Murphy's Law: (1) Nothing is as easy at it looks; (2) Everything takes longer
than you think; (3) If anything can go wrong, it will.
O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy: Murphy was an optimist
The Unspeakable Law: As soon as you mention something, if it's good, it goes
away; if it's bad, it happens.
Law of Expectations: Negative expectations yeild negative results. Positive
expectations yield negative results.
Howe's Law: Every man has a scheme that won't work.
Etorre's Theorem: A day without a crisis is a total loss.
Brambam's observation: The other line always moves faster.
Skinner's Constant: That quantity which, when multiplied by, divided by, added
to or subtracted from the answer you get, gives you the answer you should
have gotten.
Law of Selective Gravity: An object will fall so as to do the most damage.
Jenning;s Corollary: The chance of the bread falling with the jelly side down
is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
Gordon's First Law: If a research project is not worth doing, it is worth
not doing well.
Maier's Law: If the facts do not conform to the theory, they must be modified.
Haor's Law of Problems: Inside every large problem is a small problem struggling
to get out.
Boren's First Law: When in doubt, mumble.
Barth's Distinction: There are two types of people; those who divide people
into two types, and those who don't.
Dochter's Dictum: Somewhere, right now, there's a committee deciding your
future, and you weren't invited.
Rule of Projects: The first 90 percent of any project takes 90 percent of
the time, and the last 10 percent takes the other 90 percent.
Scheuber's Hypothesis: Don't try to fix nothing that ain't broke.
Gardner's Philosophy: Brilliant opportunities are cleverly disguised as insolvable
problems.
Shultze's Speculation: If you can't be right, be wrong at the top of your
voice.
Longdon's Law: The more relevant a piece of information, the more difficult
it is to measure.
St. Benedict's Dictum: It is easier to beg forgiveness than to seek permission.
Sattinger's Law of Electronics: It works better if you plug it in.
Dibble's First Law of Sociology: Some do and some don't.
Mort's Corollary: Anything that begins badly gets worse.
Law of Probable Dispersal: Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
Contingency Principle of Management: It all depends.
First Rule of Motivation: To err is human, to forgive is not company policy.
The Peter Principle: In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level
of incompetence.
Parkinson's Laws: Work expands to occupy time. Expenditures rise to meet income.
The Law of Verbal Burble: When all is said and done, more has been said than
done.
And finally: If you think you can -- or think you can't -- you're absolutely
right.
|
Developing |
Proficient |
Distinguished |
| Argument |
Line of argument is not clear; inappropriate
or missing evidence and examples. Poor sense of audience.
Transitions poorly made, or totally lacking. |
Takes position but with occasional
lapses; evidence is provided, but not always sufficient-opinion may
be presented as fact. Audience may be misjudged. Transitions
may be occasionally mishandled. |
Maintains clear position throughout,
with well-organized and coherent argument, appropriate to audience,
and strongly supported by evidence and examples. Effective use
of transitions and connecting words. |
| Content |
Shows poor understanding of subject
matter; provides little information of relevance. |
Shows reasonable good understanding
of subject matter. Presentation is informative, but may be lacking
in detail. |
Builds argument on rich base of knowledge,
displaying deep understanding of subject matter. Presentation
is informative and rich in detail. |
| Language |
Language is highly constrained, obscuring
argument, word choice is severely limited and often inappropriate; simple
and repetitive sentence structure. |
Shows adequate, but somewhat predictable
use of language. Somewhat limited word choice and sentence structure. |
Effective and appropriate use of
language; effective, idiomatic, word choice, varied sentence structure;
writing is above all interesting and artful. |
| Pesentation |
Very little care given to presentation
and appearance of document. Visual aids totally lacking or inappropriate.
General appearance is sprawling and messy, or very short. |
Shows attention to quality of presentation,
with some lapses. Appropriate graphics may be present, but sometimes
inadequately integrated with text. Some parts may appear to be
hastily done. |
Shows careful attention to quality
of presentation; good use of paragraphs, headings; charts, tables, graphs
(if any) are skillfully made; illustrations are porvided where appropriate.
