’s for a duck! There are six ducks out there, and they all want Sun Chips!’” -Mitch Hedberg (1968 - 2005)

The Duck

Behold the duck.
     It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
     It quacks.

It is especially fond
     Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups,
     It bottoms up.

by Ogden Nash (Frederick Ogden ‘Ogden’ Nash (1902 - 1971))

Ducks are magical! A duck feather weighs about 0.016 to 0.063 grams, so when you see a duck feather, remember that it just barely exists.

Tucker: Who stole the bath soap?
Archer: A robber ducky!

Randall: When ducks fly in a V-formation, do you know why one side is longer than the other?
Russell: Is it because there are more ducks on that side?

The Duck Song

I’m a duck and I like the pond
     Swim and play, all day long
All my ducklings swim along
      “Quack, quack,” they sing my song

“Quack, quack, quack,” life is fun
     Search for food under the Sun
See some snails, they can’t run
     They taste so good, yummm . . .

Dad, the drake, he found slugs
     Then there were the water bugs
Called to us to share his luck
     And we all gave him big hugs

Together we swim along
     In and out of the reeds we play
We live a life that’s happy and gay
     Tomorrow is another day

by Author Unknown

The most common and recognized species of duck are Mallards, or Wild Ducks. They are dabbling ducks that live naturally in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. They have also been introduced to New Zealand and Australia. The male Mallard has a glossy green head, and grey wings and belly, while the female Mallard has brown-speckled plumage.

Maribelle: How are you today?
Maryanne: Just ducky - quack, quack!

Ducks have interlocking feathers with a waxy coating that makes them waterproof. Ducks have a molting season, in which their feathers fall out and new ones grow to take their place. During molting, ducks are much more vulnerable to predators, or animals that want to eat them, because they need their feathers to be able to fly away from danger.

Dave: What do you call a duck that likes to swim with alligators?
Julia: Dinner.

Overheard: Whenever it’s raining and I walk past a stranger on the sidewalk, I make the comment that it’s great weather for ducks. They usually look at me like I’m goofy, but I wait a second and then I say, “Quack, quack!” which of course confirms that I must be.

Because ducks are curious and friendly creatures, they have been domesticated as pets and farm animals for more than five hundred years. All domestic ducks are descended from either the Mallard or the Muscovy duck.

Cosmo: What do you call a duck that leads an orchestra?
Stella: A con-duck-tor.

Phil said, “Look at that duck.”
Bill said, “That’s a swan, not a duck.”
“Duck,” insisted Phil.
“Swan,” insisted Bill.
All of a sudden, a low-flying goose was heading straight for Bill.
“Duck, Bill!” shouted Phil.
“Swan!” shouted Bill - and he was conked in the head by the goose.

Down is a layer of extremely soft feathers found under the outer feathers of birds such as ducks and geese. Ducks pluck down from themselves and use it to line their nests to keep their young warm and safe. Ducklings have only down growth covering them until they are old enough to develop feathers. Down is used as an insulator and padding in products such as jackets, pillows, and sleeping bags. It can be obtained without harming birds by gathering it from their nesting areas after young birds have become old enough to leave the nests and accompany their parent birds out into the wider world to learn the birds’ way of life and live on their own.

Patricia: What happens when you drop a duck egg?
Patrick: It quacks.

Marcia: What is the difference between a duck?
Darcy: One foot is the same.
(In case you are wondering, this ridiculous joke has no typing errors or omitted words. It is just as it is meant to be, which is to say, completely nonsensical.)

Amy: Where can you find out more about ducks?
Amelia: You can read all about them in the ducktionary.

Mallard-justed: A duck that does not fit in well.

Anatidaephobia is a persistent fear that, right this moment, somehow, somewhere in the world, a duck is watching you. ‘Anatidaephobia’ is derived from the combination of the Greek word ‘anatidae,’ meaning ducks, geese, or swans, and the Greek word ‘phobos,’ meaning fear. The phobia is actually fictitious (imaginary, not real), having originated in a “Far Side” cartoon by Gary Larson.

Stephen: Why do ducks fly south for the winter?
George: Because it’s too far to walk!

Many wild ducks migrate seasonally. Some ducks are capable of flying 534 kilometers (332 miles) a day.

Cheryl: What is a fast duck?
Charlene: A quick quack.

Charlene: What is an even faster duck?
Cheryl: A quicker quacker!

Quack, Quack

We have two ducks: one blue, one black.
And when our blue duck goes, “Quack-quack,”
Our black duck quickly goes, “Quack-quack,” back.
The quacks Blue quacks make her quite a quacker
But the Black duck is a quicker quacker-backer.

by Author Unknown

Contrary to a common misconception, a duck’s quack does have an echo, though often too low to be heard.

Quentin: How do you fix a broken duck?
Quincy: Just use some duck-tape.

A duck walked into a feedstore and asked, “Got any duck feed?” The clerk told him, “No, we don’t have a market for it, so we don’t carry it.” The duck said, “Okay,” and left the store. The next day, the duck again walked in to the feedstore and asked, “Got any duck feed?” Again the clerk said no and the duck left. Next day, the duck again walked in to the feedstore and asked, “Got any duck feed?” The clerk said, “I’ve told you twice, we don’t have duck feed. We’ve never had duck feed, and we will never have duck feed. If you ask me again, I will nail your feet to the floor.” So the duck left. The next day, the duck walked in and asked, “Got any nails?” “No,” said the clerk. So the duck asked, “Got any duck feed?”

Six Little Ducks

Six little ducks that I once knew:
     Tall ones, short ones, skinny ones, too -
And the one little duck with the feathers on his back,
     He led them all with his quack, quack, quack.

Down to the river they would go,
     Wibble, wobble, wibble, wobble, to and fro -
And the one little duck with the feathers on his back,
     He led the others with his quack, quack, quack.

Into the water he would dive,
     Then in would go the other five.
The one little duck with the feathers on his back,
     He led them all with his quack, quack, quack.

by Author Unknown

Wise quacker: A smart duck.

Riddle: What do you call a crate of ducks?
Answer: A box of quackers.

Now let us all waddle about and be as happy as ducks . . . as we make our way to the next topic . . . on ‘MFOL!’

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Mistakes and Errors

9/21/2018

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“No one is perfect - that’s why pencils have erasers.” -Wolfgang Riebe

Charles: How can one person makes so many mistakes in a single day?
Chuck: I get up early.

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You are doing things you have never done before, and more importantly, you are doing something. So that is my wish for you, and all of us. And my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody has ever made before. Do not freeze, do not stop, do not worry that it is not good enough, or it is not perfect, whatever it is. Art, or love, or work, or family, or life. Whatever it is you are scared of doing, do it. Make your mistakes. Next year and forever and ever.” -Neil Gaiman (Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (born 1960))

“People seldom make the same mistake twice - usually it is ten or more times that they do so!” -Author Unknown

We are human.
We are not perfect.
We are alive.
We try things.
We make mistakes.
We stumble. We fall.
We get hurt. We rise again.
We try again.
We keep learning.
We keep growing.
And we are thankful
for this priceless
opportunity called life.
-Author Unknown

“From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)

“Making mistakes does not make you unworthy of love - it makes you human.” -Author Unknown

A Mistake

A mistake that I made said, “My Dear,
I’m dreadfully sorry I’m here,
But my feet are so big,
And my nails cut and dig,
So I’ll be here for a while, I fear.”

by Author Unknown

“A mistake shows that someone tried to do something.” -Author Unknown

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I don’t regret any of them. Sometimes that’s the only way you learn.” -Nick Nolte (Nicholas King Nolte (born 1941))

“What do you first do when you learn to swim? You make mistakes, do you not? And what happens? You make other mistakes, and when you have made all the mistakes you possibly can without drowning - and some of them many times over - what do you find? That you can swim? Well - life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live!” -Alfred Adler (1870 - 1937)

“We all make mistakes, but everyone makes different mistakes.” -Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

“Remember your past mistakes just long enough to profit by them.” -Dan McKinnon

“My friend Danny Breslin from Florida tells the story of two men who were sitting on a bench in London’s Hyde Park. They wanted to go shopping in Oxford Street. One of them got up and started walking in the wrong direction, but he asked the way and a passerby put him right. He finally arrived at the shops but the other man just stayed on the bench. That guy who was walking in the wrong direction was on his way. Even his mistakes were part of getting there. The guy on the bench got nowhere. So if it feels right, give it a whirl, says Danny.” -Celia Haddon (born 1945)

“Your past mistakes are meant to guide you, not define you.” -Author Unknown

“We learn to walk by stumbling.” -Author Unknown: Bulgarian proverb

“Today is a new day. You will get out of it just what you put into it. If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. And supposing you have tried and failed again and again, you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” -Mary Pickford (born Gladys Louise Smith (1893 - 1979))

“The wisest of the wise may err.” -Aeschylus (525 B.C.E. - 456 B.C.E.)

“My life is full of mistakes. They’re like pebbles that make a good road.” -Beatrice Wood (1893 - 1998)

“In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.” -Robert T. Kiyosaki (Robert Toru Kiyosaki (born 1947))

“A mistake is a lesson on its way to being learned.” -Robert Orben (born 1927)

“Mistakes are just steps, sometimes necessary, in the learning process.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“When you make a mistake, don’t look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.” -Hugh L. White

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing that you will make one.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915)): “The Note Book” (1927)

“One good thing about being wrong is the joy it brings to others.” -Author Unknown

You may have noticed a large number of mistakes and errors on the Make Fun Of Life! Website. We have made them deliberately, for the benefit of the people who enjoy pointing out mistakes . . . because we want everyone to be joyous!

“You make mistakes. Mistakes don’t make you.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

“If you’re not making mistakes then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.” -John Wooden (John Robert Wooden (1910 - 2010))

“Don’t carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones.” -Author Unknown

“Only some of us learn by other people’s mistakes; the rest of us have to be the other people.” -Author Unknown

“Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don’t look back at it too long. Mistakes are life’s way of teaching you.” -Og Mandino (Augustine ‘Og’ Mandino II (1923 - 1996))

“One mistake does not have to rule a person’s entire life.” -Joyce Meyer (born Pauline Joyce Hutchison (born 1943)): “Any Minute” (30 June 2009)

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” -James Joyce (1882 - 1941)

“Just because you made a mistake doesn’t mean you are a mistake.” -Georgette Mosbacher (born 1947)

“Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom.” -Phyllis Theroux (Phyllis Grissim-Theroux (born 1939))

“We’ve all heard that we have to learn from our mistakes, but I think it’s more important to learn from successes. If you learn only from your mistakes, you are inclined to learn only errors.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“Making mistakes does not mean you’re a failure. It just means you’re trying and learning in life.” -Author Unknown

“If you must make a mistake, make a new one each time.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (1888 - 1955))

“You are making progress if each mistake you make is a new one.” -Author Unknown

“Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.” -Sophia Loren (pseudonym of Sophia Sciccoloni (born 1934))

“The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (1888 - 1955))

“Show us a man who never makes a mistake and we will show a man who never makes anything. The capacity for occasional blundering is inseparable from the capacity to bring things to pass.” -Herman Lincoln Wayland (1830 - 1898)

“We don’t make mistakes. We just have learnings.” -Anne Wilson Schaef (born 1934)

“No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back.” -Author Unknown: Turkish proverb

“Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.” -Nikki Giovanni (Yolande Cornelia ‘Nikki’ Giovanni, Junior (born 1943))

“I would rather surround myself with people who make a lot of mistakes and have no problem admitting them, than to surround myself with people who think they make none.” -Author Unknown

“I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” -Michael Jordan (born 1963)

“The main thing we learn from our mistakes . . . is that we make a lot of them.” -Author Unknown

“While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.” -Henry C. Link (Henry Charles Link (1889 - 1952))

“There is hardly a mistake which in the course of our lives we have committed, but some proverb, had we known and attended to its lesson, might have saved us from it.” -Richard Chenevix Trench (1807 - 1886): “Proverbs and Their Lessons” (1905)

“No one is perfect, we all make mistakes. Despite our failings, we still deserve respect. Don’t let anyone put you down.” -Author Unknown

Karen: What kind of mistakes do ghosts make?
Sharon: Boo-oo-oo-boos!

