Make Fun Of Life!

We Will Be Right Back

6/16/2021

Picture of a hand-drawn cat and the words ‘Lost Cat’ written on a piece of cardboard that has been stapled to a tree.’

We will be right back after we have returned from going out to look for our lost cat.

If you came to www.MakeFunOfLife.net looking for fun, you are in the right place. Just travel down this page, skipping the articles that might not interest you, until you come to the ones that appeal to you. When you have a moment, be sure to visit some of the other pages on the website, such as the Life Pages and the Library Pages, which can be explored by clicking or tapping on the drop-down menu near the top of this page.

We are MFOL! . . . here, kitty, kitty, kitty . . . here, kitty, kitty, kitty . . . meow?

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Encouragement and Praise

6/16/2021

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Picture of a happy smiling fish and the words, ‘You are not just another fish in the sea . . . you are the best! Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

“Praise works with only three types of people; men, women, and children.” -Author Unknown

“Everybody likes a compliment.” -Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

“I can live for two months on a good compliment.” -Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 -1910))

Arnold Bennett, the British novelist, had a publisher who boasted about the extraordinary efficiency of his secretary. One day while visiting the publisher’s office, Bennett asked her: “Your boss claims you’re extremely efficient. What’s your secret?” “It’s not my secret,” said the secretary, “it’s his.” Each time she did something for him, no matter how insignificant, she explained, he never failed to acknowledge and appreciate it. Because of this, she took infinite pains with her work.

“I would like to compliment you on the fine job you are doing of complimenting me.” -Author Unknown

“You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windshield; it said ‘Parking Fine.’ So that was nice.” -Tim Vine (Timothy Mark ‘Tim’ Vine (born 1967))

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” -Tom Peters (born 1942)

Flattery

’Tis an old maxim in the schools,
That flattery’s the food of fools;
Yet now and then your men of wit
Will condescend to take a bit.

by Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745): “Cadenus and Vanessa” (1713)

“Be quick to praise people. People like to praise those who praise them.” -Bernard Baruch (1870 - 1965): as attributed in William Safire and Leonard Safir: “Words of Wisdom: More Good Advice” (1989), page 294

Picture of six brightly colored paper squares with words hand-written on them as follows, ‘Way To Go!, Good Job, Well Done, You’re The Man, Thumbs Up, You Rock’

“Any man’s life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day.” -Booker T. Washington (Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856 - 1915))

“A person places themselves on a level with the ones they praise.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“Giving encouragement to others is a most welcome gift, for the results of it are lifted spirits, increased self-worth, and a hopeful future.” -Florence Littauer

“Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else. No other argument is necessary to suggest that one never miss the opportunity to give encouragement.” -George Adams (George Matthew Adams (1878 - 1962))

“You can’t eat compliments.” -Charles M. Schulz (Charles Monroe ‘Sparky’ Schulz (1922 - 2000)): “Things I’ve Had to Learn Over and Over Again (Plus a Few Minor Discoveries)” (1984)

“When your goal is to build people up, to make them feel better, to share in their joy, you too reap the rewards of their positive feelings. The next time you have the chance to correct someone, even if their facts are a little off, resist the temptation. Instead, ask yourself, “What do I really want out of this interaction?” Chances are, what you want is a peaceful interaction where all parties leave feeling good. Each time you resist ‘being right,’ and instead choose kindness, you’ll notice a peaceful feeling within.” -Richard Carlson (1961 - 2006): “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” (1997), page 37; website: https://dontsweat.com/

“The deepest principle in Human Nature is the craving to be appreciated.” -William James (1842 - 1910): letter (1896) to students who had sent to him a plant for Easter

“High praise indeed . . . comes from mountaintops!” -Author Unknown

“You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.” -Jim Stovall (born 1958)

“Flattery must be pretty thick before anybody objects to it.” -William Feather (William Arthur Feather (1889 - 1981)): “The Business of Life” (1949)

“Appreciate good people. They are hard to come by.” -Author Unknown

Picture of a large whale underwater and the words, ‘You are doing a whale of a fine job - keep up the good work! For more words of encouragement visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net.’

Now that is indeed a job whale done . . .

“The most effective way to achieve right relations with any living thing is to look for the best in it, and then help that best into the fullest expression.” -J. Allen Boone (John Allen Boone (1882 - 1965))

“Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784): “The Rambler” (6 June 1751)

“If you mean to profit, learn to praise.” -Charles Churchill (1731 - 1764): “Gotham” (1764), book II

“Praise does wonders for our sense of hearing.” -Arnold H. Glasow (Arnold Henry Glasow (1905 - 1998))

“Praise makes good Men better, and bad Men worse.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 3918

“Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.” -Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695)

“The people who are lifting the world onward and upward are those who encourage more than they criticize.” -Elizabeth Harrison (1849 - 1927)

“People are in greater need of your praise when they try and fail, than when they try and succeed.” -Bob Moawad (Robert Abraham ‘Bob’ Moawad (1941 - 2007))

“When someone does something well, applaud! You will make two people happy.” -Samuel Goldwyn (also known as Samuel Goldfish, born Szmuel Gelbfisz (1879 - 1974))

“Remember the compliments you have received and forget the rude remarks.” -Author Unknown

“What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.” -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950): “John Bull’s Other Island” (1904), Act 4

“I have always said that if I were a rich man I’d hire a professional praiser.” -Osbert Sitwell (Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell (1892 - 1969))

Picture of a piece of paper with words printed on it as follows, ‘Take a Compliment - Keep It for Yourself or Give It to Someone Who Needs It: You’re a great friend, You’re unique, You’re brave, You’re confident, You’re Smart, You’re thoughtful, You’re inspirational, You’re a good listener, You’re helpful, You’re awesome.’

“One kind word can change someone’s entire day.” -Author Unknown

Compliment: A hug by way of words.

“Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.” -Sam Walton (Samuel Moore 'Sam' Walton (1918 - 1992))

“Fair words butter no parsnips.” -John Clarke (1596 - 1658): “Paroemiologia” (1639), page 21

“When you feel in need of a compliment, give one to someone else.” -John Henry Newman (1801 - 1890)

“You are every lovely word I could possibly think of.” -Author Unknown

“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“What men and women need is encouragement . . . Instead of always harping on a man’s faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits.” -Eleanor H. Porter (1868 - 1920): “Pollyanna” (1912)

“Never let an opportunity pass to say a kind or encouraging word to another person.” -Author Unknown

“Praise is like sunlight to the human spirit: we cannot flower and grow without it.” -Jess Lair (1927 -2000)

“When a proud Man hears another praised, he thinks himself injured.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734)

“Compliment people; magnify their strengths, not their weaknesses.” -Joyce Meyer (born 1943 as Pauline Joyce Hutchison)

Overheard: If you can’t get a compliment any other way, pay yourself one.

“A compliment is verbal sunshine.” -Robert Orben (born 1927)

“Let’s cease thinking of our accomplishments, our wants. Let’s try to figure out the other man’s good points. Then forget flattery. Give honest, sincere appreciation. Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise, and people will cherish your words and treasure them and repeat them over a lifetime - repeat them years after you have forgotten them.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnagey (1888 - 1955)))

“The sweetest of all sounds is praise.” -Xenophon (430 B.C.E. - 352 B.C.E.) (about 380 B.C.E.)

“A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“Compliments are free of cost and obligation; indeed, they are ‘complimentary.’” -Author Unknown

“Encourage one another. Many times a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept people on their feet.” -Charles R. Swindoll (Charles Rozell ‘Chuck’ Swindoll (born 1934))

“Compliments are the gift of prosperity. I have learned to accept them graciously.” -Louise Hay (Louise Lynn Hay (1926 - 2017)) at www.louisehay.com

Some encouragement consists of praise combined with expectation, as for example, “You are always mommy’s little angel,” or “You are the best thing that has ever happened to this company.” So, there is the praise or compliment, plus the expectation, all melded into one. It is as though someone is being encouraged to do and be good, while his or her previous or present worth is being acknowledged.

“Every day, tell at least one person something you like, admire, or appreciate about them.” -Richard Carlson (1961 - 2006) website: https://dontsweat.com/

“To encourage someone is literally to instill courage in someone.” -Author Unknown

“Most of us, swimming against tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement and we’ll make the goal. Say, ‘Thank you!’ whenever you think of it. Say, ‘Nice job!’ to that workman who put extra effort into his task. Say, ‘Atta boy!’ to the fellow who is struggling through in the face of odds. You’ll get a whale of a lot of joy out of life that way. And people will love you.” -Jerome P. Fleishman

“It’s always worthwhile to make others aware of their worth.” -Malcolm S. Forbes (Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1919 - 1990))

“Find the good - and praise it.” -Alex Haley (Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (1921 - 1992))

“So often we think that to be encouragers we have to produce great words of wisdom when, in fact, a few simple syllables of sympathy and an arm around the shoulder can often provide much needed comfort.” -Florence Littauer

“Pointing out the good in others, helps us find the good in ourselves.” -Larry Lawrence (Larry Ray Lawrence (born 1947))

“A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.” -William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

This is MFOL! . . . a website for exceedingly extraordinarily exceptionally excellent extra-special people like yourself . . .

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Past-Dwelling and Living in the Past

6/11/2021

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Picture of a man looking behind him, and a concrete wall in the background

“Only look back to see how far you’ve come.” -Author Unknown

“If you let go of the past, it no longer has a hold on you.” -Author Unknown

“Do not look back; if Cinderella had gone back to pick up her shoe, she would never have become a princess.” -Author Unknown

“I can’t go back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” -Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898)): “Alice in Wonderland” (1865)

“The Ogle Fish swims everywhere backwards, because it is only interested in seeing where it has already been.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” -Will Rogers (William Penn Adair ‘Will’ Rogers (1879 - 1935))

“You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest, that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.” -Jan Glidewell (James Janis ‘Jan’ Glidewell (1944 - 2013))

“If you’re yearning for the good old days, just turn off the air conditioning.” -Griff Niblack

“Remember, you can’t reach for what’s in front of you, until you let go of what’s behind you.” -Author Unknown

“I live in the past because it’s cheaper there.” -Author Unknown

“Too much looking backward . . . is bad for progress.” -Henry Ward Beecher

“It’s but little good you’ll do a-watering the last year’s crop.” -George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans, possibly also known as Marian Evans Cross (1819 - 1880)): “Adam Bede” (1859)

“Move forward, don’t look back, just forget the past.” -Author Unknown

Sign with the words, ‘Don’t Look Back’ with the 2 letter o’s in look having been replaced with 2 eyes looking in a backward direction and the words ‘Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net.’

“Don’t look back. You’re not going that way.” -Author Unknown

“We can draw lessons from the past, but we cannot live in it.” -Lyndon B. Johnson (Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908 - 1973))

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The Good Old Days

“In my day, we couldn’t afford shoes, so we went barefoot. In the Winter we had to wrap our feet with barbed wire for traction.” -Bill Flavin

“In my day, we didn’t have virtual reality. If a one-eyed razorback barbarian warrior was chasing you with an ax, you just had to hope you could outrun him.” -Sarah M. Wolford

“In my day, we didn’t have days. There was only ‘time for work,’ ‘time for prayer,’ and ‘time for sleep.’ The sheriff would go around and tell everyone when to change.” -Elden Carnahan

“In my day, we didn’t have water. We had to smash together our own hydrogen and oxygen atoms.” -Diana Hugue

by Author Unknown: as published in the “Washington Post” (about 1997) newspaper, in a contest on the subject of the difficulties of the good old days

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“We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.” -Author Unknown

Aaron: How many past-dwellers does it take to change a light bulb?
Erin: Four. One to change the bulb and three to reminisce about how good the old burned-out, broken light bulb was.

“Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future.” -Robin Sharma (born 1965)

“When setting priorities, going forward is likely to be found to be more important than looking back.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“The mill cannot grind with water that’s past.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in George Herbert (1593 - 1633): “Jacula Prudentum; or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. Selected by Mr. George Herbert” (1651), proverb 153

“How many people long for that ‘past, simpler, and better world,’ I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?” -R. A. Salvatore

“That which is past is gone and irrevocable, and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come.” -Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626): “Essays” (1597)

“For those who live in the past, there is no future.” -Author Unknown

“The past is to learn from and not to live in.” -Richard L. Evans (Richard Louis Evans (1906 - 1971))

“You can’t have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time.” -Charles F. Kettering (Charles Franklin Kettering (1876 - 1958))

“The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post.” -L. Thomas Holdcroft (Leslie Thomas ‘Les’ Holdcroft (1922 - 2018))

“The more we look backwards, the less we will be able to see forward.” -Author Unknown

“If you are still talking about what you did yesterday, you haven’t done much today.” -Author Unknown

“A retrosaurus is a backward-looking dinosaur, which is possibly why we do not find it in our world today.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Nothing has ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now; and if the past cannot prevent you from being present now, what power does it have?” -Eckhart Tolle (born 1948 as Ulrich Leonard Tölle)

“When we cling to the past, we become unavailable in the present.” -Author Unknown

“Look not mournfully into the Past, it comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future without fear and with a manly heart.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

“Life goes on . . . Whether you choose to move on and take a chance in the unknown . . . Or stay behind, locked in the past, thinking of what could’ve been.” -Author Unknown

“Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.” -Byrd Baggett

“Living in the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causes you to bump into people not going your way.” -Edna Ferber (1885 - 1968)

“Don’t look back - that’s not where your future is.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

Past-Dwelling and Past-Dwellers Quiz
- What does it mean when a person is said to be dwelling in the past?
- What is the difference between dwelling in the past and reminiscing?
- What harm can it do to dwell in the past?
- How can a person stop dwelling in the past, start living in the present, and start working and planning for the future?

“It’s okay to look back at the past. Just don’t stare.” -Benjamin Dover

“We consume our tomorrows fretting about our yesterdays.” -Persius (Aulus Persius Flaccus (C.E. 34 - C.E. 62))

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” -Lyndon B. Johnson (Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908 - 1973))

“It is not possible to go forward while looking back.” -Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 - 1969)

“When you focus on what might have been, it gets in the way of what can be.” -Patricia Fripp

“Looking back gives you regrets. Looking ahead gives you opportunities.” -Author Unknown

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

“When you finally let go of the past, something better comes along.” -Author Unknown

We are MFOL! . . . looking forward to what is coming next . . .

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Sleep and Sleeping

6/5/2021

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Picture of a woman lying asleep in a field of flowers and the words ‘Sleep and Sleeping, By David Hugh Beaumont, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net.’

If my dear you seek to slumber,
     Count the stars in endless number;
If you still continue wakeful,
     Count the drops that make a lakeful.
-Franklin P. Adams (Franklin Pierce Adams (1881 - 1960))

“An important part of your bedtime routine should be checking to see if there are monsters hiding under your bed. If there are any, get them each a glass of milk and some cookies.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

Olive: What is the difference between a sleeping person and an awake person?
Oliver: With some people, it can be hard to tell the difference.

Sleep and Sleeping Facts
- The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
- The ideal temperature for falling asleep is between 18 and 30 degrees Celsius (64 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit).
- About ninety percent of people depend on an alarm clock to wake them up.
- The most frequently requested wakeup call time at hotels is 7:00 a.m.

With a butterfly kiss and a ladybug hug,
     Sleep tight little one, like a bug in a rug.
-Author Unknown

“The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.” -E. Joseph Cossman (Eli Joseph Cossman (1918 - 2002))

“Nothing makes us so sleepy as the bell of our alarm clock.” -William A. Feather (William Arthur Feather (1889 - 1981)): as quoted in Ted Landphair: “Featherisms” (6 October 2008)

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The Cock Crows

The cock crows in the morn
     To tell us to rise,
And he that lies late
     Will never be wise.

For early to bed
     And early to rise
Is the way to be healthy,
     Wealthy, and wise.

by Author Unknown

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“Sleeping is easy - I can even do it with my eyes closed.” -Author Unknown

Patient: Doctor, doctor, I walk in my sleep!
Doctor: Remember to take money for the bus, then!

“There is a close connection between getting up in the world and getting up in the morning.” -Author Unknown

“The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more.” -Wilson Mizner (1876 - 1933)

“To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there’s the rub.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” (1601), Act 3, lines 65 - 68

Al: Did you hear the joke about the bed?
Len: No.
Al: That’s because it hasn’t been ‘made up’ yet.

Georgia: How can you shorten a bed?
George: Don’t sleep ‘long’ on it.

“I had just dozed off into a stupor when I heard what I thought was myself talking to myself. I didn’t pay much attention to it, as I knew practically everything I would have to say to myself, and wasn’t particularly interested.” -Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)

Pollyanna: What question can never be answered with, “Yes.”?
Jenna: “Are you asleep?”

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Keep a Poem in Your Pocket

Keep a poem in your pocket
     and a picture in your head
and you’ll never feel lonely
     at night when you’re in bed.

The little poem will sing to you
     the little picture bring to you
a dozen dreams to dance to you
     at night when you’re in bed.

So - keep a picture in your pocket
     and poem in your head
and you’ll never feel lonely
     at night when you’re in bed.

by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers

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Edward: What is huge and gray and sends people to sleep?
Eduardo: A hypno-potamus.

“There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast.” -Author Unknown

“If people were meant to pop out of bed, we’d all sleep in toasters.” -Author Unknown

Last night, as I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky, I thought to myself, “Where is the ceiling?”

Ersa: Where does the Little Mermaid sleep?
Erma: In a water-bed.

Picture of a person lying asleep on a cloud floating in a star-filled night sky and the words, ‘Good night, sleep tight, count the stars, that shine so bright! Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

In the days of English playwright William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), mattresses were filled with straw and held up by rope stretched across the bed frames. When someone pulled on the rope to tighten it, a mattress would sag less and become firmer, for a more comfortable sleep . . . and that is supposedly the origin of the phrase, “Good night, sleep tight!”

Ellie: Why was the man running around his bed?
Lou: Because he wanted to catch up on his sleep.

“It is no small art to sleep, to achieve it one must keep awake all day.” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900))

Jeffrey: Who sleeps at night with his shoes still on?
Geoffrey: A horse.

A proposed new invention, the microwave bed, would allow a person to get eight hours sleep in just three minutes. We are going to buy two of them, so that we can get eight hours of sleep in just one-and-a-half minutes!

Goodnight stars
Goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere
-Margaret Wise Brown: “Goodnight Moon” (1947)

“He who sleeps in continual noise is wakened by silence.” -W. D. Howells (William Dean Howells (1837 - 1920))

Robin: What is the best thing to do if you are a worm who is worried about being caught by the early bird?
Sparrow: Sleep late!

“Oversleeping keeps a lot of dreams from coming true.” -Charley Grant

A Ruggie is a pressure-sensitive alarm clock that looks like a floor mat. You place it on the floor beside your bed, it awakens you in the morning with an alarm sound, and then it shuts off only after you get up and stand on it. Now that is one way to be sure you head out of bed in the morning! To learn more about Ruggies, visit www.ruggie.co (please note that the website suffix is ‘.co’ rather than ‘.com’).

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Goodnight!

Goodnight, sleep tight,
     Don’t let the bedbugs bite -
If they do, get your shoe,
     And hit them till they’re black and blue!

Goodnight, sleep tight,
     Don’t let the bedbugs bite -
If they do, here’s what to do:
     Blow them up with dynamite!

by Author Unknown

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Al: I haven’t slept for days.
Elle: How come?
Al: I only sleep at night.

“It’s hard to sleep at night if you’re worried that a ten-pound frog from Southern Cameroon may come and jump on your stomach.” -Charles M. Schulz (Charles Monroe Schulz (1922 - 2000))

“May you sleep like a log . . . but not like a sawmill.” -Author Unknown

“When they cannot get to sleep, some people count sheep, and others talk to the Shepherd.” -Author Unknown

“One hour’s sleep before midnight is worth three after.” [translation to Late Modern English]
“One houre’s sleepe before midnight is worth three after.” [original Early Modern English]
-Author Unknown: as quoted in George Herbert (1593 - 1633): “Jacula Prudentum; or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. Selected by Mr. George Herbert” (1651), proverb 876

A man went to a doctor for a checkup. The doctor asked, “How do you sleep?” The man said, “I sleep good at night and I sleep good in the morning, but come afternoon, I get restless!”

“I hate it when my foot falls asleep during the day because that means it’s going to be up all night.” -Steven Wright (born 1955)

Overheard: I slept like a log last night . . . and I woke up this morning on the woodpile.

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Bedtime

The evening is coming,
     The Sun sinks to rest;
The rooks are all flying
     Straight home to their rest.

“Caw!” says the rook,
     As he flies overhead;
“It’s time little people
     Were going to bed!”

by Author Unknown

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If you cannot sleep, try counting your blessings. For example, you still have most of your fingers and toes, you can still think lots of interesting thoughts, and you have a sense of humor that allows you to recognize that this is a joke. What other blessings can you add to this list?

Husband: It must be time to get up.
Wife: How can you tell?
Husband: The baby has finally fallen asleep.

