Trivia ~ Possibly Unknown

 

GLASS takes one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times.

Gold is the only metal that doesn’t rust, even if’s buried in the ground for thousands of years.

Your Tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at one end only.

If You Stop Getting Thirsty, you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated , its thirst mechanism shuts off.

Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman Numerals.

Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.

The Song Auld Lang Sang was sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English -speaking country in the world to bring in the new year.

Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61%. Drinking a glass of water before you eat, may help digestion and curb appetite.

Peanut Oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn’t smoke unless it’s heated above 450 degrees.

The roar that we hear when we place a sea shell to our ear, is not the ocean ~ but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

Nine out of every ten living things live in the ocean.

The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man.

Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.

The University of Alaska spans four time zones.

The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.

In ancient Greece tossing an apple to a girl, was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it, meant she accepted.

Communications paid $28 million dollars for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday which was written in 1935,

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

A comet’s tail always points away from the sun.

The Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 caused more deaths & illness than the disease it was tended to prevent.

The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times when knights in armour raised their visors to reveal their identity.

If you get to the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up: you can sees stars in the middle of a day.

When a person dies, ‘hearing’ is the last sense to go. The first sense is sight.

In ancient times, strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed.

Strawberries and cashews are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside.

The moon moves about 2 inches away from Earth each year.

The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust.

Due to the Earth’s gravity, it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 metres.

Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down.

Everything weighs 1% less at the equator.

The letter J does not a appear anywhere on the periodic table of elements. 

The foregoing I graciously thank Tom who shares with us all this neat information.

Comments welcome: compiled by MBK October 7, 2020.

Daily Inspiration

 

Our days are a kaleidoscope. Every instant a change takes place in the contents:

New Harmonies...New Contrasts...New Combinations of all sort. Nothing ever happens twice alike.
(Henry Ward Beecher)

Daily, at my door, The Hamilton Spectator is delivered (excluding Sundays and Holidays).

It is my breakfast incentive with a cup of hot brewed coffee. From the Readers Write Column ~ a recent read inspired me... headed by a couple walking devotedly through a country meadow.

Daily, I glance through the Death Notices (although for a few days, very few had deceased.). Yet WOW! Today's column, covering several pages, listed about 60 deaths. Hurrah! My Name was not there!

Daily I attempt to solve the daily Crossword Puzzles.

Several comic strips absolutely make my day: Hagar the Horrible...Blondie...Sherman's Lagoon...Garfield...Dennis the Menace...Hi and Lois...Dilbert...Drabble...and Peanuts!
So much, from these characters, we learn about Life!

Horoscopes often invite me to check out Pisces.
The TV Guide to which I subscribe, is a 'must' for a selection of programs to watch.

Prior to Pandemic's Isolation
Twice monthly I arranged Movie Night on Thursday evenings at 7 PM. Either from the local Library,
or in-residence tenants, I selected videos of interest (avoiding War Stories, Vengeance and Crime).

Since the inception of September, with an in-house friend, we created and developed Prayers and Praise Programs (scheduled Tuesday afternoons twice monthly) in which the singing of hymns is its foremost theme. Notices about these I post near the mailboxes and main floor elevator.

As you can ascertain ~ the Corona Virus has affected many city activities
that cancelled...and including all programs in our Senior Residence!

LIFE I value for the many attributes and conveniences ~ mainly my healthy maintenance

for a Senior~SeniorAge!

I value my family and long-time friends. I value skills developed over many years which occupy both mind and body. Sports (skiing, tennis, golf and dance) kept me physically fit!

However, since Arth Ritus beset these interests, I developed 'writing skills' which, online, I frequently publish under: Merle's Kaleidoscope of Life.
For me: I have a wonderful Life!

I fill my life with so much positivity, happiness and brilliance

that God, may one day say with utmost pride:

This is the most amazing Kaleidoscope to view!
Although an unknown author ... this, also is my mantra!

Written by MBK...April 20, 2020.
Comments most welcome

Teacher Making a Difference

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around.."

His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."

His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class."

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper That he got from a grocery bag Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume.. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left, she cried for at least an hour.

On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets.."

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling* her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honours. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favourite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favourite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.

Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for* believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you."

(For you that don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr. at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.)

Vimy's Historic Tale

 I'm a little acorn~ oval and stout
Dwelling in an oak tree in a forest green;
And when the wind blows, I am sheltered in its leaves.
Said my “Mother Oak” as she sat her tree within.
“Remember, little acorn ~ originally, you're a British-English Oak!”

When previous French attacks failed to capture Vimy Ridge,
the Canadian corp in 1917, seized the Ridge: a 7-kilo-length.
After the battle was won, Leslie Millen (from Milliken, Ontario) ~
as a Ridge souvenir ~ he found my Mother Oak half buried ~
and gathered a handful of her fallen acorns.
And on his family farm in Scarborough, east of Toronto,
he planted all his acorns ~ trusting they'd survive and grow.