“Some people never make a mistake, nor do they ever make anything else.” -Author Unknown

“Never think about the mistakes you made. Think about the mistakes you will make.” -Bob Ross (Robert Norman Ross (1942 - 1995))

“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” -John Powell (1882 - 1963)

Overheard: I am human and I make mistakes.

“The secret of success is not avoiding mistakes, but learning from them.” -Michael Josephson (born 1942)

“When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.” -Paulo Coelho (born 1947)

“It would be a mistake to not try something for fear of making a mistake.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))

“No man ever became great or good except through many and great mistakes.” -William Gladstone (William Ewart Gladstone (1809 - 1898))

“It is normal to make mistakes. If people cannot accept that, they do not deserve to be around you.” -Author Unknown

“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget about everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.” -Will Durant (1885 - 1981)

Overheard: Have you ever noticed that no one notices you until you make a mistake?

“When you are not afraid to do it wrong the first time, you will eventually get it right.” -Author Unknown

“Never make the same mistake twice or you’ll never get around to all of them.” -Author Unknown

“Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.” -Weston H. Agor (Weston Harris Agor (1939 - 2007))

“I’ve learned so much from my mistakes that I am thinking about making a few more.” -Author Unknown

Overheard: We all make mistakes. Don’t let that be a reason to give up.

“He who makes no mistakes makes no progress.” -Teddy Roosevelt (Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt (1858 - 1919))

“A mistake is simply another way of doing things.” -Katharine Graham (1917 - 2001)

“You can learn from your mistakes, so be sure to make some.” -Bil Keane (William Aloysius ‘Bil’ Keane (1922 - 2011))

“Experience is what enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.” -Author Unknown

“It took me a long time to learn that mistakes aren’t good or bad, they’re just mistakes, and you clean them up and go on.” -Kaye Gibbons (born 1960)

“Mistakes show us what we need to learn.” -Peter McWilliams

“Whenever you fall, pick up something.” -Oswald Avery (Oswald Theodore Avery, Junior (1877 - 1955))

“By ignorance we make mistakes, and by making mistakes we learn.” -Edmund Fuller

“All great discoveries are made by mistake.” -Author Unknown

“Remember, there are no mistakes, only lessons. Love yourself, trust your choices, and everything is possible.” -Cherie Carter-Scott (born 1939)

“Without mistakes, there would be no accidental discoveries, and without accidental discoveries, there would be far fewer better methods found, far fewer inventions made, and much less beneficial progress. The great untold secret of everything in which humans engage is that much of it would never result in useful outcomes were it not for the vast number of mistakes within it, mistakes that go by the name ‘accidental discoveries.’” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“If you’re making mistakes it means you’re out there doing something.” -Neil Gaiman (Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (born 1960))

“Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand.” -Emily Kimbrough

“It seems that the necessary thing to do is not to fear mistakes, to plunge in, to do the best that one can, hoping to learn enough from blunders to correct them eventually.” -Abraham Maslow (Abraham Harold Maslow (1908 - 1970))

Well, that about wraps things up for now . . . we are eager to get back to making a whole lot more mistakes . . . because that is how we are certain to learn . . . and to succeed . . . let’s all go out and make some mistakes . . . and continue to ‘Make Fun Of Life!’

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Smiles and Smiling

9/16/2018

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It is very important to remember to smile as often as possible, because as we all know, there is not enough smiling going on in the world today . . .

“Smiling is a great way to look your best.” -Author Unknown

“I add a smile to everything I wear and that has worked great for me.” -David White (1916 - 1990)

“If you smile at someone, they might smile back.” -Author Unknown

Smile

I gave away my smile
     to the girl across the street.
She gave it to her brother
     as they sat down to eat.
Her brother gave it to their Mom,
     she wore it for a day.
Then gave it to another girl
     whose name was Paula Kay.
Paula took her smile outside
     and stood next to a tree.
She put her hands upon her hips
     then gave it back to me.

by Author Unknown

“A smile can brighten someone’s day without using a penny’s worth of electricity.” -Author Unknown

“Smiling is the best way to face every problem, to crush every fear, to hide every pain.” -Author Unknown

Worry less,
     Smile more,
Don’t regret,
     Just learn and grow!
-Author Unknown

“Always smile back at little children . . . to ignore them is to destroy their belief that the world is good.” -Pam Brown

“If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” -Author Unknown

“SMILE is an acronym for See Miracles In Life Everyday.” -Author Unknown

“I have never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful.” -Author Unknown

“You’ll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile.” -Charlie Chaplin (Charles Spencer ‘Charlie’ Chaplin (1889 - 1977))

“It was only a sunny smile and little it cost in the giving but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald (Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940)): “The Great Gatsby” (10 April 1925)

“Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.” -George Eliot (pseudonym of Marian Evans Cross, also known as Mary Ann Evans (1819 - 1880))

“A smile is something you can’t give away; it always comes back to you.” -Author Unknown

“Sometimes it’s hard to force a smile, but sometimes we have to; it’s what gets us through the hard times.” -Author Unknown

“A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.” -Charles Gordy

“You want to know who’s got the most amazing and beautiful smile ever - read the first word of the sentence again!” -Author Unknown

“Smile . . . there are more than seven billion people in the world - don’t let just one ruin your day.” -Author Unknown

“Is a smile a question? Or is it the answer?” -Lee Smith

“If you want people to like you, smile!” -Author Unknown

“Nothing is more beautiful than a real smile that has struggled through tears.” -Author Unknown

“The world always looks better from behind a smile.” -Author Unknown

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” -William Arthur Ward (1921 - 1994)

“Lose your smile and lose your customers.” -Sam Walton (1918 - 1992)

“A smile is the shortest distance between two people.” -Victor Borge (1909 - 2000)

“Let your smile change the world; don’t let the world change your smile.” -Author Unknown

“A smile is worth much more than it costs.” -Author Unknown

“Sometimes just a smile on our face can help to make this world a better place.” -Robert Alan

“Smiles are great investments; the more you collect, the better you feel.” -Author Unknown

“I would walk miles for one of your smiles.” -Author Unknown

“A smile is the best makeup a girl can wear.” -Author Unknown

“Smiling is my favorite exercise.” -Author Unknown

“To receive a smile, give one away!” -Author Unknown

“A smile is a frown turned upside down.” -Author Unknown

“A smile is the lighting system of the face, the cooling system of the head, and the heating system of the heart.” -Unknown

“A smile is a powerful weapon; you can even break ice with it.” -Author Unknown

“It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three muscles to frown.” -Author Unknown

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.” -Phyllis Diller (pseudonym of Phyllis Ada Driver (1917 - 2012))

“All people smile in the same language.” -Author Unknown

“If you will force yourself to smile, you’ll end up laughing. You will be cheerful because you smile. Repeated experiments have shown that when a person assumes the facial expression of a given mental mood - any given mood - then that mental mood itself will follow.” -Kenneth Goode

“A smile is the universal welcome.” -Max Eastman

“After six years without seeing one, I love just seeing a smile - every smile I see gives me hope.” -Ingrid Betancourt (Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio (born 1961))

“A smile confuses an approaching frown.” -Author Unknown

“I smile because I do not know what in the world is going on.” -Author Unknown

“Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there is so much to smile about.” -Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson (1926 - 1962))

“A smile makes you feel good, and when you feel good, good things happen.” -Terri Lynn

“Smile! It increases your face value.” -Robert Harling (Robert M. Harling III (born 1951)): “Steel Magnolias” (5 November 1989)

“A smile on your face will do wonders for your appearance. It will give you youthfulness and optimism that beauty treatments or counselling sessions never could.” -Author Unknown

“Keep smiling - it makes people wonder what you are up to!” -Author Unknown

“A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.” -Denis Waitley (Denis E. Waitley (born 1933))

“Smile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody’s heart.” -Anthony J. D’Angelo

“A smile appeared upon her face as if she’d taken it directly from her handbag and pinned it there.” -Loma Chandler

Smile

It comforts the weary, gladdens the sad
     consoles those in trouble, good or bad.
To rich and poor, beggar or thief,
     it’s free to all of any belief.
A natural gesture of young and old
     cheers on the faint, disarms the bold.
Unlike most blessings for which we pray,
     it’s the only thing we keep when we give it away.

by Author Unknown

“Most smiles are started by another smile.” -Frank A. Clark (Frank Atherton Clark (1911 - 1991))

Ten Reasons to Smile

1. It makes you attractive
2. It changes your mood.
3. It is contagious.
4. It relieves stress.
5. It boosts your immune system.
6. It lowers your blood pressure.
7. It releases endorphins.
8. It lifts the face and makes you appear younger.
9. It makes you seem successful.
10. It helps you stay positive.

by Author Unknown

“Learn to smile at every situation. See it as an opportunity to prove your strength and ability.” -Joe Brown

“Smile, for everyone lacks self-confidence and more than any other one thing a smile reassures them.” -André Maurois (pseudonym of Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog (1885 - 1967))

“Before you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available.” -Jim Beggs

“A smile can brighten the darkest day.” -Author Unknown

The Smile

I had an extra smile
     When I left the house today
I thought I’d give it to someone
     I passed along the way.
I tried to give the smile away
     But incredibly
Each time I gave it to someone
     They’d give it back to me.
So now I have a bunch of smiles,
     What am I to do?
I think I’ll keep a couple
     And then give the rest to you!

by Author Unknown

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” -Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719)

“Smile. The sunshine of your smile might chase the clouds from someone’s life today. It may be the ray of sunshine that someone needs in an otherwise stormy day.” -Author Unknown

Smile and forgive;
It’s the only way to live.
-Author Unknown

“People are not perfect - except when they smile.” -Author Unknown

“If you did not start out the day with a smile, it is not too late to start practicing for tomorrow.” -Author Unknown

“Just because a person smiles all the time, doesn’t mean their life is perfect. That smile is a symbol of hope and strength.” -Lauryn Hill (Lauryn Noelle Hill (born 1975))

Lost Your Smile?

