This'n That
1. Until about the year 1100, most people in Europe had only one name. With population increasing it became difficult to distinguish among people, so surnames were added. These came from four primary sources: a man's occupation, such as John Cook, or Miller; location, such as John Overhill or Brook; patronymical, such as John's son (Johnson); and characteristics, such as John Small, Short, Longfellow, and so forth.
In addition to the need for identification, one occupation had to go a step further: the fighting men. In the Middle Ages combatants wore heavy suits of armor which made them unrecognizable. To prevent friend from fighting friend, each knight identified himself by painting a colorful design on his armor. In this manner was born the family coat of arms.
2. Did the ancients know about public health?
The ancient Hebrews had sanitary codes which were passed down from about 2000 B.C. The Minoans' civilizations also had some excellent sanitary provisions. The Romans built elaborate aqueducts to get pure drinking water to their city; their public baths were famous; and their main sewer, the Cloaca Maxima, is still in use. Both Demosthenes and Plutarch served as health officers. Unfortunately, after the fall of the Roman Empire, interest in sanitation and public health practically died out, and the whole field had to be developed again in modern times.
3. Mr. and Mrs. Lambert took a round-the-world trip from England. At Japan's Kobe, they saw a Buddha statue in the window of a shop. It was of white ivory, about 1 1/2-in. tall, with a happy round face and stomach, sitting on a pillow of embroidered Japanese flowers. The Lamberts liked it and the price was a giveaway. The seller told them that Ho-Tei would bring good luck.
The statue was placed in Mrs. Lambert's case on their trip to Manila. That night, she had a terrible toothache. The doctor had medicine, but it was no help. At Manila, a dentist drilled one tooth to the nerve and the pain was almost unbearable.
Then to Sydney, Australia. While on board the ship, they had changed stuffs and the Buddha was somehow changed to Mr. Lambert's baggage. That night, he had an awful toothache. No doctor was on board and he took one aspirin after another. Nearly mad with pain, he got off at Sydney and was aching as before. Two days later at another port, Mr. Lambert saw another doctor but he told him nothing was wrong. When he returned to the ship, his teeth were aching. At another port, he told the dentist to start pulling all teeth until he said to stop. The doctor pulled one. There was no more aching, and so he concluded that was it.
At Chile, South America, they visited his mother. When shown Ho-Tei, she loved it and they gave it to her. She had good teeth, but within a few hours, all her teeth were aching. Few days later, Mother returned Ho-Tei, saying it did not suit her.
The ship went to England. The Lamberts had no toothaches because Ho-Tei was in the storage room with other baggages, they having bought other stuffs. The next morning in England, friends visited them. They gave Ho-Tei to a woman to show her husband. All that day, they did not see the woman, which was thought to be strange. But the next morning, she came with pale face and swollen mouth.
Then, came the realization! They recalled dates, diaries and their hairs rose in horror. They finally decided to give the statue to a Japanese curio shop in London.
4. Those electronic devices which check for concealed weapons are not exactly new. Centuries ago, one of the palaces in Chang-an, the ancient Chinese capital now known as Sian, had gates made of lodestone--a natural magnet. If a would-be assassin came through the gate with a concealed dagger, the lodestone would pull the hidden weapon like an invisible hand. Startled, the individual would involuntarily reach for the weapon. Trained guards, watching every moment, would then grab him.
5. The battle of El Alamein had raged fiercely through the hours of the day when the heat was most intense on the sands of North Africa. When it seemed that the British had nearly reached the limits of their endurance, with an almost nonexistent water supply, they were suddenly surprised to see large numbers of the elite desert German army throw up their hands in surrender. They came stumbling in, with parched protruding tongues and thick swollen lips, begging for water, even just a sip.
What had happened was that, as they overran the previous British position, there was a newly constructed water main there, and the German soldiers had shot holes in it and drank deeply. However, the main was not in use for fresh water, and was being tested out by pumping seawater through it. What the Germans unwittingly drank was water from the Mediterranean Sea. The more they drank, the greater was their thirst in the battle. Thus was decided the issue of this crucial engagement.
6. The four panels of a door in your home have in relief the sign of the Cross. This is no accident. The Woodcraftsmen's Guild in England in the Middle Ages took as their motto the words of Christ, "I am the Door." Then they wrought in each door the sign of the Cross. It is a beautiful pattern, suiting both the hand and the eye.