In January 2015, the process began with professional arbonists.
Taking cuttings from the crowns of the oaks that survived,
they grafted them onto basic root stock.
These saplings have been grown at NVK Connon Nurseries.
These saplings are now available for private Canadian plantings
to commemorate The Battle of Vimy Ridge.
For many, many months and many, many saplings,
they were nourished and nursed with NVK love.

And Guess What! I've Been Adopted!
Proudly I stood with about a 4-foot-plus-narrow trunk,
with 2 short branches either side at alternating levels.
Surely someone would yearn me ~ take me home ~
even though I had no leaves, yet!
About a thousand of us to be sold as

Memorial Trees ~ and to honour Canadians who fought at Vimy Ridge.
A little birdie told us ~ there's a Vimy Tree planted at Waterdown's Legion
and one planted at Burlington's City Hall.

It was on Monday, April 23/18 ~ a cool, sunny day ~
an arborist came to retrieve ME~ stating that a West Lincoln family
would lovingly care for ME ~ a Vimy Ridge Oak!
And there she was: the Grandmother...her daughter and family
who were being presented a wedding anniversary gift
to plant on their 23-acre property backing on woodland
and Chippewa Creek.

After purchasing me, our photo was taken on the Nursery's front patio
with the botanist who selected me.

The family kept me in a cool protected room to 'climatize' a few days.
Following directions to plant and care for me, they placed me in rich soil
...and ever so straight, I stood!
They christened me VIMY as Grandmother had suggested!
So exuberant we all were ~ when by the end of May
milder weather arrived: I Sprouted Leaves!
I called Grandma about my quick growth in this, my country home.
I just hope that the visiting deer - won't chew my leaves of green!

(For more information: contact NVK Connon Nurseries in West Flamboro, Ontario.)
The foregoing: composed by MBK...October 4, 2018

Saga of the Acorn
The creation of a thousand forests ~ is in one acorn!
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Thomas Carlyle further states: When the oak is felled, the whole forest echoes
with its fall...but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze.

Hope Jahren comments that every acorn on the ground
is just as alive as the 300-year-old oak tree that towers above it.

And James Allen muses:
The oak sleeps in the acorn...
The bird waits in the egg...
and in the highest vision of the soul...
a waking angel stirs.

Dreams are the seedlings of realities!

Comments welcome:
Written and Submitted by MBK
November 2020

Advice for the Learned

Life is like a candle: Sometimes it has to struggle for brightness,
(as experienced by Eleanor Roosevelt)

And a parable by Robert Service:
It isn't the mountain that wears you out;
it's the grain of sand in your shoe.

Emily Carr viewing her life through Nature,
she 'breathed new life not only into herself
but in the eyes and minds of her great country, concluding:
It's never too late to be what you might have been!

Someone, once said,
The greatest gift any human being can give to another
is the gift of a 'good example.'

Five Things You Cannot Recover in Life:
A stone thrown!
An occasion forgotten!
A Word spoken!
A time ~ gone!
A love ~ lost!

Observation by Buddha:
Space is an empty space ~ home of the awakened wind.
In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west;
people create distinctions out of their own minds, believing them to be true!

Queen Rania of Jordan observed:
People sometimes think of 'queen' as a title that's shrouded with protocol
and formality ~ and for that reason, sometimes people are not easily saying
what they want to say!

Cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.
And anyone who considers protocol unimportant, has never dealt with a cat!
(Robert A. Heinlein’s opinion)

Words by Adlai Stevenson:
A diplomat's life is made up of 3 ingredients:
Protocol...Geritol...and Alcohol...???

Humour from Benjamin Franklin:

In humour, there is Wisdom.
In beer, there is Freedom,
In water, there is Bacteria!

Mark Twain observed that kindness is the language the blind can see
and the deaf can hear!

Advice from Dr. Phil:
If you don't bend, you'll break; Stay flexible in life!
An economist, an expert, who will know tomorrow,
why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen.

Michael Jordan, a basketball player stated: To be successful, you have to be selfish...or else you never achieve! And once you get to your highest level, you have to be unselfish. Stay Reachable!

Author and Sociologist, Eric Hoffner states: In times of change, LEARNERS inherit the Earth,
while the LEARNED find themselves beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists!

Albert Einstein, explaining 'Relativity': When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder, a second seems like an hour!

Marriage is like Bridges: You start out with 2 hearts and and a diamond ~ and you end up wishing it was a Club and a Spade!

Some Days, you're the pigeon. Some days you're the statue!
My memory is so bad, I can hide my own Easter eggs!

