Humor 1/31/00: Interesting Trivia & Kyle's Story

Hi everyone,

Did you watch the Superbowl? Which ad was your favorite? The ads were
pretty disappointing in general. I'd have to say that my favorite ads
are the two Mountain Dew commercials. Some of the ads were horrible.

On Saturday I went hiking at Solstice Canyon, in the Santa Monica
Mountains, off the Pacific coast in Malibu (only about 17 miles north on
Highway 1 from Santa Monica). The day was awesome, sunny and temps in
the 70's. What I really liked is that when we got to the small
waterfall, we were able to do some rock climbing up the series of small
waterfalls. I would highly recommend this place to go hiking.

Also, on the Rising Sun trail up the mountain, we saw an interesting
structure in the distance on the top of another mountain. It looked at
the command station for a science fiction movie. It has a sleek
triangular shape, and is mostly made of glass and greenish metal frame.
If that's someone's house then it must be very futuristic.

This week's thought provoking question is: "If you could play any
position on your favorite sports team, what would it be?"

This week's humor was forwarded by Jennifer Kitil, followed by an
inspirational story forwarded by someone from IVGCF.

Enjoy!

-Josh.
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1. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes
when you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed
firmer to sleep on. That's where the phrase, "goodnight, sleep tight"
came from.

2. The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses
every letter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to test
telex/twx communications)

3. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a
letter is uncopyrightable.

4. When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They
actually pass out from sheer terror.

5. The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year
because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the
weight of all the books that would occupy the building.

6. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the
Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber
machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded
into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it
got "the whole 9 yards."

7. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which
stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your
thumb.

8. When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25
miles per year.

9. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the
"General Purpose" vehicle, GP

10. Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale
of vodka.

11. On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year.

12. No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever
won a Super Bowl.

13. The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To
Beaver."

14. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

15. In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a hunting
license.

16. It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a
year's supply of footballs.

17. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating
are already married.

18. There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's Big Mac
bun.

19. The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1.

20. The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and
Budweiser, in that order.

21. In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world's
nuclear weapons combined.

22. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a
month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law
with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because
their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month"
or what we know today as the "honeymoon."

23. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old
England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to
mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the
phrase "mind your P's and Q's."

24. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into
the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they
used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle," is the phrase
inspired by this practice.
____________________________

Story of Kyle

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class
was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was
carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring
home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd." I had quite
a weekend planned
(parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I
shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at
him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he
landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the
grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible
sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him
and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in
his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks.
They really should get lives."

He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his
face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped
him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out,
he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He
said he had gone to private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked
all the way home, and I carried his books. He turned out to be a pretty
cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me
and my friends. He said yes.

We hung all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked
him. And my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and
there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and
said, "Man boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with
this pile of books everyday!"

He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were
seniors, began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I
was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the
miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was
going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of
our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to
prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to
get up there and speak.

Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys
that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually
looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls
loved him! Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I
could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the
back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!"

He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and
smiled. "Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. "Graduation
is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough
years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach... but
mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to
someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a
story."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the
first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He
talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his mom wouldn't have to
do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and
gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me
from doing the unspeakable."

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told
us all about his weakest moment. I saw his mom and dad looking at me and
smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize
it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture
you can change a person's life. For better or for worse. God puts us
all in each other's lives to impact one another in some way. Look for
God in others.
--
_____________________________________

Joshua Li
14400 Addison Ave. #119
Sherman Oaks CA 91423
(818)461-8930
Instant Messenger ID: joshli
Permanent Email: joshli@post.harvard.edu
http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/joshua.li/