7. Americans characterize unintelligible speech by "That's Greek to me," the Russians by "That's Chinese to me," the French by "That's Hebrew to me," the Germans by "That's Spanish to me."
8. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the 500 most used words in the English language each has an average of 23 different meanings. The word "round," for instance, has 70 distinctly different meanings.
9. It has often been noted that the past events of history are often repeated many years later. But this old saying has never been more dramatically borne out than in the striking similarities found in the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, John Kennedy was elected just a century later, in 1960.
Lincoln was warned not to attend Ford's Theater on the night he was shot; Kennedy was warned not to visit Dallas.
Both men were shot on a Friday, in public view, while sitting happily and at ease beside their wives. Both were shot from behind, the fatal bullet in each case entering the back of the head.
The men who succeeded Lincoln and Kennedy to the presidency were both named Johnson. Andrew Johnson was born in 1808, Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in 1908. Lyndon Johnson was a Democrat, a Southerner, and a former Senator, and so was Andrew Johnson.
John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and was later found in a tobacco storage barn (warehouse); Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from a book storage warehouse and was found in a movie theater.
Both assassins were shot down before they could be brought to trial.
10. In 1644, the crew of a French ship, bound for the West Indies, prepared for a burial at sea. Such burials were common then, but this one affected even the most hardened seaman. Death had come for one of the children aboard, a bright and pretty little girl named Francoise who, with her parents, was bound for the French island of Martinique to begin a new life. Francoise had died suddenly after a short illness.
Wrapped in canvas, the little form lay unmoving on the deck as a priest intoned the prayers for those who are buried at sea. Suddenly, there was a faint mewling sound and a quiver of movement within the canvas. Quickly, the covering was ripped open. And out jumped a little kitten.
The mourning mother explained that it had belonged to her daughter and had been her constant companion. "Then", said the captain, "your child must be alive, as all sailors believe no animal will stay near a dead body."
The child was alive. And she grew up to make history. She was the famous Madame de Maintenon who married King Louis XIV in 1683 and ruled France with him until his death 31 years later.
11. Foretelling the future is becoming a popular--& highly paid--business. But few soothsayers will ever be able to equal the record of Jules Verne in predicting what's ahead for the World.
First & foremost among all science-fiction writers, Verne reached the peak of his writing career before the start of the 20th century. In his books, he prophesied atomic submarines, the military tank, skyscrapers, aircraft, television, earth-moving machines, talking pictures, & a host of other modern inventions.--And not only did he predict them, he explained how they would work.
But Verne's most uncanny forecast of things to come was his detailed description of a voyage to the Moon. Verne described a Moon rocket long before anyone dreamed of such a thing, & even told of a dog that would be sent up first--as the Russians did--to test the projectile.
Most amazing of all, however, in his book "Around the Moon", this fantastic man actually described the place from which a Moon rocket would take off. These are his words: "Everyone in America made it his duty to study the geography of Florida. As a point of departure for the Moon rocket, they had chosen an area situated 27 degrees North Latitude & 5 degrees West Longitude." That location is only 80 miles from Cape Kennedy.
12. Mystery is beyond human reason but it is not against reason.
13. God orders history for the good of His people.
14. I coughed a cough into the air,
Germs fell to earth, I know not where.
For who has eyes so keen and bright
That they can see where microbes light?
I sneezed a sneeze into the air,
The virus flew most everywhere.
For who has hand so quick to lug
His hanky out and top his mug?
Not long afterward on a bed
I found a neighbor almost dead.
For he that day was standing by,
And now has flu, the same as I.
15. The Russians actually took the lead in the UN to create a Jewish state.
In 1947 and 1948, Gromyko, deputy foreign minister of Russia, strongly advocated the formation of the Nation Israel. Gromyko declared that it would be unjust to deny the Jews the right to realize their aspirations to have a state of their own. He reminded the UN how the Jews had suffered and said that the time had come to help the Jews not by words but by deeds.
It was through Gromyko's persistence that the Jews even won the right to appear before a UN committee to plead their cause.
When the Arabs were attacking Israel after its formation, Russia came to her rescue by supplying artillery and airplanes when all other nations refused to help her. Russia had high hopes for the fledgling country, and anticipated that Israel would be their long-sought-for toehold in the Middle East. Many of the Jewish leaders had been born in Russia.
16. By the year 1916, World War I was going badly for England. She was in a desperate plight due to shortage of gun powder. Up until then, gun powder had been made from nitrates taken from mines in Chile, South America. But with German submarines controlling the sea lanes, Britain was unable to obtain the precious raw material.