“I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing.” -Martha Stewart

“He who sleeps on the floor will not fall off the bed.” -Robert Gronock

“Put duties aside at least an hour before bed and perform soothing, quiet activities that will help you relax.” -Dianne Hales

A Little Thought to Close the Day

The day, with the work God gave me to do, is done, and now He has given me the night, quiet and soothing, for rest. I will, therefore, trust myself - body and spirit - into His loving, tender care, through the mystery of sleep. As flood tides from the ocean fill each bay or inlet, so power and love and peace can fill my life to overflowing as I rest quietly, serenely, patiently, bravely, lovingly, with confidence and perfect faith.

by Author Unknown

“Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.” -Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719)

Helpful Tip: A spring-loaded mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep when you hit the snooze button.

Toby: How do you know an elephant is hiding under your bed?
Tobias: Because when you get into bed, your nose touches the ceiling.

We are MFOL! . . . making life a little funnier . . .

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Wishes and Wishing

6/1/2021

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Picture of random lines and dots in shades of blue and the words, ‘Wishes and Wishing, By David Hugh Beaumont, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

“Make a wish . . . then make it happen!” -Author Unknown

“They told us not to wish in the first place, not to aspire, not to try; to be quiet, to play nice, to shoot low, and aspire not at all. They are always wrong. Follow your dreams. Make your wishes. Create the future. And above all, believe in yourself.” -J. Michael Straczynski

“Work while others are wishing.” -William A. Ward (William Arthur Ward (1921 - 1994))

Picture of a girl blowing fluffy dandelion seed tufts into the breeze

Some see a weed, some see a wish . . . have you ever made a wish on a dandelion flower that has gone to seed, and then blew the tiny seed-carrying tufts off to be carried away by the breeze?

Wishing Objects
- Birthday cake candles
- Coins tossed into fountains
- Coins tossed into wishing wells
- Dandelion seed tufts
- Stars
- Stones
- Wishbones
Can you think of other wishing objects?

“We can do whatever we wish to do, provided our wish is strong enough. But the tremendous effort needed - one doesn’t always want to make it - does one? . . . But what else can be done? What’s the alternative? What do you want most to do? That’s what I have to keep asking myself, in the face of difficulties.” -Katherine Mansfield (Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp Murry (1888 - 1923))

“What man really wishes to do he will find a means of doing.” -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Wishes

If wishes were horses,
     beggars would ride.
If turnips were watches,
     I’d wear one by my side.
If ‘ifs’ and ‘ands’
     Were pots and pans,
There’d be no work
     for tinkers’ hands!

by Author Unknown

“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible.” -Søren Kierkegaard (Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855))

“Few wishes come true by themselves.” -June Smith

“Will you look back on life and say, ‘I wish I had,’ or ‘I’m glad I did’?” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“Great minds have purpose. Others have wishes.” -Washington Irving (1783 - 1859)

Picture of a boy looking up at the stars

Wish Upon a Star

Starlight, star bright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

by Author Unknown

“It is always wise to stop wishing for things long enough to enjoy the fragrance of those now flowering.” -Patricia Clafford (Mary ‘Patricia’ (Wise) Clafford (1900 - 1998))

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor ‘Eleanor’ Roosevelt (1884 - 1962))

“It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good and we must hunger after them.” -George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans, possibly also known as Marian Evans Cross (1819 - 1880)): “The Mill on the Floss” (1860)

“Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and to be that perfectly.” -Francis de Sales (1567 - 1622)

“The most important thing in life is to stop saying, ‘I wish,’ and start saying, ‘I will.’” -Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812 - 1870)): “David Copperfield” (1849 - 1850)

“A wish is a desire without an attempt.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “Reader’s Digest”

Picture of flickering lit candles on a birthday cake, with the words, ‘Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

It’s your birthday . . . make a secret wish and blow out the candles! What did you wish for - wait, it’s a ‘secret’ wish, so you can’t tell anyone or it might not come true!

“Any Fish You Wish.” -Author Unknown: sign at Larry’s Fish House in the movie “The Flamingo Kid” (21 December 1984)

This one makes a net,
     this one stands and wishes.
Would you like to make a bet -
     which one gets the fishes?
-Author Unknown

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. Don’t let yourself indulge in vain wishes.” -Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

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l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ www.MakeFunOfLife.net ♥ l o v e ☼ g r o w
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Away with Wishing!

If wishing were being, we’d all be beautiful,
     Healthy and wealthy, wise and dutiful;
If wishing were having - what pleasure untold;
     With a heartful of joy and purseful of gold!

But wishes, alas! are but empty bubbles,
     And the longing heart may teem with troubles,
So idle wishing is vain, forsooth
     As the endless search for the fountain of youth.

But work that holds wealth may be had for the taking,
     Though it may not bring health, ’tis a balm for heart-aching;
And study makes wise, and love, people say,
     Gives the beauty that’s truest, which lasts for aye.

Then away with wishing; and ho! for labor!
     And ho! for love - each one for his neighbor!
For a life of labor and study and love
     Is the life that fits for the joy above.

by Emma C. Dowd (1851 - 1938)

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l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ www.MakeFunOfLife.net ♥ l o v e ☼ g r o w
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“Stop wishing, start doing.” -Author Unknown

“An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing.” -Samuel Smiles (1812 - 1904)

“You don’t get what you want in life just by wishing.” -Author Unknown

“If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite.” -Author Unknown

“Don’t wish for it . . . work for it!” -Author Unknown

Picture of a wishing well and the words, ‘Working hard may be better than wishing well, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net

“We wish upon stars, coins tossed into fountains and wishing wells, birthday candles, wishbones, and dandelion tufts . . . perhaps it is time we placed our wishes upon hard work and made our dreams come true.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Work will win when wishy washy wishing won’t.” -Thomas S. Monson (Thomas Spencer Monson (1927 - 2018))

“We will receive not what we idly wish for but what we justly earn. Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“Wishes are the echo of a lazy will.” -Author Unknown

“May you get all your wishes but one, so you always have something to strive for.” -Author Unknown: Irish blessing

“Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we didn’t spend half our time wishing.” -Alexander Woollcott (Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (1887 - 1943))

“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however.” -Richard Bach (Richard David Bach (born 1936)): “Illusions” (1977)

We are MFOL! . . . may your every good wish come true . . .

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Second Chances and New Beginnings

5/27/2021

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Picture of a sunrise from a sandy beach with waves rolling onto the beach, four birds flying overhead, and the words, ‘Second Chances and New Beginnings by David Hugh Beaumont, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

“It’s never too late for a new beginning in your life.” -Joyce Meyer (born 1943 as Pauline Joyce Hutchison)

“Don’t be afraid to start over. It’s a chance to build something better this time.” -Author Unknown

“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 (pseudonym of Gladys Marie Pickford (born Gladys Louise Smith (1893 - 1979)))

“Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been, and look at what can be.” -Marsha Petrie Sue

“The best time for new beginnings is now.” -Author Unknown

“In spite of anyone or anything, all it take is you - yourself alone - to grant yourself a second chance in life.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Big journeys begin with small steps.” -Author Unknown

“If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.” -Flavia Weedn (Flavia Marie Weedn (1929 - 2015)): “Flavia and the Dream Maker” (1998)

“We’re given second chances every day of our life. We don’t usually take them, but they’re there for the taking.” -Andre Greely

“Today I close the door to the past, open the door to the future, take a deep breath, step on through the door, and start a new chapter in my life.” -Author Unknown

“Starting over in any aspect of life requires courage. It may not be easy, but it will surely be worth the work we put into it.” -Author Unknown

Picture of multicolored starburst with the words, ‘Second Chance.’

“Forget the long ago. We are here and we are now, and that is all. We are making a new start.” -Doris Lessing (Doris May Lessing (1919 - 2013))

“Every day is a second chance.” -Author Unknown

“Never too old, never too bad, never too late, never too sick to start from scratch once again.” -Bikram Choudhury

“Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.” -L. M. Montgomery (Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 - 1942))

“It is no disgrace to start all over. It is usually an opportunity.” -George Adams (George Matthew Adams (1878 - 1962))

“Every good person deserves a chance at a do-over.” -Author Unknown

“Where should I start? I texted my old Jiko this question, and she wrote back this: 現在地で始まるべき. You should start where you are.” -Ruth Ozeki (born 1956): “A Tale for the Time Being” (7 March 2013), novel

“The best thing you can give someone is a chance.” -Author Unknown

“Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called tomorrow.” -Author Unknown

“There is no such thing as ‘going back to square one.’ Even if you feel like you’re having to start over, you are trying again with more knowledge, strength, and power than you had before. Your journey was never over, it was just waiting for you to find it again.” -Author Unknown

“It’s never too late to start something new.” -Author Unknown

Picture of sunrise on a winter day with snow covering the ground and the words, ‘As sure as each day’s new sunrise, you can begin again, from wherever you are in life, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

“Every ending is creating the space and opening for an amazing new beginning.” -Bryant McGill (born 1969)

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New Beginnings

It’s only the beginning now
     . . . a pathway yet unknown
At times the sound of other steps
     . . . sometimes we walk alone.

The best beginnings of our lives
     May sometimes end in sorrow
But even on our darkest days
     The Sun will shine tomorrow.

So we must do our very best
     Whatever life may bring
And look beyond the Winter chill
     To smell the breath of Spring.

Into each life will always come
     A time to start anew
A new beginning for each heart
     As fresh as morning dew.

Although the cares of life are great
     And hands are bowed so low
The storms of life will leave behind
     The wonder of a rainbow.

The years will never take away
     Our chance to start anew
It’s only the beginning now
     So dreams can still come true.

by Gertrude B. McClain

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Picture of blue sky with white fluffy clouds, the Sun shining brightly, and the words ‘Second Chance’

“Dear God of second chances and new beginnings - here I am again!” -Nancy Spielberg

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A New Chance

When doubts and fears are growing,
     It’s hard to keep on going
From day to day not knowing
     Just what the end will be.

Take each day as you find it,
     If things go wrong, don’t mind it,
For each day leaves behind it
     A chance to start anew.

by Gertrude Ellgas (Gertrude M. Ellgas (1896 - 1994))

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“A fresh start isn’t a new place, it’s a new mindset.” -Author Unknown

“Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I ought to still forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.’” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “The Bible,” ‘Gospel of Matthew,’ chapter 18, verse 22

By way of further explanation, Peter desired to go beyond what the religious leaders of the time and place did, for they would only forgive a person as many as three times. Peter thought he could do more, so he asked Jesus if he ought to forgive his brother, “as many as seven times.” Jesus replied, “seventy times seven,” meaning we are to forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ as often as they need to be forgiven. Second chances are not something we seek for ourselves alone, but which we also are to give lovingly to others.

“It’s never too late - never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.” -Jane Fonda

“Every single moment of a person’s life, both of the understanding and of the will, is a new beginning.” -Emanuel Swedenborg

Should life include more do-overs and second chances, for good people?

Picture of blue flowers on the ends of long green plant stems, the sun shining brightly in the sky, white fluffy clouds, and the words, ‘Every moment of life is a new start, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

“Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald (Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940))

“Every moment is a new beginning.” -Elie Wiesel (Eliezer ‘Elie’ Wiesel (1928 - 2016))

So take a deep breath,
Pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off,
Start all over again.
-Frank Sinatra

“I’m not giving up, I’m just starting over.” -Author Unknown

“The first step of your journey might be scary, but it is also full of so much possibility and wonder. It is full of excitement at all that could happen and faith that whatever is meant to happen, will happen. It might be hard to take that first step - to put your pen to paper, to move to the new city, to lace up your shoes - but don’t let that fear keep you from starting. Don’t let the fear keep you from feeling the excitement and wonder at everything in front of you, because I promise that once you take that first step, you’ll never look back.” -Nikki Banas at https://nikkibanas.com/

What is a ‘second chance’? Is it a miracle? Is it an example of love? Is it someone taking a risk?

“I love the big fresh starts, the clean slates like birthdays and new years, but I also really like the idea that we can get up every morning and start over.” -Kristin Armstrong

“You can start over as many times as you need.” -Author Unknown

We are MFOL! . . . those who limit themselves to one thing risk never knowing what else might be possible . . . like what is coming up next . . .

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Smiles and Smiling

5/24/2021

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Picture of a happy smiling man standing in front of a white picket fence and beside a small tree with green leaves and orange flowers and the words, ‘Smiles and Smiling, By David Hugh Beaumont, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

As we all know, not enough smiling is going on in the world today . . . so remember to smile as often as possible . . .

“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 (Pamela Jane Barclay Brown (born 1948))

“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

“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)

“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))

“I really don’t know how to smile. Is there someplace I could get lessons, like a school or a seminar?” -Author Unknown

“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)

“A smile is an act of kindness.” -A. D. Williams (Anthony Douglas Williams)

“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 (1871 -1944)

“You want to know who’s got the most amazing and beautiful smile ever - read the first word of the sentence again!” -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 A. Ward (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 Aurthur (1922 - 1978)

“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

“It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three muscles to frown.” -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

“All people smile in the same language.” -Author Unknown

“A smile is a powerful weapon; you can even break ice with it.” -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 a curve that sets everything straight.” -Phyllis Diller (pseudonym of Phyllis Ada Driver (1917 - 2012))

“After six years without seeing one, I love just seeing a smile - every smile I see gives me hope.” -Íngrid Betancourt (Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio (born 1961))

“A smile is the universal welcome.” -Max Eastman (1883 - 1969)

“I smile because I do not know what in the world is going on.” -Author Unknown

“A smile confuses an approaching frown.” -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

“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

“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

“When you smile you don’t only appear to be more likable and courteous, you appear to be more competent.” -Ron Gutman

“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 and forgive;
It’s the only way to live.
-Author Unknown

“Smile, it changes everything!” -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 David Hugh Beaumont (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

“May 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)

“While enormous strides have been made in recent years, there’s still a lot to be said for a smile.” -Franklin P. Jones (Franklin Pierce Jones (1908 - 1980))

“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. So get used to smiling heart-warming smiles, and you will spread sunshine in a sometimes dreary world.” -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.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Did you make someone smile today? You’ve still got time.” -Melissa Stewart

You look amazing when you smile . . . you should do that more often . . . now back to further humor and inspiration and learning . . . on MFOL!

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Beginnings and Starting

5/21/2021

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Picture of a dirt road with the word Start on it, and also the words, ‘Beginnings and Starting, By David Hugh Beaumont, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

You can begin now . . . from wherever you might find yourself in life . . . and even if your circumstances are not perfect . . .

“This is the start of something wonderful.” -Author Unknown

No matter our age or where we’ve been
or what we’ve said and done,
Each sunrise is a reminder
that we’ve only just begun.
-Author Unknown

“Mighty things from small beginnings grow.” -John Dryden (1631 - 1700)

“For what it’s worth . . . it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald (Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940))

“Everything must have a beginning.” -Author Unknown

“The two important things I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavor is taking the first step, making the first decision.” -Robyn Davidson (born 1950)

“If I have work to do, the sooner started, the sooner through.” -Author Unknown

“The hardest step of any worthwhile endeavor is always the first step. The second hardest step is the one you take after every fiber in your body says, ‘Quit!’ but you know in your spirit you must carry on.” -Al Argo

“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.” -Demosthenes (384 B.C.E. - 322 B.C.E.)

“It isn’t where you came from; it’s where you’re going that counts.” -Ella Fitzgerald (1918 - 1996)

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.” -Marie Beynon Ray (1886 - 1969)

“You begin by always expecting good things to happen.” -Tom Hopkins at www.TomHopkins.com

“Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.” -Richard L. Evans (Richard Louis Evans (1906 - 1971))

“Of a good beginning cometh a good end.” -John Heywood (1497 - 1580): “Proverbs” (1546), part I, chapter X

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” -Ernest Hemingway (Ernest Miller Hemingway (1899 - 1961)): “The Old Man and the Sea” (1952)

“Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.” -William James (1842 - 1910)

“Sometimes it is really hard to get going. We put off things we do not want to do, or we are afraid to try. We occasionally feel overwhelmed by the size of a job to be done, like cleaning out the cellar or reading a long book for a class. But think a minute. If Beethoven had thought about how complicated it would be to write his Ninth Symphony, with all the instruments and voices and notes to blend together, do you really think he would ever have started? But he did not get overwhelmed. He sat down and wrote just one small note, and then another, and third. It took him months, but writing one note led to a second and, one note at a time, he completed it. We begin the same way with whatever tasks we have ahead of us. Each tiny bit of progress helps us go on to the next part. We begin by reading one page of that book, or taking one box of junk from the cellar. That is all we have to do. The rest will follow almost on its own. The trick is to begin.” -Author Unknown

“It is better to begin in the evening than not at all.” -Author Unknown: English proverb

“Start from wherever you are and with whatever you’ve got.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“He has half the deed done who has made a beginning. Have the courage to be wise. Begin!” -Quintus Horatius Flaccus (also known as Horace (65 B.C.E. - 8 B.C.E.)): “Epistles”

“Do it now, because sometimes ‘later’ becomes ‘never.’” -Author Unknown

“The word ‘begin’ is full of energy. The best way to get something done is to begin. It’s truly amazing what tasks we can accomplish if only we begin.” -Clifford Warren (about 1932 - 2009)

“If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.” -David Viscott (David Steven Viscott (1938 - 1996))

“The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings.” -Dave Weinbaum (born about 1952)

“If we wait for the moment when everything is ready, we shall never begin.” -Ivan Turgenev (Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818 - 1883))

“As the dimensions of the tree are not always regulated by the size of the seed, so the consequences of things are not always proportionate to the apparent magnitude of those events that have produced them.” -C. C. Colton (Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832)): “Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words” (1820), CLXXXVIII

“It is time to get moving. Your spirits will lift accordingly.” -Author Unknown

“Begin with the end in mind.” -Stephen Covey (Stephen Richards Covey (1932 - 2012))

“It doesn’t matter where you start. Only that you begin.” -Robin Sharma (born 1965)

“All glory comes from daring to begin.” -Eugene Ware (Eugene Fitch Ware (1841 - 1911)): “John Brown”

“The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

“It is never too late, just as it is never too early.” -Author Unknown

“If the first button of one’s coat is wrongly buttoned, all the rest will be crooked.” -Giordano Bruno (1548 - 1600): as attributed in John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton: “The Cambridge Modern History” (1904), page 707

“He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him.” -Author Unknown: Dutch proverb

“The beginnings of all things are small.” -Marcus Tullius Cicero (also known as Tully or simply as Cicero (106 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.))

“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” -Joe Sabah: as attributed in Zig Ziglar: “Over the Top” (1994)

“Too many people spend too much time trying to perfect something before they actually do it. Instead of waiting for perfection, run with what you’ve got, and fix it along the way.” -Paul Arden (1940 - 2008)

“You can’t get much done by starting tomorrow.” -Author Unknown

“The secret to living the life of your dreams is to start living the life of your dreams today, in every little way you possibly can.” -Mike Dooley (born 1961)

“You can’t cross the sea merely by staring at the water.” -Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

“I have begun several times many things, and I have often succeeded at last.” -Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

“The start is what stops most people.” -Don Shula (Donald Francis ‘Don’ Shula (born 1930))

“Making a start involves physics: An object at rest tends to remain at rest and an object in motion tends to remain in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force in either case. So the difficulty is only one of getting an object at rest - which is you, your circumstances, other people around you, and so forth, into a state of motion. Once in motion, or that is, having made a start, objects and courses of events have a known propensity to remain in motion.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure.” -Edward Eggleston (1837 - 1902)

“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” -Stephen King (born 1947)

“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” -Meister Eckhart (Eckhart von Hochheim (about C.E. 1260 - about 1327))

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” -Karen Lamb (born 1956), website www.karenlamb.com

“The beginning is the most important part of any work.” -Plato (about 427 B.C.E. - about 347 B.C.E.): “The Republic” (about 380 B.C.E.), Book 2

“Don’t be afraid if things seem difficult in the beginning. That’s only the initial impression. The important thing is not to retreat; you have to master yourself.” -Olga Korbut (Olga Valentinovna Korbut (born 1955))

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” -Lao Tzu (604 B.C.E. - 531 B.C.E.)