You haven’t lost your smile -
     It’s been there all the while,
Just waiting for the word -
     That smiling’s back in style!

by Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“If you don’t have a smile, I’ll give you one of mine.” -Author Unknown

“A smile of encouragement at the right moment may act like sunlight on a closed up flower; it may be the turning point for a struggling life.” -Alfred A. Montapert (Alfred Armand Montapert (1906 - 1997))

“Smiling is good for you and it is good for the people around you.” -Author Unknown

“I hope you always find a reason to smile.” -Author Unknown

“A smile gives your face something to do and it is good exercise and makes you look better.” -Author Unknown

“Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.” -Author Unknown

“We do not smile because something good has happened; rather something good happens because we smile.” -Author Unknown

“If you’re not using your smile, you’re like a man with a million dollars in the bank and no checkbook.” -Les Giblin (born 1912)

“Anyone can smile on their best day. I like to meet a man who can smile on his worst.” -Lauren Graham (Lauren Helen Graham (born 1967)): “Someday, Someday, Maybe” (30 April 2013)

“Smile and the world will smile with you . . . Frown and it will leave you alone.” -Pamela Prichard

“Smile, it’s the easiest way to improve your day.” -Author Unknown

“Nobody needs a smile so much as the one who has none to give.” -Lawrence G. Lovasik (1913 - 1986)

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” -Teresa of Calcutta (Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (1910 - 1997))

“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -Author Unknown, as quoted in H. Jackson Brown, Junior (born 1940): “P.S. I Love You” (1990)

“Smile - happy looks good on you!” -Author Unknown

“Smile, even when life does not present reasons for doing so, because your smile is a reason for many others to smile.” -Author Unknown

“Make it a regular habit to smile - and watch as miracles begin to happen all around you.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“Did you make someone smile today? You’ve still got time.” -Melissa Stewart

You look amazing when you smile . . . you should do it more often . . . now back to further fun and learning on ‘MFOL!’ . . .

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Attire and Accessories

9/9/2018

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“The way we dress affects the way we think, the way we feel, the way we act, and the way others react to us.” -Judith Rasband

“Dress as if you have made something of yourself in the world, even if you have not.” -Author Unknown

“Never wear anything that panics the cat.” -P. J. O’Rourke (Patrick Jake O’Rourke (born 1947))

“Your shoes have to match your belt. That’s rule number one for guys. You can’t put the brown shoes with the black belt. Or a brown belt with a black wristwatch. Just don’t do it! Also, I don’t like boots with suits. And when you wear sneakers, make sure they go with your shirt.” -Ashton Kutcher (Christopher Ashton Kutcher (born 1978))

Riddle: What has two legs but cannot run?
Solution: A pair of trousers.

“Successful dress is really no more than achieving good taste and the look of the upper middle class.” -John T. Molloy (born 1937): “Dress for Success” (1975)

What do your clothes and other articles you wear or carry say about you? Do they accurately tell people who you really are? Are they giving people the wrong impression or the right impression, insofar as how you wish to be regarded?

One of the oldest pieces of women’s clothing discovered to date is a skirt similar to a Pacific-islander grass skirt, with bronze ornaments on the lower edge that would have jingled when its wearer walked or danced. Was it an article of clothing or a musical instrument?

“When in doubt, wear red.” -Bill Blass (William Ralph ‘Bill’ Blass (1922 - 2002))

“The well-dressed man never stands out in a crowd; his elegance sets him apart.” -Oscar de la Renta (pseudonym of Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (1932 - 2014))

Andy: Why were the suspenders sent to jail?
Barney: For holding up a pair of trousers.

“A well-dressed man is the best accessory a woman can have.” -Coco Chanel (1883 -1971)

“If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater . . . suggest that he wear a tail.” -Fran Lebowitz (Frances Ann ‘Fran’ Lebowitz (born 1950))

Animal hides and furs were one of the first types of clothing humans wore, and they continue to be worn even now for their warmth in areas that have an extremely cold climate. However, in most places today, wearing fur is regarded as a luxury and has been made increasingly socially unacceptable through the efforts of animal rights activists.

Jesse: Why are you wearing that fur coat?
Bessie: To stay warm, that’s what fur!

“No one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink.” -Murray Banks (1917 - 2008)

“If you look good and dress well, you don’t need a purpose in life.” -Robert Pante

Until the mid-Middle Ages, clothes were usually fastened with ties (short lengths of rawhide or other material), beads-and-loops, or toggles. Lacing similar to the kind now used on shoes was still favored on clothes until the late 1600’s, as the best way to create a fit that could grow or shrink with one’s figure, during those times of alternating feast and famine. The first buttons as we recognize them appeared on clothes in the Middle Ages as a form of decoration. Zippers and Velcro would appear only much later in history.

“People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile.” -Author Unknown

God Bless My Underwear

God bless my underwear
     My only pair
Stand beside us
     And guide us
Through the wash and
     The wear and the tear
Through the washer
     And the dryer
And the clothesline back to me
     God bless my underwear
My only pair.

by Author Unknown: sung to the same tune as “God Bless America”

The YKK seen on most zippers stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikkaisha, which roughly translates as the Yoshida Company Limited. Founded in 1934, YKK is the most widely-recognized zipper maker in the world.

Overheard: Amazing - you just hang something in your closet for a while, and it shrinks two sizes!

Old Person of Brill

There was an old person of Brill,
Who purchased a shirt with a frill;
     But they said, “Don’t you wish,
     You mayn’t look like a fish,
You obsequious old person of Brill?”

by Edward Lear (1812 - 1888)

The clingy material Velcro was inspired by Burdock seeds, which have soft stickers that cling to clothing.

Not long ago, most people wore clothing made at home, usually of wool, linen, or less commonly, cotton. First, animal or plant fibers had to be spun into long pieces of thread, and then the thread had to be woven into cloth. The fabric was either left in its natural color or colored with dyes made from plants.

“The best-dressed woman is one whose clothes wouldn’t look too strange in the country.” -Hardy Amies (Edwin Hardy Amies (1909 - 2003))

“Dressing well is a form of politeness.” -Tom Ford

During the 1860’s, dresses were so wide that women often found themselves stuck while trying to get through doorways. But women alone cannot be blamed for this silliness, because historically and right up to the present time, both men and women have been fashion designers and dressmakers.

“Fashions have done more harm than revolutions.” -Victor Hugo (Victor Marie Hugo (1802 - 1885))

“To me, clothing is a form of self-expression - there are hints about who you are in what you wear.” -Marc Jacobs (born 1963)

Nothing to Wear

Dresses for breakfasts, and dinners, and balls;
Dresses to sit in, and stand in, and walk in;
Dresses to dance in, and flirt in, and talk in;
Dresses in which to do nothing at all;
Dresses for Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.

by William Allen Butler (1825 -1902)

The invention of the automobile and the bicycle had a noticeable influence on women’s fashions. In the 1900’s, skirts became shorter to enable women to step into automobiles and climb onto bicycles more easily.

“There’s no such thing as a designer of menswear - it’s only history. The suit around the world is based on the English suit, which began in about 1670.” -Hardy Amies (Edwin Hardy Amies (1909 - 2003))

“Fashions fade, style is eternal.” -Yves Saint-Laurent (Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (1936 - 2008))

By law, in Carmel, New York, United States of America, men are not allowed to go outside while wearing a jacket and pants that do not match.

“When you can’t do something truly useful, you tend to vent the pent up energy in something useless but available, like snappy dressing.” -Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949)

“My dad’s pants kept creeping up on him. By sixty-five, he was just a pair of pants and a head.” -Jeff Altman (born 1951)

Sharp Dresser

I once had a cousin named Bruce
Whose clothing was always quite spruce.
     To people who stared
     He frankly declared
“Without them, I’d be a recluse.”

by Author Unknown

Harry S Truman was a haberdasher before becoming an American President. In partnership with his old Army buddy Edward Jacobson, he owned the Truman & Jacobson haberdashery at 104 West 12th Street in Kansas City, Kansas, United States of America. The pair started selling suits and accessories for gentlemen on 28 November 1919, and continued in the business until the Great Depression of the 1930’s forced them out of business.

“I often take a brand-new suit or hat and throw it up against the wall a few times to get that stiff, square newness out of it.” -Fred Astaire (pseudonym of Frederick Austerlitz (1899 - 1987))

The wasting moth ne’er spoil’d my best array;
The cause was this: I wore it every day.
-Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)

“Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.” -Yves Saint-Laurent (Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (1936 - 2008))

Khakis: What you need to start a car in Boston.

Women’s trousers, including pants and slacks and jeans, as worn now, were not regarded as acceptable for wearing in public until the Second World War. It was during the war that women began to do work that had formerly been done more commonly by men. Able-bodied men had been sent off to distant battlefields, and with a shortage of men to do work, manufacturers, businesses, farmers, and even the government began hiring women workers in their place. Before that time, women usually wore dresses or skirts with blouses, and worked in the home.

“Don’t get your knickers in a knot. Nothing is solved and it just makes you walk funny.” -Kathryn Carpenter

An increased emphasis on youth culture began in America during the 1950’s. Clothing styles started to lean toward the younger folks. The poodle skirt, which is a circle skirt having an embroidered dog and leash on the front, became fashionable. Who says we can’t put bit of whimsy into our attire?

Jeans are trousers made from a heavy cotton fabric called denim. ‘Denim’ was originally called ‘serge de Nîmes,’ and came from the French seaside manufacturing town of Nîmes starting in the late 17th century. Over time, ‘de Nîmes’ was shortened to ‘denim.’ Jeans themselves were named after Genoan sailors from Genoa, Italy, who were locally known as ‘Genes,’ and who wore the material as clothing. Jeans were further developed as heavy-duty work trousers in the 1870’s by Levi Strauss, in California, United States of America. Levi’s jeans were originally dyed brown, but later were dyed the now-familiar blue color. Because all jeans are made from denim cloth, the term ‘denim jeans’ is redundant. One bale of cotton can be made into as many as 215 pairs of jeans.

“I have jeans with holes in them and I have nice jeans. I have casual and I have dressy jeans. I’ve got all kinds.” -Amanda Seyfried (Amanda Michelle Seyfried (born 1985))

Bell-bottom trousers were first worn by navy sailors, and were introduced to the fashion world by the hippies, with widespread popularity following soon thereafter. Also known as ‘flared’ pants, bell-bottoms are a garment associated with the societal trends of the 1960’s and 1970’s. They are a clothing article that many people still consider as an essential item in women’s wardrobes, and can even be paired with blouses that have flared sleeves and platform shoes to complete the hip flower-child look.

“Sweater: Garment worn by a child when his mother is feeling chilly.” -Ambrose Bierce (Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (1842 - 1914))

“You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.” -Henrik Ibsen (Henrik Johan ‘Henrik’ Ibsen (1828 - 1906)): “An Enemy of the People” (1882), act 5

“Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.” -Janet Lane

“Semper ubi sub ubi.” [Latin]
“Always wear underwear.” [English translation]

Business people wear uniforms, though they may not think of what they wear as being such. They usually have greater leeway in choices of colors and patterns and styles and in choosing where to buy their clothes. Uniforms rules for business people are either stated openly in employee manuals and by workplace supervisors, or individual business people are expected to arrive at their own understanding of how to dress based on their own observations of other business people.

“With an evening coat and a white tie, anybody, even a stockbroker, can gain a reputation for being civilized.” -Oscar Wilde (Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854 - 1900))

Women’s clothes have buttons on the left side, while men’s clothes have buttons on the right side. When buttons were invented, they were expensive and worn primarily by the rich. Because women were dressed by maids or servants, and because most people are right-handed, dressmakers placed the buttons where they would be easily reached. Men’s clothes had the button on the right, because they tended to dress themselves. Additionally, as men’s and women’s clothing became more similar and was mass produced and mass marketed, some type of way to easily tell men’s and women’s clothing apart was needed.