At this time, Chaim Weizmann, a brilliant Jewish scientist, discovered how to make gun powder from nitrogen that was taken from the air. Eighty percent of the air we breathe is nitrogen! This changed the course of the war.
In appreciation, Lloyd George, representing the British government, told Dr. Weizmann to name his reward. He requested that Palestine be declared national homeland for the Jewish people. Consequently, the Balfour declaration was drawn up and signed on November 2, 1917. The letter reads:
Dear Lord Rothschild:
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of his Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations, which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet. His Majesty's Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR7
17. Timmerman is a dissident journalist who was expelled from Argentina. "I have lost all of my fantasies about Israel", he said about the time since September 27, 1979, when tears of emotion broke his arrival greetings. "But not one of my convictions! That means that Israel is not the open society I thought & not the peaceful democracy I thought. It is a xenophobic, totalitarian society. I thought as Jews we had a tradition of saving lives. And then to come here & see the cruelty Jews are capable of. I didn't like the gang of criminals, the totalitarians, in Argentina, & I don't like them here either."
18. When Britain gained the mandate to govern Palestine in 1918, Hebrew was added to Arabic and English as one of the official languages. When the Jews began to return there was wild confusion, for each one spoke the language of the nation from whence he had come.
A Jewish newspaper editor, by the name of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, had foreseen that when the Jews returned to the land they would need a common language, and he devoted his life to the restoration of the Hebrew language. Hebrew had not been a major language in Palestine since the 6th century B.C. The religious leaders felt that it was sacred, and that it should not be used for ordinary conversation.
19. In February, 1896, Theodor Herzl, a brilliant Austrian journalist, published a pamphlet The Jewish State which swept through the Jewish world like a tornado. Within a few months, Zionist groups were springing up in Jewish communities everywhere. The pamphlet advocated a Jewish nation in a Jewish national land. "We shall live at last as free men on our own soil."
20. Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee in New York said, "The evangelical community is the largest & fastest-growing block of pro-Israeli, pro-Jewish sentiment" in the United States. The most prominent spokesman among Jewish leaders for the more hesitant point of view toward the evangelicals is Rabbi Alexander Schindler, head of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, a reform organisation. "Why does organised American Jewry continue its flirtation with the Christian right?" he said. "We know the reasons, of course. Most Jewish leaders are willing to forgive anyone anything as long as they hear a good word about Israel,"
21. In the Middle Ages, in many lands, a "badge of shame" was placed on the Jews. In some places, it was a patch of red or yellow worn on the breast or arm, on the shoulder or on the hat. They were confined, like corralled beasts in ghettoes.
German states considered them as slaves of the emperor, and they were outrageously taxed and plundered. In most European countries, they were prohibited from owning land, and were excluded from the schools and the universities.
The 9th and 10th centuries were largely an era of peace for Jews in Europe, although England did banish all Jews from the realm in 1020.
The first Crusade began in the 11th century to take the Holy Land from the Moslems. But the Crusades turned out to be as much against the Jews of Europe as against Moslems in the Holy Land. "Kill a Jew and save your soul," was the cry.
In the year 1298, great persecution swept Europe and hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed. In 1350, the Black Plague engulfed Europe, killing one-fourth of the population. Jews were blamed and one-half of the Jews in Europe were murdered.
In 1353, Jews were totally banished from France. Spain and Portugal also refused them entrance. Germany banished all Jews from Prague in 1560. Spain in 1492 forced 800,000 Jews into the sea, most of whom died from exposure and drowning.
In 1411, the Roman Catholic Church instituted the Inquisition. Tens of thousands died. Jews were scarcely considered human beings.
22. One of the chief minerals in the Dead Sea is potash. It has enough potash to provide for the needs of the entire world for 2,000 years. Why is potash so valuable? It is used as a potent fertilizer. When the population explosion begins to usher in famines, potash will become extremely valuable for food production. It is also used for explosives.
23. Philosophy has been a quest, & never a conquest.
24. If you would like to keep your feet on the ground, carry some responsibilities on your shoulders.
25. Mystery is but another name for our ignorance; if we were omniscient all would be perfectly plain.
26. Opportunities drop in your lap if you have your lap where opportunities drop.
27. Opportunity does not batter the door off its hinges when it knocks.
28. America is built on violence! Violence is its religion from start to finish! From the time the kids get to school & beat each other up, till the time they go to war to kill each other, that's America's religion!--And violence is caused by anger.