“If you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured, it may never arrive. Mountains will not be climbed, races won, or lasting happiness achieved.” -Maurice Chevalier (Maurice Auguste Chevalier (1888 - 1972))

“Don’t wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect.” -Author Unknown

“Do not despise the bottom rungs in the ascent to greatness.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)

“I see now that the circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.” -Takeshi Shudo (1949 - 2010): “The Art of Pokemon, the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back!”; line spoken by fictional character Mewtwo

“You don’t get to the finish line unless you start.” -Author Unknown

“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.” -Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910))

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” -William Faulkner (William Cuthbert ‘Will’ Faulkner (1897 - 1962))

“Well begun is half done.” -Aristotle (384 B.C.E. - 322 B.C.E.): “Politics,” Book V

“So many fail because they don’t get started - they don’t go. They don’t overcome inertia. They don’t begin.” -W. Clement Stone (William Clement Stone (1902 - 2002))

“Begin and you’re halfway there.” -Alfred A. Montapert (Alfred Armand Montapert (1906 - 1997))

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?” -John C. Maxwell (John Calvin Maxwell (born 1947))

“You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up for you.” -Barbara Sher (born 1935): “I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It” (1995)

“First things first, but not necessarily in that order.” -Author Unknown: “Doctor Who”

“The question for each man is not what he would do if he had the means, time, influence, and educational advantages, but what he will do with the things he has.” -Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757 - 1804)

“Two little words that can make the difference: Start now.” -Mary C. Crowley

“Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favorable do nothing.” -William A. Feather (William Arthur Feather (1889 - 1981))

“Begin anywhere.” -John Cage (John Milton Cage, Junior (1912 - 1992))

“It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined.” -Henry James, Junior (1843 - 1916)

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” -Shunryu Suzuki (1904 - 1971)

“Take the first step, no more, no less, and the next will be revealed.” -Ken Roberts (born 1946): “A Rich Man’s Secret” (1995) (similar quotation attributed to Clement Watt)

“The one thing all famous authors, world class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors, and celebrated achievers in any field have in common is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things.” -Mike Dooley (born 1961)

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” -Arthur Ashe (1943 - 1993)

“No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may soon become the step that will lead us to better things.” -Channing Pollock (1880 - 1946)

“Our grand business in life is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“It will get easier once you make the initial push.” -Author Unknown

“Can anything be sadder than work unfinished? Yes, work never begun.” -Christina Rossetti (Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894))

“It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“Every really new idea looks crazy at first.” -Abraham Maslow (Abraham Harold Maslow (1908 - 1970))

“The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs.” -James Allen (1864 - 1912): “As a Man Thinketh” (1903)

“You already have all you need.” -James Cardinal Gibbons: “The Light of the Cross” (1905; 2 volumes)

“Start where you are. Distant fields always look greener, but opportunity lies right where you are.” -Robert Collier (1885 - 1950)

“Out of the lowest depths there is a path to the loftiest height.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must, but take a step.” -Naeem Callaway (Naeem D. Callaway (born 1979))

“Begin where you are; work where you are; the hour which you are now wasting, dreaming of some far off success, may be crowded with grand possibilities.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“As it turns out, now is the moment you’ve been waiting for.” -Lucinda Williams (born 1953)

“And suddenly you just know it’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.” -Meister Eckhart (Eckhart von Hochheim (about C.E. 1260 - about 1327))

This is MFOL! . . . where another article starts next . . .

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Attitudes and Expectations

5/18/2021

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Picture of a rainbow in a blue sky with tiny fluffy white clouds and the words, ‘Attitudes and Expectations by David Hugh Beaumont, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

“You ‘can do’ with a ‘can do’ attitude!” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Be someone who finds something good in each day, and then share it with others.” -Author Unknown

“Winners come in all shapes and sizes but you will recognize them chiefly by their attitudes.” -Author Unknown

“A great attitude precedes a great performance.” -Author Unknown

A Bad Attitude

A boy who was terribly rude
Found his trouble: a bad attitude.
He pulled thorns from its side,
Smoothed its raw, ruffled hide,
Cut its claws, and his life was renewed.

by Author Unknown

“Change your attitude and change your life.” -Ann Bench

“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” -Herm Albright (1876 - 1944): as attributed in “Reader’s Digest” (1995)

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” -Winston Churchill (Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874 - 1965))

“Clear your mind of can’t.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“In one minute you can change your attitude and in that minute you can change your entire day.” -Spencer Johnson

“The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day.” -Charles R. Swindoll (Charles Rozell ‘Chuck’ Swindoll (born 18 October 1934))

“It’s hard to have a good day with a bad attitude or a bad day with a good attitude.” -Joe Moore

“Train your mind to see something good in everything.” -Author Unknown

“A bad attitude is like a flat tire; you can’t go anywhere without changing it.” -Author Unknown

“There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.” -W. Clement Stone (William Clement Stone (1902 - 2002))

“It’s so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to.” -Annie Gottlier

“‘You become what you think about’ is the foundation of your actions and reactions. What are your thoughts? Positive all the time? How are you guiding them?” -Jeffrey Gitomer (born 1946)

“Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude towards us.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“The most significant change in a person’s life is a change of attitude. Right attitudes produce right actions.” -William J. Johnson

“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” -Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

“An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside you.” -Author Unknown

“Your attitude is an outward expression of an inward feeling.” -Author Unknown

“A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow, real poverty.” -David Hume (1711 - 1776): “Essays Moral, Political, and Literary” (1875), volume 1, ‘The Sceptic’ (about 1750)

“We tend to live up to our expectations.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“A Great Attitude becomes a great day which becomes a great month which becomes a great year which becomes a great life.” -Mandy Hale (born 1978)

“Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting a bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian.” -Dennis Wholey (born 1939)

“Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.” -Michael McGriffy

“Attitudes are contagious - is yours worth catching?” -Author Unknown

“Refuse to criticize, condemn, or complain. Instead, think and talk only about the things you really want.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it.” -Author Unknown

“Positive attitudes create a chain reaction of positive thoughts.” -Author Unknown

“The predominant thought or the mental attitude is the magnet, and the law is that like attracts like. Consequently, the mental attitude will invariably attract such conditions as to correspond to its nature.” -Charles Haanel

“Declarations are powerful. If you declare that you are going to be an optimistic, upbeat person at all times, an interesting phenomenon takes place. When people expect you to be positive, you don’t want to let them down. You live your intentions every day - every minute.” -Neil Eskelin

“What is important to you is not so much the circumstances of your life as your attitude toward them.” -Ernest C. Wilson

“The world is a looking-glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly, kind companion.” -William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863)

Picture of a rainbow in a blue sky with tiny fluffy white clouds and the words, ‘Attitude Is Everything, Visit www.MakeFunOfLife.net’

“If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges.” -Pat Riley

“A bad attitude is merely a reflection of how you feel about yourself.” -David Roppo

“Everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” -Viktor Frankl (Viktor E. Frankl (1905 - 1997)

“Surely the world we live in is but the world that lives in us.” -Daisy Bates

“Choose your attitude! There is no single universal attitude that is right for everyone at all times and in all places. If humans were machines, our attitudes would not be changeable, but thankfully, we are not machines. Choose the attitude that is good for you in this time and place and change it in other circumstances as you like, keeping in mind that your attitude will affect others and your relationships with them, as well as ultimate outcomes and end results.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.” -Harry F. Banks

“Just because you can’t be a shining star is no reason you have to be a dark cloud.” -Author Unknown

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
l i v e ☆ l e a r n ツ www.MakeFunOfLife.net ♥ l o v e ☼ l a u g h
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Formula for Living Successfully - It is easier than you might think!

Assign each letter of the alphabet a number.
A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, and so forth all the way to Z = 26.

Next, we formulate equations as follows.
H+A+R+D+W+O+R+K = 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%.
K+N+O+W+L+E+D+G+E = 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%.
L+U+C+K = 12+21+3+11 = 47%.

You will notice that none of the above add up to 100%.

So, what does make 100%?

Is it BEING PERFECT? No!
Is it EDUCATION? No!
Is it FATE? No!
Is it GENETICS? No!
Is it MONEY? No!
Is it OTHER PEOPLE? No!

Our ‘ATTITUDE’ in life is what makes for success, as in A+T+T+I+T+U+D+E = 1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%.

To refresh, ‘Attitude matters 100% in life.’ Now wasn’t that fun?

Every problem or condition has a solution, only if we are willing to change our ‘ATTITUDE.’

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
l i v e ☆ l e a r n ツ www.MakeFunOfLife.net ♥ l o v e ☼ l a u g h
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“We attract what we habitually expect; we become what we deeply believe.” -William Arthur Ward (1921 - 1994)

“This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes.” -Hannah Arendt (Johanna ‘Hannah’ Arendt (1906 - 1975))

“It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.” -John Steinbeck (1902 - 1968)

“Every year of my life I grow more convinced that it is wisest and best to fix our attention on the beautiful and the good, and dwell as little as possible on the evil and the false.” -Richard Cecil

“Too many people miss the silver lining because they’re expecting gold.” -Maurice Setter

“There are in life as many aspects as attitudes towards it; and aspects change with attitudes . . . Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a change in attitude.” -Katherine Mansfield (1888 - 1923)

“The word ‘lose’ simply stands for Lack Of Success Expectancy.” -Doug Firebaugh (born 1968)

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on Earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” -Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

“Attitude, more than aptitude, will determine your altitude in life.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“High expectations are the key to everything.” -Sam Walton (Samuel Moore ‘Sam’ Walton (1918 - 1992))

“Attitude is greatly shaped by influence and association.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“Be thine own palace, or the world’s thy jail.” -John Donne (1572 - 1631)

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” -William James (1842 - 1910)

“We don’t see things as they are, but as we are ourselves.” -Henry M. Tomlinson (1873 - 1958): “Out of Soundings” (1931), chapter 10

“Make it a practice to judge persons and things in the most favorable light at all times and under all circumstances.” -Vincent de Paul (1581 - 1660)

“Negative attitudes bring negative results.” -Alfred A. Montapert (Alfred Armand Montapert (1906 - 1997))

“Take charge of your attitude. Don’t let someone choose it for you.” -Author Unknown

“Remember, a good attitude produces good results, a fair attitude fair results, a poor attitude poor results. We each shape our own life, and the shape of it is determined largely by our attitude.” -M. Russell Ballard: ‘Providing for Our Needs,’ as published in “Ensign” (May 1981), page 85

“The quality of our expectations determines the quality of our actions.” -André Godin

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” -Wayne Dyer -Wayne Dyer (Wayne Walter Dyer (born 1940))

“It’s all in the way you look at things.” -Norton Juster (born 1929)

“When you focus on what’s wrong, you get more of what’s wrong. Conversely, when you focus on what’s right, you get more of what’s right.” -Gina Mollicone-Long

“A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.” -Author Unknown

“A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)): “Faust” (1808)

“The world can change in an instant. So can the way you choose to see it. Why not choose to see the good in yourself and others?” -Bob Perks

“Your attitude is either the lock on, or the key to, the door of success.” -Denis Waitley

“Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thoughts, and habits can be acquired. An action repeated becomes an attitude realized.” -Paul Myer

“Live up to the highest you know in all things.” -Mildred Mann (1904 - 1971)

“Your mental attitude is something you can control outright and you must use self-discipline until you create a positive mental attitude - your mental attitude attracts to you everything that makes you what you are.” -Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970)

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” -John Lubbock (1834 - 1913)

“I’ve always tried to go a step past wherever people expected me to end up.” -Beverly Sills (1929 - 2007)

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” -Raymond Chandler (1888 - 1959)

“The most unknown, unused and unrecognized tool of the human mind, is the recognition that attitude is always a choice.” -Mark Horton

“I am responsible for my attitude. My attitude determines my actions.” -Author Unknown

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” -William James (1842 - 1910): as quoted in Norman Vincent Peale: “The Power of Positive Thinking” (1952)

“You can do anything you set your mind to.” -Author Unknown

“A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before we changed.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

This is MFOL! . . . a whole new ‘fun’ attitude . . .

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Fortune Cookies

5/11/2021

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Some people dream of great fortunes . . . others dream of great fortune cookies . . .

Remember to fulfill the promises you made to yourself.

You will prosper in the field of wacky inventions.

You make delicious soups.

Japanese Fortune Cookies, also known as tsujiura senbei, or fortune crackers, are larger than American Fortune Cookies, and are made of a batter containing sesame and miso rather than vanilla and butter as their American counterparts are. The strip of paper bearing the fortune for Japanese Fortune Cookies is placed in an outside fold or crease of the cookie instead of being hidden inside.

You will be rewarded for your patience and understanding.

He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.

Allow your mind to absorb new knowledge.

Next time, try the orange fried noodles with beef and broccoli.

Fortune cookies were first invented in Japan, then modified slightly upon their arrival in America, and are now a common dessert item in American-style Chinese restaurants. So, in other words, the fortune cookie is an immigrant to the United States of America that has adapted itself well to its new homeland and has become famous and successful in ‘the land of freedom and opportunity.’

An attractive, smart, and loving person will be coming into your life.

Believe in yourself and you will succeed.

You find great energy and you will be able to get many things done.

An American Fortune Cookie is a thin crisp cookie usually made of flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, and sesame seed oil, which is shaped into a container that ‘holds a fortune inside.’

Good news will soon come to you.

Perhaps the fortune you seek is in another cookie?

You are magnetic in your bearing.

The ‘fortune inside a fortune cookie’ is a strip of paper with a proverb, prediction, humorous statement, advice, scripture, or other information printed on it. Some fortune cookie messages include lucky numbers for use in picking lottery numbers or in other games of chance (gambling).

A new perspective will come with the new year.

Boomerangs are coming back.

A person is never too old to learn . . . or too young.

Your next meeting will be more productive.

American Fortune Cookies are now served in Chinese restaurants all around the world, except in China, where the cookies are regarded as a cultural intrusion.

Ask a friend to join you on your next adventure.

A cheerful message is on its way to you.

It is worth reviewing some old lessons.

Stop searching afar; happiness is just next to you.

Work methodically on one problem at a time.

What if you could have fortune cookies printed with a message you choose for your event, business, cause, or anything else? You can, and you can even have the fortune cookies in colors and flavors. Did you know that you can serve fortune cookies as a snack with tea or coffee, not just as a dessert item after meals? Visit Fancy Fortune Cookies at https://www.fancyfortunecookies.com/Custom-Fortune-Cookies-s/50.htm.

Patient work produces fine goods.

A golden egg of opportunity falls into your lap this month.

A novice at the first attempt, adept at the second.

About time I got out of that cookie.

Beauty surrounds you because you create it.

A new wardrobe brings great joy and change to your life.

A leader is powerful to the degree he empowers others.

Good things are coming your way, especially if you stay here and order dessert.

A light heart carries you through hard times.

Never kiss an elephant on the lips.

A signature reveals a person’s character . . . and sometimes even their name.

Courtesy is contagious.

If you eat a box of fortune cookies, anything is possible.

Your eloquence has a persuasive impact.

I cannot talk right now. Even fortune cookies need to sleep sometime!

Determination is what you now need.

Your work will be recognized and suitably rewarded.

Good things are being said about you.

Feed moderately on wholesome food; garden herbs surpass rich dishes.

All your hopes, dreams, and fears are the beginning of the future.

Your home is the center of great love.

If you can read this, you do not need glasses.

New ideas could be profitable.

Someday everything will all make perfect sense.

Discover the power within yourself.

Good things take time.

Someone you care about seeks reconciliation.

Good to begin well, better to end well.

The best year-round temperature is a warm heart and a cool head.

Only eat fresh fish, fresh vegetables, and ripened rice.

Do something new each day.

There is dew for every blade of grass.

Pass no day idly, youth does not return.

There are customers for all sorts of goods.

Your mind is your greatest asset.

You are about to become $12.95 poorer ($9.95 if you had the buffet).

The first step to better times is to imagine them.

You may be hungry later, so order takeout now.

You cannot open a book without learning something.

The truly generous share, even with the undeserving.

Decide what you want and go for it.

Your biggest virtue is your modesty.

You must play the game to win.

You are a practical person with your feet on the ground.

You will soon witness a miracle.

When you see an opportunity, act.

You are stunningly attractive.

You are heading in the right direction.

I am very fortunate to be a cookie. My friend was a ham sandwich, and he did not fare so well.

All of the efforts you are making will ultimately pay off.

Your difficulties will strengthen you.

Emulate what you admire in others.

You do not need the answers to all of life’s questions.

Living with a commitment to excellence will take you far.

Is there a time limit on fortune cookie predictions?

You will soon be crossing the great waters.

You will think for yourself when you stop letting others think for you.

You will travel far and wide, both for pleasure and business.

Your first love has never forgotten you.

You will be successful in your work.

You are a person of another time.

It is a great year for those who are cheerful and optimistic.

You will make changes for the better.

Great distances are covered one step at a time.

Relatives are coming to visit.

Allow compassion to guide your decisions.

Be cautious of cookies bearing fortunes.

Dedicate yourself with a calm mind to the task at hand.

Tell them before it is too late.

You are a very fortunate cookie - you are able to make money and hold on to it.

A dream you have will come true.

You have charm and a winning personality.

You will succeed because most people are lazy.

You will be called upon to help a friend in trouble.

It is the beautiful bird that is caged.

Your dreams are worth your best efforts to achieve them.

You have the power to write your own fortune.

The best is yet to come . . . dessert!

Best to keep your plans secret for now.

There is mutual love between people of a creed, mutual jealousy between people of a trade.

Generosity can repay itself sooner than you might imagine.

You are one smart cookie!

The seeds of an idea you planted long ago finally blossom.

Who is without flaw?

There are pictures in poems, and poems in pictures.

To make a worthwhile person of yourself, you must toil; if you do not, you will not.

Expect great things and great things will come.

At MFOL! we say, “Don’t just have fun with life . . . be the fun!” Coming up next: Even more fun!

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Idleness and Industriousness

5/9/2021

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Up, you sluggard, and get to work . . . or at least do some meaningful activity!

“I was made to work; if you are equally industrious, you will be equally successful.” -Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

“When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle, or children playing in the park?” -Ralph Marston (Ralph S. Marston, Junior (born 1955))

“Being forced to work and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.” -Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875)

“Doing nothing is very hard to do - you never know when you’re finished.” -Leslie Nielsen

“A human being must have occupation, if he or she is not to become a nuisance to the world.” -Dorothy L. Sayers (Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893 - 1957))

“Idleness is sweet, and its consequences are cruel.” -John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848)

“The end of labor is to gain leisure.” -Aristotle (384 B.C.E. - 322 B.C.E.)

“Resting is rusting.” -Helen Hayes

“A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))

Every Day Will be Sunday

A young fellow who did not much enjoy working did some work, figuring out that eventually every day will be Sunday. Every year has 365 days. If you sleep eight hours a day, it equals 122 days. This leaves 243 days. If you rest eight hours a day it equals another 122 days. This leaves 121 days. There are 52 Sundays, thus leaving 69 days. If you have a half-day on Saturday, this equals 26 days, and leaves 43 days. If you have 1 and 1/2 hours for lunch every workday, this equals 28 days, leaving 15 days. Two weeks’ vacation equals 14 days. This leaves only one day. And on Labor Day, nobody works.

by Author Unknown

“Tomorrow is the only day in the year that appeals to a lazy man.” -Jimmy Lyons

“Men who have attained things worth having in this world have worked while others idled, have persevered when others gave up in despair, have practiced early in life the valuable habits of self-denial, industry, and singleness of purpose. As a result, they enjoy in later life the success so often erroneously attributed to good luck.” -Grenville Kleiser (1868 - 1953): as quoted in “The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life” (1950)

“People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do.” -Thomas Sowell (born 1930)

“There is no excellence without labor.” -Author Unknown

“The dog that trots about finds a bone.” -Author Unknown

Overheard: My dog is so lazy that he hires other dogs to chase cats for him.

Dwight: Why did the lazy woman have a great big dog?
Edwin: So she would not have to bend down far to pet it.

“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing.” -Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

“Too much idleness, I have observed, fills up a man’s time much more completely, and leaves him less his own master, than any sort of employment whatsoever.” -Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

“You get out of anything in proportion to what you put into it.” -Author Unknown

“Work is the greatest thing in the world, so we should always save some of it for tomorrow!” -Don Herold (1889 - 1966)

“The forty hour week has no charm for me. I’m looking for the forty hour day!” -Nicholas M. Butler (Nicholas Murray Butler (1862 - 1947))

“Shun idleness. It is the rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.” -Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778))

“Don’t just sit there like a bump on a log!” -Author Unknown

“Laziness grows on people; it begins in cobwebs, and ends in iron chains. The more business a man has, the more he is able to accomplish; for he learns to economize his time.” -Matthew Hale (1609 - 1676): as quoted in Tryon Edwards “A Dictionary of Thoughts” (1908), page 242

Overheard: I am allergic to lazy people.

“Laziness is contagious just like hard work is. I didn’t give myself an opportunity to be lazy and I didn’t surround myself with people who are lazy.” -Michael Chandler

In Works of Labor or of Skill I would be busy too:
For Satan finds some mischief still for idle Hands to do.
-Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748): “Divine Songs for Children” (1715)

“The hardest work in life is resisting laziness.” -Author Unknown

Dede: What kind of shoes do lazy people wear?
Bebe: Loafers.

“It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

“Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us. We need hours of aimless wandering or spates of time sitting on park benches, observing the mysterious world of ants and the canopy of treetops.” -Maya Angelou (Marguerite Ann Johnson (1928 - 2014))

“We will be friends forever because I am too lazy to find new ones.” -Author Unknown

Lazy people work harder . . . at being lazy, that is!