“It is difficult to see why lace should be so expensive; it is mostly holes.” -Mary Wilson Little (possibly born about 1880)

Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse;
Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse.
-Author Unknown

Frank: Do you have holes in your clothes?
Ernest: No, of course not.
Frank: Then how do you get them on?

Evelyn: I think the clothes dryer must have shrunk my blouse. The collar is so tight that I can hardly breathe.
Daniel: Don’t be silly; you have put your head through the buttonhole.

“Dress like you are already the successful person you hope to become.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“I wear V-neck shirts. I can’t wear a regular neck shirt, it hurts. And I especially hate turtlenecks. Wearing a turtleneck is like being strangled by a really weak guy all day.” -Mitch Hedberg (1968 - 2005)

“Labels on garments stating ‘One Size Fits All’ or even One Size Fits Most’ are a very un-funny joke that has been played on all of us for far too long - is there a lawyer somewhere out there who is willing to defend us against this kind of false advertising?” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Euripides.
Euripides, who?
Euripides pants and you won’t get another pair!

“Nothing else you can wear will ever make you feel as warm as a wedding band.” -Marilyn vos Savant (born 1946): “Ask Marilyn” (25 September 2005)

“Know, first, who you are; then adorn yourself accordingly.” -Epictetus (C.E. 55 - C.E. 135.)

Marie de Medici, a member of that famous Italian family and a 17th-century queen of France, had expensive tastes in clothes. One of her dresses was outfitted with 39,000 tiny pearls and 3,000 diamonds, and cost the equivalent of $20 million at the time it was made, in 1606. She wore it just once.

“She wears her clothes as if they had been thrown on her with a pitchfork.” -Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

“You’re never fully dressed without a smile.” -Martin Charnin (born 1934)

“Dress for success. Image is very important. People judge you by the way you look on the outside.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

Question: What did the shoe say to the hat?
Answer: You go on ‘a-head,’ and I will follow you ‘on foot.’

“What belts do is finish a look. Whether you’re wearing pants, jeans, a dress or skirt, a belt gives the outfit a finishing touch. It’s polished.” -Julie Helman

“Good clothes open all doors.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734)

You will always look simply smashing in properly chosen garments. There is much more to learn coming up next . . . on 'MFOL!'

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Pirates

9/7/2018

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Here we have one of those fancy ‘made for the movies’ pirates. A real pirate would be wearing filthy rags and have the dreaded scurvy, and because we would not want to disgust you by showing you such a person, we won’t! Now let’s all make pirate noises. Rrr! Argh! Rrr-rrr-rrr!

Rich: What are pirates afraid of?
Rick: The darrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk!

Serendipity: What kind of socks does a pirate wear?
Felicity: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgyle!

Agatha: What does a fancy pirate add to his dinner?
Agnes: A garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnish!

Pirates: No-good people who most assuredly arrive at a no-good end.

Real-life pirates are murderous, thieving, low-life criminal scum who steal ships and have historically met their end on the hangman’s noose, and in recent times have been sent to filthy, overcrowded, rat-infested prisons for the remainder of their miserable days, but we will have some fun at their expense nonetheless.

Morris: Where do pirates keep their cookies?
Morton: In cookie jarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs!

Amelia: How much did the pirate pay for his peg-leg and hook-hand?
Emily: An arm and a leg!

William the Crook

A pirate named William the Crook,
Serves his crew with his gigantic hook,
“I impale some marshmallows,
Toast them up for the fellows,
Make some cocoa, and read them a book.”

by Author Unknown

Forget about the treasure chests shown in pretend pirate movies - the one shown above is how a real treasure chest would have looked. What, is it not glamorous enough for the likes of you? Well, suit yourself. If by chance you want to see what an authentic pirate chest would have held inside, continue reading and you will soon come to a picture of real pirate loot, shown further below.

Clark: Why can you not take a picture of a pirate with a wooden leg?
Kent: Because a wooden leg does not take pictures!

Tucker: What goes, “99-thump, 99-thump?”
Tyler: A pirate centipede with a wooden leg.

Annette: Where do pirates park their ships?
Nettie: In the harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbor!

Merrill: What is a pirate’s second favorite type of transportation?
Marla: A carrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Scurvy is a preventable health condition caused by going too long without eating foods containing vitamin C, as some seafarers such as pirates do. The symptoms are too horrible to describe here, so just be sure to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables so that you do not become a scurvy pirate!

Byron: What “Star Wars” character is really a pirate?
Myron: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-2-D-2!

Helga: What is a pirate’s favorite doll?
Hilda: Barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbie!

A Pirate ship came ashore for a night at a mysterious island between Arabia and India. The first mate ended up in an eatery sitting at a table with an oil lamp on it. The lamp was dirty, so he rubbed it clean, and a genie came out, promising to grant him any three wishes he wanted. Immediately he wished for a huge mug of cold apple cider that would never run dry. “Granted,” said the genie. Excitedly the pirate downed the entire mug, and as promised, it magically refilled itself. He emptied it again, and it again magically refilled, just as he had wished. “This is great!” he said. “And what about your second and third wishes?” asked the genie. The pirate, still delighted about his magic mug, quickly replied, “I’ll have two more just like this!”

This pirate treasure may not be much to look at, but to a real pirate, it is the stuff of dreams. Up until quite recent times, coins were basically lumps of metal such as silver, copper, gold, or alloys (combinations of different metals melted together) that had been hammered flat or made by clumsily pouring molten metal into rough molds. Old coins from the time of pirates and sailing ships often were not perfectly round, not very shiny, and were well-worn down, but were nonetheless valuable.

Jeffrey: What did the pirate ship captain keep in his musical treasure chest?
Geoffrey: The lute!

Pirate from Nertskinski

A pirate who hailed from Nertskinski
Became so exceedingly thinski
That while cleaning his gun,
When the day’s fight was done,
He looked down the bore and fell inski.

by Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898))

Pearl: How much did the pirate pay to get his ears pierced for earrings?
Cora: A buccaneer!

Cassandra: Where do pirates get their hair cut?
Cassie: At the barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrber shop!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Interrupting pirate!
Interrup -
Arrrggghhh!

Knock, scratch, knock.
Who’s there?
Captain Hook.

Jack: What is a pirate’s favorite letter?
Jake: You would think it is the ‘r’ but it is really the ‘c.’

Pirate ship: A thugboat.

Pirates often did not take pride in their vessels, so what we see here is typical of the sad state of disrepair in which a gang of murderous thieves would have kept a ship.

Connie: What clings to the underside of pirate ships and slows them down?
Constance: Barrrrrrnacles!

For any landlubbers who might be foolhardy enough to want to learn about real pirates, we heartily recommend the book, “Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates” (3 November 2015) by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. You can get it into your grubby paws by making a visit to your local library, or you can exchange some gold doubloons or whatever currency you might have for it at your favorite bookseller.

Martin: How much does a pirate pay for corn?
Mortimer: A buccaneer!

A man went to the employment office looking for work. He was told that he could have the part of Long John Silver in a new movie version of “Treasure Island.” “That’s marvelous!” said the man. “How much will I be paid?” “Ten thousand dollars a week,” was the reply. “Great!” said the man. “So do I start acting on Monday?” “Oh, no,” said the clerk. “On Monday, you’re having your leg amputated.”

Pirate Pete: What do you call a pirate with two eyes and two legs and two hands?
Pirate Paul: Rookie.

Toby: When do pirates plant trees?
Tobias: On Arrrborrr Day! (For to make their wooden legs, don’t you be a-knowin’!)

Swashbuckling: To engage in daring and romantic adventures with ostentatious bravado or flamboyance. Aaarrrggghhh, don’t ask us, we really don’t know what that means, either.

Erma: Why could the pirate not play cards?
Myrna: Because the captain was standing on the deck!

Pegleg: Why do pirate ships have Global Positioning System (GPS) devices?
Captain Hook: So that pirates always know where they arrr-rrr!

A flag bearing a black field, upon which is displayed a skull and crossbones, is associated with pirate ships . . . but what if real pirates do not give such warnings, instead preferring to make surprise sneak attacks, or raids, upon sleepy coastal towns and unprotected merchant trading ships?

Agatha: Why did the pirate take his mother to the movie theater with him?
Amanda: Because the movie was rated ‘arrrrrrrrrgh!’

Creative types think pirates are so great that they are making up new kinds of pirates: pirate princesses, pirate cheerleaders, pirate cats, pirate fairies . . . how much further can this silliness go?

Pirate cheerleaders have it easy: “Give me an Rrrrrr!”

Astor: Why are pirates called pirates?
Reed: They just arrrrrrgh!

Naomi: Why does it take pirates so long to learn the alphabet?
Vanessa: Because they spend years at ‘c’!

Pirate of Boulder

There was a bold pirate of Boulder
Whose cutlass was slung from his shoulder.
He’d mighty fine notions
Of plundering oceans,
But his mom said, “Perhaps when you’re older.”

by Graham Lester

Milford: What is a pirate’s second career choice?
Milton: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrchitect!

A common belief about pirates is that they made people walk along a plank until they fell into the sea, where they would be eaten by sharks. This popular notion simply is not true; author James Matthew Barrie made it up for his children’s storybook, “Peter Pan” (1928).

Riddle: What has eight arms and eight legs and eight eyes?
Solution: Eight pirates!

“I’ll never pet an alligator again,” Captain Hook said offhandedly.

Patrice: What is a pirate’s favorite hobby?
Tricia: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.

Lydia: What is a pirate’s favorite country?
Lynette: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgentina!

Renée: Where do pirates put their trash?
Sheila: In the garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbage can!

Blake: Why does Captain Hook have trouble telling time?
Caleb: His second hand keeps falling off.

Sue: What does a vegan pirate do?
Stu: He starrrrrrrrrrrrrrrves!

Well, shiver me timbers, laddies and lassies, thar’s pirates in them thar waters! Yes, indeed, the pirates aaaaaargh coming, the pirates aaaaaargh coming! Quick, we’d better think up some more pirate jokes before they get here so we can entertain them! More fun and learning coming up next . . .

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Chewing Gum and Bubble Gum

9/1/2018

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Bubble gum girl . . .

How to Blow a Bubble
1. Take a piece of gum and chew it until the flavor is gone.
2. Stretch the gum around your tongue.
3. Blow air into the gum, and close your mouth to seal the bubble.
4. Peel the gum off your face and start all over again.

Humans are the only animals on Earth that chew gum. If you give a monkey a piece of gum, the monkey will chew it for a couple of minutes, and then the monkey will take the gum out of his mouth and stick it in his hair.

Mary Had Some Bubble Gum

Mary had some bubble gum,
     She chewed it long and slow,
And everywhere that Mary went,
     Her gum was sure to go.

She chewed the gum in school one day,
     Which was against the rule,
The teacher took her pack away,
     And chewed it after school.

by Author Unknown

People have enjoyed chewing gum-like substances in many lands and from very early times. Some of the materials were thickened resins and latexes from certain kinds of trees. Others were various sweet grasses, leaves, grains, and waxes. Modern chewing gum was originally made from the natural gum chicle, found in the sapodilla tree. Chicle is expensive, so other natural gums and chewy synthetic materials are also in use presently.

