It's been interesting reading the analysis in this thread. A wrench in theory I read the whole thread today & none of the messages were wider than the window/screen
How? How? How? Please, somebody tell me Reading w-i-d-e makes me dizzy.Not kidding. Please, help. And simply put for idiot users, please. Thank you. I tried using the change the number of posts per page but no joy. Is there something else? wow
I assume that Bridget96 went back and amended her earlier post by inserting return characters in the long purple quote. It seems that if you copy and paste from another programme with the [bracket stuff][/bracket stuff] in place then the programme does not allow word wrap. The solution? It's OK to use another program (with a more reliable spell checker) to type your post, just don't add any clever url links or change colours until after you paste it into the "make a post window". That is my interpretation, anyway, maybe others know better?
When I was in high school (Toronto, Canada), after the anthem we had a minute of silence, which could be filled with whatever thoughts or prayers you wanted to have. Not a bad solution, I thought, and religion could be saved for an elective credit course. It eliminated conflict, without removing the practice of beliefs.
I can still remember in elementary school, grade four, when a boy had to sit out in the hall every morning when our teacher read from the bible. His mother didn't want him listening to it, and apparently the teacher insisted on continuing to read. I always felt bad about this boy, stuck in the middle of the argument. Kids shouldn't have to put up with that.
What a good idea, that minute of silence thing. That way, everybody could worship to his own god. I don't think people have anything against children praying. What had people up in arms is what god the children were made to pray to.
School prayer When I was in elementary school, right after WWII, we started each morning with a Bible reading (nearly always from Psalms), the Lord's Prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance. Nobody every paid any attention to the reading and the recitations of the LP and PA were totally mechanical once you learned the pledge (back in those days most children, or at least the ones I knew, already knew the Lord's Prayer by hear by age 3 at latest). This is why I am personally opposed to religious exercises in school -- it's hard to imagine very many students taking them seriously (maybe a few from very religious families) and I don't think it's a good thing to breed contempt for such things in the young. As to the Pledge, that was dropped after a suit was brought in the Supreme Court, and good thing.
I agree that attempts to inculcate piety and patriotism in the schools tend to be counterproductive. But sadly, they are not being taught at home either, and mocked in public.O tempora, O mores.
This is definitely a non-word topic, but i ran across it as i was cleaning out some files today and thought some of you might enjoy it. i think it's one of the funniest things i've ever read:
This is an actual essay written by a college applicant to NYU. The author was accepted and is now attending NYU.
3a. IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:
ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?
I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for urban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.
Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.
I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook thirty-minute brownies in twenty minutes.
I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.
Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants.
I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hand gliding. On
Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.
I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie.
Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes.
Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400.
My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.
I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening.
I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the CIA. I can sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.
I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down.
I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven.
I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin.
I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.
It reminds me of a history teacher I once had. On tests you would get zero for a wrong answer, but you could get a couple humor points if you manage to make the answer interesting.
Dear Seian: Your mention of getting some credit for humor on an exam question reminds me of Bob Benchley, a well known humorist in the 30's. At Harvard he took a course that he thought would be a snap, but because he hardly cracked a book, he was totally at a loss when exam had a question about a controversial fishing treaty. So his answer began: "Much has been said about the views of the fishermen involved. I propose to discuss it from the viewpoint of the fish........"
of the Professor who was irritated by a student who continued to write in his blue book after the Prof had announced the end of the exam period. The student finally finished what he was writing and took it to the front of the classroom, where the Prof had all the other blue books piled on the table. The Prof said that he would not accept the blue book because it had been turned in late. The student huffed, and asked, "Don't you know who I am?" The Prof replied, "I don't know and I don't care who you are." And the student quickly scattered the pile of blue books, inserted his into the mess, and ran out of the room.
Bob Benchley, a well known humorist in the 30's. At Harvard he took a course that he thought would be a snap, but because he hardly cracked a book, he was totally at a loss when exam had a question about a controversial fishing treaty. So his answer began: "Much has been said about the views of the fishermen involved. I propose to discuss it from the viewpoint of the fish........"
I can't resist bragging on my home town for this. In our paper today, there is an article that is a follow-up to one that appeared last week, about a family with a terminally-ill father. They were asking for people to donate frequent-flyer miles, so they could take their 6-year-old to Disney World for one last thing for her to remember about her Dad. This article said to contact the Dream Foundation, which is based in California, 3 hours behind us in time zones.
Today's article said that, within two hours of their office opening the day that first article appeared, they had enough and more. The director said she's never seen anything like it, and that she just might move to Louisville. http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2001/03/05/ky_drem.html
About three years ago, right after a terrible snowstorm, word went out on the airwaves that a donor organ had become available for a four-year-old from here, but that the plane to fly her to it couldn't leave. People turned out in droves with their snow shovels, and cleared the runway, and that child and her tearful father were out of here. I've been told that got written up in one of the Chicken Soup books. I think I live in a pretty neat place.