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the blue sky, is by no means waste of time.” -John Lubbock (1834 - 1913): “The Use of Life” (1894), chapter IV: ‘Recreation’

“The only problem with having nothing to do is you can’t stop and rest.” -Franklin P. Jones (Franklin Pierce Jones (1908 - 1980))

“Human beings find less rest in idleness than in a change of occupation. If you scoff at the idea, just try it. Instead of collapsing in an easy chair, try tackling your hobby. Or write that neglected letter, or help Johnny to build that radio receiver set. Activity - especially creative activity - is far better recreation than loafing.” -Gardner Hunting (Henry Gardner Hunting (1872 - 1958)): as quoted in “Weekly Unity” magazine

“Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.” -Anne Frank (1929 - 1945): “The Diary of a Young Girl”

If little labor, little are our gains;
Man’s fortunes are according to his pains.
-Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674)

“Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.” -attributed to Steven Wright (Steven Alexander Wright (born 1955))

How can we help sluggards become better people? We can urge them on to becoming workers by letting them experience the consequences of their idleness. According to scripture, “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.” -Author Unknown: “The Bible,” ‘2nd Thessalonians,’ chapter 3, verses 10 through 12

“In idleness there is perpetual despair.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.” -Jules Renard (Pierre-Jules Renard (1864 - 1910))

“The idler does not waste time; he merely wastes himself.” -Author Unknown

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” -Marthe Troly-Curtin: “Phrynette Married” (1912), page 256

“Lazy people tend not to take chances, but express themselves by tearing down other’s work.” -Ann Rule

Overheard: I am going to do nothing all day today, starting just as soon as I am finished doing the nothing I did all day yesterday . . .

“The unambitious sluggard pretends that the eminence is not worth attaining, declines altogether the struggle, and calls himself a philosopher. I say he is a poor-spirited coward.” -William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863)

Rules for Lazy People

1. If you cannot reach it easily, you do not need it.
2. Get it done - but just not today.
3. It is always somebody else’s job.

by Author Unknown

“Make rest a necessity, not an objective. Only rest long enough to gather strength.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“The superstition that all our hours of work are a minus quantity in the happiness of life, and all the hours of idleness are plus ones, is a most ludicrous and pernicious doctrine, and its greatest support comes from our not taking sufficient trouble, not making a real effort to make work as near pleasure as it can be.” -Arthur James Balfour (1848 - 1930)

“Doing nothing results in having nothing.” -Daniel Burke

“The really idle man gets nowhere. The perpetually busy man does not get much farther.” -Heneage Ogilvie (William Heneage Ogilvie (1887 -1971))

“Laziness never arrived at the attainment of a good wish.” -Miguel de Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547 - 1616))

“There is no such thing as a lazy person; he is either sick or uninspired.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

What might someone be other than lazy? Tired, fearful, sad, overwhelmed, in physical pain, in emotional pain, shy . . . Can you think of anything else?

“He who would do some great thing in this short life, must apply himself to the work with such a concentration of his forces as to the idle spectators, who live entirely to amuse themselves, looks like insanity.” -John Foster: as quoted in C. N. Douglas (Charles Noel Douglas (1863 - 1920)), compiler: “Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical” (1917)

“Lazy people are always anxious to be doing something.” -Luc de Clapiers (1715 - 1747)

“A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.” -Author Unknown: “The Bible,” ‘Proverbs,’ chapter 20, verse 4

“Lazy people are good for just one thing, and that is, making mediocre people look like they have accomplished something in life.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“If idleness does not produce vice or malevolence, it commonly produces melancholy.” -Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845): attributed in “The Review of Education” (May 1902)

“Laziness is a luxury that few people can afford.” -Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)

“If I won the award for laziness, I would send somebody to pick it up for me.” -Author Unknown

“It is idleness that creates impossibilities; and where people don’t care to do anything, they shelter themselves under a permission that it cannot be done.” -Robert South (1634 - 1716)

“Be sure to keep busy, so the devil may always find you occupied.” -Vegetius (Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus)

“Laziness travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes him.” -Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin ‘Ben’ Franklin (1706 - 1790))

“It is necessary to work, if not from inclination, at least from despair. Everything considered, work is less boring than amusing oneself.” -Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

“Merit and fame never crown the lazy.” -Author Unknown

“If you want work well done, select a busy man - the other kind has no time.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915)): as quoted in Elbert Hubbard II, compiler: “The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard” (1927)

“Laziness is the seed of all evil.” -Author Unknown: Welsh saying

“He who labors diligently need never despair; for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor.” -Menander of Athens (342 B.C.E. - 291 B.C.E.)

“Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace.” -Hesiod (800 B.C.E. - 720 B.C.E.)

“My son has taken up meditation - at least it’s better than sitting doing nothing.” -Max Kauffmann

“A man is a worker. If he is not that, he is nothing.” -Joseph Conrad (Teodor Józef Konrad Nalecz-Korzeniowski (1857 - 1924))

“Idleness is the root of mischief.” -Author Unknown

“Tomorrow is always the sluggard’s working day; today is his holiday.” -Richard Baxter

“I am always busy, which is perhaps the chief reason why I am always well.” -Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 - 1902)

“The ruin of most men dates from some idle moment.” -George S. Hilliard

“Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.” -Sam Ewing (1920 - 2001)

“It is one of the strange ironies of this strange life that those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline, who give up certain pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are the happiest men.” -Brutus Hamilton

“Inactivity is the beginning of all vice.” -C. F. W. Walther (Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (1811 - 1887)): letter (14 January 1873)

“Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame.” -William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

Smiling uses fewer muscles and takes less effort than frowning, making smiling a great way for lazy people to contribute something useful to the world . . . the results of more hard work follows . . . on MFOL!

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Fun Facts and Trivia

5/6/2021

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Fun fact: ‘Meow’ means ‘woof’ in cat.

Fathers tend to determine the height of their children, and mothers tend to determine their weight.

The sari or saree, the traditional dress of women on the Indian subcontinent, has been used continuously and relatively unchanged for thousands of years.

The world’s record for continuous pogo stick jumping is 41 hours.

The Antpitta avis canis Ridgley is a species of bird that barks like dog.

The word ‘trivia’ comes from the Latin word ‘trivium,’ meaning a place where three roads meet. At such places, just as at public squares, people would gather and talk about all sorts of matters, most of which were ‘trivial.’

The English Channel between England and France grows about 300 millimeters wider each year. Perhaps the British are on their way to visit their relatives in America?

Instead of a birthday cake, many children in Russia are given a birthday pie.

There are more ducks swimming in water than there are fish flying in the sky.

Fried chicken is the most popular meal ordered in full-service, or sit-down, restaurants in the United States of America. The next in popularity are roast beef, spaghetti, turkey, baked ham, and fried shrimp.

“There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.” -Bertrand Russell (Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872 - 1970)): “In Praise of Idleness” (1932)

Boston College is in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts . . . much to the consternation of people who arrive in Boston, expecting to find it there.

The very first computer ‘mouse’ was made in 1964 by a man named Doug Engelbert. The mouse was made of wood.

Mike Hayes, a man from Rochelle, Illinois, funded his education by asking 2.8 million people for one penny each. This happened in 1987, so if someone wanted to pay for his or her college education the same way today, that person would have to ask more than ten million people.

Worcestershire sauce is really just anchovy ketchup.

There is no egg in eggplant, no ham in hamburger, and neither apple nor pine in pineapple. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads are meat - and not at all sweet.

Jamaica has 120 rivers.

Why do the wires on telephone poles hum? Well, it is not the electricity or people’s phone conversations that produce the hum. The hum you sometimes hear is caused by the wind passing through the wires and making them vibrate to make a sound, which varies in pitch depending upon the speed of the wind and the tightness of the wire.

Maurice: What is a ‘camel’s hair’ brush made of?
Maureen: Squirrel fur!

The coins thrown into the Trevi Fountain in Italy are collected for charity.

The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.

The average person will consume 45,424 liters (12,000 gallons) of water in his or her lifetime.

The most common time for wakeup calls at hotels is 7:00 a.m.

Van Camp’s Pork and Beans were a staple food for Union soldiers during the American Civil War.

The expression ‘three dog night’ originated with the Eskimos and means a very cold night - so cold that a person would have to bed down with three dogs to keep warm.

Aphesis is when unstressed vowels are skipped. Examples: Because - ’cause, amid - ’mid, especially - ’specially.

The United States Federal Aviation Administration once did a study that found the average airline stewardess (flight attendant) has a nose that is 5.5372 centimeters (2.18 inches) long. Does knowing this help stewardesses move around in the narrow spaces inside airplanes, or does it help to keep the aircraft weight low to conserve fuel and increase flight distance?

While she never lived further west than Ohio, Annie Oakley (pseudonym of Phoebe Anne Moses) was famous as an expert shotgun and rifle marksman in ‘Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.’

The world’s largest human-made hole is in Kimberly, South Africa. It has a circumference, or distance around its outer edge, of 1.6 kilometers, and a depth of 800 meters. Digging was started on it in 1871, to find buried diamonds.

The letter combination ‘ough’ can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains all of them: “A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.”

‘Moon trees’ were grown from seeds taken to the Moon during the Apollo 14 mission in early 1971. NASA and USFS wanted to see if being in space or in the Moon’s orbit caused the seeds to grow differently.

Why is it that when people are in the public eye they are said to be ‘in the limelight’? Invented in 1825, limelight was used in lighthouses and stage lighting by burning a cylinder of lime in an oxyhydrogen flame to produce a brilliant light. In the theatre, performers on stage ‘in the limelight’ were seen by the audience as the center of attention.

Abdul Kassem Ismael, the Grand Vizier of Persia in the 10th century, could not bear to part with his 177,000-volume library when he traveled, and so he had the books carried by a caravan of 400 camels trained to walk in alphabetical order.

Phonetic ABC’s: A system used by the military and others when people need to spell out words to be precise in spoken communications. Usually this is done to avoid confusion when words or letters have similar sounds. Words are substituted for letters of the alphabet, commonly: Alpha for a, Bravo for b, Charlie for c, Delta for d, Echo for e, Foxtrot for f, Golf for g, Hotel for h, India for i, Juliet for j, Kilo for k, Lima for l, Mike for m, November for n, Oscar for o, Papa for p, Quebec for q, Romeo for r, Sierra for s, Tango for t, Uniform for u, Victor for v, Whiskey for w, X-ray for x, Yankee for y, and Zulu for z.

The sticks of ‘chalk’ used to write on chalkboards are not actually made of chalk, but are instead made of plaster of Paris. Now we’re starting to wonder if anything is really what it is said to be . . .

Real chalk is made from tiny plankton fossils.

Cartoon character Sylvester the Cat’s full name is Sylvester J. Pussycat.

The oldest business in the United States of America is the cymbal company Zildjian, which was originally founded in Constantinople in 1623, according to “American Heritage of Invention & Technology” (Winter 2000)

Question: If you were to spell out each number, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter ‘a’?
Answer: One thousand.

Intelligent people are said to have more zinc and copper in their hair.

A car traveling at 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour burns half of its fuel just to overcome wind resistance. What a drag . . . on your wallet.

The Ten Commandments contain 297 words.
The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words.
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address contains 266 words.
A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words.

American car horns beep in the tone of F.

China is believed to be the world’s oldest continuously existing human civilization. That is, if we consider humans to be civilized.

An average person consumes more than a ton of food and drink each year.

The car in the foreground on the back of an American $10 bill is a 1925 Hupmobile.

The real name of the horse in the television show “Mister Ed” was Bamboo Harvester.

Bali, an island of Indonesia, has the world’s largest variety of flora, or plant life.

All the people on Earth could fit into a 1-kilometer cube, if done so in the manner that groups of people once stuffed themselves into telephone booths or crowds of clowns stuff all of themselves into tiny cars

Cars were first started with ignition keys in 1949.

What is ‘dry ice’? Dry ice is compressed carbon dioxide gas. It is compressed until it is liquefied; after liquefaction, it is frozen. Dry ice is used as a refrigerant, as it is a solid that changes back to a gas without ever becoming a liquid. It remains in a solid state for a longer time, and at cooler temperatures, than ordinary ice.

Most of the vitamin C in fruits is in the skin.

William Moulton Marston was the creator of the fictional superhero Wonder Woman. He also invented the polygraph machine, widely known as the lie detector.

England’s first great industry was wool.

The world record for a photographic memory feat is held by a man in Burma who recited 16,000 pages of Buddhist canonical texts from memory.

Every year, one ton of cement is poured for each man, woman, and child on Earth. What are you going to do with yours?

Dreamt is the only English word that ends in ‘mt.’

Half of all crimes are committed by people under the age of 18. That is the second important reason children should be encouraged to stay in school.

During a total solar eclipse, the temperature can drop by 6 degrees Celsius (20 degrees Fahrenheit).

A wire clothes hanger is about 112 centimeters (44 inches) long when straightened.

Halley’s Comet passes the Earth every 76 years, and the next time it will return will be 2062.

An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts.

Jack is the most common name in nursery rhymes.

About 45 percent of the world’s human population lives in China and India.

The first comic strip was, “The Yellow Kid,” published in the “New York World” newspaper starting in 1896. The cartoonist was named Richard Felton Outcault.

Someone has said that it takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown.

Two of the words in the English language that have all five vowels in alphabetical order are ‘abstemious’ and ‘facetious.’ Even more amazing is that no one really knows what these words mean.

1,100 watts of electricity are needed to power a toaster.

The Sea of Tranquility on the Moon is deeper than the highest mountain on Earth.

‘Sheik’ means ‘old man’ in Arabic.

The symbol # is known as a pound sign, a hashtag, an octothorpe, and by other names. Octo means eight, and it does appear to have 8 legs. It also resembles the grid used in the game tic-tac-toe. Fascinating.

More than 500 meteorites, or rocks from outer space, hit the Earth each year.

Rubber bands last longer when kept refrigerated.

The Tower of Independence clock on the back of a U.S. $100 dollar bill shows the time as 4:10.

The first rugby club was formed in 1843.

The typical wave height from a Pacific tsunami is between 6 and 9 meters (20 and 30 feet).

Ninety percent or more of an iceberg is under water.

In 1872, Yellowstone Park in the United States of America became the world’s first national park.

The dishwasher was invented in 1889.

The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea is Sicily.

An average person consumes 100 tons of food in a lifetime.

The supersonic Concorde jet made its first trial flight on 1 January 1969.

The oldest word in the English language is ‘town.’

The average person has 10,000 taste buds.

The Pyramid of Giza, one of the Great Pyramids in Egypt, is made of 2.5 million blocks of stone.

The longest one-syllable word in the English language is ‘screeched.’

Yahoo was originally called ‘Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web.’

At a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conference in 1972, Roxcy Bolton proposed naming hurricanes after Senators instead of women. She also preferred “him-i-canes.”

Hurricanes are storms that form over seas or oceans and last for up to ten days.

Classical music composer Ludwig van Beethoven was once told by a music teacher that he had no talent for music.

A purple finch is a type of bird. Despite its name, it is crimson, which is a shade of red, in color.

Chinese gooseberries originate in New Zealand.

Before jets and jet lag, there were boats and boat lag.

The world’s knowledge is growing so fast that ninety percent of what we will know in 50 years’ time will be discovered in those 50 years.

The doorbell was invented in 1831.

‘Karoke’ means ‘empty orchestra’ in Japanese.

The United States Army’s jeep was not always called by that name. It was initially called a general purpose vehicle. It was then shortened to GP (jeep), and the manufacturer started to manufacture the general purposes vehicles under the name “Jeep.”

In 1972, a Swedish man balanced on one foot for over five hours, using nothing for support.

Castor oil is used as a lubricant in jet airplanes.

The three most common languages in the world are Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and English.

Clark Gable’s middle name was Clark, and his first name was William.

Possibly, every person is afraid of something, and some people are said to be afraid of everything. Panophobia is a fear of everything, and nihilophobia is a fear of absolutely nothing . . . also known as being foolhardy.

‘Almost’ is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

The largest living structure on Earth is the 2,000 kilometer (1,243 mile) long Great Barrier Reef on Australia’s coast.

“Well, allow me to introduce myself to you as an advocate of Ornamental Knowledge. You like the mind to be a neat machine equipped to work efficiently if narrowly and with no extra bits or useless parts. I like the mind to be a dustbin of scraps of brilliant fabric, odd gems, worthless but fascinating curiosities, tinsel, quaint bits of carving, and a reasonable amount of healthy dirt. Shake the machine and it goes out of order; shake the dustbin and it adjusts itself beautifully to its new position.” -Robertson Davies (William Robertson Davies (1913 - 1995))

This is MFOL! . . . where there is no such thing as an unimportant fact . . . more follows . . . with some fun . . .

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Laundry

4/29/2021

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Hip-hip-hooray . . . for laundry day!

Joshua: What did the washer say to the dryer?
Samuel: “Let’s go for a spin!”

Never Judge Your Neighbor’s Laundry Skills . . . A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging laundry outside. “That laundry is not very clean,” she said. “She doesn’t know how to wash. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her laundry to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, “Look, she has learned how to wash. I wonder how that happened?” The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

I·ro·ny (ꞌī-rǝ-nē), noun: the opposite of wrinkly.

Jenny: What happened when the leopard went to the laundromat?
Jimmy: He came out spotless.

“You might think that your clothes are happiest when you are wearing them. But your clothes’ best memories are likely to be of going for a spin in the washing machine and then the clothes dryer, enjoying some leisurely time relaxing in your dresser drawers, or just hanging around with the other clothes in your closet.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

Considering all the lint in the dryer, if we keep drying our clothes, could they eventually just disappear?

Linus: What is big, gray, and hard to spot?
Lynette: A stain-resistant elephant.

“Give me a laundry list and I’ll set it to music.” -Giocchino Rossini (Gioacchini Antonio Rossini (1792 - 1868))

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ten minutes and come out wrinkle-free and two sizes smaller?” -Author Unknown

Always Read the Label . . . One day, a teenager decided to wash his sweatshirt. Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to his mother, “What setting do I use on the washing machine?” “It depends,” she replied. “What does it say on your shirt?” He yelled back, “Greendale High School.”

The most common invention of the 19th century was the washing machine. Between 1804 and 1873, at least 1,676 patents were issued by the United States Patent Office for various forms of the device.

They that Wash

They that wash on Monday
     Have all the week to dry;
They that wash on Tuesday
     Are not so much awry;
They that wash on Wednesday
     Are not so much to blame;
They that wash on Thursday
     Wash for shame;
They that wash on Friday
     Wash in need;
They that wash on Saturday
     Have lots of clothes indeed.

by Author Unknown

Laddie What did one sock say to the other sock in the clothes dryer?
Lassie: I’ll see you the next time around!

“Our laundry has just sent back some buttons with no shirt on them.” -Author Unknown

Maude: What should never be aired in public?
Blanche: Dirty laundry.

Historic moments in laundry: In 1949, the first unattended, 24-hour self-service laundromat ever in the United States of America was opened by Nelson Puett on North Loop in Austin, Texas.

Clothes dried outside on clotheslines smell better because of a process called ‘photolysis’ in which sunlight breaks down compounds that cause odor.

Hamper: A container with a lid, usually surrounded by, but not containing, dirty clothes.

Missy: What happened when the wolf went to the laundromat?
Misty: He became a wash and werewolf.

The Basic Rules for Clotheslines
- Wash the clothes lines before hanging any clothes - walk the entire lengths of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.
- Hang the clothes in the right order, following the instinctual method implanted in your brain.
- Never hang a shirt by the shoulders, always by the tail. Otherwise, what would the neighbors think?
- Wash day is Monday. Never hang clothes on the Weekend, or Sunday!
- Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so that you can hide your faded, raggedy work clothes in the middle, out of sight of everybody.
- Remember, even in subzero weather, clothes will ‘freeze-dry.’
- Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes! Pins left on the lines are ‘tacky.’
- If you are efficient, line up the clothes so that each item does not need two clothes pins, but share one of the clothes pins with the next article on the clothesline.
- Clothes must be off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.
- Ironed?! Well, that’s an entirely different topic!

Mount Wash More: What to name that pile of dirty laundry.

Paul: Which American state has the most laundry to do?
Harvey: Washington.

“They earned a precarious living by taking in one another’s washing.” -Author Unknown

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l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ www.MakeFunOfLife.net ♥ l o v e ☼ g r o w
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This is the Way We Wash Our Clothes

This is the way we wash our clothes,
     Rub-a-dub-dub, rub-a-dub-dub;
See them getting clean and white,
     Rub-a-dub-dub, rub-a-dub-dub;

This is the way we hang them out,
     Flippity-flap, flippity-flap;
See them blowing in the wind,
     Flippity-flap, flippity-flap;

This is the way we iron them flat,
     Smooth as can be, smooth as can be;
Soon our wash day will be done,
     And nice clean clothes for you and me.

by Author Unknown: can be sung to the same tune as that of the song, “Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush”

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ www.MakeFunOfLife.net ♥ l o v e ☼ g r o w
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Laundry: Loads and loads of fun!

Jeb: Do you know any laundry jokes?
Ben: I have loads of them!

Here’s a tip for cheapskates or folks who live in the great outdoors. You may not want to hang your wet clothes to dry on tree branches or rocks, because they could be dirty or covered with debris. Carry a long piece of string with you. Double it, or fold it in half lengthwise, and then give it a few twists lengthwise. Tie each end to something, such as a tree branch. After your clothes are soaked by rain or after hand washing your clothes in the river or a container, simply insert your clothes anywhere in your string ‘clothes line’ between the twists, which will hold your garments securely in place against breezes and gravity. Clothes pins will be completely unnecessary.

Overheard: It’s laundry day, so I’m taking all my dirty garments down by the river to beat them on a rock.

A large-mouthed plastic bottle can be a washing machine. Simply fill it with water, detergent or soap, and an article of clothing. Put the lid on tight, and shake and shake the bottle. Pour out the sudsy water, pour in some new water, recap the bottle, and shake some more. Repeat as necessary to remove suds, then remove the article of clothing, squeeze or ring out the water if desired, and hang it on a clothesline to dry.