“For some reason, chewing gum for me gets my brain going.” -Brie Larson

Studies have shown that chewing gum helps people concentrate. It’s true - in fact, right now we’re concentrating on the cinnamon-peach flavor of the chewing gum in our mouths! Seriously, though, chewing gum can help in studying for exams, tests, quizzes, and other brain-taxing endeavors.

Eunice: How did the chewing gum get across the road?
Josie: By sticking to the chicken’s foot.

William Wrigley, Junior originally got his start in the baking powder business in Chicago, Illinois. With each can of his baking powder, he included a free pack of chewing gum. However, when he learned people were buying the baking powder only because they wanted the gum, he stopped selling the baking powder altogether and focused solely on the gum. In 1893, he began selling two of the most popular chewing gums ever: Juicy Fruit and Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum. The rest is history . . .

Hugh: Where is the best place to have a bubble gum bubble-blowing contest?
Bert: On a chew-chew train.

Chocolate-flavored chewing gum is not possible because the cocoa butter in chocolate acts as an emulsifier on the chewing gum base, making it too soft and ruining the chewability of the product. You can test this yourself by putting a piece of chocolate and a piece of gum in your mouth at the same time and chewing them together.

Chewing gum burns about 11 calories per hour.

Who is that person? She is Natalie Wood (1938 - 1981), acting and chewing gum at the same time, in the comedy film, “Penelope” (1966)

Studies have shown that chewing sugarless gum sweetened with xylitol has an antibacterial action. It fights bacteria that cause tooth decay. Gum also increases the flow of saliva, which dilutes acid produced by bacteria. Saliva also contains calcium and phosphorous minerals that can help to repair soft spots in tooth enamel, actually healing early tooth decay.

Eugene: What did the shoe say to the chewing gum?
Wallace: “Stick with me, and we’ll go places.”

During World War 2, American military personnel increased the popularity of chewing gum by trading it and giving it as a gift to people in Europe, Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world.

You probably will not want to go out and nibble on any tires after reading this, but the fact is that chewing gum is made from rubber, just like the tires on bicycles and automobiles. No wonder rodents like to chew the insulation off wires - it’s like chewing gum for them!

Cheryl: Would you like some ABC gum?
Daryl: What’s ABC gum?
Cheryl: It’s ‘Already Been Chewed’ gum.
Daryl: No, thanks!

Chewing gum is a very stable product. It has a non-reactive nature and low moisture content. Because of this, chewing gum retains its quality for a longer time than most other food products - so long, in fact, that in most countries, chewing gum is not required by law to be labeled with an expiration date. Chewing gum can, however, become brittle and lose some flavor as it ages, but will still remain safe to chew.

“Does the spearmint lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?” -Billy Rose: title of song (1924), music by Ernest Breuer; revived in 1959 by Lonnie Donegan with the title “Does your chewing-gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?”

On 28 December 1869, a patent for an ‘improved’ type of chewing gum was obtained by dentist William Finley Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio. He combined rubber with chalk, powdered licorice root, and other substances to make his gum. The resulting gum purportedly cleaned the teeth and strengthened the jaw. Other types of chewing gum did exist prior to Mr. Semple’s product, including a ‘State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum’ made by John B. Curtis starting in 1848, and an earlier patent for chewing gum obtained by Toledo, Ohio resident Amos Tyler on 27 July 1869. Mr. Tyler’s gum was made of white rosin and olive oil, which he heated and mixed together. Once it cooled, he cut it into strips, or sticks, and packaged each piece individually. Of course, prior to all of this, chewing gum had been around for thousands of years of human history, but it was of a simpler form and not widely sold commercially to the public.

Cinnamon, spearmint, and peppermint are among the most popular flavors of chewing gum today.

Modern chewing gum emerged from a series of failures. American inventor Thomas Adams had tried for an entire year to use chicle as a substitute for rubber in waterproof boots, rainwear, and toys. Mr. Adams was frustrated when the experiments did not work as he had hoped, and he was ready to throw away all of the remaining chicle. Then a visit to a drug store gave him an idea. There, he overheard a girl ask for a penny’s worth of paraffin wax candy, and he recalled that chicle had been chewed by people for many centuries. By 1870, he had developed a chewing gum manufacturing process, for which he obtained United States Patent #111,798 issued on 14 February 1871. He sold his product as ‘Adams’ New York Gum No. 1.’ In 1871, he made a licorice-flavored gum called Black Jack, the first flavored chewing gum.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Oswald.
Oswald, who?
Oswald my chewing gum!

The color of the first successful bubble gum was pink because it was the only color the inventor had. The color ‘stuck,’ and today, bubble gum is still predominantly pink.

According to a leading columnist on the subject of etiquette, chewing gum in public is perfectly all right as long as it is not done with too much gusto.

In 1919 in Lockport, New York, United States of America, a Baptist minister named W. H. Mason invented the first modern gumball machine, which he patented and turned over to his son, Ford Mason, who began manufacturing the machines in the basement of his father’s church. Ford Gum & Machine Company soon began producing gumballs, too, and the younger Mason spent a decade perfecting ways to protect the candy from moisture condensation inside the see-through glass globes. A single drop of water would ruin the colors of a barrel of gumballs. Once he had invented a water-resistant glaze, a person could take a handful of glazed gumballs and hold them under a running faucet without the color coming off.

Alike Yet Different Somehow

The gum-chewing student,
     The cud-chewing cow,
Somewhat alike,
     Yet different somehow.

Just what is the difference -
     I think I know now -
It’s the thoughtful look
     On the face of the cow.

by Author Unknown

The largest bubble ever blown was about 58 centimeters (23 inches) in diameter. The record was set on Tuesday 19 July 1994 by Susan Montgomery Williams of Fresno, California, United States of America. Hmmm, seems like that bubble might have been large enough to hold a small dog, a cat, a parakeet, and a goldfish inside it.

At one time, a manufacturer ordered his workers to stop chewing on the job - but the workers went to the National Labor Relations Board and won the right to do so.

Chewing gum while cutting onions can help keep people from producing tears.

Chewing gum on an airplane will prevent a person’s ears from popping. Chewing gum makes the salivary glands produce 250 percent more saliva than is normally produced, so people swallow more. This helps balance the pressure in the head.

Japanese chemists have invented ‘Mood Gum.’ Like the Mood Rings once popular in America, Mood Gum changes color when you are happy, sad, angry, and so forth.

Chewing-gum was illegal in all of Eastern Europe until Czechoslovakia began manufacturing it in 1957. Poland and East Germany quickly followed suit, but it was not until 1976 that the Soviet Union lifted its ban on gum. Tourists who visit Singapore are allowed to bring gum with them, but only a maximum of two packs per person. Any more than that and they can be charged with ‘gum smuggling’ which carries the penalty of one year in jail and $5,500 fine. A doctor’s prescription may be required for chewing gum. Anyone caught leaving chewing gum in a public area can be charged with a monetary fine, community work, or commonly, a public beating with a bamboo stick.

Do you have gum stuck in your hair, and you don’t want to cut your hair to get rid of the gum? It’s a sticky situation, but you can apply ice to the gum to make it cold and harden it, and then try to break it off in pieces. Or, you can use peanut butter or vegetable oil to soften the gum and then try to remove it. Afterward, wash your hair thoroughly.

Better than cough drops? Cough drops are just candy, but the act of chewing gum may provide some real relief from the sore throat that frequently accompanies a cold, influenza (flu), and some other conditions, by stimulating the flow of saliva.

Chewing gum first went into orbit when astronauts Edward Higgins White II and James Alton McDivitt smuggled the stuff onboard their space capsule during the Gemini IV mission that was launched on 3 June 1965 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States of America.

Any guesses as to what percentage of people are incapable of blowing bubbles with gum? Get a clipboard, a pen, a piece of paper, and decide how you are going to word your question or questions. Now go out and begin asking people, writing down the number of people who say they can blow bubbles and the number of people who say they cannot blow bubbles. But wait, there are probably a statistically significant number of people who have never tried and therefore do not know if they can or cannot blow bubbles, and you will want to count those people also. As an inducement to get people to participate in your study, you might offer them each a piece of gum. When you have your results, please let us know.

That is not all . . . we have much more humor for you on a huge variety of topics on ‘Make Fun Of Life!’ - just scroll down the page. We are people . . . being silly . . . while chewing gum . . .

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Goals and Planning

8/28/2018

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Never give up on your dreams . . .

“Take your dreams up off the shelf! Put your goals in front of you, and follow them. Focus. Strive. This is what you should be doing; this is what you are here for! You are here to dream, and to live your dreams! This is how things were meant to be. It is time to get back to basics. The essence of your life is your dream! What have you always been dreaming about, ever since you were a youngster? Visualize it, define it, and then go for it! Become happy and share that happiness with the world.” -Author Unknown

“I have come up with a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel.” -Rowan Atkinson (born 1955): “Black Adder the Third” (British television show)

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“If ‘Plan A’ fails, remember there are twenty-five more letters.” -Claire Cook

“One simple mental trick has changed my life. A wise retired railway worker named Danny Breslin told me about it. When you are faced with a task you do not want to perform, do not think of the task as a whole. Do not focus on the hardest part of it. Instead, ask yourself, ‘What is the least I can do towards accomplishing this task? What is the irreducible minimum?’ Do that and you have started on the task itself. So, for instance, if you are procrastinating about a letter you have to write, put aside the thought of the letter itself and what you will say in it. Instead, think of the least you can do towards it, which is getting a pen and paper ready. By doing this you will usually find that you can then actually start writing the letter itself.” -Celia Haddon (born 1945)

“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” -Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990)

When any great design thou dost intend,
Think on the means, the manner, and the end.
-John Denham (1615 - 1669): “Of Prudence”

“The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something; whereas the strongest, by dispersing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“Plan your work and work your plan.” -Author Unknown

“He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign.” -Victor Hugo (Victor Marie Hugo (1802 - 1885))

“Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.” -Belva Davis (born Belvagene Melton (1932))

“It takes a mad genius to reach some goals.” -Daniel Akst (born 1956)

“We rarely succeed at anything unless we have fun doing it.” -Author Unknown

Work diligently toward a goal;
On plans and dreams often dwell;
Don’t wait until you are thirsty,
Before you dig a well.
-Rosemary Perry

“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“The person with a fixed goal, a clear picture of his desire, or an ideal always before him, causes it, through repetition, to be buried deeply in his subconscious mind and is thus enabled, thanks to its generative and sustaining power, to realize his goal in a minimum of time and with a minimum of physical effort. Just pursue the thought unceasingly. Step by step you will achieve realization, for all your faculties and powers become directed to that end.” -Claude M. Bristol (Claude Myron Bristol (1891 - 1951))

“The vital, successful people I have met all had one common characteristic. They had a plan.” -Marilyn Van Derbur (Marilyn Elaine Van Derbur (born 1937))

“The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” -Lee Iacocca (Lido Anthony ‘Lee’ Iacocca (born 1924))

“You will have wonderful surges forward. Then there must be a time of consolidating before the next forward surge. Accept this as part of the process and never become downhearted.” -Eileen Caddy (1917 - 2006)

“The most important thing about having goals is having one.” -Geoffrey F. Abert
Abert F. Geoffrey

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.” -H. L. Hunt (Haroldson Lafayette ‘H. L.’ Hunt, Junior (1889 - 1974))

“The basic goal-reaching principle is to understand that you go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will be able to see farther.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

Write Down Your Goals!