Women are Angels! And when someone breaks her wings, we continue to fly.
We're flexible,like that.

From the cartoon, MUTTS: A vacation is having nothing to do...and all the day to do it in!”

If Emily Carr's artistic brush could speak: Pictures should be inspired by Nature, and made in the soul by the artist, herself, expressed in 1912.

Positive View of Life:
Smell every flower...fly with every bird...and find Beauty and Wisdom
since Wisdom is found wherever there is Beauty.
She believed that 'a new country, like Canada,' needed to be painted in a new way.

Born in Victoria in 1871, she spent most of her life in B.C. Carr embarked on her most prolific painting period depicting the forests...and British Columbia...and First Nations' villages with their totem poles. Carr infused her compositions with movement through a variety of contrasting shapes.

Emily Carr viewed her life ~ and through Nature, breathed new life, not only into herself, but in the eyes and minds of her great country!

Proverb: The best time comes, after the hardest climb!

John A. Shield's famous quote: A ship in the harbour is safe ~
but it is not what ships are built for!

Assembled by MBK...October 10, 2019
Your views, I invite: mbairdkerr@cogeco.ca

PHILOSOPHIC WISDOM

Many quotes comprised of proverbs and philosophies, which I value, coming across my desk, complement my writings. Old adage says “If the shoe fits ~ wear it. Trust these are beneficial.

Jon Krakauer, in his book, Into Thin Air, he relates another climber's words:
If anything goes wrong, it will be a fight to the end. If your training is good enough, Survival is there! If not, Nature claims its forfeit.

From Wisdom for Seniors:
If you've never been frightened.. embarrassed...or hurt...you have never taken a chance...which means you probably have missed a great deal that is exciting in life.

There's nothing special about people...it's what they do that makes them special, not who they are.
(Female Humour II)

SUCCESS is getting what you want: happiness is liking what you get. (Author unknown)

A person is not finished when they are defeated.
They are defeated when they quit. (Unknown author)

George Burns expresses in “Religious Humour,”
Happiness is having a large, caring close-knit family in another city.

Life is not a journey to the grave, with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and preserved body...rather to skid in broadside proclaiming, “Wow! What a Ride!'

Some days you're the dog! Some days you're the hydrant!

Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out ~ and your dog would go in, uttered Mark Twain.

Every man needs a partner who loves him...who steers him through straits with her feminine ways...and a 'spiritual advisor' to Counsel and Praise!

Someone once said, “A man had to be strong, before he could allow himself to be gentle.”

Advice from Albert Einstein:
Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.

A man without dreams ~ is like a bird without wings.

A Chinese proverb suggests, Keep a green tree in your heart, and perhaps a singing bird will come.

From a TV movie: Why does the baboon tree grow here? It is waiting for the wind to please you when it rustles through the leaves.

There are only two things you can give your children: one is 'roots' ~ the other 'wings'. (James Patterson in his novel, 'The Lake House.)

From Tweety and Sylvester:
Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest;
it's about the One who Came and Never Left Your Side!

Being deeply loved by someone gives strength; while loving someone deeply gives courage. (Lao Tzu)

Your enjoyment of something DOUBLES if you realize you are to have it.

If everyone had diamonds on their fingers ~ or if the sunsets were universally scarlet and gold, then we wouldn't value them at all. (Gerry Spence)

DANCE like no one is Watching!
SING like no one is Listening!
LOVE like you've never been Hurt!
LIVE like it's Heaven on Earth!

Alice Roosevelt's Advice:
At first you're Young...then you're middle-aged...and then you're wonderful!
To be sitting and doing nothing ~ you need to be sitting very, very high up!

Once there were three brick layers.
Each of them was asked what they were doing.
The first man answered gruffly, “I'm laying bricks!”
The second man replied, “I'm putting up a wall.”
But the third man said enthusiastically and with pride,
“I'm building a cathedral!”

In Youth we Learn!
In Old Age, we understand.
You're never too old to Learn:
You're never too old to Teach.
You should never be too old to Listen!

Comments appreciated, and respected
MBK, Oct 10, 2019

RANTING and RAVING

Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence ~
They go 'stark-raving mad!'
Fire up Your Life!
Live with nothing to Hide...Nothing to Prove...Nothing to Lose.

“The failures of the press have contributed immensely to the emergence of a 'talk-show-nation' in which public discourse is reduced to nasty and raving and posturing. We have a mainstay press whose news agenda is increasingly influenced by the netherworld,” stated Carl Bernstein.

A lot of comics aren't their onscreen persons.

Chris Rock isn't always 'ranting and raving.'

Said Billy Eichner:, “What I do, is make myself this 'over-the-top character' that makes people either find quite endearing ~ or they think is a joke. Then, I can do anything I want.”