Clothesline: A solar-and-wind-powered clothes dryer.

Martha: What do you call doing 2,000 pounds of laundry?
George: A washing . . . ton!

Clothes dryer (klōz drī•yer), noun: An appliance that some people say eats socks, but which may actually be a portal that sends socks into another space-time dimension from which they never return.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Clothes.
Clothes, who?
Clothes the lid or the washing machine won’t start.

This is MFOL! . . . life with a smile . . .

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Walking and Ambulating

4/25/2021

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The Ministry of Silly Walks is a British Government agency tasked with devising funny ways of walking. It is a fictional creation of the Monty Python comedy troupe, made for a segment in “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” season 2, episode 14, titled ‘Face the Press,’ which first aired on television in 1970. The creation is commemorated on 7 January of each year in various locales around the world as International Silly Walks Day.

In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of five times around the Earth’s equator. Be sure to pick up some coconuts and bananas while you are there.

“If you walk backwards, you’ll never stub your toe.” -Harvey McKay

Humans are the ‘walking animals.’ We were made to walk all day, originally as hunter-gatherers. We were not made to sit or lay about all day. In fact, being sedentary, or inactive, for too long weakens us by causing everything from bone mass loss to muscle atrophy. So, to maintain good physical fitness, walk a little or a lot, every single day, just like your long-ago ancestors did.

There was an old person of Deal,
Who in walking used only his heel;
     When they said, “Tell us why?”
     He made no reply,
That mysterious old person of Deal.
-Edward Lear: “More Nonsense, Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, Etc.” (1872)

Riddle: What has one hundred legs but cannot walk?
Solution: Fifty pairs of pants.

Amish men take about 18,425 steps per day. Amish women take about 14,196. The average American adult takes about 4,000 steps per day. Only 4 percent of Amish are obese, compared to 31 percent of the general American population.

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)): “Twilight of the Idols” (1888)

‘Walking’ is also known as ‘ambulating.’ The word ‘walk’ is derived from the Old English word ‘wealcan’ meaning ‘to roll’ . . . which brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Let’s roll!”

“Walking isn’t really a lost art. One must by some such means get to the garage or parking place.” -Herbert V. Prochnow (Herbert Victor Prochnow (1897 - 1998))

It would take about 225 million years to walk one lightyear, at the pace of 20 minutes a mile. We had better get started now if we are going to make it before dark.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Otis.
Otis, who?
Otis a wonderful day for a walk in the park!

With the Earth being about 40,234 kilometers (25,000 miles) in circumference and the average walking rate being 4.99 kilometers (3.1 miles) per hour, it would take a person walking nonstop approximately 336 days to walk around the world, assuming that he or she did not sleep and could walk on the water’s surface as well as the land.

“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” -Richard Branson (Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 1950))

Ambulophobia is a persistent fear of walking. If you have this phobia and amaxophobia, a persistent fear of riding in a vehicle, you are pretty much not going anywhere ever, which in itself is a frightening thought.

“I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.” -Fred Allen (John Florence Sullivan (1894 - 1956))

Are walking tours available to you in your community? Walking tours are typically organized with a tour leader and a group of participants, who walk through an area for sightseeing, to sample foods and beverages at local eateries, to visit galleries and museums, to explore parks and gardens, or to learn about landmarks and history. Walking groups can be organized for physical fitness and exercise as well.

“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862): “Journals” (1838 - 1859), ‘20 April 1840’

Humans became bipedal between three and six million years ago. Scientists believe that humans started walking on two legs to carry objects better and to use energy more efficiently. It also gives them a better view of their surroundings.

“If the Good Lord intended for us to walk, he wouldn’t have invented roller-skates.” -Roald Dahl (1916 - 1990)

There was a young girl of Majorca
Whose aunt was a very fast walker;
     She walked sixty miles
     And leaped fifteen stiles,
Which astonished that girl of Majorca.
-Edward Lear (1812 - 1888): “A Book of Nonsense” (1846), limerick 101
(A stile is a type of gate in a fence or a wall that livestock such as cattle and sheep cannot step over or through, but which people can step over or through.

A woman went out for a walk. She came to a river and could not see a bridge anywhere. She spotted another woman on the opposite bank of the river and she shouted to her, “How can I get to the other side?!” The second woman looked up the river and down the river, and then shouted back, “You’re already on the other side!”

There was an old person of Wilts,
Who constantly walked upon stilts;
     He wreathed them with lilies
     And daffy-down-dillies,
That elegant person of Wilts.
-Edward Lear (1812 - 1888)

“After a day’s walk everything has twice its usual value.” -George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876 - 1962)

The longest walk around the world was completed by a former neon-sign salesman named Jean Béliveau (born 18 August 1955). He walked 46,600 miles around 64 countries. The trip took him 11 years and 2 months, from 18 August 2000 until 16 October 2011.

“Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.” -Steven Wright (Steven Alexander Wright (born 1955))

“There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast.” -Paul Scott Mowrer (1887 - 1971)

“A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.” -Paul Dudley White (1886 - 1973)

McGee: Why do bagpipers walk when they play?
O’Neill: To get away from the sound.

Walking may help decrease the risk of heart attack, decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and may even reduce the risk of bone fracture. Additionally, brisk walking may reduce stress and depression levels, and possibly improve cancer survival rates.

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” -John Muir (1838 - 1914)

“Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

Experts suggest walking 6,000 steps a day to improve health and 10,000 steps a day to lose weight - but who among us counts their steps? Small pedometers that use electromechanical switches can be worn on the hip to count steps, and GPS-enabled devices, including some cell phones, can be equipped with ‘aps’ to measure distance.

“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence, and nothing too much.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Experts note that when shopping for walking shoes, you should always buy shoes that feel comfortable right away. There is no “breaking-in period.” Also, feet swell during the day, so it is important to get fitted for walking shoes at the end of the day when feet are their largest.

“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” -Plato (427 B.C.E. - 347 B.C.E.)

Scientists believe that walking was originated underwater by ‘hopping’ air-breathing fish.

“One step at a time is good walking.” -Author Unknown: Chinese proverb

“Locomotion: Moving in a crazy fashion.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

[-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]

Walking Woes

I’m sick and tired of walking,
     Walking here and there
Walking to and fro,
     Walking everywhere!

Tomorrow I won’t walk at all,
     I’m going to see it through,
I know I’ll have to get to school
     But walking I won’t do!

I’ll stomp downstairs,
     Creep through the door
And amble down the street
     I’ll wander round the corner
And traipse on my two feet!

I’ll plod, strut, limp, and march,
     I’ll stroll and hike and roam.
I’ll saunter, trek, and shuffle,
     As I trudge away from home.

I’ll meander past the school gates,
     And toddle through the door,
I’ll lumber to my classroom,
     And then I’ll walk no more!

by J. Shaw

[-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]

“All walking is discovery. On foot we take the time to see things whole.” -Hal Borland

As with any changes in lifestyle, you may need to consult a physician and other experts before beginning a program of walking or other activities that could impact any existing health condition you might have and your personal safety. That is just something we have to tell people for their own good and so they know that we are not advising any person to undertake activities that could place a person at risk of harm . . . okey-dokey, then.

“If you only walk on sunny days, you’ll never reach your destination.” -Paulo Coelho (born 1947)

Racewalking has been an official Olympic sport for more than 90 years. The course distances vary from 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) to 153 kilometers (95 miles).

“Walking: The action of repeatedly falling forward and then catching oneself each time with the foot and leg before one’s face can strike the ground.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“I can’t bring myself to say, ‘Well, I guess I’ll be toddling along.’ It isn’t that I can’t toddle. It’s just that I can’t guess I’ll toddle.” -Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)

The best way to lose weight by walking is to take a longer, moderately paced walk (40 minutes at 60 to 65 percent maximum heart rate). Shorter, faster walks (20 to 25 minutes at 75 percent to 85 percent maximum heart rate) are best for conditioning the heart and lungs.

“Many a false step is taken by standing still.” -Arnold Glasow (Arnold Henry Glasow (1905 - 1998))

“Above all do not lose your desire to walk. Every day, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill . . . if one keeps on walking everything will be alright.” - Søren Kierkegaard (Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855))

“Thoughts come clearly while one walks.” -Thomas Mann

“It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy.” -Teresa of Calcutta (also known as Mother Teresa, born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (1910 - 1997))

You are now free to move away from your computer and go outside for a walk . . . unless you are a passenger in a flying airplane . . .

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Difficulty and Ease

4/17/2021

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Sometimes people choose to do things not because they are easy, but because they are difficult . . .

“We often arrive at ease by first going through difficulty.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.” -Isak Dinesen (pseudonym of Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke (1885 - 1962))

“Have you ever noticed how most things, though certainly not all, turn out to be easier than we had thought they would be, after we get started?” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Just because something is difficult does not mean you should not do it.” -Author Unknown

“Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them, they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“I’m not telling you it is going to be easy; I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” -Author Unknown

“All things are difficult before they are easy.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 560

“Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do. Not that the nature of the thing has changed, but our ability to do has increased.” -David O. McKay (David Oman McKay (1873 - 1970))

“The level path is easy, but it will not bring you to the mountaintop.” -Idel Dreimer

“Most obstacles melt away when we make up our minds to walk boldly through them.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult.” [translation to English]
“La distance n’y fait rien; il n’y a que le premier pas qui coute.” [original French]
-Marie de Vichy-Chamrond (1697 - 1780): letter (7 July 1763) to Jean Le Rond d’Alembert

“Everything is difficult at first.” -Author Unknown

“I am always looking for an easier way of doing everything . . . not that I’m lazy, but that it gives me more life-energy to put into other things.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” -Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

“The problem of life is not to make life easier, but to make people stronger.” -David Starr Jordan (1851 - 1931)

“If you want to make an easy job harder, just keep putting it off.” -William James (1842 - 1910): as quoted in “The Letters of William James” (1920), ‘To Carl Stumpf’ (1 January 1886)

“Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard think makes it impossible.” -George C. Lorimer

“Take the gentle path.” -George Herbert (1593 - 1633)

“There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly.” -Terence (Publius Terentius Afer (about 185 B.C.E. - 159 B.C.E.)): “Heauton Timoroumenos” (English: “The Self-Tormentor”)

“It never becomes easy; it becomes possible.” -Agnes De Mille

“The most difficult jobs look easy until you try to do them.” -William Feather (William A. Feather (1889 - 1981)): as quoted in Ted Landphair: “Featherisms” (6 October 2008)

“If your path is more difficult, it is because your calling is higher.” -Author Unknown

“A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.” -William Cowper (1731 - 1800)

“Nothing is easy to the unwilling.” -Nikki Giovanni (Yolande Cornelia ‘Nikki’ Giovanni, Junior (born 1943))

“Absorption in ease is one of the most reliable signs of present or impending decay.” -Richard Weaver

“One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.” -Jack Penn

“Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Half effort does not produce half results. It produces no results. Work, continuous work and hard work, is the only way to accomplish results that last.” -Hamilton Holt

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” -Beverly Sills (1929 - 2007)

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” -Marie Curie (Marie Sklodowska-Curie (1867 - 1934))

“It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.” -Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

“One thing you learn the hard way is that there is no easy way.” -Author Unknown

“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.” -Edgar Degas

“If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.” -Louis Brandeis (Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856 - 1941))

“Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, it no longer matters.” -Scott Peck (1936 - 2005): “The Road Less Traveled” (1978)

“Work hard to make things easier.” -Pete Carill

“Don’t confuse your path with your destination. Just because it’s stormy now doesn’t mean that you aren’t headed for sunshine.” -Author Unknown

“Obstacles are great incentives.” -Jules Michelet

“What we hope ever to do with ease, we must first learn to do with diligence.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“In no direction that we turn do we find ease or comfort. If we are honest and if we have the will to win, we find only danger, hard work, and iron resolution.” -Wendall Willkie (Wendell Lewis Willkie (1892 - 1944))

“There is no fruit that is not bitter before it is ripe.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)

“Looking back we see with great clarity, and what once appeared as difficulties now reveal themselves as blessings.” -Dan Millman

This is MFOL! . . . that wasn’t difficult at all . . . tee-hee-hee . . . tee-hee-hee . . .

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Hair Loss and Wigs

4/11/2021

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“We’re all born bald, baby.” -Author Unknown: “Kojack” television series; line spoken by fictional bald detective Kojack (portrayed by actor Telly Savalas)

Twig

A bald-headed person named Twig
Once went for advice to a pig.
     Said the pig, “Make some snares,
     And catch a few hares,
And weave the hares into a wig.”

by Willard R. Espy (Willard Richardson Espy (1910 - 1999))

“You can resent your bald spot or be glad you have a head.” -Timothy Miller

Angus: Why did the bald man paint rabbits on his head?
Angelica: Because from a distance, they look like hares.

Julius Caesar wore a laurel wreath to cover his balding head. One might wonder if that is how the whole silly notion of crowns and tiaras began.

Consolation for Baldness

What’s the advantage of hair, anyhow?
     It blows in your eyes and it flops on your brow,
Disguising the shape of your scholarly head;
     It often is gray and it sometimes is red.
Perhaps it is golden and ringleted, but
     It needs to be combed and it has to be cut,
And even at best, it is nothing to boast of,
     Because it’s what barbarous men have the most of,
Then challenge yourself, mirror, defiant and careless,
     For lots of our handsomest people are hairless.

by Arthur Guiterman (1871 - 1943)

Bald-headed Man: One who, when expecting visitors, has only to straighten his necktie.

The balding man asked his barber, “Why charge me the full price for cutting my hair, as there’s so little of it?” “Well,” said the barber, “actually I charge very little for cutting it. What you’re paying for is my searching for it.”

Overheard: I am not bald; I am follicly-challenged.

There is a new remedy on the market for baldness. It is made of alum and persimmon juice. While it does not grow hair, it does shrink your head to fit what hair you have remaining.

Daniel: What did the bald man say when he got a comb for his birthday?
Leonard: “Thanks, I’ll never part with this!”

As Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard might say, “To baldly go where no man has gone before . . . !”

Overheard: “I’m not bald; I’m just a little taller than my hair.”

One advantage of being completely bald is that a person can wash his or her head with soap only - no need for a bothersome and sometimes confusing collection of bottles of shampoos and conditioners. This saves you 78.71 seconds of time each day that you can now put to good use - not to mention the fact that you now no longer need to waste time in the shampoo aisle at the store trying to find a shampoo that doesn’t smell like a beautifully fragrant flower growing next to a sewage treatment plant.

Gregory Griggs

Gregory Griggs, Gregory Griggs,
     Had twenty-seven different wigs.
He wore them up, he wore them down,
     To please the people of the town.
He wore them east, he wore them west,
     And never could tell which one he liked best.

by Author Unknown

Alternatives to wigs include hats, bonnets, and scarves.

Riddle: Six people went swimming but only five got wet hair - why?
Answer: One of the people was bald.

People with hair loss are no different than anyone else. In fact, at one time, they probably had hair just like you do, and at some time, you yourself may have some hair loss. So, when you see a bald man, woman, or child, treat him or her just as you would want to be treated if you were in the same circumstances. And, if a person has hair loss and wears a wig or toupée or has a comb-over, or wears a scarf or hat, avoid saying anything either good or bad about it - in fact, it is better to keep your thoughts to yourself and leave them unsaid than it would be to hurt someone’s feelings. Sometimes people do not have a choice in what happens to them, so they do as best they can to live with how their lives have turned out . . . and they are always welcome here on MFOL!

There was an old person of Brigg,
Who purchased no end of a wig;
So that only his nose,
And the end of his toes,
Could be seen when he walked about Brigg.
-Edward Lear: “More Nonsense, Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, Etc.” (1872), limerick 98

“There is one thing about baldness - it’s neat.” -Don Herold (1889 - 1966)

Bob: What is the cure for dandruff?
Otto: Baldness.

“Toupée or not toupée, that is the question.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Grass doesn’t grow on a busy street.” -William Hague, commenting on being bald

“I seem to have developed a compulsion to powder my wig . . . about 50 times a day now . . . professionals just don’t seem to be of any help.” -Author Unknown

Baldness: An admirable trait of the ideal human being, according to minimalists and efficiency experts.

“Bald people never have bad hair days.” -Author Unknown

Chris: Why are you staring at me like that?
Kelly: I was just admiring your bald spot.

“Some folks say that worry causes hair loss - that when the going gets tough, the tufts get going.” -Author Unknown

Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time . . . but today the company no longer exists . . . perhaps the proliferation of long-term hair-leasing companies put them out of business?

“A look at their domes makes it obvious that as men grow older, they become hard of hairing.” -Frank Tyger (1929 - 2011)

Old Man of Bombay

There once was a man from Bombay
Who wore on his head a toupée.
He thought that he might
Give friends a delight
And remove his toupée for a day.

by Author Unknown

The most common method to hide a bald spot is to remove all of one’s hair, making one’s entire self a giant bald spot.

“There is more felicity on the far side of baldness than young men can possibly imagine.” -Logan Pearsall Smith (1865 - 1946)

Have you heard about the new worldwide holiday, called Make Fun of People with Hair Day?

An interesting fact about male pattern baldness is that it does not appear to come in checkers, plaids, or stripes . . .

“I’ve always wanted to be bald. I mean it, completely bald. Wouldn’t it be great to be bald in the rain?” -Harrison Ford (born 1942)

Hair Loss and Wigs Quiz
- What hair color do they put on a bald person’s driver’s license?
- If a bald person works as a chef at a restaurant, does he or she have to wear a hairnet?
- Is there any way to avoid the ‘chrome dome’ look, in which a bald person’s head becomes shiny and reflective?
- Should bald people pay lower taxes than other taxpayers?
- How should bald people be treated?

“Anyone can be confident with a full head of hair. But a confident bald man - there’s your diamond in the rough.” -Larry David

“Underneath their hair, everyone is bald! Hair is just an ornament or decoration.” -Author Unknown

“The most delightful advantage to being bald: one can hear snowflakes.” -R. G. Daniels

We have been losing what little hair we still have trying to come up with more Hair Loss and Wigs humor and information. We have much more fun stuff on a surprising variety of other topics, if you will just continue traveling down the page . . . this way to further fun . . . on MFOL!

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Kisses and Kissing

4/11/2021

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“A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years.” -Rupert Brooke (1887 - 1915)

[A kiss is] “A peculiar proposition. Of no use to one, yet absolute bliss to two. The small boy gets it for nothing, the young man has to lie for it, and the old man has to buy it. The baby’s right, the lover’s privilege, and the hypocrite’s mask. To a young girl, faith; to a married woman, hope; and to an old maid, charity.” -Linus Price ‘Skipper’ Hayes (1906 - 1962): “V. P. I. Skipper” (about 1930)

Kisses

There’s a kiss to say I love you,
     There’s a kiss to say I care.
There’s a kiss to prove our friendship,
     There’s a kiss for us to share.
There’s a kiss to say it’s always,
     There’s a kiss to say it’s true.
But the kiss I loved most,
     Was the kiss I got from you.

by Author Unknown

Walking up to a department store’s fabric counter, a pretty girl said, “I want to buy this material for a new dress. How much does it cost?” ”Only one kiss per yard,” replied the smirking clerk. ”That’s fine,” replied the girl. “I’ll take ten yards.” With expectation and anticipation written all over his face, the clerk hurriedly measured out and wrapped the cloth, then held it out teasingly. The girl snapped up the package and pointed to a little old man standing beside her. “Grandpa will pay the bill,” she smiled.

“Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you.” -Joey Adams (born Joseph Abramowitz (1911 - 1999))

Bad Dream

There was an old man of Peru,
Who dreamed he was kissing his shoe.
     He woke in the night
     In a terrible fright,
And found that it was perfectly true!

by Author Unknown

“A little kiss can make a big difference.” -Author Unknown

Kock, knock.
Who’s there?
Keith.
Keith, who?
Keith me, thweetheart!

“Kisses are a better fate than wisdom.” -e. e. cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings (1894 - 1962))

“Send your little child to bed happy. Whatever cares press, give it a warm good-night kiss as it goes to its pillow. The memory of this in the stormy years which fate may have in store for the little one will be like Bethlehem’s star to the bewildered shepherds. “My father, my mother, - loved me!” Fate cannot take away that blessed heart-balm. Lips parched with the world’s fever will become dewy again at this thrill of youthful memories. Kiss your little child before it goes to sleep.” -Charles Bullock (1871)

“People who throw kisses are mighty hopelessly lazy.” -Bob Hope (born Leslie Townes Hope (1903 - 2003))

“Kissing is a means of getting two people so close together that they can’t see anything wrong with each other.” -René Yasenek

“To me, there is no greater act of courage than to be the one who kisses first.” -Janeane Garafolo (Janeane Marie Garofalo (born 1964))

“A passionate kiss burns the calories in one potato chip.” -Francis Sheridan Goulart (1989)

A one-minute kiss burns twenty-six calories.