Overall impression is that of a well-crafted document. |
| Mechanics |
Numerous misspellings, errors in
punctuation and grammar. |
Reasonably good mechanics, but fairly
frequent errors in punctuation, spelling, grammar. |
Language and format is mechanically
sound. Few mistakes in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. |
BACK TO TOP
6) The 100 Top
Events of the Past 1000 Years
from LIFE , Fall 1997, Time Inc. Specials
100. 1582--Fixing the Calendar
99. 1954--Elvis Presley became the first rock'n roll performer
98. 1799--Discovery of the Rosetta Stone
97. 1896--Founding of the modern Olympic movement by Baron Pierre de Coubertin
96. 1605--Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra published Don Quixote de la Mancha
95. 1683--The first public museum opened, the Ashmoleaan, at Oxford University
94. 1588--Defeat of the Spanish Armada
93. 1846--Boston dentist William Morton spread the news of the use of ether
as an anesthetic for surgery
92. 1453--Mehmed II Khan captured Constantiople marking the Rise of the
Ottoman Empire
91. 1804--Haiti gets its freedom
90. 1907--Development of Plastic
89. 1324--Mansa Musa embarked on a holy pilgrimage to Mecca with an opulent
flourish
88. 1868--U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry arrive in Tokyo Bay and demanded
that Japan open its ports to trade
87. 1880--Cézanne changed the world of painting
86. 1947--Independence of India
85. 1169--12th century European renaissance begins with the work of Ibn-Rushd
84. 1407--First founding of a public bank
83. 1008--The first novel finished, The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
82. 1886--Coca Cola invented
81. 1545--Discovery of silver in the Andes Mountains
80. 1869--Suez Canal opened
79. 1601--The Poor Law passed in Britian, the beginnings of public assistance
to the poor
78. 1450--The Sufis in Yemen were the first to begin drinking coffee
77. 1854--Otis's safe-elevator unveiled at the New York City fair
76. 1953--Crick and Watson unraveledthe couble helix and discovered DNA's
design
75. 1260--The Cathedral at Chartes was dedicated
74. 1821--Simón Bolívar freed Venezuela
73. 1350--Fashion began reinventing itself annually
72. 1838--One of the first labor unions organized by craft workers, the
London Working Men's Associatoin
71. 1150--Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world, completed
70. 1962--Rachel Carson's best-seller, Silent Spring, jump-started the modern
enviornmental movement
69. 1543--The beginning of the modern science of anatomy marked by the publication
of On the Structure of the Human Body
by Andreas Vesalius
68. 1906--William Joseph Seymour advances the flame of Pentecostalism
67. 1851--Isaac Merritt Singer improved the sewing machine and began to
make them affordable
66. 1325--Tenochtitlan, the most sophisticated city in the pre-Conquest
Western Hemisphere was founded by the Aztecs
65. 1413--Filippo Brunelleschi invents the illusion of infinity that exists
in painting, the rules of perspective
64. 1934--Mao Zedong led his soldiers on the Long March
63. 1867--Alfred Nobel invents dynamite
62. 1854--Henry Bessemer invents the process using a blast of oxygen to
produce steel strong enough to withstand an explosion
61. 1895--Discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Röntgen
60. 1596--Invention of the "water closet"- a wooden seat with
a sictern and a valve for flushing - by John Harington
59. 1609--The weekly, four page newspaper,Relation, first published in Strassburg,
Germany
58. 1839--Charles Goodyear discovers the process of vulcanization for rubber
57. 1914--Margaret Sanger publishes The Woman Rebel, a challenge to the
pro-conception climate
56. 1120--First emerging restaurant culture in Kaifeng, China, according
to the journal of a Chinese bureaucrat Meng Yuanlao
55. 1633--Moravian bishop Johan Amos Comenius advised in The School of Infancy
needed to play to learn, advocating for
childhood
54. 1535--Jacques Cartier first partakes of tobacco as he has seen the Iroquioans
smoke along the St. Lawrence River
53. 1834--Artifically made ice was possible with the patent for the compressor
by Jacob Perkins
52. 1656--Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens constructed the first pendulum
clock, the first clock of precision
51. 1865--The U.S. Civil War ended
50. 1088--The university as we know it today began in Bologna, Italy
49. 1628--William Harvey published An Anatomical Study of the Motion of
the Heart and of the Blood in Animals,
demonstrating that the heart controls circulation
48. 1812--First canned foods appeared
47. 1859--First pumping of oil from a shallow well in Titusville, PA
46. 1829--First water purification when Chelsea Water Works of London installed
its landmark slow-sand filter on the Thames
45. 1917--Bolshevik Revolution
44. 1674--The science of microbiology was born when Leeuwenhoek first looked
at a drop of water through a lens
43. 1722--Publication of Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian
Bach, marking a watershed in Western music
42. 1866--Gregor Mendel aired his discovery of the basic laws of heredity
41. 1844--First telegraph line inaugurated between Washington, D.C. and
Baltimore by Samuel F. B. Morse
40. 1848--Women publically demand suffrage
39. 1537--Potatoes first encountered in Peru by Spanish explorer Gonzalo
Jiménez de Quesada
38. 1844--Karl Marx teamed up with Fredrich Engels
37. 1826--Joseph-Nicéphore Niépce took the world's first photograph
36. 1905--Albert Einstein published E=mc2
35. 1603--The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare
was first published
34. 1789--Beginning of the French Revolution
33. 1969--Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon surface
32. 1895--Auguste and Louis Lumiére premiered 10 films, the beginning
of the picture show
31. 1900--Sigmund Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams, changing
the psychological and cultural landscape of the
modern world.
