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Inspirational
Nugget
So,
you think you know everything ...
1. Rubber bands last longer
when refrigerated.
2. Peanuts are one of the ingredients
of dynamite.
3. There are 293 ways to make change
for a dollar.
4. The average person's left hand
does 56% of the typing.
5. A shark is the only fish that can
blink with both eyes.
6. There are more chickens than people
in the world.
7. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant
is grown in New Jersey.
8. The longest one-syllable word in
the English language is
"screeched."
9. On a Canadian two dollar bill,
the flag flying over the Parliament
building is an American flag.
10. All of the clocks in the movie
"Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
11. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange,
silver, or purple.
12. "Dreamt" is the only
English word that ends in the letters "mt".
13. All 50 states are listed across
the top of the Lincoln Memorial
on the back of the $5 bill.
14. Almonds are a member of the peach
family.
15. Winston Churchill was born in
a ladies' room during a dance.
16. Maine is the only state whose
name is just one syllable.
17. There are only four words in the
English language which end in
"dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and
hazardous.
18. Los Angeles' full name is "El
Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina
de los Angeles de Porciuncula".
19. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
20. An ostrich's eye is bigger than
its brain.
21. Tigers have striped skin, not
just striped fur.
22. In most advertisements, the time
displayed on a watch is 10:10.
23. Al Capone's business card said
he was a used furniture dealer.
24. The characters Bert and Ernie
on Sesame Street were named after
Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's
a Wonderful
Life."
25. A dragonfly has a life span of
24 hours.
26. A goldfish has a memory span of
three seconds.
27. A dime has 118 ridges around the
edge.
28. It's impossible to sneeze with
your eyes open.
29. The giant squid has the largest
eyes in the world.
30. In England, the Speaker of the
House is not allowed to speak.
31. The microwave was invented after
a researcher walked by a radar
tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
32. The average person falls asleep
in seven minutes.
33. There are 336 dimples on a regulation
golf ball.
34. "Stewardesses" is the
longest word that is typed with only the
left hand.
....now you know everything....You
could be a TEENAGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Note: I have not confirmed that each
of these statements are true.
Those of you who have nothing to do (sorry! i.e. if you have
time) might verify them. Let me know if any are wrong.]
Heart
Warmer
Bobby was getting cold
sitting out in his back yard in the snow. Bobby didn't wear
boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any. The
thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did
a poor job of keeping out the cold.
Bobby had been in his backyard for
about an hour already, and, try as he might, he could not
come up with an idea for his mother's Christmas gift. He shook
his head as he thought, "This is useless, even if I do
come up with an idea, I don't have any money to spend."
Ever since his father had passed away
three years ago, the family of five had struggled. It wasn't
because his mother didn't care, or try, there just never seemed
to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but the small
wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far.
What the family lacked in money and
material things, they more than made up for in love and family
unity. Bobby had two older and one younger sister, who ran
the household in their mother's absence. All three of his
sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their mother.
Somehow it just wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already,
and he had nothing.
Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked
the snow and started to walk down to the street where the
shops and stores were. It wasn't easy being six without a
father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.
Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking
into each decorated window. Everything seemed so beautiful
and so out of reach. It was starting to get dark and Bobby
reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly his eyes caught
the glimmer of the setting sun's rays reflecting off of something
along the curb. He reached down and discovered a shiny dime.
Never before has anyone felt so wealthy
as Bobby felt at that moment. As he held his new found treasure,
a warmth spread throughout his entire body and he walked into
the first store he saw. His excitement quickly turned cold
when salesperson after salesperson told him that he could
not buy anything with only a dime.
He saw a flower shop and went inside
to wait in line. When the shop owner asked if he could help
him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could buy one
flower for his mother's Christmas gift. The shop owner looked
at Bobby and his ten cent offering. Then he put his hand on
Bobby's shoulder and said to him, "You just wait here
and I'll see what I can do for you."
As Bobby waited, he looked at the beautiful
flowers and even though he was a boy, he could see why mothers
and girls liked flowers.
The sound of the door closing as the
last customer left, jolted Bobby back to reality. All alone
in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid.
Suddenly the shop owner came out and
moved to the counter. There, before Bobby's eyes, lay twelve
long stem, red roses, with leaves of green and tiny white
flowers all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby's heart
sank as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into
a long white box.
"That will be ten cents young
man." the shop owner said reaching out his hand for the
dime. Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime.
Could this be true? No one else would give him a thing for
his dime! Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added,
"I just happened to have some roses on sale for ten cents
a dozen. Would you like them?"
This time Bobby did not hesitate, and
when the man placed the long box into his hands, he knew it
was true. Walking out the door that the owner was holding
for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry Christmas,
son."
As he returned inside, the shop keepers
wife walked out. "Who were you talking to back there
and where are the roses you were fixing?"
Staring out the window, and blinking
the tears from his own eyes, he replied, "A strange thing
happened to me this morning. While I was setting up things
to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me to
set aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't
sure at the time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I
set them aside anyway. Then just a few minutes ago, a little
boy came into the shop and wanted to buy a flower for his
mother with one small dime.
When I looked at him, I saw myself,
many years ago. I too was a poor boy with nothing to buy my
mother a Christmas gift. A bearded man, whom I never knew,
stopped me on the street and told me that he wanted to give
me ten dollars.
When I saw that little boy tonight,
I knew who that voice was, and I put together a dozen of my
very best roses."
The shop owner and his wife hugged
each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the bitter
cold air, they somehow didn't feel cold at all.
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Cosmos
of Happiness