Teach not thy lips such scorn, for they were made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
-William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “Richard III” (about 1592), Act I, scene 2

“A kiss is a pleasant reminder that two heads are better than one.” -Author Unknown

“You would think that, if our lips were made of horn, and stuck out a foot or two from our faces, kisses at any rate would be done for. Not so. No creatures kiss each other so much as birds.” -Thomas Buxton (Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786 - 1845))

“A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.” -Ingrid Bergman (1915 - 1982)

“The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior (1809 - 1894): “The Professor at the Breakfast-Table” (1859)

Never a lip is curved with pain
That can’t be kissed into smile again.
-Bret Harte (Francis Bret ‘Bret’ Harte (1836 - 1902))

“You have to kiss a lot of toads to find your handsome prince.” -Author Unknown

“Kissing don’t last: cookery do!” -George Meredith (1828 - 1909)

Philemaphobia, also called philematophobia, is a persistent fear of kissing. Kissing is how people get germs - it’s horribly disgusting - and so gross!

Jenny Kissed Me

Jenny kiss’d me when we met,
     Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who loves to get
     Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I’m weary, say I’m sad,
     Say that health and wealth have missed me,
Say I’m growing old, but add
     Jenny kiss’d me.

by Leigh Hunt (James Henry ‘Leigh’ Hunt (1784 - 1859)): as published in the “Monthly Chronicle” (November 1838)

“For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. ’Twas was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.” -Judy Garland (Frances Gumm (1922 - 1969))

“Your kiss is on my list of the best things in life.” -Author Unknown

We are MFOL! . . . putting a little bubbly optimism in your day . . .

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Superheroes

4/8/2021

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“Ask yourself who you want to help today, then put on your cape and do it.” -Scottie Somers

Judy: Who can leap higher than a tall building?
Jody: Anybody, because tall buildings cannot leap!

Admit it, at some point in life, you have tried to see if you have super powers.

Darla: Why did the superhero cross the road?
Marla: To get to the supermarket.

Overheard: I am not saying I am Batman, I am just saying that no one has ever seen me and Batman in a room together.

Myrna: What is Batman’s favorite part of a joke?
Verna: The ‘punch’ line!

We have a great idea for a new superhero: Spudman. Like all potato people, he has many ‘eyes’ so he can simultaneously see in all directions without having to turn and look. His secret hideout is underground in a farm field, although he is often spotted in the produce section at grocery stores. He has to contend with a number of villainous chefs who want to turn him into garlic mashed potatoes, onion-potato cakes, a bacon-and-chives topped stuffed baked potato, or other fabulous foodstuffs, while he tries to save the people of Vegopolis from a massive celery famine, all the while being distracted by Sweet Potato and Candied Yam, both of whom are competing for his attention . . . what’s that . . . oh, gotta go, the boss is yelling at us to stop goofing around and get back to work!

Eunice: Why is Superman’s shirt so tight?
Eustice: Because it is a size ‘S’!

Kirby: How does the butler Alfred Pennyworth call Batman to dinner?
Herbie: “Dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner-Batman!!!” (Sing it to the tune of the 1960’s “Batman” television show theme music to get the full effect of the joke.)

Overheard: If I could be a superhero, I would be called Ironic. That way, when there is any trouble and I am running away from it, people would say, “Isn’t that Ironic?”

Every episode of the television show “Seinfeld” has a reference to Superman somewhere in it.

Alvin: What is Spiderman’s favorite month?
Vincent: Webruary.

Superman first appeared in “Action Comics no. 1” (June 1938).

Jingle Bells, Batman smells,
Robin laid an egg,
The bat-mobile lost its wheels,
And Joker got away!
-Author Unknown

People tend to think they are physically stronger when wearing Superman t-shirts.

Superboy: Why could Batman and Robin not go fishing?
Superman: Why?
Superboy: Because Robin ate all the worms!

Spiderman went to the video rental store and asked if he could have “Batman Forever.” The clerk said, “No, just 24 hours like everyone else.”

It’s just an ordinary day in the life of a superhero . . . who lives by the code, “Do a good deed each day.”

Emma: How does Spiderman repair holes in his costume?
Emmit: With super glue!

The unassuming Clark Kent wears regular-people clothes, but when he becomes Superman, he rapidly changes into a colorful red-and-blue spandex suit with a cape - so what does he do with his regular clothes when he is in super-mode? Rumor has it that he wears his superhero outfit under his regular clothes, and that he has a hidden pocket in his cape, into which he places his super-neatly-folded regular clothes. Mystery solved!

Charlene: What would you get if Batman and his sidekick Robin were run over by a herd of stampeding elephants?
Darlene: Flatman and Ribbon.

Superman, also known as Clark Kent, was created in 1934 by Jerome ‘Jerry’ Siegel, a graduate of Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America. Mr. Siegel’s partner, Joseph ‘Joe’ Shuster, improved the character with tights, a cape, and a handsome face. They moved to New York City, where they faced hard times and sold all rights to the comic-strip character to DC Comics for a mere $130. In June 1938, the first Superman comic appeared, and the muscle-bound flying man ‘really took off.’

Merlin: What was Batman doing in a tree?
Marlena: Looking for Robin.

As the mild-mannered Clark Kent, Superman is afraid of girls. He is probably worried that he will run into the one he stole the red-and-blue outfit he wears from.

Archie: What is green and sour and flies?
Archibald: Super Pickle!

The name ‘Clark Kent’ (Superman) was derived from the names of actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor.

Ernest: What is the difference between the Green Lantern and a leprechaun?
Nestor: Nothing; they are both fictional characters.

Legal disclaimer on an actual superhero costume: Wearing this costume does not enable its wearer to fly.

“DC Comics is reviving Superman’s old outfit. I never understood Superman’s clothes. We all got used to the fact that he wears his underpants over the leotard. But why do his underpants have a belt on them?” -Jay Leno

Does ‘Spiderman’ have a ‘website’?

Mathilda: Where do superheroes hold their annual convention?
Hilda: Cape Town.

Unlikely Superheroes
- Vacuum Cleaner Sales & Repair Man: He not only sells you a vacuum cleaner, but he also fixes it if is ever broken.
- Shoe Collector Woman: Travels through the air in a flying shoe and throws shoes at criminals.
- Hysterical Parrot: Shows up and causes so much chaos and confusion that villains give up and flee the scene.
- Ironman: Saves people by removing the wrinkles from their clothes, as for example, just before their job interviews and weddings.
- The Historian: Has the power to become any person in history.
- The Caped Politician: Watches over polling places to make sure nobody cheats by voting more than once.
- The Cheapskate: A superhero who saves the world by showing people how to do everything for less money.
- The Element: A superhero who can become anything on the Periodic Table.
- The Upset Grenade: A superhero who explodes and then later reassembles.
- Can you think of others?

This looks like a job for a superhero . . . or perhaps it is a job for you . . .

Superman climbed the Empire State Building to challenge King Kong to a fight. King Kong said, “I don’t have time - I’ve got to catch a plane!”

Why do superheroes wear their underpants on the outside of their clothes? Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all wear elaborate costumes. The trio of superhero characters was created between 1935 and 1945. They were meant to be men and women of action, so their costumes were based on the men and women of action of the time. Superman’s costume was originally like that of a circus strongman. Wonder Woman’s was modeled on the costume of a trapeze artist. Their costumes were meant to be flashy and exciting and glamorous. Batman’s costume was based more on the black-and-white ‘film noir’ movies of the times, which were about dark avengers who skulked about in the shadows, scaring the wits out of criminals (Sounds like fun, right? Maybe you should consider a career in law enforcement.). Because Batman was meant to be a scary character, his costume made him look like a creepy creature from the shadows. Those costume styles stuck and became clichéd, particularly since the three characters had become instant hits of that time period. So, when new superheroes began to arrive, they also tended to have capes and tights just like circus-strongman Superman wears, or colorful trapeze outfits like Wonder Woman wears, or dark cloaks and scary masks like Batman wears. Because superhero creators are competitive, the result over time was that superhero costumes became more and more show-offish. And, what looks like underwear worn on the outside of their superhero costumes is actually tight shorts commonly worn by circus performers of the time, which gave them freedom of movement as they did their stunts to entertain audiences. What may look like belts holding up their ‘underpants’ are ‘utility belts’ which can hold any number of tools and devices the superheroes deploy in their crime-fighting adventures.

Heather: Where does Spiderman hang out?
Heath: On the worldwide web.

“Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” -George Lother, making the program introduction for the “Superman” radio show (first broadcast on 12 February 1940)

Some superheroes have sidekicks, or partners, and some superheroes have no sidekicks.

If Iron Man and the Silver Surfer ever teamed up, would they become ‘alloys’?

Thaddeus: Why did Batman go to the pet shop?
Tad: To buy a Robin.

Super Quiz
- What characteristics or traits do superheroes have in common with you?
- If you were a superhero, what would you choose as your alter-ego name?
- Which superhero would you like to have lunch with?
- If you were a superhero, what would your costume look like?
- Other than as entertainment, do superheroes serve any useful purpose?
- What people from history most resemble superheroes?

Mel: What was Batman’s ‘real’ name?
Nel: Bruce Wayne.

Overheard: If I could be any superhero, I would be Aluminum Man - my superpower would be ‘foiling’ crime . . .

Hope: How many caped crusaders does it take to change a light bulb?
Faith: None; for some reason, they actually seem to prefer the dark.

Have you ever wanted to be a superhero? Why wait? There is a place in cyberspace for real life superheroes - people who don costumes and fight crime or just do good deeds. Click on World Superhero Registry. Hope to see you there!

Aaron: What position did Bruce Wayne play on his little-league team?
Erin: He was the batboy.

Despite his name, ‘Spiderman’ does not eat bugs. He eats regular people food, just like the rest of us do.

Customer: Where does Superman shop for groceries?
Cashier: At the Supermarket!

We are MFOL! . . . saving humanity one joke at a time - and you do not need a cape or the ability to fly to go out into the world and ‘Make Fun Of Life!’

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Chewing Gum and Bubble Gum

4/3/2021

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Bubble gum gal . . . on MFOL!

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.

Chewing gum while cutting onions can help keep people from producing tears.

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!

Who is that person? She is Natalie Wood (born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko (1938 - 1981)), acting and blowing bubbles 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.

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?” is the title of a song (1924) by Billy Rose with music by Ernest Breuer. The song was revived in 1959 by Lonnie Donegan, with the title, “Does Your Chewing-Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?”

Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?
     If your mother says don’t chew it, do you swallow it in spite?
Can you catch it on your tonsils, can you heave it left and right?
     Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?
-Lonnie Donegan: excerpt from “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor” from the album “Just About as Good as It Gets! More Original Skiffle Recordings” (1952 - 1959)

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 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.

This is MFOL! . . . for those who can walk and chew gum at the same time . . .

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Laughter and Laughing

4/2/2021

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Laughter has magical properties . . .

“I like people who make me laugh. I honestly think that laughing is the thing I like most. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.” -Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” -Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812 - 1870))

“You know, there’s endorphins in laughter, as there are endorphins in running in the park.” -Marlo Thomas (Margaret Julia ‘Marlo’ Thomas (born 1937))

Overheard: I just want to spend the rest of my life laughing.

“Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it, and then move on.” -Bob Newhart (George Robert ‘Bob’ Newhart (born 1929))

“I think laughter may be a form of courage.” -Linda Ellerbee (born 1944)

“There is little success where there is little laughter.” -Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919)

“The amount you laugh in your relationships with others is the true measure of the health of your personality.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

Just Laughin’

Did it ever occur to you
Of the good that you might do,
Just Laughin’.
Did you ever stop to think
That a sorrow you could sink,
Just Laughin’.
The world is like a dream,
Your thoughts are mostly clean,
When you’re laughin’.
The whole world seems more bright,
Everything turns out right,
Just Laughin’.
Victory seems to be your pace
And love just floods most every face,
Just Laughin’.
Everyone’s so bright and gay,
Work just seems to be like play
When you’re laughin’.
You’ll find the world much sweeter
And yourself will feel much better,
Just Laughin’.
Life itself would be so fine,
You can make it more divine,
Just Laughin’.
It’s the little things you do
And you know God loves you too,
When you’re laughin’.

by Hudson W. Cady (Hudson Waterman Cady (1894 - 1973))

“A laugh is a smile that bursts.” -Mary H. Waldrip (Mary Helen Waldrip (1914 - 1988))

“So many tangles in life are ultimately hopeless that we have no appropriate sword other than laughter.” -Gordon W. Allport (Gordon Willard Allport (1897 - 1967))

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Laughing Time

It was laughing time, and the tall Giraffe
     Lifted up his head, and began to laugh:
     Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

And the Chimpanzee on the ginkgo tree
     Swung merrily down with a “Tee Hee Hee”:
     Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!

“It’s certainly not against the law!”
     Croaked Justice Crow with a loud guffaw:
     Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!

The Dancing Bear who could never say, “No”
     Waltzed up and down on the tip of his toe:
     Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!

The Donkey daintily took his paw,
     And around they went: “Hee-Haw! Hee-Haw!”
     Hee-Haw! Hee-Haw!

The Moon had to smile as it started to climb;
     All over the world it was laughing time!
     Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Hee-Haw! Hee-Haw!
     Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

by William Jay Smith (1918 - 2015): “Laughing Time” (1955)

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Laughter is good exercise. Each time a person laughs, he or she burns an average of 3.5 calories.

“Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.” -Karl Barth (1886 - 1968)

“Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.” -Author Unknown

“Laughing helps; it’s like jogging on the inside.” -Author Unknown

Daryl: Why is it a bad idea to laugh at people when they are down?
Lydia: They might get up!

“Never be afraid to laugh at yourself. After all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century.” -Dame Edna Everage (fictional character portrayed by John Barry Humphries (born 1934))

“Laugh, if you are wise.” -Marcus Valerius Martialis (also known simply as Martial (about C.E. 40 - about C.E. 103))

“At first, I only laughed at myself. Then I noticed that life itself is amusing. I’ve been in a generally good mood ever since.” -Marilyn vos Savant (born 1946)

“If you can laugh at it, you can live with it.” -Erma Bombeck (Erma Louise Bombeck (1927 - 1996))

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” -Victor Borge (born Bǿrge (sometimes spelled Berge) Rosenbaum (1909 - 2000)

“A laugh’s the wisest, easiest answer to all that’s queer.” -Herman Melville (1819 - 1891): “Moby Dick” (18 October 1851)

“People who laugh actually live longer than those who don’t laugh. Few persons realize that health actually varies according to the amount of laughter.” -James J. Walsh

“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” -Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910))

“Once you get people laughing, they’re listening, and you can tell them almost anything.” -Herbert Gardner

“A laugh is worth a hundred groans in any market.” -Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)

“At the height of laughter, the Universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.” -Jean Houston (born 1937)

“Laughter is to life what shock absorbers are to automobiles. It won’t take the potholes out of the road, but it sure makes the ride smoother.” -Barbara Johnson

“Learn to laugh at your troubles and you’ll never run out of things to laugh at.” -Lyn Karol

“Laughter is an instant vacation.” -Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger (1908 - 2002))

“A good laugh is sunshine in the house.” -William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863)

“Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.” -W. H. Auden (Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973)): “The Dyer’s Hand, and Other Essays‎” (1962), page 372

“Laughter is the corrective force which prevents us from becoming cranks.” -Henri Bergson (Henri-Louis ‘Henri’ Bergson (1859 - 1941))

“He who laughs, lasts!” -Mary Pettibone Poole (birth year unknown - 1941): “A Glass Eye at a Key Hole” (1938); type of work: book of aphorisms and apothegms

“Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy . . . that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat of the moment. Banish tension and concern and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously.” -Og Mandino (Augustine ‘Og’ Mandino II (1923 - 1996)): “A Better Way to Live” (1990), ‘Rule Eleven’

“A good time to laugh is any time you can.” -Linda Ellerbee (born 1944)

“Those who cannot laugh at themselves leave the job to others.” -Author Unknown

“Laughing is the sensation of feeling good all over, and showing it principally in one spot.” -Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw (1818 - 1885))

“Sharing laughter heals hearts.” -Patsy Clairmont (born 1945)

“Laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.” -Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron (1788 - 1824))

“Laughter is the best medicine.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

What are the benefits of laughter? Laughter really is good medicine. Yes, studies have shown it time after time! Laughter lowers blood pressure, creates much better moods around the house, prevents illnesses, speeds up healing, and produces endorphins just like runners experience when they reach their peak running level, which prevents pain sensors from hurting so badly. Laughing may lower levels of stress hormones and strengthen the immune system.

“Laughter is the Sun that drives Winter from the human face.” -Victor Hugo (Victor Marie Hugo (1802 - 1885))

“If you don’t learn to laugh at trouble, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you are old.” -Edgar Watson Howe (1854 - 1937): as attributed in “Forbes” (1980)

“Laughter is God’s hand on the shoulders of a troubled world.” -Minnie Pearl (pseudonym of Sarah Ophelia Colley (1912 - 1996))

“As a general rule, the freedom of any people can be judged by the volume of their laughter.” -Author Unknown

“You show your character in nothing more clearly that by what you think laughable.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone.” -Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850 - 1919) (1883)

“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” -Herman Melville (1819 - 1891): “Moby Dick” (18 October 1851)

“Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young. A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“Laughter translates into any language.” -Author Unknown

Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

“If you laugh a lot, when you get older your wrinkles will be in the right places.” -Andrew Mason

“Man alone suffers so excruciatingly in the world that he was compelled to invent laughter.” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900))

“It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.” -Lucius Annaeus Seneca (also known as Seneca the Younger or simply as Seneca (3 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

World Laughter Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of May of every year. The first celebration was on 10 January 1998 in Mumbai, India, and was arranged by Doctor Madan Kataria, founder of the worldwide Laughter Yoga movement.

“The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.” -Shirley MacLaine (pseudonym of Shirley MacLean Beaty (born 1934))

“A complete revaluation takes place in your physical and mental being when you’ve laughed and had some fun.” -Catherine Ponder (born 1927)

This is MFOL! Have you laughed today? If not, there is still time . . . just continue reading . . .

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Accidents and Safety

3/27/2021

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Sound Advice

When in danger,
Or in doubt,
Run in circles,
Scream, and shout!

by Author Unknown

Marvin: Safety first!
Vincent: Sounds good - then what comes after that?
Marvin: That’s a good question, and I’m glad you asked.
Vincent: So what’s the answer?
Marvin: I don’t know!

“Be always sure you’re right - then go ahead.” -David Crockett (David ‘Davy’ Crockett (1786 - 1836)): “Autobiography” (1834)

In the United States of America, forty people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute. Chained dogs are three times more likely to bite people than unchained dogs. This is amusing only if you happen to be a dog.

Rubin: Who was responsible for the Green Car Crash in 1963?
Robin: “The Green Car Crash” is Andy Warhol’s most famous painting. It sold at auction on 16 May 2007 for 71.7 million U.S. dollars (about 42.3 million British pounds). Andy Warhol caused the Green Car Crash by applying paint to canvas.

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In 2001, there were reportedly more than 300 banana-related accidents in Great Britain, most involving people slipping on banana peels.

There was a young lady named Hannah,
Who slipped on a peel of banana.
     More stars she espied
     As she lay on her side
Than are found in the Star Spangled Banner.

A gentleman sprang to assist her;
He picked up her glove and her wrister;
     “Did you fall, Ma’am?” he cried;
     “Do you think,” she replied,
“I sat down for the fun of it, Mister?”

-Author Unknown: as published in Charles Knowles Bolton (1867 - 1950), attributed editor: “The Smile on the Face of the Tiger: A Collection of Limericks” (1908)

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“Safety is no accident.” -Author Unknown

Cows bring more people to an end than sharks do. About ten people meet their end by sharks every year but nearly one hundred people meet their end each year from being stepped on by cows.

“I saw this water-safety manual that actually says if a shark attacks, you should poke it in the eyes! Who wrote that, the Three Stooges?” -Larry Reeb

Are coconut trees out to get people? It is true that more people meet their end when coconuts falling from coconut trees hit them on the head than from shark attacks.

A guy walked into work, and both of his ears were bandaged. The boss said, “What happened to your ears?” The guy said, “Yesterday I was ironing a shirt when the phone rang and I accidentally answered the iron.” The boss said, “Well, that explains one ear, but what happened to your other ear?” He said, “Well, I had to call the doctor!”

Forty-four percent of people have broken at least one of their bones at some time in their lives.

“Do not ride in cars: they are responsible for 20 percent of all fatal accidents. . . Do not stay at home: 17 percent of all accidents occur in the home . . . Do not walk on the streets or pavements: 14 percent of all accidents occur to pedestrians . . . Do not travel by air, rail, or water: 16 percent of all accidents happen on these . . . Only .001 percent of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders . . . Hence the safest place for you to be at any time is at church!” -Mark Leslie

Approximately 40,000 people are bitten by cats in the United States of America annually. Kitty has claws, and teeth, too!

“Charlie Brown got hit with a line-drive!”
“Does anyone here know anything about first-aid?”
“It’s probably not serious . . . Second or third-aid will do.”
-Charles M. Schulz (Charles Monroe ‘Sparky’ Schulze (1922 - 2000)): “The Complete Peanuts: 1965 to 1966” (August 2007)

In 1099, Christian knights trained as laypersons in medical care organized the Order of Saint John, specifically to treat battlefield injuries. In 1878, the term ‘first-aid’ appeared, as a combination of the terms ‘first treatment’ and ‘National Aid.’ First-aid is the act of giving immediate attention to injured, sickened, or otherwise adversely affected persons.