If you don’t write your goal down on paper,
Beware, it may try to be an escaper.
But when you do write your goal in your journal,
What you have done is planted a kernel.
And everyone, who knows anything knows,
That what a man reaps is what a man sows!
So write down your hopes and journal your goals
And press on through the highs and the lows.
Through the thick and through the thin,
If you never, never quit - eventually you win.
In every failure is a seed of success,
So keep trying, keep trying -
And you’ll be the best.
Write down your goals
And surprise the rest.

by Al Argo

“If you want your dreams to come true, don’t oversleep.” -Author Unknown

“What you get by reaching your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012)): “Biscuits, Fleas, and Pump Handles” (1974), ‘Segment 4: Goals,’ Chapter 4: Reaching Your Goals, page 171

“Goals that are not written down are just wishes.” -Author Unknown

Make a written plan . . . and re-read it often . . .

“You can do anything you want in your life and in your career if you have written goals and a plan to get there, and also the commitment to follow through.” -Carol Halsey

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Achieving Your Goals

1. Break your goals into smaller parts.
- Many people abandon their goals because the goals are too big and vague.
- Break goals down into smaller parts.
- Decide on concrete and measurable actions.
- Have solid ideas of what a successful completion of a goal looks like.
2. Commit time daily to goals.
- You do not have necessarily have to commit hours at a time to accomplish a goal, you just have to be focused.
- The greatest advances often occur as the sum total of a series of small efforts.
- Commit to spending at least 15 minutes a day on specific goals.
- Do something that moves you closer to accomplishing your goals.
3. Talk to yourself.
- Repetition is the root of success.
- Remind yourself of your goals every day.
- Turn your most important goal into a one-sentence afﬁrmation.
- Phrase it as though you have already accomplished your goal.
- Repeat regularly and it becomes your natural way of thinking.
4. Make a serious commitment to your goals.
- Make yourself accountable by telling a few trustworthy people of your plans.
- Hope they become interested in your progress and check in with you.
- This will inspire you to keep going and overcome obstacles.
- It is hard not to achieve goals when others are watching and encouraging us.
5. Write your goals down.
- If you write goals down, they are more likely to come to pass.
- Invest time and energy writing your goals down.
- Putting goals on paper makes you more committed to the outcome.
- Reread your goals list periodically.
- It is beneficial to cross items off when they are completed.
6. Review your goals and your progress weekly.
- Re-evaluate each goal as circumstances change.
- If your priorities change, drop goals from your list or add new ones.
- Ask yourself ‘why’ if you have not made progress; ﬁnd out what is in your way.
- Question if unachieved goals are still important to you.
7. If possible, ﬁnd a friend.
- Try to get friends to help out with your project.
- Offer to reciprocate and help your friend in return.
- Two can get more done in a shorter period of time than one.
- You hold each other accountable to accomplishing your goals.
8. Reward yourself.
- As you plan your goals, attach speciﬁc rewards to each goal.
- The reward should be commensurate with the amount of work.
- Be consistent about rewarding yourself for every accomplishment.
- Each completion deserves a reward, no matter how small.
9.Take time to enjoy success.
- Take time to acknowledge the fact that you have accomplished a goal.
- Don’t simply charge into the next task or in time, you will likely burn out.
- Remember the time and effort you invested.
- Savor the feeling of completion.
- Refresh and renew your enthusiasm before you continue.

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“Yes, you can be a dreamer and a doer, too, if you will remove one word from your vocabulary: impossible.” -Robert Schuller (Robert Harold Schuller (1926 - 2015))

“Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you’re ready or not, to put it into action.” -Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970)

“Whether or not you reach your goals in life depends entirely on how well you prepare for them and how badly you want them.” -Ronald McNair (1950 - 1986)

“Cultivate the habit of setting clearly-defined written goals; they are the road maps that guide you to your destination.” -Roy Bennett (Roy T. Bennett)

“You must keep your mind on the objective, not on the obstacle.” -William Randolph Hearst (1863 - 1951)

“The secret to productive goal setting is in establishing clearly defined goals, writing them down and then focusing on them several times a day with words, pictures, and emotions as if we’ve already achieved them.” -Denis Waitley (Denis E. Waitley (born 1933))

“Each step forward is one less step that has to be taken.” -Brian Adams

The goal shapes the plan.
The plan shapes the action.
The action achieves the results.
The results bring success.
-Author Unknown

“Goals are simply tools to focus your energy in positive directions, these can be changed as your priorities change, new ones added, and others dropped.” -O. Carl Simonton (Oscar Carl Simonton, Junior (1942 - 2009))

“Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))

“If you have no goals, another day of your life just passes you by.” -Author Unknown

“To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done.” -Richard G. Scott (Richard Gordon Scott (1928 - 2015))

“Have the dogged determination to follow through to achieve your goal; regardless of circumstances or whatever other people say, think, or do.” -Paul J. Meyer (Paul James Meyer (1928 - 2009))

“You cannot trust everyone with your dreams, just a very few people. Beware of dream destroyers, those people who pick away at you and your ideas, people who only find fault and reason to criticize, people who keep themselves and others locked into small lives that lack any worthy attainments. Seek out those exceedingly rare individuals who can inspire and motivate you as you work to make your dreams come true.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“Don’t let anyone steal your dream. It’s your dream, not theirs.” -Dan Zadra

“Reduce your plan to writing . . . The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.” -Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970)

“Every minute you spend in your life is either spent bringing you closer to your goals or moving you away from your goals.” -Bo Bennett

“Even if I don’t reach all my goals, I’ve gone higher than I would have if I hadn’t set any.” -Danielle Fotopoulis (Danielle Ruth Garrett Fotopoulos (born 1976))

“You can achieve almost any goal if you just do what other successful people have done to achieve the same goals before you.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them.” -Les Brown (Leslie Calvin ‘Les’ Brown (born 1945))

“You become successful the moment you start moving toward a worthwhile goal.” -Author Unknown

“The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do.” -Henry Moore (1898 - 1986)

“Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.” -John Dewey (1859 - 1952)

“Find a peaceful place where you can make plans for the future. Clear away all distractions: everything within your visual field, everything in your periphery vision, all noises . . . now get to the work of considering what you want to achieve, writing it down in simple yet specific words.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900 - 1944)

“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” -Alvin Toffler (1928 - 2016)

“Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small steps.” -David Lloyd George (1863 - 1945)

“You can do what you want to do, accomplish what you want to accomplish, attain any reasonable objective you may have in mind - not all of a sudden, perhaps not in one swift and sweeping act of achievement - but you can do it gradually, day by day and play by play, if you want to do it, if you work to do it, over a sufficiently long period of time.” -William E. Holler (William E. ‘Bill’ Holler)

“Keep true to the dreams of thy youth.” -Johann Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805)

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” -attributed to Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910))

“Goals mean little without action.” -Author Unknown

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” -Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

“Instead of thinking about where you are, think about where you want to be.” -Diana Rankin

“If you really want something, and really work hard, and take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will find a way.” -Jane Goodall (born 1934)

“Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.” -Author Unknown

At ‘MFOL!’ we asked ourselves, “Selves, what’s the good of having fun if we cannot learn something while doing it, something we can take with us throughout all of life . . .”

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Birthdays

8/23/2018

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Happy B-day! Buzzz-buzzz!

A man said to his wife “What do you want for your birthday?” She said, “Surprise me.” So he said, “Boo!”

Did you know that your birthday comes 31,536,000 seconds after your last birthday? Wow! Seems too long, doesn’t it?

Patient: Doctor, I burn my tongue every time I eat birthday cake.
Doctor: Next time, take the candles off first.

Official recordkeeping of birthdates for people in the civilized world started in the 19th century (1800’s). Birth records before then were often not very precise and records were not made for the majority of the people. In fact, it was not uncommon for people in earlier times to not know the date of their birth or their exact age with certainty.

Dave: I want to buy my girlfriend a birthday present. What do you think she would like?
Wendy: Does she like you?
Dave: Yes, I’m positive she likes me.
Wendy: Well, then, if she likes you, she’ll like just about anything.

“It is proven that the celebration of birthdays is healthy. Statistics show that those people who celebrate the most birthdays become the oldest.” -S. den Hartog

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Bacon.
Bacon, who?
Bacon my friend a birthday cake!

Did you know you share your birthday with more than nineteen million other people in the world? That makes for a pretty big birthday party!

“Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.” -Jean Paul (pseudonym of Johann Paul Friedrich Richter (1763 - 1825))

Husband to wife: “How do you expect me to remember your birthday when you never look any older?”

So, if a person’s birthday falls on 29 February, when does he or she celebrate it in non-leap-years? Are people who are born on 29 February called leapers, leaplings, leapans, leapsters, or something else entirely?

To my brother,
Happy birthday to you!
Did you know I live in a canoe? -
It’s a little crowded in here,
What with the moose and the family of squirrels
440,618 rabbits, a rabbi, a priest, and a minister,
A duck, a clown, and an assortment of spiders -
Has anyone seen my right shoe?
Let’s get some frosting and candles on that cake.
Happy birthday to you!
by Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

If you live in very merry England, you will receive a birthday card from the Queen for your 100th birthday and 105th birthday, and then another card each year thereafter.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Abby.
Abby, who?
Abby birthday to you!

Birthday cake: A sweet reward for making it through another trip around the Sun.

Question: What has wings, a long tail, and wears a bow?
Answer: A birthday pheasant!

Question: Why do we put candles on top of a birthday cake?
Answer: Because it’s too hard to put them on the bottom!

An elderly lady was being interviewed by reporters on the occasion of her 100th birthday. “What do you think is the reason for your long life?” they asked her. “Oh,” she replied, “I suppose it’s because I was born such a long time ago.”

The largest birthday cake in the world was made in 1989 to celebrate the 100th birthday of the city of Fort Payne, Alabama, United States of America. The cake weighed more than 128,000 pounds and had more than 16,000 pounds of icing.

What do you give a person who already has everything? Try one of the following:
- a shot of penicillin
- a burglar alarm
- someplace to put it all
- a shoulder to cry on
- a calendar that shows when their payments are due
- the website address www.MakeFunOfLife.net.

Rudy: When’s your birthday?
Ruby: June 8th.
Rudy: What year?
Ruby: Every year!

You could walk the distance in three days that an average garden snail has covered since your last birthday.

Question: What does every birthday party end with?
Answer: The letter ‘y.’

Close your eyes, make a secret wish, and blow out the candles on your birthday cake!

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Happy Birthday to You

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear (insert name of birthday guy or gal here)
Happy birthday to you.

by Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill (1893)

Following the singing of the song above, an additional line is often added: “And many more!”

The popular “Happy Birthday to You” song was written by two sisters, Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill, of Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America. Patty Hill was a kindergarten principal, and her sister Mildred J. Hill was a pianist and music composer. The song was originally written as “Good Morning to All,” which was revised to “Good Morning to You,” and then eventually became “Happy Birthday to You.” The song has been in the public domain since at least February 2016, meaning that is not copyrighted and anyone can freely use it as they see fit, for either private or commercial purposes . . . so sing away!

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Question: When is a birthday cake like a golf ball?
Answer: When it has been sliced.