29. What is a miracle? I know of nothing else but miracles. Every hour of the light & the dark is a miracle. Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. Every square yard of the surface of the Earth is spread with the same; every foot underground swarms with the same. The sea is a continual miracle. The fishes that swim, the rocks, the motions of the waves, the ships with men in them. What stranger miracles are there?--Walt Whitman
30. If we are to possess power, we must surrender all desire to use it for our own ends.
31. There is a difference
Between being sorry for sin and being sorry you are "caught."
Between confessing your sins and confessing some other fellow's.
Between seeing your own faults and seeing some other person's.
There is a difference
Between conversion of the head, and conversion of the heart.
Between being led by the Holy Spirit and led by your own imagination.
Between being persecuted for "righteousness' sake," and being persecuted for "foolishness' sake."
Between "contending for the faith" and striving for your own opinion.
32. Almost 50 years ago, when Dr. Mosinsohn of the Hebrew College of Jaffa was touring America, he remarked at the University of California:
"Think of all the great religious leaders who have come out of the East. Moses arose in the East; Buddha, Confucius, Jesus and Mahomed all arose in the East. And we say to you people of the West, with confidence, that if you will restore the Jew to his ancestral home, it will not be long until we give you another great religious leader who will perhaps transcend all who have gone before."
33. During the Middle Ages, this supposed identity of the Antichrist as a Jew was to cause many anti-Semitic outbreaks. Dramas were written and produced which showed how Jewish demons would help the Antichrist to conquer the world, until the second coming of Christ would annihilate both the Jews and the Antichrist together.
When these mystery plays were enacted, armed forces were needed to protect the Jews and their quarters from the fury of the mob. Though the pope and his councils had insisted that Jews should not be killed--merely isolated and degraded until they became converted--this made little impression on mobs that had been stirred into hysterical fear by these Antichrist plays.
34. French Undersea Explorer Jacques Cousteau estimates that the vitality of the seas, in terms of fish and plant life, has declined some 30% to 50% in the past twenty years.
Testifying before a UN symposium on the environment in Geneva, Swiss Marine Explorer Jacques Piccard warned abruptly that if nothing is done, all the oceans will be dead before the end of the century.
35. A pessimist can hardly wait for the future so he can look back with regret.
36. Nothing beats uncertainty to make tomorrow more interesting.
37. Just because the river is quiet, don't think the crocodiles have left.
38. Many years ago a Chinese traveller, returning to his country after a journey in Europe, wrote this description of a piano:
"The Europeans keep a large four-legged animal which they can make to sing at will. A man, or frequently a woman, sits down in front of the animal & steps on its tail, at the same time striking its white teeth with his or her fingers, when the creature begins to sing. The singing, though much louder than a bird's, is pleasant to listen to. The animal does not bite, nor does it move, though it is not tied."
39. The main purpose of the modern educational system is to destroy faith in God & His Creation & His Word, the Bible. It's the Devil's own system.
40. You've either got to believe God's Word or believe the lies of education, the lies of vain & profane babblings of science falsely so-called. Paul sure had them nailed down for the liars they are!
41. The Devil has spent billions of Dollars to try to debunk the Bible! The whole modern educational system is built on the Devil's lies & he only allows enough truth to get mixed in to get you to swallow the bitter pill of all of his lies.
42. What makes resisting temptation difficult, for many people, is that they don't want to discourage it completely.
43. Nothing can be believed which is seen in a newspaper.--Thomas Jefferson
44. All sunny skies would be too bright,
All morning hours mean too much light,
All laughing days too gay a strain;
There must be clouds, & night, & rain.
And shut-in days, to make us see
The beauty of life's tapestry!
45. A Scottish shepherd was once asked if his sheep would follow the voice of a stranger. He replied: "Yes, when they are sick, but never when they are well. A sick sheep will follow any body." No wonder false shepherds get quite a following in these Laodicean days!
46. I know not if the blessing sought
Will come in just the way I thought,
I leave my prayer with Him alone
Whose will is wiser than my own,
Assured that He will grant my quest
Or send some answer far more blessed.
47. If you're taking a beating, cheer up; God is just stirring the batter to bring you a blessing.
48. Not to decide is to decide.
49. No one learns to make right decisions without being free to make wrong ones.
50. The man who drinks now & then usually drinks more now than he did then.
51. A drunk is the past tense of a drink.
52. To love a person is to give him power over us. God loves us, & He has given us that terrible power over Him. We can make Him suffer terribly. We can scorn Him & ignore Him.
