Good Morning:  It's Friday October 12, 2001!

BIRTHDAYS:  Jonathan Trumbull, 1710; Elmer A. Sperry (American inventor and developer of the gyrocompass), 1860; Joe Cronin, 1906; Jean Nidetch, 1923; Dick Gregory, 1932; Luciano Pavarotti, 1935; Joan Rivers, 1935; Tony Kubek, 1936; Susan Anton, 1950; astronaut Ronald McNair, 1950; Adam Rich, 1968; Kirk Cameron, 1970.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1476 Captain Christopher Columbus's ship was mistaken for an enemy vessel and sunk by the Portuguese.  Columbus, wounded, clung to an oar to get to shore.  He stayed in Portugal, working as a mapmaker and dreaming of sailing west to find the Indies.
On this date in 1492 Christopher Columbus arrived in the Bahamas.  The celebration of "Columbus Day" used to be 10-12 every year, but the government decided to make it a guaranteed long weekend for us by legislating its observance on the second Monday of October.
On this date in 1768 the song "Yankee Doodle" first appeared in the New York Journal.
On this date in 1792 the first celebration of Columbus took place, on the 300th anniversary of his expedition.
On this date in 1885 Thomas Adams, a chewing-gum manufacturer, introduced the first vending maching in the United States.  It dispensed gumballs.
On this date in 1917 the Lions International was founded in Dallas, Texas.
On this date in 1920 construction began on the Holland Tunnel, which connects Manhattan and Jersey City.
On this date in 1933 Alcatraz became a federal prison.
On this date in 1987 George Bush announced his candidacy for President of the United States.
On this date in 1989 Archaeologists in London unearthed William Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

MEANINGLESS FACTS:  Riquewihr, a community in France, was only an isolated inn until Emperor Rudolf von Habsburg spent an evening there -- and then declared it to be a town to avoid being ridiculed for associating with villagers... Ludovick Grant (1663-1716) of Freuchie (Scotland) was a member of Parliament, the father of 2 members of Parliament, the grandfather of 2 members of Parliament, the great-grandfather of 4 members of Parliament, and the great-great-grandfather of 4 members of Parliament... The Appomattox County School Library in Virginia and its 4,780 volumes were an anonymous gift from a stranger whose identity has never been learned (1940).  Believe it, or not.

TRIVIA:  In the Bible, by what man did 78 women have 88 children?

     "Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will." James Stephens, 1882 - 1950

*******************************************************
Thanks to BC for the Thought of the Day (one with which I agree, and you will too, if you think about it) --
Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.
*******************************************************
Thanks to LBS for an interesting perspective:
General Pershing's Solution
When Muslim terrorists confronted General Pershing during his tour of duty many years ago, he confronted the situation head on.
His men captured four guerillas, and Pershing sentenced them to death.  He gave all four men shovels and had them dig their own graves.  When they finished digging, Pershing had them get out of the holes.  He then had three pigs brought before the four men and shot.
The pigs were then cut open and he had his execution squad smear their bullets with the entrails of the pigs.
Three of the terrorists were then placed before the holes in the ground, and shot with the bullets smeared with pork fat and entrails.  The dead pigs were then thrown in on top of the bodies of the dead guerrillas, defiling them for all eternity.  Pershing let the fourth terrorist go.  Never again did Pershing have a problem with Muslim terrorists.
*******************************************************
Thanks to AB:  A poem from England
 
If I could turn back time, how great that would be
I'd stop all the hurting, pain and misery
before we could watch the terror unfold
I'd stop the whole world and just put it on hold
Then I'd rewind the tape, making all the wrongs "rights"
and never let those people get on those flights
So those graphic video clips..they just would not exist
and neither the enormous "missing persons list"
No pictures of rubble, or people just crying
as they watched in horror the many thousands dying
No reports from what looks like a "Hollywood set"
Or the last words from a loved one on a doomed airline jet

No "Attack on America" dominating the news
with "Experts in terrorism" telling us their views
No witness accounts of all what they saw
or a president saying "This country's at War!"
 
No burning buildings, no falling debris
No 300 missing from the NYPD
No people panicking, then beginning to run
as the black dust mushroom cloaked the bright morning sun

No watching in despair as the flames got higher
60,000 gallons of pure "Liquid Fire"
and the people above, who waved from the window
Some jumped in the end to their deaths far below
 
No buildings collapsing, as they began to melt
No absolute horror, trapped people must have felt
No several thousand tonnes, crashing to the ground
No several hours later..trying to listen for any sound

And no Palestinians dancing in streets
firing their guns and handing out sweets
No fat ugly woman with a napkin round her head
smiling and joking, and laughing at the dead!
 
And instead of the cards, the tributes and flowers
there'd still be that skyline, with those famous twin towers
And rather than senators singing a heart moving song
there'd be four flights, no death and a whole pentagon
 
As I came into London today on the train
I knew that it wouldn't now be quite the same
after Tuesdays mayhem, looking in disbelief
Believe me America..we share your pain and the grief

The office is more quiet than usual today
people just shake their heads and don't know what to say
we try to listen for hope of our colleges overseas
and hope and pray for no more atrocities

We work in the city, and have friends in New York
We speak down the phone, oh the banter and talk
Finding out what the weathers like "is there sun or some rain?"
Its hard to believe that we may never hear them again

So America in your hour of need, know this whatever you do your friends from the City of London, are all thinking of you and as I said at the beginning of this....right at the top of this rhyme I really really really wish I could just turn back time!

Roy Harper  14th Sept 2001
 
*******************************************************
Some nice quotes from QUOTE-OF-THE-DAY:
It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A cathedral, a wave of storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as high as we had hoped. Marcel Proust
Keep high aspirations, moderate expectations, and small needs. William Howard Stein
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die. Daniel H. Burnham
The growth of the human mind is still high adventure, in many ways the highest adventure on earth. Norman Cousins
To subscribe to this service (offered by someone other than myself), visit http://www.qotd.org/subscribe.html.
*******************************************************
ANSWER:  Rehoboam was the active man -- II Chron. 11:21 -- "And Rehoboam... took 18 wives and threescore concubines; and begat twenty and eight sons, and threescore daughters."  A "score" = 20, therefore he had 18 wives plus 60 concubines, or a total of 78 women; and he had 28 sons plus 60 daughters, for a total of 88 children.
*******************************************************

 Gradowiths Homepage

 Daily Humor Archive

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1