A first-aid kit consists of items used to treat injuries and illnesses, and typically includes bandages, absorbent cotton, gauze, medical tape, antimicrobial substances, aspirin, and anything that might be needed for specific medical conditions of family members, employees, students, passengers, or other persons. First aid kits, including lists of contents and instruction booklets or foldouts for treating common ailments, are recommended for placement in homes, businesses, jobsites, schools, vehicles, and hiking or camping backpacks. Any items with expiration dates will need to be replaced regularly. For lists of items to include in First Aid Kits, click on American Red Cross.

“Remember, it is not first-aid kits or other equipment that saves lives, but people and their knowledge of how to use them that saves lives.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

First-aid training provides people with knowledge and mock practice in methods used to recognize, assess, and treat emergency medical and other conditions on the spot. The training typically covers how to respond to people who are choking or asphyxiating from blocked breathing passages, are found unconscious, have broken bones, bleeding wounds, seizures, or symptoms of shock or dehydration. Some advanced training courses include techniques used in treating severe allergic reactions, childbirth, determining if a person can be transported for medical care, and responding to people who are acting erratically. Among the first steps in first-aid care is contacting first responders or emergency services providers such as police, fire, rescue, and ambulance, or sending any available person to seek such assistance, while another person remains at the location with the person who is need of care. For information on First Aid Training, click on American Red Cross.

“After hearing two eyewitness accounts of the same accident, you begin to wonder about history.” -Author Unknown

“How did the accident happen?” the doctor asked the patient. “The sign said, ‘Stop, Look, Listen,’ and while I was doing that, a train ran over me.”

“The pedestrian who always insists on getting his rights usually gets his rites.” -Author Unknown

Why is it called quicksand when it pulls you down in so slowly?

By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink in quicksand. Now quick, where can we find some quicksand to try this out?

Tania: What do you get when a dinosaur smashes everything in its path?
Nadia: Tyrannosaurus wrecks!

Are some people ‘accident prone’? Possibly they are, or maybe they need to be made aware of safety measures and accident prevention. However, it is also worth looking into the conditions and surroundings in which people find themselves. Steps can be taken to make accidents less likely, such as keeping places clean of debris and making sure surfaces on which people walk are not slippery. Tools and machines should be unplugged and put away when not in use. All equipment should be maintained and kept in good working order. People who work with tools, equipment, supplies, vehicles, and so forth, should be trained on how to use them, how to maintain them, and what to do in the event of accidents, because truth be told, all humans and even our animal friends are to some extent ‘accident prone.’

“Accident: An inevitable occurrence due to the action of immutable natural laws.” -Ambrose Bierce (Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (1842 - 1914))

Dystychiphobia is a persistent fear that accidents will occur or that one might be the cause of accidents. People with this phobia may fear harming themselves or others or property. Dystychiphobia could be one reason some people are afraid of flying in airplanes and driving automobiles. However, it should be noted that it doesn’t necessarily apply to skiing, because if you go skiing, no matter who you are, you are definitely going to have an accident - we’re kidding - you should go skiing!

“Protective measures will prevent costly disasters.” -Author Unknown

A little old lady who lived on the third floor of a boardinghouse broke her leg. As the doctor put the cast on it, he warned her not to climb any stairs. Several months later, the doctor took off the cast. “Can I climb stairs now?” asked the little old lady. “Yes,” the doctor replied. “Thank goodness!” she said. “I’m sick and tired of shinnying up and down that drain pipe.”

The largest number of fatal car accidents occur on Saturdays.

“Had this been an actual emergency, we already would have fled in terror - and you would not have been notified!” -Author Unknown

Things You Ought Not Do - For Safety Reasons!
- Stare at the Sun and go blind.
- Lick metal during the winter and get your tongue stuck frozen to it.
- Tug on Superman’s cape.
- Try to pet or touch a wild animal.
- Drive a vehicle across railroad tracks when the signal indicates a train is coming.
- Can you think of anything else?

About thirteen people meet their end every year from vending machines, usually when they tip or shake the machines to try to get candy or soft drinks out of them, and the heavy machines then fall over on top of the people.

“Accident: A condition in which presence of mind is good, but absence of body is better.” -Author Unknown

“Safety is something a lot of people learn by accident.” -Author Unknown

Each year, more people meet their demise from donkeys than from airplane crashes.

“Practical realist: Someone who looks both ways before crossing a one-way street.” -Author Unknown

“Accidents don’t just happen - they are caused!” -Author Unknown

This is MFOL! . . . as you head out into the world, always remember the motto, “Safety first” . . . then just do whatever comes next . . .

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Impossible and Possible

3/24/2021

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“I’ve always had the feeling that nothing is impossible if one applies a certain amount of energy in the right direction. If you want to do it, you can do it.” -Nellie Bly (pseudonym of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (1864 - 1922))

“Impossible things are simply those which so far have never been done.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))

“You can’t pick a lock with a pickle, you can’t cure the sick with a sickle, pluck figs with a figment, drive pigs with a pigment, nor make your watch tick with a tickle. You can’t slacken your gait with a gaiter, you can’t get a crate with a crater, catch moles with a molar, or bake rolls with a roller. But you can get a wait from a waiter.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “Sunshine Magazine”

“Never let the word ‘impossible’ stop you from pursuing what your heart and spirit urge you to do. Impossible things come true every day.” -Robert Cooper

“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.” -Vince Lombardi (Vincent Thomas ‘Vince’ Lombardi (1913 - 1970))

“Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.” -Author Unknown

“I’m always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” -Vincent van Gogh (Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890)): letter (1885) to Anthon van Rappard

“When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible.” -Nancy Coey

“The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.” -Richard M. DeVos (Richard Marvin DeVos, Senior (1926 - 2018))

“I have learned to use the word ‘impossible’ with the greatest caution.” -Wernher von Braun (Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun (1912 - 1977))

“I believe anything is possible. Research into quantum physics proves that a system changes simply by someone observing it. Therefore, all you have to do is be awake and aware of your environment, and that enables you to transform everything around you. It sounds like hocus pocus, but scientists are coming to realize that just thinking about something can make it happen. Turns out maybe faith can move mountains.” -Christine Anderson

“Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.” -Louis Brandeis (Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856 - 1941))

“Things that are impossible just take longer.” -Ian Hickson

“Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.” -Doug Larson (1902 - 1981)

“Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’ ‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it half an hour a day. Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’” -Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898)): “Through the Looking-Glass” (1872), chapter 5

“What is impossible today that if made possible would change everything?” -Joel Barker

“If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.” -William L. Phelps (William Lyon Phelps (1865 - 1943))

“The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer.” -Fridtjof Nansen (1861 - 1930): as quoted in the “Listener” (14 December 1939)

“The impossible is often the untried.” -Jim Goodwin

“It is our duty as human beings to proceed as though the limits of our capabilities do not exist.” -Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 - 1955)

“The impossible: What nobody can do, until somebody does.” -Author Unknown

“We have no limits - we create them in our mind.” -Bud LaBranche

“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” -Arthur C. Clarke (Arthur Charles Clarke (1917 - 2008))

“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.” -Alexander of Macedonia (also known as Alexander the Great (356 B.C.E. - 323 B.C.E.))

“Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.” -John Heywood (about 1497 - 1580): “The Proverbs of John Heywood” (1546)

“The impossible is possible if you want it to be.” -Author Unknown

“Nothing is impossible.” -Author Unknown

“Everything is always impossible before it works.” -Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

“What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible.” -Theodore Roethke (1908 - 1963)

“Nothing is impossible; the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” -Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

“You can do the impossible, because you have been through the unimaginable.” -Christina Rasmussen (born 1972)

“When someone tells you that you can’t do something, perhaps you should consider that they are only telling you what they can’t do.” -Sheldon Cahoon

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” -Francis of Assisi (1181 - 1226)

“It is the act of a madman to pursue impossibilities.” -Marcus Aurelius (also known as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (C.E. 121 - C.E. 180))

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” -Author Unknown

“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” -Jamie Paolinetti (born 1964)

“It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.” -Robert H. Goddard (Robert Hutchings ‘Bob’ Goddard (1882 - 1945))

“There is no limitation other than what you think.” -Kenneth Mills

“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))

“You have to believe in the impossible.” -Howard Head

“To get profit without risk, experience without danger, and reward without work is as impossible as it is to live without being born.” -A. P. Gouthey (Aldolph Philip Gouthey (some sources may show Adolph Philip Gouthey) (1892 - 1963))

“All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.” -Pearl S. Buck (Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892 - 1973)): “A Bridge for Passing” (1962)

“You cannot make a silk purse of a sow’s ear.” -Stephen Gosson (1554 - 1624): “The Ephemerides of Phialo” (1579)

“So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible.” -Norton Juster (born 1929): “The Phantom Tollbooth” (1961)

“To believe a Business impossible, is the Way to make it so.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 5138

“If you will tell me why the fen* appears impassable, I then will tell you why I think that I can cross it if I try.” -Marianne Craig Moore (1887 - 1972)
*fen: a wetland or often flooded area.

“Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness.” -George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” -Author Unknown: Adidas print advertisement published in “ESPN” (1972) magazine, as attributed in John C. Maxwell (John Calvin Maxwell (born 1947)): “The Difference Maker” (2006), page 53

“Don’t undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.” -Edwin Land

“Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.” -Cherie Carter-Scott (born 1949)

“Anything in life is possible if you make it happen. And it’s never too late.” -Jack LaLanne (François Henri ’Jack’ LaLanne (1914 - 2011))

“What is now proven was once only imagined.” -William Blake (1757 - 1827): “Proverbs of Hell” (1790 - 1793)

“To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so.” -Walter Scott

“Nothing is impossible to industry*.” -Periander (about 625 B.C.E. - 585 B.C.E.)
*industry: hard work.

“Impossibility simply means ‘I’m possibility.’” -Monsieur Nana Adom

“When someone tells you it can’t be done, it’s more a reflection of their limitations, not yours.” -Author Unknown

“Nothing is impossible: there are ways which lead to everything; and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.” -François de La Rochefoucauld (also known as François Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680))

“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.” -Author Unknown

“There are many things that seem impossible only so long as one does not attempt them.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951))

“Impossible is only an opinion.” -Author Unknown

“Never tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the Moon.” -Paul Brandt

“Jesus said unto him, ‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’” -Author Unknown: “The Bible,” ‘Mark,’ chapter 9, verse 23

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” -Charles R. Swindoll (Charles Rozell ‘Chuck’ Swindoll (born 1934))

“I dwell in possibility.” -Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

“Do not suppose that, if you find something hard to achieve, it is beyond human capacity; rather, if something is possible and appropriate for man, assume that it must also be within your own reach.” -Marcus Aurelius (also known as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (C.E. 121 - C.E. 180)): “The Meditations” (C.E. 167)

“Think of the thing you cannot do, and then do it.” -Author Unknown

“What ‘exists’ is only a small part of what is ‘possible.’” -Pere Alberch (born Pere Alberch Vie (1954 - 1998))

“Every noble work is at first impossible.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“It’s going to be difficult, but difficult is not impossible.” -Author Unknown

“Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities - always see them, for they’re always there.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“Either I will find a way, or I will make one.” -Philip Sidney (1554 - 1586)

“Most of the things worth doing in the world have been declared impossible before they were attempted.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” -Tommy Lasorda (Thomas Charles ‘Tommy’ Lasorda (born 1927))

“It is certain because it is impossible.” [translation to English]
“Certum est quia impossibile.” [original Latin]
-Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (also known simply as Tertullian (C.E. 155 - C.E. 240))

“Nothing is impossible to the man who can will and then do; this is the only law of success.” -Mirabeau (Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau (1749 - 1791))

“All big things in this world are done by people who are naive and have an idea that is obviously impossible.” -Frank Richards

“There is a better way to spell ‘impossible’: ‘I’m possible.’” -Author Unknown

“Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784): “Rasselas” (1759)

“Once you stop dismissing something as unattainable, then you start working on its development.” -Jerome Pearson

“The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” -Arnold Palmer (Arnold Daniel Palmer (1929 - 2016))

“And all may do what has by man been done.” -Edward Young (1683 - 1765)

“You can’t roller-skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you’ve a mind to.” -Roger Miller

We are MFOL! . . . wishing you many trouble-free days as you make your way through a world in which more and more is possible all the time . . .

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Gratitude and Thankfulness

3/22/2021

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“There is always something to be thankful for!” -Author Unknown

“Live in gratitude. When you are thankful for what you have, you are always rewarded with more.” -Author Unknown

“Thank you, thank you very much!” -Elvis Presley (Elvis Aron Presley (1935 - 1977))

“The more you recognize and express gratitude for the things you have, the more things you will have to express gratitude for.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“It is a sign of mediocrity when you demonstrate gratitude with moderation.” -Roberto Benigni (Roberto Remigio Benigni (born 1952))

“No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.” -Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947)

“Appreciation can make a day - even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.” -Margaret Cousins (Margaret Elizabeth Cousins (1878 - 1954))

A: Thank you very much.
B: You’re welcome very much!

“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” -Sarah Ban Breathnach (born 1947): “Simple Abundance” (1995)

Knock-knock.
Who’s there?
Tank.
Tank, who?
You’re welcome!

“People who live the most fulfilling lives are the ones who are always rejoicing at what they have.” -Richard Carlson (1961 - 2006)

The Thank You Song

For soap and tissues
     And useful things
For jungle gyms
     And slides and swings
For music and stories
     And pictures gay
We sing our thank you song today
     For the blue of the sky
For the gold of the Sun
     For mothers and fathers
And friends and fun
     For bulbs in the soil
And fishes that play
     We sing our thank you song today.

by Author Unknown

“When we are grateful for the good we already have, we attract more good into our life. On the other hand, when we are ungrateful, we tend to shut ourselves off from the good we might otherwise experience.” -Margaret Stortz

“Gratitude makes everything turn into a gift.” -Author Unknown

“How happy a person is depends upon the depth of his gratitude.” -John Miller (1923 - 1961): as quoted in Edythe Draper: “Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World” (1992), Entry 5249

“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.” -William Blake (1757 - 1827)

“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.” -Johannes A. Gaertner (Johannes Alexander Gaertner (1912 - 1996))

“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.” -Eileen Caddy (1917 - 2006)

“Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation. You do not find it among gross people.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“Say thank you to everyone you meet for everything they do for you.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.” -Christiane Northrup (born 1949)

“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” -Jean-Baptiste Massieu (1772 - 1846)

“Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways, are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude.” -Wallace D. Wattles (Wallace Delois Wattles (1860 - 1911))

“My life isn’t perfect but I am thankful for everything I have.” -Author Unknown

“Gratitude is a sign of maturity . . . Where there is appreciation, there is also courtesy and concern for the rights and property of others.” -Gordon B. Hinckley (Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 - 2008))

“Never forget those who helped you along the way.” -Author Unknown

“Gratitude in advance is the most powerful creative force in the Universe.” -Neale Donald Walsch (born 1943)

“Be thankful for the smallest blessing, and you will deserve to receive greater. Value the least gifts no less than the greatest, and simple graces as special favors. If you remember the dignity of the Giver, no gift will seem small or mean, for nothing can be valueless that is given by the most high God.” -Thomas à Kempis (1380 - 1471)

“A person who feels appreciated will always do more than is expected.” -Author Unknown

“Gratitude is Heaven itself.” -William Blake (1757 - 1827): as quoted in Alexander Gilchrist: “Life of William Blake” (1863), ‘1803-1804,’ page 200

“Take time today to appreciate someone who does something you take for granted.” -Author Unknown

“Outcomes rarely turn on grand gestures or the art of the deal, but on whether you’ve sent someone a thank-you note.” -Bernie Brillstein and David Rensin: “The Little Stuff Matters Most” (2004)

“Persons thankful for little things are certain to be the ones with much to be thankful for.” -Frank A. Clark (Frank Atherton Clark (1911 - 1991))

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“An ungrateful man is like a hog under a tree eating acorns, but never looking up to see where they come from.” -Timothy Dexter

“Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.” -Joseph Wood Krutch (1893 - 1970)

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” -Melody Beattie (Melody Lynn Beattie (born 1948))

“No matter how good or bad you think life is, wake up each day and be thankful for life. Someone somewhere else is fighting to survive.” -Author Unknown

“‘Merry’ is a word for Christmas . . . ‘happy’ is a word for New Year’s . . . ‘thanks’ is a word for all year long.” -Author Unknown

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” -William A. Ward (William Arthur Ward (1921 - 1994))

“Gratitude is like a magnet; the more grateful you are, the more you will receive to be grateful for.” -Iyanla Vanzant (born 1953 as Rhonda Eva Harris)

“A joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “Book of Common Prayer” (1662), ‘Psalm 147,’ verse 16

“One act of thanksgiving made when things go wrong is worth a thousand when things go well.” -Author Unknown

“In everything give thanks.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “The Bible,” ‘First Thessalonians,’ chapter 5, verse 18

“What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it - would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.” -Ralph Marston (Ralph S. Marston, Junior (born 1955))

“It is not happy people who are thankful, but thankful people who are happy.” -Author Unknown

Hans: What do we often return but never borrow?
Grace: Thanks.

“What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?” -Author Unknown

“I woke up. I have clothes to wear. I have running water. I have food to eat. Life is good. I am thankful.” -Author Unknown

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.” -John Milton (1608 - 1674)

A grateful heart a garden is,
     Where there is always room
For every lovely God-like grace,
     To come to perfect bloom.
-Author Unknown: as quoted in “Christian Science Hymnal,” #3

“For whatever we have, be it little or much, we should be grateful.” -Author Unknown

“Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.” -Author Unknown

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’” -William A. Ward (William Arthur Ward (1921 - 1994))

In our daily lives, we must see
That it is not happiness that makes us grateful,
But the gratefulness that makes us happy.
-Albert Clarke

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” -Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero, also known as Tully (106 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.))

“The more you thank life, the more life gives you to be thankful for.” -Author Unknown

“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” -Author Unknown

Not for the mighty world, O Lord, tonight,
     Nations and kingdoms in their fearful might -
Let me be glad the kettle gently sings,
     Let me be grateful for little things.
-Edna Jaques (Edna Parliament Jaques (1891 - 1978))

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

“Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.” -Jacques Maritain (1882 - 1973)

“Upon waking, let your first thought be, ‘Thank you.’” -Author Unknown

“Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you’ll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you’ll find that you have more of it.” -Ralph Marston (Ralph S. Marston, Junior (born 1955))

“Someone else is praying for the things you take for granted. Be thankful.” -Author Unknown

“If we appreciate what we have, it becomes more; if we belittle what we have, it becomes less.” -Author Unknown

“The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live. He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: Giving thanks for everything.” -Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

“How do you say, ‘thank you,’ for sunshine or health . . . for clear days or gentle rains . . . for happiness, joy, or love? You say it by sharing what you have. You say it by making the world a better place in which to live.” -Thomas D. Willhite (1940 - 1983)

“Jesus, please teach me to appreciate what I have before time forces me to appreciate what I had.” -Susan L. Lenzkes

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more in life there will be to praise and celebrate.” -Author Unknown

“Gratitude takes three forms; a feeling in the heart, an expression in words, and giving in return.” -Author Unknown

“In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945)

“He who can give thanks for little will always find he has enough.” -Author Unknown

“The enlightened give thanks for what most people take for granted . . . As you begin to be grateful for what most people take for granted, the vibration of gratitude makes you more receptive to good in your life.” -Michael Bernard Beckwith

“Ingratitude is one of our great sins.” -Ezra Taft Benson (1899 - 1994): as quoted in “Ensign” (May 1977), page 33

“No better words than ‘thank you’ have yet been discovered to express the sincere gratitude of one’s heart; when the two words are sincerely spoken.” -Alfred A. Montapert (Alfred Armand Montapert (1906 - 1997))

“Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect.” -Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778)

“I wish that people would take the time to show people that they are important in their lives either at work or at home. Too many times people take others for granted and I think that needs to change. People are so much nicer and willing to help you if you use those two little words that mean so much . . . Thank You!” -Gina Gillespie

“Gratitude is the best attitude.” -Author Unknown

“If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.” -Gerald Good

Overheard: Always say, “Thank you.”

This is MFOL! . . . thank you for including us in your day . . . much more fun and learning follows just below . . .

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Magic

3/20/2021

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“Magic is all around, you just have to believe.” -Author Unknown

“The art of a magician is to create wonder. If we all live with a sense of wonder, our lives will become filled with joy.” -The Great Doug Henning (Douglas James Henning (1947 - 2000))

In 1799, Count de Grisley became the first magician to perform the trick of sawing a woman in half, and ever since then, women everywhere have been eagerly lining up to be sawed in half - or perhaps not!

First Magician: What happened to the saw-a-woman-in-half act you used to do?
Second Magician: My assistant left me - she moved to New York and Los Angeles.

Magic Words
- Abracadabra!
- Hocus-pocus!
- Hot potato, jump-rope, kick-the-can!
- Parsley, peas, potatoes!
- Presto, change-o!
Many magicians create their own magic words, and so can you.