Because of a minor infraction, a shipmate aboard the USS Reeves, bound for Japan, was dropped one rank, fined, and given extra duty for three weeks. Looking forward to celebrating his 21st birthday on 22 July, he consoled himself every night during his extra duty by reciting, “They can demote me, they can fine me - but they can’t take away my birthday.” As 22 July approached, his excitement increased. When he went to bed on 21 July, he happily repeated, “They can demote me, they can fine me - but they can’t take away my birthday.” Upon awakening the next morning, he found out that the ship had crossed the international date line - and it was 23 July.

The most popular birthday in the world is Christmas Day, which is a celebration of Jesus of Nazareth’s birthday.

The Sun has traveled 584,337,600 miles since your last birthday.

When it comes to adult birthdays, just because you are no longer a child does not mean you have to stop celebrating your birthday. Do not think of a birthday as celebrating being another year older, think of it as celebrating all the good things that have happened over the past year.

“Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.” -Author Unknown

Overheard: I tried to bake you a birthday cake but . . . the candles melted in the oven.

The earliest known birthday party invitation was sent out in about C.E. 100 by Claudia Severa, who was the wife of the Roman commander Aelius Brocchus. The invitations were written on wooden leaf fragments known as ‘Vindolanda Tablets.’ They are preserved in the British Museum.

“Birthdays are a great time to stop and appreciate gravity. Sure, it makes things sag as you get older, but it also keeps your birthday cake from flying all over the room so you don’t have to chase it.” -Greg Tamblyn

Kate’s Birthday

There once was a lady named Kate,
Whose birthday was on this fine date.
     She wanted a cake,
     But her friends could not bake,
So her candles just sat on a plate.

by Author Unknown

Riddle: A boy was born in 1901, and he just had his 18th birthday today - how did this happen?
Answer: 1901 is not the year he was born, it was the number of the hospital room in which he was born.

Angie: What do they serve at birthday parties in Heaven?
Angela: Angel food cake, of course!

An Acrostic Birthday Wish

B - Be yourself.
I - Invite new challenges.
R - Recall past achievements.
T - Trust your judgments.
H - Have faith in your abilities.
D - Desire only the best.
A - Affirm your strengths.
Y - You’ve got what it takes!

by Author Unknown
(An acrostic poem or list is one in which the first letter of each of the lines can be combined to spell a word or phrase; in this instance, the word is ‘birthday.’)

Overheard: My brother was sort of odd; I remember that on one of his birthdays, he fell down a well, so we lowered his birthday cake down to him - and he didn’t even tug on the rope to say thanks!

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Wanda!
Wanda, who?
Wanda wish you a happy birthday!

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Birthdays

We had waffles-with-syrup for breakfast
     As many as we could hold;
And I had some presents extra,
     Because I am nine years old.

I’ve thanked everyone for my presents,
     And kissed ’em, and now that that’s done
The family’s all ready to do things,
     Whatever I think would be fun.

When Timothy had his birthday
     We went to the circus, and Tim
Made friends with the seals and the monkeys
     And a real clown winked at him.

And Dorothy chose a picnic
     On the shores of a little lake,
With tadpoles, and buns, and diving,
     And a four-layer birthday cake.

And now that it’s my turn for choosing,
     I’m going to ask if we might
Take all of our family of rabbits
     To bed with us just for tonight.

by Marchette Chute (1909 - 1994)

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A man asked his wife, “What would you like most for your birthday?” She said, “I’d love to be ten again.” So, on the morning of her birthday, he got her up bright and early and off they went to a theme park. He put her on every ride in the park: the Merry-Go-Round, the Slippery Super Slide, the Loop-the-Loop Roller-Coaster, and the Giant Ferris Wheel. They did not leave a single ride out. She staggered out of the theme park five hours later, her head reeling and her stomach upside down. Into a restaurant they went, where she was given a double cheeseburger with extra fries and a strawberry shake. Then off to a movie theater, for a show and popcorn, candy, and cola. At last she staggered home with her husband and collapsed on the sofa. Her husband asked, “Well, dear, what was it like being ten again?” One eye opened and she groaned, “I meant the dress size.”

“I thought I would share some of my childhood birthday memories with you, so here they are. When I was a child my family was so poor that the only thing I got on my birthday was a year older. I didn’t even get to celebrate my 14th birthday until I was 19 years old.” -Author Unknown

“The best way to remember your wife’s birthday is to forget it once.” -E. Joseph Cossman (Eli Joseph Cossman (1918 - 2002))

“My son asked me for a pet spider for his birthday, so I went to our local pet shop and they were $85! Then I thought . . . I can get one cheaper off the web.” -Author Unknown

Were you born on your birthday?

“The best birthdays of all are those that haven’t arrived yet.” -Robert Orben

All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece . . . but not too much!

Did you have fun today? If you put your imagination to work, you can have fun today, tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that . . . imagine a whole lifetime of fun!

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Dating and Courting

8/19/2018

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He: Where did you get those big eyes?
She: They came with the face.

Overheard: I was on a date recently, and the guy took me horseback riding, and that was kind of fun . . . until we ran out of quarters!

The goal of dating is to determine if the two of you can become friends first, before doing anything else. Do not rush or be rushed into anything, such as dating exclusively, kissing, or sharing too much personal information. If you cannot be friends with your partner, then a long-term relationship may not be possible, and you will want to move on and date other people. Remember that you will want to be able to boast someday to people that you married your best friend.

Francis: What did the elephant say to his girlfriend?
Frances: “I love you tons and tons!”

Julia: Did Adam and Eve ever have a date?
Jules: No, they had an apple.

Date Activities and Places
- Concert, live theater play, comedy performance, or lecture.
- Sightseeing, gallery or museum tour, or boat tour.
- Dinner and a movie.
- Religious services.
- Roller skating, bowling, walking.
- Rodeo, ballet, opera.
Can you think of other good date activities and places, and perhaps some activities and places that would not be good for dates, as for example, whale harpooning on the open seas, or coal mining?

Man: I would go to the end of the world for you.
Woman: But would you stay there?

Remember When?

Remember when nearly sixteen,
On your very first date as a teen
     At the movies? If yes,
     Then I bet you can’t guess
What was shown on the cinema screen.

by Author Unknown

Linda: Who did the Little Mermaid date?
Lucinda: She went out with the tide.

You have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince - at least, that is the way it happens in fairy tales!

She: Would you remember me in a day?
He: Yes.
She: Would you remember me in a week?
He: Certainly.
She: Would you remember me in a month?
He: No doubt about it.
She: Would you remember me in year?
He: Why, of course.
She: Knock, knock.
He: Who’s there?
She: I thought you said that you would remember me!

“Stop waiting for Prince Charming. Get up and find him. The poor idiot might be stuck in a tree or something.” -Author Unknown

It was an awful night - somebody was wearing the same outfit she was - her date!

What She Ate

There was a young girl who ate mice,
Tin cans, old shoes, and hair lice.
     She’d go out on a date,
     And she’d eat what she ate -
And never get asked somewhere twice.

by Author Unknown

“Opposites attract in the short-run and turn into a disaster in the long-run.” -Author Unknown

Overheard: Everyone has got a Prince Charming. Mine just took a wrong turn, got lost, and is too stubborn to ask for directions.

We live in a weird world, so it is recommended that dates be in public places with other people around. A woman should always carry enough money for taxi fare home and have the telephone number of a reliable taxi company. Additionally, a woman can arrange to have a friend or relative call her at a designated time during a date, and if the telephone is not answered, then someone can go to the prearranged place of the date to check up on things. A friend or relative can also write down the license plate number of the vehicle in which a woman’s date drives when she is picked up, or better yet, she can drive her own vehicle to the date.

“People tell me there are plenty of fish in the sea, well that is nice and all, but I am human, and I do not date fish.” -Author Unknown

Curly Locks

Curly Locks, Curly Locks,
     Wilt thou be mine?
Thou shalt not wash dishes
     Nor yet feed the swine,
But sit on a cushion
     And sew a fine seam
And feed upon strawberries,
     Sugar, and cream.

by Author Unknown: Mother Goose rhyme

“Hey, guys, one quality I’m not looking for in a man is the ability to maintain a virtual farm . . . just so you know.” -Unidentified Woman

Online dating has benefits and drawbacks. Many people misrepresent themselves online because it is easy to do so; they submit photographs of other people and claim it is them; they fib about their income, employment status, criminal records, and other personal details. Some of them are fraudsters. Some of the profiles on dating websites are not even of real people, but are fake profiles set up to lure more people onto the sites.

“My boyfriend and I met online and we’d been dating for over a year. I introduced Hans to my uncle, who was fascinated by the fact that we met over the Internet. He asked Hans what kind of line he had used to pick me up. Ever the tech enthusiast, Hans naively replied, ‘I just used a regular 56K modem.’” -Anne McConnell

Max: Why did the apple go out with a fig?
Maxine: Because it could not find a ‘date.’

Remembering bits of information about a person and working them into conversations is not only highly flattering but also shows interest.

How Passion Ate

I knew a girl named Passion;
     I asked her for a date.
I took her out to dinner,
     And gosh, how passionate!

by Author Unknown

Hey, guys, when you are low on funds and taking your gal out on a date, just remember that every night the stars put on a show for free.

Dating can be done as a couple or more than one couple. Two couples on a date are called a double-date. More than two couples is called a group date.

“Normal people flirting: Hey, you are cute - we should go out sometime! Me trying to flirt: So do you like bread . . .” -Author Unknown

A boy was about to go on his first date, and was nervous about what to talk about. He asked his father for advice. The father replied, “My son, there are three subjects that always work. These are food, family, and philosophy.” The boy picked up his date and they went to a soda fountain. Ice cream sodas in front of them, they stared at each other for a long time, and the boy’s nervousness builds. He remembered his father’s advice, and chose the first topic. He asked the girl, “Do you like potato pancakes?” She said, “No,” and the silence returned. After a few more uncomfortable minutes, the boy thought of his father’s suggestion and turned to the second item on the list. He asked, “Do you have a brother?” Again, the girl said, “No,” and there was silence again. The boy then played his last card. He thought of his father’s advice and asked the girl the following question: “If you had a brother, would he like potato pancakes?”

A chaperone on a date is a mature responsible adult who is present to make sure the dating youngsters behave themselves and do not get into trouble.

Read Dating: A form of speed dating in which the participants display a list of their favorite books underneath their name tags in order to facilitate the identification of a common interest.

Isn’t it about time you asked that special someone on a date?

If a man cannot decide what to wear on a date, he might want to wear something blue. Women are attracted to men in blue, we have been told.

“I don’t need to flirt; I will win you over with my social awkwardness!” -Author Unknown

“I won’t date a guy who doesn’t own a toolbox. I’m not saying you need to be able to knock down a wall or build a house or anything like that. But I’ve been out with a couple of guys who didn’t own toolboxes, and they couldn’t even change a light bulb.” -Kristy Swanson

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Gwen.
Gwen, who?
Gwen will I see you again?

Hey, do you want to go out sometime? Oh, you say you do not date websites? Well, that is fine . . . we will just continue with more mildly amusing material . . .

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Knock-Knock Jokes

8/15/2018

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Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Justin.
Justin, who?
Justin the neighborhood and thought I would say hello!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Orange.
Orange, who?
Orange you glad I came by?

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Honeybee.
Honeybee, who?
Honeybee a deer and open the door, please.

Knock, knock.
Who’s -
Interrupting cow - moo-oo-oo!

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
A bee.
A bee, who?
A bee, c, d, e, f, g . . .

