Humor 8/15/99: Life in the 1500's & This is Good

Hi everyone,

I finally watched "Tarzan" with a group of friends. I highly recommend
it, if you haven't seen it yet.

I can't wait to come back to Boston this coming weekend. I hope to see
many of you then. I'll be staying with my former roommate Rich Sahara.
If you want to reach me, you can call me at: 617-923-8259.

As most of you know, I am working at an Internet startup this summer in
marketing. One of my projects is to develop and implement a viral
marketing strategy. This is where friends send emails to other friends
asking them to do something. A friend of mine sent me a viral marketing
email from PlanetRx that I thought was pretty good. I actually went to
their site and got the three free products. Then they sent me an email
to pass on to my friends.

I'm curious to see how powerful their viral marketing strategy is and
how to adapt their strategy for use at my company. So I'm sending you
the information below, and if you find the PlanetRx offer to be a good
offer, then go to their website and choose your 3 free items. Here's
their email:

ALL ABOUT "3 FOR FREE" - WHAT YOUR FRIENDS NEED TO KNOW:

Don't miss this -- PlanetRx is now offering a special "3 for Free"
promotion. You can go to the PlanetRx website and choose 3 health &
beauty products, absolutely FREE. You pay only the shipping ($3.95).
PlanetRx is an online pharmacy offering a complete selection of
nonprescription medicines, personal care items, cosmetics, medical
supplies, vitamins, herbs, and supplements. To pick your 3 for Free,
click on the link below, or copy and paste the entire link into your
browser:

http://www.planetrx.com/3forfree/3forfree.asp?mi=eUHPIf5l0WQ%3D

WHAT YOU GET IF YOU TELL YOUR FRIENDS:

When your friends participate in "3 for Free" or make a purchase at
PlanetRx, you'll earn MORE free products for yourself. Here's how it
works:

1. Forward this email message to your friends. Your friends must visit
PlanetRx through the specially coded URL link above, so be sure to
forward this email to them.
2. You'll get two free products or a batch of frequent flyer miles for
EVERY friend who participates. The more friends you tell, the more you
win.
3. Your friends get to take advantage of the amazing "3 for Free" offer.

We'll keep track of your referrals and notify you by email whenever one
of your friends participates. Then you can go to a special page of
PlanetRx and choose your free products from among a great selection of
name-brand health & beauty items, or get frequent flyer miles, good for
travel on major airlines.

*************************
This week's thought provoking question is: "If you could go back to any
age and start a different life, what age would that be?"

This week's humor was forwarded by Jennifer Chin, followed by an
inspirational story forwarded by Tenny & Susan Hasegawa. Enjoy!

-Josh.
_________________________________________

LIFE IN THE 1500's:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in
May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were
starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the
odor.

Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had
the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other men, then the
women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the
water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the
saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood
underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the
pets - dogs, cats - and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs lived in
the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals
would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats
and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This
posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could
really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds
with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem.
Hence those beautiful big four poster beds with canopies.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt,
hence the saying "dirt poor". The wealthy had slate floors which would
get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the
floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept
adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start
slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a
"threshhold."

They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over the
fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They
mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew
for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then
start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had
been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas
porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that
happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and
hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could
bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests
and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid
content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened
most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes - for 400
years.

Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a piece of
wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers were never
washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off
wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of
the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the
"upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would
sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along
the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the
family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they
would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury
people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a
house and reuse the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of
25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they
realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would
tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up
through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out
in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the
"graveyard shift" they would know that someone was "saved by the bell"
or he was a "dead ringer".
____________________________

"This is Good"

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom
he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that
ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is
good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The
friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had
apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after
taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was
blown off.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!" To
which the king replied, "No, this is NOT good!" and proceeded to send
his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have
known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took them to their
village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and
bound him to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king
was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was
less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way. As he
returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and
felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the
jail to speak with his friend. "You were right," he said, "it was good
that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all
that had just happened. "And so I am very sorry for sending you to jail
for so long. It was bad for me to do this."

"No," his friend replied, "This is good!" "What do you mean, 'This is
good'? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?"

"If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you."

Situations may not always seem pleasant while we are in them, but the
promise of God is clear. If we love Him and live our lives according to
His precepts, even that which seems to be bleak and hopeless will be
turned by God for His glory and our benefit. Hold on, God is faithful!

May God bless you this week as you seek His will in every situation.

---Author unknown

The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory
of God and the refreshment of the soul.
---- J. S. Bach ---
--
_____________________________________

Joshua Li
420 James Road #1
Palo Alto CA 94306
(650)565-8674
Permanent Email: joshli@post.harvard.edu
http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/joshua.li/