Boris: Why did the magician have to cancel his show?
Doris: He had just washed his hare and could not do anything with it.

The word ‘abracadra’ may have originated from the Aramaic phrase ‘avra kehdabra’ meaning ‘I will create as I speak.’

Howie: How many magicians does it take to change a light bulb?
Howard: That is one trick they do not know - and besides, that is why they have assistants!

A Magician from Vermont

A magician who came from Vermont
Sawed a woman in half for a stunt.
When she mildly asked whether
He would put her together,
He replied, “I’ve decided I won’t.”

by Author Unknown

“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

One technique for creating funny magic words is to ask for audience participation. Would someone please name a color? Would someone please name an animal? Would someone please name a food? Then you combine their answers, which might make something silly, such as, “Purple elephant ice cream!” which you use as the ‘magic words’ during your show.

“Abracadabbler: An amateur magician.” -Author Unknown

Examples of Magic Tricks
- Pulling a coin out from behind someone’s ear.
- Making a person or an object disappear and then reappear.
- Cutting something in half or destroying it and then making it reappear whole and undamaged, as for example, money or a handkerchief.
- Levitating (floating) someone or something.
Can you think of other magic tricks?

A magician was driving down a road when, Poof! - he turned into a parking lot.

Just as there are silent movies with musical accompaniment, there are magicians who perform without speaking, sometimes with dramatic music played during their shows or even a person who stands offstage or a short distance from the magician’s side and narrates, or describes what is happening, during the show, by reading from a memorized or printed prepared script.

“Magic is a secret, and without the secret there is no magic.” -Author Unknown

“Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live.” -Nora Roberts (born 1950 as Eleanor Marie Robertson): “Charmed” (1992)

“I had loved magic tricks from the time I was six or seven. I bought books on magic. I did magic acts for my parents and their friends. I was aiming for show business from early days, and magic was the poor man’s way of getting in: you buy a trick for $2, and you’ve got an act.” -Steve Martin (Stephen Glenn ‘Steve’ Martin (born 1945)): as quoted in “Time Magazine” (24 August 1987)

“Perform as many times as you can in front of people you don’t know.” -Lance Burton (William Lance ‘Lance’ Burton (born 1960)), advice to those who would be magicians

Camilla: You know, I have half a mind to become a professional magician.
Pamela: That should do.

One way to make yourself and your magic show memorable is to do something that is unusual, different, or unique. For example, maybe you could use fruit such as apples, oranges, and bananas in your act. Make a piece of fruit disappear and reappear, and then toss it to a member of the audience. Make a piece of fruit levitate, and then throw it to someone in your audience. You could have someone dressed in a gorilla costume as your assistant. Instead of pulling a live rabbit or a toy rabbit out of a hat, you could pull balloon animals out of your hat and then hand them to children in the audience. Put your imagination to work!

“We do not need magic to change the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” -J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen ‘Jo’ Rowling (born 1965)): in a speech (2008) to Harvard Alumni Association

If you were going to pull a rabbit out of a hat, would you wave a magic wand . . . or would you entice the rabbit by waving a bright orange carrot?

“Spring animals are fake animals that are often used by magicians, clowns, comedians, and other entertainers. They can be made to appear very realistic with practice. The basic construction of the animal is of a spring wrapped in either real or artificial animal fur. Different colored fur is used for different spring animals.” -Greg McMahan (born 1960), website http://www.mistergreggy.com/

Whether you are an amateur or a professional magician, you must consider safety before doing any magic. You might develop a safety checklist to go over before each show. You would probably want to avoid using fire and flames and heat to avoid injuries to yourself, your assistant, any living creatures used in your act, and your audience members, and to avoid costly damage to your equipment or the building in which you are doing your show. If you use live animals, you will want to have the telephone number of more than one veterinarian in case an animal becomes sick or injured. You will likely want to either exercise caution or even completely avoid using anything with a sharp edge that could injure someone, including breakable glass and knives. Once you are certain everything is safe, get the show started and have fun!

A magician seeking to have his act booked at Radio City Music Hall asserted, “I’ve got a trick that will panic them.” “What is it?” asked the manager. “I saw a woman in half,” announced the magician proudly. “You call that a new trick?” scoffed the manager. “Why, they’ve been doing that around here for years.” “Oh, yeah,” snapped the magician. “How about lengthwise?”

Ask for a volunteer from the audience. Tell the person to take a coin from his or her pocket and hold it up in a closed fist so that you cannot see the date on the coin, and announce that you are going to tell everyone the date. Then, you say today’s date, which might be, for example, something like, “It’s Saturday, April 30, 2021,” even though the actual date on the coin might be something like just the year 1983. This is usually good for a laugh from the audience.

The teacher was discussing different jobs held by the parents of the students. When she called on Little Johnny, she asked, “And what does your father do?” “Oh, he’s a magician,” replied Johnny. “Really - and what’s his best trick?” “His best trick is sawing people in half.” “Wonderful!” exclaimed the teacher. “Tell me, are there any more children in your family?” “Yes ma’am, I have a half-brother and two half-sisters.”

Magicians and their magic acts are the center of their shows; however, magicians may have assistants. A magician’s assistant often does not speak during the magic acts, but stands by quietly and helps with the props or becomes a prop in the act, as when he or she is made to disappear, is sawed in half, or is levitated. Sometimes magicians encourage audience participation by asking people to be part of a magic act or to provide simple props such as coins or bills. While these audience members may seem to be randomly chosen people who are like everyone else in the audience, they actually may be friends or people the magician met with before the show and practiced the act with to be sure everything goes as planned.

Marlene: Why did illusionist Harry Houdini spend hours at the gym?
Arlene: He wanted to be fit to be tied.

If you did the old magic trick of sawing a lady in half, and you put the top half together with another lady, what you’d have is a ‘gallon a half’ . . . quite possibly that joke needs a little more work . . .

Magicians We Have Yet to See
- Cheery Houdini . . . the happy, smiling clown magician.
- Dairy Moodini . . . the cow magician.
- Fairy Houdini . . . does sprightly winged magic.
- Hairy Houdini . . . the magic monkey with a human assistant.
- Harry Linguini . . . the pasta chef magician.
- Harry Whoodini . . . the magician who gives a hoot like an owl.
- Hippie Houdini . . . does groovy magic with peace and love, man.
- Santa Houdini . . . arrives in a magic flying sleigh and pulls Christmas toys from a magic sack.
- Scary Houdini . . . shows up at your door on Halloween and makes your candy magically disappear.
Can you add to this list?

The most accomplished female magician in the world is Dorothy Dietrich (born 1969). She performs regularly at the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States of America. She is also a ‘debunker,’ or someone who exposes lies, deceptions, and false ideas.

Allison: What does a martial arts magician say?
Allie: Jitsu-judo-karate . . . chop!

“You know, I do believe in magic. I was born and raised in a magic time, in a magic town, among magicians. Oh, most everybody else didn’t realize we lived in that web of chance and circumstance. But I knew it all along. When I was twelve years old, the world was my magic lantern, and by its glow I saw the past, the present, and into the future. You probably did too; you just don’t recall it. See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, lightning bugs, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in dewdrops. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it disciplined out, washed out, and combed out. We are told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up for goodness’ sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they had allowed to wither in themselves. After you go so far away from it, though, you can never really get it all back. You can get seconds of it. Just seconds of knowing and remembering. When people get weepy at movies, it is because in that dark theater the golden pool of magic is touched, just briefly. Then they come out into the harsh sunlight of logic and reason again and it dries up, and they are left feeling a little heart-sad and not knowing why. When a song stirs a memory, when motes of dust twirling in a shaft of light takes your attention from the world, when you listen to a coyote howling in the distance and wonder what it might be saying, you step beyond who you are and where you are. For the briefest of instants, you have stepped into the magic realm.” -Robert R. McCammon (Robert Rick McCammon (born 1952)): “Boy’s Life” (1991), Introduction

In addition to their costumes, magicians have ‘props’ that they use in their magic acts. Typical props might be a deck of playing cards, a small lightweight table with a tablecloth, several colored handkerchiefs, rabbits, birds, large coins, and specially made items for tricks.

“Cats are magical . . . the more you pet them, the longer you both live.” -attributed to Stephen King (Stephen Edwin King (born 1947)) (We suspect some sneaky cat slipped that line in here, because it is not exactly relevant to this topic.)

Famous People Who Started Out As Magicians
- Bob Barker (Robert William Barker (born 1923))
- Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger (1908 - 2002))
- Bill Bixby (Wilfred Bailey Everett ‘Bill’ Bixby III (1934 - 1993))
- Johnny Carson (John William ‘Johnny’ Carson (1925 - 2005))
- Dick Cavett (Richard Alva ‘Dick’ Cavett (born 1936))
- Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812 - 1870))
- Cary Grant (pseudonym of Archibald Alexander Leach (1904 - 1986))
- Steve Martin (Stephen Glenn ‘Steve’ Martin (born 1945))
- Jimmy Stewart (James Maitland ‘Jimmy’ Stewart (1908 - 1997))
- Dick van Dyke (Richard Wayne ‘Dick’ Van Dyke (born 1925))
How about you?

“A little magic can take you a long way.” -Roald Dahl (1916 - 1990): “James and the Giant Peach” (1961)

A magician’s costume is commonly a top hat, a magic wand, and a set of clothes meant to help hold the audience’s attention through the use of eye-catching colors, quaint old-fashionedness, or an exotic appearance. A magician’s clothes may have many hidden pockets sewn into them. Some magicians also wear capes, false mustaches, false eyebrows, false beards, face paint, and other theatrical effects.

Martin: Have you heard about the magician who fell through the floorboards in the middle of his performance?
Marvin: Yes, but it is all right - he was just ‘going through a stage.’

“As a magician I promise never to reveal the secret of any illusion to a non-magician, unless that one swears to uphold the Magician’s Oath in turn. I promise never to perform any illusion for any non-magician without first practicing the effect until I can perform it well enough to maintain the illusion of magic.” -Author Unknown: Magician’s Oath

“That’s the thing with magic. You’ve got to know it’s still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you.” -Charles de Lint (born 1951)

People who learn to do magic in front of an audience also learn showmanship: timing, quick comebacks, appropriateness and inappropriateness of certain language, and the skill of continuing on even when things go wrong.

Whenever something goes wrong in your magic show, just tell your audience, “That is just how I planned it!” Then pause momentarily and continue on to your next trick.

Attempts have been made to link performance magic, or magic tricks, to occultism, but this is a misuse of magic by occultists to try to make their occult beliefs appealing to people, and thereby draw people into occultism. Performance magic stands on its own and is not to be confused with occultism.

“Nothing I do can’t be done by a 10-year-old with 15 years of practice.” -Harry Blackstone, Junior (Harry Bouton Blackstone, Junior (1934 - 1997))

Double or Nothing Magic Trick. Tell a friend or an adult that you will be able to double their money without buying anything, going on the Stock Exchange, or using a computer. Then ask them for a dollar bill. Simply fold the bill in half and say, “There! I doubled your money!”

“The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” -Bertrand A. Russell (Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872 - 1970))

“Shazam!” is a magic acronymic word created from Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, and it is said to invoke their powers. An acronym is a word created typically by combining the first letter in each word in a phrase or list.

“The world is its own magic.” -Shunryu Suzuki (1904 - 1971)

Some magic wands are hollow inside to conceal handkerchiefs, powders that produce puffs like smoke but without fire or flames, or shiny colorful glitter. Magic wands can be made from rolled-up sheets of paper or wood or plastic sticks. Magicians typically wave their magic wands or tap other props such as their magic hats atop their heads, while saying magic words such as, “Abrakadabra alakazam, let’s hope it goes as planned!”

“Everything is made out of magic: leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes, and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden - in all the places.” -Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849 - 1924): “The Secret Garden” (1911)

What do magicians have in common with clowns, actors, musicians, and authors? Like the aforementioned folks, most professional, part-time, and amateur magicians have stage names, or names that they use in association with their magic acts, often in conjunction with somewhat exaggerated descriptive words about their acts and personas. Their stage names include words such ‘the Great’ or ‘the Amazing.’ So, if you are Jimmy O’Reilly in your private life, you might take up your hat, wand, and cape to become ‘Jacob the Fantastical Wizard of Illusion and Master of Magical Mayhem’ or if you are Sarah Sumner in your personal life, you might grab your rabbits, doves, baby chicks, and artificial flowers to become ‘the Astounding Animal Acts and Flying Floral Arrangements of Mrs. Priscilla Piccadilly’ (any resemblance to persons living or otherwise is purely coincidental). Even the magical Harry Houdini had a real name: Erich Weiss (born Erik Weisz and also known as Harry Weiss and possibly by other names (1874 - 1926)).

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” -Roald Dahl (1916 - 1990): “The Minpins” (1990)

This is MFOL! . . . all it takes is a little magic . . . and for our next act, we will be doing even more silly fun stuff . . .

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Opportunities and Possibilities

3/14/2021

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Your golden opportunity awaits . . . right this way, please . . .

“Opportunity, sooner or later, comes to all who work and wish.” -Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley (1799 - 1869)

“Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.” -Doris Lessing (Doris May Lessing (1919 - 2013))

“If you miss an opportunity, that is not the end. Another one will come. Just prepare yourself as best you can so that you do not miss the next one.” -Author Unknown

“Far too many people have no idea of what they can do because all they have been told is what they can’t do.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.” -Demosthenes (384 B.C.E. - 322 B.C.E.)

“Opportunity is often dressed up in work clothes.” -Croft M. Pentz

“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” -Sun-Tzu: “The Art of War” (3rd century B.C.E.)

“Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” -Chris Grosser

“I’ve been lucky. Opportunities don’t often come along. So, when they do, you have to grab them.” -Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

“Opportunity is rare, and a wise man will never let it go by him.” -Bayard Taylor (1825 - 1878)

“Be ready when opportunity comes . . . Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet.” -Roy D. Chapin, Junior (Roy Dikeman Chapin, Junior (1915 - 2001))

“Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers.” -Author Unknown

“Be a can-do, will-try person. Focus on what you have and not what you don’t have, what you can do rather than what you cannot do.” -Marian Wright Edelman (born 1939)

“Opportunity does not come and knock on our doors. We must ourselves go knocking on doors to find opportunity, persistently knocking until we have an answer, either yes or no, and then we go on to the next ten thousand doors, one at a time, without pausing between them, smiling as best we are able, and speaking our carefully prepared and memorized introductions in a polite conversational style.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty instead of being paralyzed at the thought of the difficulty in every opportunity.” -Walter E. Cole, Junior (1926 - 2018)

“Your aspirations are your possibilities.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“You may miss all of the good opportunities if you are willing to try only what you are fairly certain you can succeed at. You have to try many things that might, or might not, work out.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“If you don’t hear opportunity knocking, find another door.” -Author Unknown

“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” -John J. Ingalls (John James Ingalls (1833 - 1900))

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Opportunity.
Opportunity, who?
Fooled you - opportunity only knocks once!

“Some say opportunity knocks only once, that is not true. Opportunity knocks all the time, but you have to be ready for it.” -Louis L’Amour (born Louis Dearborn LaMoore (1908 - 1988))

“If you’re looking for a big opportunity, seek out a big problem.” -Author Unknown

“Opportunity is a parade. Even as one chance passes, the next is a fife and drum echoing in the distance.” -Robert Brault (born 1938)

“It is often hard to distinguish between the hard knocks in life and those of opportunity.” -Frederick Phillips

“Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald (Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940)): “Tales of the Jazz Age” (1922), ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’

“Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it.” -Marguerite de Angeli (1889 - 1987): “The Door in the Wall” (1949)

“Just because a door closes, doesn’t mean that it’s locked.” -Hannah Vlach

“Opportunity seems to have an uncanny habit of favoring those who have paid the price of years of preparation.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “Highways of Happiness”

“The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.” -John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)

“Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; whenever there is opportunity, there lurks danger. The two are inseparable. They go together.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“Don’t wait for the right opportunity; create it.” -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” -Ann Landers (pseudonym of Esther Pauline Friedman (1918 - 2002))

“Our thoughts and imagination are the only real limits to our possibilities.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“Your only limitations are those you set up in your mind, or permit others to set up for you.” -Og Mandino (Augustine ‘Og’ Mandino II (1923 - 1996))

“Your big opportunity may be right where you are now.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

“You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.” -Author Unknown

“Are you missing opportunities because you are too focused on obstacles?” -Jeffrey Gitomer (born 1946)

“Learn to listen. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly.” -Author Unknown

“Let us seize, friends, our opportunity from the day as it passes.” -Quintus Horatius Flaccus (also known simply as Horace (65 B.C.E. - 8 B.C.E.))

“Opportunities are seldom labeled.” -John A. Shedd (John Augustus Shedd (1859 - 1928))

“Most people live, whether physically, intellectually, or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger.” -William James (1842 - 1910): as quoted in “The Letters of William James” (1920)

“Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas; they are in your own backyard, if you but dig for them.” -Russell H. Conwell (Russell Herman Conwell (1843 - 1945)): “Acres of Diamonds” (1890)

“Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.” -Sue Ebaugh (Sue Atchley Ebaugh)

“Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.” -Samuel Smiles (1812 - 1904)

“It is one of life’s laws that as soon as one door closes another opens. But the tragedy is we look at the closed door and disregard the open one.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951))

“Opportunity seekers do not sit at home waiting by the telephone or the computer, nor do they hang out in familiar haunts and with the same old crowd. Opportunity seekers go out and knock on unfamiliar doors and enter intimidating buildings and go up and down on elevators and stairs. They do a lot of walking, dressed and groomed as best they can, doing best what they can with what they have until they have more and know more. They meet people who are better than they are, who outclass them in every way, but they continue on.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Opportunity . . . often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

“Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“Sometimes opportunity knocks, but most of the time it sneaks up and then quietly steals away.” -Doug Larson (1902 - 1981)

Awake! arise! the hour is late!
Angels are knocking at thy door!
They are in haste and cannot wait,
And once departed come no more.
Awake! arise! the athlete’s arm
Loses its strength by too much rest;
The fallow land, the untilled farm
Produces only weeds at best.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

“It’s hard to hear when opportunity is knocking if you are too busy knocking the opportunity.” -Author Unknown

“What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live - with your self-respect alive and growing.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

“Opportunity knocks once at every man’s door and then keeps on knocking.” -George Ade (1866 - 1944)

“Grasp your opportunities, no matter how poor your health; nothing is worse for your health than boredom.” -Mignon McLaughlin

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -Thomas A. Edison (Thomas Alva Edison (1847 - 1931)): as quoted in John L. Mason: “An Enemy Called Average” (1990), page 55

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” -Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

“Opportunity is always knocking. The problem is that most people have the self-doubt station in their head turned up way too loud to hear it.” -Brian Vaszily

“Determine your future now by taking hold of every opportunity.” -Debbye Turner

“Opportunity is more valuable than money.” -Grant Cardone (born 1958), website https://grantcardone.com/

“People wait for opportunity to come along . . . yet it is there every morning.” -attributed to Dennis the Menace

“Small opportunities are often the beginnings of great achievements.” -Calvin Coolidge (John Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933))

“When opportunity knocks, you can’t say, ‘Come back later.’” -Leonard Turkel (1930 - 2011)

“That old saying about opportunity only knocking once is as archaic as the flat-Earth theory and as patently untrue. Opportunity knocks all the time - and it rings your doorbell, calls you up, and sends you e-mails.” -Victoria Moran (born 1950), website https://mainstreetvegan.net/

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” -Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger (1908 - 2002))

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Jesus of Nazareth: as quoted in “The Bible,” ‘Book of Matthew,’ chapter 7, verses 7 and 8 (see also verses 9 through 12)

“The activity you’re most avoiding contains your biggest opportunity.” -Robin Sharma (born 1965)

“Learn to ask for what you want . . . The worst people can do is not give you what you ask for - which is precisely where you were before you asked.” -Peter McWilliams (1949 - 2000)

“Little opportunities should be improved.” -Francois de Salignac Fenelon (1651 - 1715)

“We have the power within, but the secret of success is to employ our power and talents and be prepared for opportunity when it comes.” -Walter Matthews (1926 - 2012)

“Opportunities are often things you haven’t noticed the first time around.” -Catherine Deneuve (pseudonym of Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 1943))

“The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along.” -Hugh Allen (Hugh Percy Allen (1869 - 1946))

“Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand.” -Bruce Barton (1886 - 1967)

“Opportunity dances with those on the dance floor.” -attributed to H. Jackson Brown, Junior (Harriett Jackson Brown, Junior (born 1940))

“Arrange whatever pieces come your way.” -Virginia Woolf (Adeline Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941))

“Every situation, properly perceived, becomes an opportunity.” -Helen Schucman (Helen Cohn Schucman (born Helen Dora Cohn (1909 - 1981)))

“With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.” -Thomas Buxton (Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786 - 1845)): as quoted in Frank Leslie: “Sunday Magazine” (January - June 1886), Volume XIX, page 89

“When opportunity knocks, don’t question your ability based on your shortcomings. Know your strengths and start your journey!” -Author Unknown

“Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.” -Theodore Roosevelt (Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt (1858 - 1919))

We are MFOL! . . . wishing you always increasing success as you journey through a world of endless possibilities . . .

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