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Head
& Face
It is said that
Abraham Lincoln
when he was President of the U.S.
was advised to include a
certain man in his cabinet. When he refused he was asked why he would not
accept him. "I don't like his face
" the President replied. "But
the poor man isn't responsible for his face
" responded his advocate.
"Every man over forty is responsible for his face" countered Lincoln.
── Resource
July/August
1990.
Watts of power used
by the human brain when it's engaged in deep thought: 14; watts required to
operate an IBM personal computer: 90 ── Charis
Conn (Ed.)
What Counts: The Complete Harper's Index.
A man had bought a
new gadget-unassembled
of course--and after reading and rereading the
instructions he couldn't figure out how it went together. Finally
he sought
the help of an old handyman who was working in the backyard. The old fellow
picked up the pieces
studied them
then began assembling the gadget. In a
short time
he had it put together. "That's amazing
" said the man.
"And you did it without even looking at the instructions!"
"Fact is
"
said the old man
"I can't read
and when a fellow can't read
he's got to
think." ── Bits and Pieces
February
1990
p. 23.
Watch your thoughts; they become
words.
Watch your words; they become
actions.
Watch your actions; they become
habits.
Watch your habits; they become
character
Watch your character; it
becomes your destiny.
── Frank
Outlaw.
Let the mind of the
Master be the master of your mind. ── Source
Unknown.
Back in 1934
when
the Cunard line was getting ready to name its greatest ocean liner
the
consensus was that it should be named after Queen Elizabeth I. A high official
is reported to have had an audience with King George V. "We would like to
name the ship after England's greatest queen
" he told the king.
"Well
" said King George
"I shall have to ask her." The
ship was promptly named Queen Mary. ── Bits and Pieces
Oct
17
1991.
A man working in the
produce department was asked by a lady if she could buy half a head of lettuce.
He replied
"Half a head? Are you serious? God grows these in whole heads
and that's how we sell them!"
"You mean
"
she persisted
"that after all the years I've shopped here
you won't sell
me half-a-head of lettuce?"
"Look
" he
said
"If you like I'll ask the manager."
She indicated that
would be appreciated
so the young man marched to the front of the store.
"You won't believe this
but there's a lame-braided idiot of a lady back
there who wants to know if she can buy half-a-head of lettuce." He noticed
the manager gesturing
and turned around to see the lady standing behind him
obviously having followed him to the front of the store. "And this nice
lady was wondering if she could buy the other half" he concluded.
Later in the day the
manager cornered the young man and said
"That was the finest example of
thinking on your feet I've ever seen! Where did you learn that?"
"I grew up in
Grand Rapids
and if you know anything about Grand Rapids
you know that it's
known for its great hockey teams and its ugly women."
The manager's face
flushed
and he interrupted
"My wife is from Grand Rapids!"
"And which hockey
team did she play for?" ── Source
Unknown.
Test pilots have a
litmus test for evaluating problems. When something goes wrong
they ask
"Is this thing still flying?" If the answer is yes
then there's no
immediate danger
no need to overreact. When Apollo 12 took off
the spacecraft
was hit by lightning. The entire console began to glow with orange and red
trouble lights. There was a temptation to "Do Something!" But the
pilots asked themselves
"Is this thing still flying in the right
direction?" The answer was yes--it was headed for the moon. They let the
lights glow as they addressed the individual problems
and watched orange and
red lights blink out
one by one. That's something to think about in any
pressure situation. If your thing is still flying
think first
and then
act. ── Capt. Alan Bean
USN
Apollo Astronaut
in Reader's Digest.