Knock, knock!
It’s open - come on in!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Wendy.
Wendy, who?
Wendy red, red robin come bob, bob, bobbin’ along . . .

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Alice.
Alice, who?
Alice forgiven, please come home.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock . . .
Now hang on a minute! Who’s there?
Charlie the Centipede.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Zeke.
Zeke, who?
Zeke and ye shall find . . .

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Nobel.
Nobel, who?
No bell, that’s why I knocked.

The ‘doorbell’ was at one time a real bell, either mounted on the outside of a building next to a door or inside a building with one end of a cord tied to it and the other end of the cord fed through a hole near the door; a visitor would shake the bell or pull the cord to announce him or herself. While the first electric doorbell was invented by Joseph Henry in 1831, knocking on the door or doorframe with one’s knuckles still remains the most common method of announcing oneself. And, of course, when a door is open or there is no door, the holler often seems to work well enough.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Danielle.
Danielle, who?
Danielle so loud, I can hear you!

Sign: Doorbell Broken. Please Knock Or Shout ‘Ding-Dong’ Really Loud.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
The electrician who has come to fix your broken doorbell.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Ben.
Ben, who?
Ben knocking so long that my hand hurts!

Text your friend: “I’ve got a great knock-knock joke. Want to hear it?” When he or she texts back, “Yes,” reply, “Okay, you start.”

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Candice.
Candice, who?
Candice be the last knock, knock joke?
Well, we all know the answer to that - not likely!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Egg.
Egg, who?
Egg-cited to see me?

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Eileen.
Eileen, who?
Eileen this way, Eileen that way.

National Knock-Knock Day is on 31 October of each year - wait, isn’t that Halloween Day? Why would anyone want to knock on a door on Halloween?

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Doughnut.
Doughnut, who?
Doughnut open the door - there are monsters everywhere!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Gladys.
Gladys, who?
Gladys you and not another monster!

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
A little child who can’t reach the doorbell!

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Octopus!

Knock-knock.
Who’s there?
Value.
Value, who?
Value be my Valentine?

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Tyrone!
Tyrone, who?
Tyrone shoelaces!

TSPKKJ: The Society for the Proliferation of Knock-Knock Jokes.

Knock, knock
Who’s there?
Gorilla
Gorilla, who?
Gorilla me a hamburger, please, I’m hungry!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Gouda.
Gouda, who?
Gouda see you again!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Just a minute, and I’ll see.

Doorknockers are typically pieces of iron, steel, or brass that are raised and struck against a metal plate on a door to make a noise that lets someone inside know that a visitor is waiting outside.

Molly: What did the inventor of the door-knocker win?
Dolly: The ‘no bell’ prize!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there!
Luke!
Luke, who?
Luke through the keyhole and you’ll see!

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Water.
Water, who?
Water we waiting for? Let’s get on to the next knock-knock joke!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Dakota.
Dakota, who?
Dakota fits fine, but the trousers are too long.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Woo.
Woo, who?
You sure do get excited about knock-knock jokes!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Annie.
Annie, who?
Annie body home?

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Jess.
Jess, who?
Jess me and my shadow.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Who.
Who, who?
Is there an owl in here?

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Love.
Love, who?
Love you!

Knock! Knock!
Who’s there?
Waiter.
Waiter, who?
Waiter minute while I tie my shoelaces.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Ike.
Ike, who?
Ike can’t stop laughing!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Tank!
Tank, who?
You’re welcome!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Cash.
Cash, who?
No, thanks; I prefer peanuts.

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Adore.
Adore, who?
Adore is all that stands between us, my sweet!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Patty O.
Patty O, who?
Patty O’Furniture!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
House
House, who?
House it going?

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Ben.
Ben, who?
Ben ringing your doorbell for a while now.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Shirley!
Shirley, who?
Shirley you must know me by now!

Knock-knock.
Who’s there?
Doris.
Doris, who?
Doris locked, so I had to knock!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Pasture.
Pasture, who?
Pasture bedtime, isn’t it?

This is ‘MFOL!’ . . . we have traveled from the Land of Imagination into the Real World . . . in search of milk and cookies . . . and broccoli . . .

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Faith and Belief

8/7/2018

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I Believe

I believe in the Sun,
   even when it is not shining.
I believe in love,
   even when I do not feel it.
I believe in God,
   even when He is silent.

by Author Unknown: lines written on the wall of a cellar in a building destroyed by bombing during World War 2, in Cologne, Germany

“Faith in something greater than ourselves enables us to do what we have said we’ll do, to press forward when we are tired or hurt or afraid, to keep going when the challenge seems overwhelming and the course is entirely uncertain.” -Gordon B. Hinckley (Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 - 2008))

“To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.” -Louis L’Amour (born Louis Dearborn LaMoore (1908 - 1988))

“I truly believe we can either see the connections, celebrate them, and express gratitude for our blessings, or we can see life as a string of coincidences that have no meaning or connection. For me, I’m going to believe in miracles, celebrate life, rejoice in the views of eternity, and hope my choices will create a positive ripple effect in the lives of others. This is my choice.” -Mike Ericksen

“Sometimes the only available transportation is a leap of faith.” -Margaret Shepard

“Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results, but first you have to believe.” -Mark Victor Hansen

“Faith does not make things easy. It makes them possible.” -Author Unknown: “The Bible,” Luke, chapter 1, verse 37

“Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, and faith looks up . . .” -Elizabeth Kenny (1880 - 1952)

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Faith

Doubt sees the obstacles,
     Faith sees the way.

Doubt sees the darkest night,
     Faith sees the day.

Doubt dreads to take a step,
     Faith soars on high.

Doubt questions, “Who believes?”
     Faith answers, “I.”

by Author Unknown

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“Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not in hand.” -Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274)

“Start each day by saying to yourself, ‘I can do this.’ As you leave home, say to yourself, ‘I can do this.’ At each step along the way, say, ‘I can do this!’ You can, and you will, because you are an ‘I can do this’ kind of person with faith in yourself, and the knowing that ‘I can do this.’” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“Faith never fails: it is a miracle worker. It looks beyond all boundaries, transcends all limitations, penetrates all obstacles, and sees the goal.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.” -Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662), commenting on belief in God (a quotation often referred to by persons other than its author as ‘Pascal’s Wager’)

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” -Author Unknown: “The Bible” (King James Version (1611)), ‘Epistle to the Hebrews,’ chapter 11, verse 1

“Faith without works is like a bird without wings; though she may hop with her companions on Earth, yet she will never fly with them to Heaven.” -Francis Beaumont

“Fear, too, is a type of faith - faith that it won’t work out.” -Mary Tricky (similar quotation attributed to Elizabeth David)

“If I didn’t have spiritual faith, I would be a pessimist. But I’m an optimist. I’ve read the last page in the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.” -Billy Graham (William Franklin ‘Billy’ Graham, Junior (born 1918))

“Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.” -Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

“Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.” -William James (1842 - 1910)

“When I was younger, I thought that the key to success was just hard work. But the real foundation is faith. Faith - the idea that ‘I can do it’ - is the opposite of fear (‘What if I fail?’). And faith creates motivation, which in turn leads to commitment, hard work, preparation . . . and eventually success.” -Howard Twilley (born 1943)

“We are what we believe we are.” -C. S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis (1898 - 1963))

“Act like you are blessed. Talk like you are blessed. Walk like you are blessed. Put actions behind your faith and one day you will see it become a reality.” -Joel Osteen (born 1963)

“I could not say I believe. I know! I have had the experience of being gripped by something that is stronger than myself, something that people call God.” -Carl Jung (Carl Gustav Jung (1875 - 1961))

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Faith

Faith . . .
Makes the outlook calm,
the uplook constant,
the inlook accurate.

Faith . . .
Makes yesterday a stepping stone,
today a new beginning
tomorrow a limitless possibility.

by Author Unknown

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“Faith is the hostess that will not entertain doubt.” -Jenna Wright

“There is no way to know anything for sure except by faith.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.” -Alex Hamilton (born 1936): “Born Old” radio broadcast, as quoted in the “Listener” (9 November 1978)

“Faith can reach beyond the limits of current reason.” -Rosemary M. Wixom

“Faith is the very first thing you should pack in a hope chest.” -Sarah Ban Breathnach

“I believe in the principle that I can make a difference in this world. It may be ever so small, but it will count for the greater good. The goodness of the world in which we live is the accumulated goodness of many small and seemingly inconsequential acts.” -Gordon B. Hinckley (Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 - 2008))

“Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that thou mayest believe, but believe that thou mayest understand.” -Augustine of Hippo (C.E. 354 - C.E. 430): “Ioannis Evangelium”

“Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.” -Author Unknown

“Just as a small fire is extinguished by the storm whereas a large fire is enhanced by it - likewise a weak faith is weakened by predicament and catastrophes whereas a strong faith is strengthened by them.” -Viktor Frankl (Viktor Emil Frankl (1905 - 1997))

“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.” -Augustine of Hippo (C.E. 354 - C.E. 430)

“It is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work. Faith is mighty, but action with faith is mightier. Desiring is helpful, but work and desire are invincible.” - Thomas Robert Gaines

“The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.” -Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 - 1959)

“Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable.” -Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878 - 1969)

“In actual life every great enterprise begins with and takes its first forward step in faith.” -Friedrich von Schlegel (1772 - 1829)

“I feel for all faiths the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments of darkness groping for the Sun. I know no more about the ultimates than the simplest urchin in the streets.” -Will Durant (William James ‘Will’ Durant (1885 - 1981)): “The Story of Civilization” (1935 - 1975), volume 6, ‘The Reformation’ (1957), ‘Preface’

“Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty.” -Brene Brown

When you walk to the edge of all the light you have
And you take the first step into the darkness of the unknown
You must believe that one of two things will happen
There will be something solid for you to stand upon
Or you will be taught to fly.
by Patrick Overton: “The Leaning Tree” (1 January 1975), ‘Faith’; type of work: collected poems by a single author in book form; author’s website: https://patrickoverton.com

“The question what to believe is perhaps the most momentous that anyone can put to himself. Our beliefs are not to be classed among the luxuries, but among the necessaries of existence.” -Felix Adler (1851 - 1933)

“The progress of mankind has always depended upon those who, seemingly isolated and powerless in their own day, have seen their vision and remained true to it. In the darkening corridors of time, they preserved integral their vision of the daylight at the end. This is a matter not of calculation but of faith. Our work may be small and its results invisible to us. But we may rest assured it will come to fruition in God’s good time.” -John Ferguson: “The Enthronement of Love”

“They are able because they think they are able.” -Vergil: “The Aeneid” (about 29 B.C.E. - 19 B.C.E.), verse 231; variously translated as “They can because they think they can.”

“Faith is the antidote for fear.” -Russell M. Nelson

“He does not believe, that does not live according to his Belief.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 1838

“If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory.” -William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

“The only thing that separates any one of us from excellence is fear, and the opposite of fear is faith.” -Michael J. Fox (pseudonym of Michael Andrew Fox (born 1961))

“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.” -Author Unknown

“It is a good thing to believe; it is a good thing to admire. By continually looking upwards, our minds will themselves grow upwards; as a man, by indulging in habits of scorn and contempt for others, is sure to descend to the level of those he despises.” -Arthur Helps (1813 - 1875)

This is ‘MFOL!’ . . . be of good cheer and talk to the world . . . of happiness . . .

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