“Think of each word as you would of a child who has been hurt by a friend. As long as that child is ranting and raving...trying to get back at the friend...one wound leads to another. But, when that child can experience the consoling embrace of a parent, she or he can live through the pain....return to the friend...forgive...build up a new relationship...be gentle with yourself...and let your heart be your loving parent...as you live your wounds through.” (Advised by Hari Nouwen).

From a Bobby Cox advice:

If I were on the field, I'd want the manager sticking up for me.
Sometimes, players are 'dead wrong' ~ ranting and raving mad,
but you stick up for them, They appreciate that!

Dodinsky concluded, “ It is not your mission to help people who wilfully build their own prison. You have to identify who needs help and one who craves for attention.”
We Crave What We Can't Have”

Exercise ~ Earning a Big Fat 'F'

A Participaction report for adults (the first ever) found just 16% of Canadian adults get the recommended 150 minutes of exercise each week.

Harbour Series Tells a Great Story

Derek Elliott from Hamilton, responding to the Spec's Harbour Series wrote:

Thanks for the great series on Hamilton Harbour.

When we were moving from Edmonton to Hamilton, in 2013, a friend who had done his internship at McMaster said, You'll love it ~ it's the best-kept-secret in Canada. He was dead-on. We love it: friendly people...a lively and varied music scene...the various festivals...beautiful views from the escarpment... the waterfalls...the pubs...the theatres (especially Westdale and Playhouse...and within travelling distance to a bunch of beautiful little towns...and one of the biggest, most dynamic cities on the continent. What's not to like? And, the jewel in the crown is the west harbour.

It is absolutely beautiful.

Hamilton to Offer Pay Options for Parking

Hamilton will be entering the digital age when it starts installing new parking machines in the downtown and in municipal car parks where customers can use their phones or credit cards to pay for time. Representatives of Hamilton's Improvement areas were looking forward to the city finally allowing different options for drivers to pay for parking. Hamilton has 830 on-street parking metres in the downtown core...and 2,500 traditional parking metres. The cost to park downtown is $1.50 per hour (Monday to Friday) ~ and free on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays and after 6 pm on weekdays.

Vote for the Planet

Written by Bill Sullivan to “Readers Write” he stated: “There is no doubt that climate change is

occurring ~ and it is the most serious threat to our society in millennia. If you listen to radio ~ or get your news from the internet, you are aware that it is happening. Science, factual information studied and reviewed by professionals in the fields of climate, weather, oceans, biology,botany has proof there is a crisis happening and we have to do something about it. Go to reputable scientific sites and read what they have to say about the crisis we are in right now.

There are politicians who claim to believe in climate change, but their actions are telling us they are either lying about what they believe or they are willing to risk the health of our planet...our country... and our families just to get power..

You and I need to tell our politicians we want to do everything we can to leave our planet in the best condition possible for our children and grandchildren. We can do that by voting for political parties that support the fight to save our planet and our society

from the disasters that climate change is causing.

Participate to 'Show Support in Ending Violence Against Women'

In her column, Carm Bozzo wrote:

“I was on vacation with my family, waiting for my kids to order ice-cream with their Dad.
Checking Twitter,I saw the tweet ~ and I knew:

“Shooting at Burlington home leaves woman dead. Quickly, I forwarded the article to my colleagues.

The next day, we had more information:

“Laura Grant was fatally shot, her body found in the backyard of her rural country home. Her husband was charged with. 'first degree murder.' Each November, during Woman Abuse Prevention Month,

Ontario releases a list of women killed by their partners during the last year. The latest report (including November 2017 and 2018) lists 48 women.

In a very upscale community...people were and are... shocked! Could this happen in Burlington? Milton? Oakville? Sadly, abuse happens in all communities...crosses all socioeconomic statuses...religions...cultures...and ages.

Cleaning Up Our Shoreline ~ One Bottle at a Time

A colour photo displayed a dozen or more people (all ages) who volunteered to clean up the shorelines around Hamilton Harbour. Lee Brubacher, a Hamilton resident and nature enthusiast wrote:

Thanks to the efforts of lawmakers and industry owners, our beloved Bay is much cleaner than it was three decades ago. However, the edges of the water are still littered with litter. We must embrace the cultural changes which are already replacing plastic straws and plastic water bottles with filtration systems among other changes. A partnership was formed between Hamilton's “Team Up to Clean Up ...Ocean Wise's great Canadian Shoreline Clean Up...and a group from West Highland Church.

On Saturday, September 21, a group of 17 members between ages of 13 and 70 from the Garth Street Church gathered to Terra Firma ~ God's Gift to all of us. From the first chapter of the Bible, Humanity is mandated to not only manage the earth and all its creatures, but also to care for them.

The foregoing assembled by MBK...November 16, 2019

Opinions are welcome and respected