Jackie, the stories of Louisville brought a happy tug at my heartstrings. I hope you are all ok out there! For those outside the North East of USA, we got socked with a March BLIZARD yesterday and overnight ... it's 9 a.m. and still snowing. About two feet to three of heavy, wet snow along the North East seacoast complicated by high winds (60 to 70 mph) overnight and full moon high tide this morning. All coastal roads from Boston, Mass. to Portland Maine are closed or passable only by emergency equipment. Schools all closed. Mass universities on spring break. Many NH colleges closed. The easterly winds blowing in the high tide waters over seawalls and once there the water's trapped. Sewers and catch basins will eventually take care of water but only in stops-and-starts as the water can't go anywhere when tides are coming in. In some areas north of Boston they have removable sections of seawalls to compensate for storm surges but, all in all, it's a mess. Cape Cod is only area that escaped heavy snow. In my yard I have a park bench -- the kind with wrought iron ends and wooden slat seat and back -- it is completely covered in snow even though it's sheltered by the garden shed. Trees and all branches all snowy from trunks to tips. Only happy people are the teenagers who will make some major money shovelling people out! My son came to plow a swipe in driveway (at about 5 a.m.) and the dear one also shovelled the path to my front door. Poor pup Pearl couldn't get out to her fenced back yard as the snow had packed the doorstep and I can't get door open! So she peed on the shovelled path, giving me a bewildered look over her shoulder! Some of our community conscious men are shovelling around the water hydrants just in case of fire emergency. Well, I am in for today and probably tomorrow as well! All stocked up with food and beverages so I am cozy as we have heat and (obviously) electric ... so we're better of than some folk. Finally, storm bad enough to cause the shut down of Seabrook Nucler Power Plant.That's a helluvalot of snow! wow P.S. It's now almost 11 a.m. -- no telephone for about an hour half. Still snowing!
Wow, while a huge load of snow is a nuisance, at least you got what you expected. Here in Baltimore the prediction started at 2 feet of snow, later revised to 12 to 15 inches. All the supermarkets were sold out of bread, milk and toilet paper in short order (which always happens when there is a prediction of snow, no matter how little), and the hardware stores sold out of snow shovels. What actually happened was about a half inch of very wet snow on top of a half inch of slush -- we had rain for 24 hours and snow for about 2. As of this morning, it's all gone and the sun is shining.
While I am heartly giving thanks at being rescued from having to shovel snow (a perilous undertaking for an old geezer with a dicky heart), I am also greatly enjoying the discomfiture of all the TV weathermen who were unanimous in giving out with the information that this was going to be a major snow event and no mistake possible (they had to say that because they gave out with a similar false prediction earlier this winter.)
When it comes to predicting weather for the NH coast I pay attention to Al Kaprelian, weather forecaster for a small TV station ... Al gets it right when most of the network's hot shots are floundering. To keep track of what's what around here, http://www.wndsweather.com then click on forecast. My congrats on missing the snow. Lucky dog! wow
I am quite glad that I have never lived anywhere that receives snow. In winter, I can see plenty of it from an aesthetically and climatically pleasing distance, but the most interesting stuff to come out of the sky where I live is volcanic ash, and that hasn't happened for three years now. Y'all can keep your cold wet white stuff, if y'all don't mind.
We're just seeing the end of the largest snowfall in Scotland for forty years. We haven't had much snow since we've been here so we were quite surprised at not being able to get out last Tuesday. The schools were only closed for one day, so it wasn't too bad. Fortunately we were away skiing in Scotland for part of last week, which was great as the ski resorts here aren't as high as those in the Alps, North America or New Zealand and don't have a great snow record. They have closed some areas and there is restricted access to the countryside now to help prevent Foot and Mouth disease, so we were lucky that we got away when we did.
My next door neighbour is furious about the snow. Having lived in Canada for a few years he decided to buy a four wheel drive (SUV for Us'ns). After three years of it not being needed (and being too high to fit through the garage door) he got rid of it, just in time for the snow. He looked so funny, digging out the Porsche!
Dear jmh, (Jo) Oh, my. Are you all prepared for big snow as we are here in New Hampshire ... in all New England ... huge snow movers and snow blowers et.al.? It's Wednesday and schools still closed (day two) and we had another five inches overnight here on NH Seacoast. Sunshine tomorrow ... forecaster Al promised. But more snow expected on Friday. Yuk! At least it's March and Spring coming soon, sun becoming warmer! As the Mayor of Cambridge (Massachusetts) said when he received complaints about the snow and ice on the city's roads "God put it here and God will take it away." wow
Dear wow: The Mayor of Cambridge may have said that, but I think he was copying Jim Curley, Mayor of Boston in either l946 or 47. I vas dere. There were potholes you could hide a suitcase in for a week, before the Almighty decided to turn it into ankle deep slush.
wwh : I bow deeply in your directions ... For those who may remember the book and subsequent movie, "The Last Hurrah" was loosely based on Mayor Curley. Spencer Tracey played the lead. Curley was a consummate politician and he did a lot of good things. People loved him to the point they re-elected him Mayor of Boston while he was in jail! wow
My family was always Republican, but I had to admire some of Mayor Curley's good deeds. He found a way to use a bequest that no previous mayor had. He built several health centers where many poor people could get immunizations, Xrays and other medical attention available nowhere else. Curley did more for Boston than any of his critics.
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We'll figger* this thing out yet!
well, they're not all *that* bad.
