11/19/00: The Bat, Thanksgiving

Hi,

How many times have you heard the phrase, "It's a small world"? Well, I
met Everett Gong, my mentee from the Anderson School, who turns out to be
from Sudbury, MA, and a high school classmate of Theresa Huang, who goes to
my church. I joined Everett and the other students in AMSA for some
miniature golf and Chinese food in Sherman Oaks, a few minutes from where I
live. It was quite fun, but cold.

If you are here in LA, my friends and I are going hiking this Friday to
work off some of the calories that we will likely gain on Thanksgiving.
Please join us if you like to hike or just to hang out with us. Let me
know and I'll send you more details when I get them.

I love Chinese martial arts movies. A movie coming out called "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon", with Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh and Matrix-like
special effects will be released here in LA on Friday, 12/8. I'm getting a
group of people together to watch this on opening night. Let me know if
you want to join us. You can watch some of the cool trailers at:
(Quicktime required)

http://www.crouchingtiger.com.

Finally, for those of you who like to plan way, way ahead, I'm helping to
organize our young adult ski trip, and it will be on March 16 - 18, 2001.
We will probably go to June Mtn, or Mammoth Mtn. Hope you can join us.

The sole response to last week's thought provoking question is "A manmade
object I would use to describe myself is: blender. I tend to do everything
at once and not go anywhere."

This week's thought provoking question is: "If you had to pick one thing
that you are most thankful for, what would it be?"

This week's humor was forwarded from Reiko Muto. The inspirational quote
by Abraham Lincoln was forwarded from Pablo Manguy.

Enjoy the email, and have a great Thanksgiving! Take the time to thank God
for the blessings in your life. I hope you will have a safe trip if you're
traveling.

-Josh.
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THE BAT

A vampire bat came flapping in from the night covered in fresh blood, and
parked himself on the ceiling of the cave to get some sleep. Pretty soon
all the other bats smelled the blood and started hassling him about where
he got it. He told them to leave him alone and let him get some sleep.

However, they persisted until he finally gave in. "Okay, follow me," he
said as he flapped out of the cave with hundreds of bats behind him.

Down through a valley they went, across a river and into a forest of trees.
Finally he slowed and all the other bats excitedly milled around him.

"Now, do you see that tree over there?" he asked. "YES, YES, YES!" all the
other bats screamed in a frenzy.

"Good," shouted the bat, "because I didn't!"
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Puzzle: None this week
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On Thanksgiving

"We have been recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven, we have been
preserved these many years in peace and prosperity, we have grown in
numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have
forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in
peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly
imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were
produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with
unbroken success, we have become too sufficient to feel the necessity of
redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently,
and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole
American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of
the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are
sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of
November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who
dwelleth in the heavens."

- Abraham Lincoln, 1863
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Last Week's Puzzle Solution: Inconsistencies? (Sent by David Ting)

My assessment is that his car plunged into a body of water at night. Thus
it came to a halt. The water was dark and cold. He took off his overcoat
to be more maneuverable and not weighted down by the water. Fortunately,
he did not have power windows. He was relieved when he approached the
surface and saw the lights.

Here's the original puzzle:

Do you see any inconsistencies in the passage below? If so, are there ways
they might be resolved?

The man was worried. His car came to a halt, and he was all alone. It was
extremely dark and cold. The man took off his overcoat, rolled down the
window, and got out of the car as quickly as possible. Then he used all
his strength to move as fast as he could. He was relieved when he finally
saw the lights of the city, even though they were far away.