53. Everything that is beautiful & good is Godly.
54. Before releasing advertising to the newspapers, let me suggest that we submit our ads to the final judgement of the cleaning lady. If she doesn't know what we are talking about, change the ad.
55. In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage, so long are you young. When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old.
--Douglas MacArthur, on 75th Birthday
56. Children who have been taught, or conditioned, to listen passively most of the day to the warm verbal communications coming from the TV screen, to the deep emotional appeal of the so-called TV personality, are often unable to respond to real persons because they arouse so much less feeling than the skilled actor.--Bruno Bettelheim
57. For what else is sleep but a daily death which does not completely remove man hence nor detain him too long? And what else is death, but a very long & very deep sleep from which God arouses man?--St. Augustine of Hippo
58. Sleep is so like death I dare not trust it without my prayers.
59. "All the World," said the Quaker to his wife, "is queer, except me & thee, & sometimes I wonder about thee!"
60. The angels from their home on high
Look down to Earth with pitying eye,
That, where we are passing guests,
We build such strong & solid nests;
Yet where we hope to live for e'er,
We scarce take heed one stone to bear.
61. How to be miserable:
a) Use "I" as often as possible.
b) Always be sensitive to slights.
c) Be jealous & envious.
d) Think only about yourself.
e) Talk only about yourself.
f) Trust no one.
g) Never forget a criticism.
h) Always expect to be appreciated.
i) Be suspicious.
j) Listen greedily to what others say of you.
k) Always look for faults in others.
l) Do as little as possible for others.
m) Shirk your duties if you can.
n) Never forget a service you may have rendered.
o) Sulk if people aren't grateful for your favours.
p) Insist on consideration & respect.
q) Demand agreement with your own views on everything.
r) Always look for a good time.
s) Love yourself first.
t) Be selfish at all times.
This formula is guaranteed to work.
62. It is not necessarily the well-adjusted man who makes the World a better place... Certainly Jesus was poorly adjusted to the society in which He lived and moved, but He gave the World such mature insights into human nature that we have not yet grasped their full significance.
63. Exercise stimulates many of the same adrenal responses as caffeine & nicotine--but at a rate you can live with. It also rejuvenates your blood's supplies of oxygen & releases mood-elevating chemicals in the brain. So try a few jumping jacks the next time your eyelids are at half-mast. Depression & fatigue are often the result of not getting enough exercise.
64. Great Grandmother, on a Winter's day,
Milked the cows & fed them hay,
Slopped the hogs, saddled the mule,
And got the children off to school;
Did a washing, mopped the floors,
Washed the windows, & did some chores;
Cooked a dish of home-dried fruit,
Pressed her husband's Sunday suit,
Swept the parlor, made the bed,
Baked a dozen loaves of bread,
Split some firewood, & lugged in
Enough to fill the kitchen bin;
Cleaned the lamps & put in oil,
Stewed some apples she thought would spoil;
Churned the butter, baked a cake,
Then exclaimed, "For Heaven's sake,
The calves have got out of the pen!"--
Went out & chased them in again;
Gathered the eggs & locked the stable,
Back to the house & set the table,
Cooked a supper that was delicious,
And afterward washed up all the dishes;
Fed the cat & sprinkled the clothes,
Mended a basketful of hose;
Then opened the organ & began to play,
"When you come to the end of a perfect day!"
(--The Millennium?)
65. Slippery ice, very thin.
Pretty girl tumbled in.
Saw a boy upon the bank--
Gave a shriek, & then she sank.
Boy on bank heard her shout,
Jumped right in--helped her out.
Now they're lovers--very nice;
But first she had to break the ice.
66. How are the fish in these parts?" said I.
The red-faced angler looked up with a sigh.
"Well," said he, "I really can't say.
For a week I've dropped them a line each day,
But so far I've had no reply."
67. The curious mother asked her daughter why she drank her milk in kindergarten but refused to at home. The child replied, "When the teacher says, 'Drink your milk', she means it, & you don't".
68. The flesh loves excitement. It is always ready to jump up & run somewhere. It hurries us into action. The Holy Spirit does not. Satan rushes men. God leads them.
69. Patience is a most necessary qualification for business; many a man would rather you heard his story than granted his request.
70. How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal, but by degrees?
--William Shakespeare