30. 1947--The first transistor demonstrated
29. 1211--Genghis Khan began his conquest of China, later to overrun Persia,
Iraq, and parts of Korea, Burma, and Vietnam
28. 1610--The Dutch East India Company first brought tea to Europe from
the island of Hirado, off the coast of Japan
27. 1903--Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first airplane, keeping Flyer
aloft for 59 seconds
26. 1914--The First World War, "The War to End All Wars", the
first modern war with weapons of mass destruction
25. 1901--The first wireless signal sent and received across the Atlantic
Ocean by Guglielmo Marconi
24. 1830--The world's first steam-driven railway inaugurated in Britian,
to run between Liverpool and Manchester
23. 1666--Newton discovered the Law of Gravitation
22. 1928--Alexander Fleming first discovered the mold that became penicillin
21. 1348--Bubonic Plague killed a third of Europe's inhabitants
20. 1876--Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone
19. 1215--King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta, which
is credited with sowing the seeds of Democracy
18. 1095--Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade
17. 1908--The automotive age began when Henry Ford unveiled his "car
for the great multitude", the Model T
16. 1945--The atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
15. 1859--Charles Darwin published Origin of Species
14. 1928--The world's first television broadcast by Ernst F. W. Alexanderson,
which laid the foundation for one of the most powerful
media inn history.
13. 1796--Development of a smallpox vaccination by Edward Jenner
12. 1509--The earliest African slaves arrived in the New World
11. 1876--Edison developed the incandescent lamp
10. 1117--The compass goes to sea
9. 1933--Hitler comes to power
8. 1776--The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence
7. 1100--China develops gunpowder weapons
6. 1882--Robert Koch showed that a specific bacilus caused a specific disease,
discovering the microbe that causes tuberculosis
5. 1640--Galileo saw the moons of Jupiter which supported the idea that
the earth moves around the sun.
4. 1769--With the patent of a version of the steam engine, James Watt triggered
the beginning of the machine age
3. 1517--Martin Luther nailed "Ninety-Five Theses" to the door
of the All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Germany opening the door
to the Reformation
2. 1492--Christopher Columbus voyaged across the Atlantic and made his first
landfall on an island he renamed San Salvador
1. 1455--Gutenberg prints the Bible using the first Western movable-type
system
("The 100 Events," LIFE Special Double Issue, The Millennium.
Fall 1997)
BACK TO TOP
7) The 100 Most
Important People of the Past 1000 Years
From LIFE, Fall 1997, TIME Inc. Specials
The 100 people who made the millennium had to change more than just a corner
of the world,
he or she had to divert the great stream of human history.
1. Thomas Edison
Inventor of the incandescent lamp as well as many other modern conveniences
society takes for granted
2. Christopher Columbus
His "discovery" of the American continents changed the economy
of Euorpe
3. Martin Luther
4. Galileo Galilei
5. Leonardo Da Vinci
The Renaissance Man
6. Isaac Newton
Law of Universal Gravitation
7. Ferdinand Magellan
Provided proof that the world was round by circumnavigating the globe
8. Louis Pasteur
Pasteurizatioon of foods and beverages, understanding of germ theory, and
advancing the science of immunology
9. Charled Darwin
Theory of evolution
10. Thomas Jefferson
11. William Shakespeare
Playwright whose masterful use of the English language has captivated audiences
for 400 years
12. Napoléon Bonaparte
Seized power in France and set out to conquer the world until stopped by
a union of Euopean armies.
13. Adolf Hittler
Chancellor of Germany who embarked on a vicious campaign of global domination
14. Zheng He
Great Chinese naval explorer
15. Henry Ford
Made the automobile affordable to the average American family, so that it
became a necessity of life
16 Sigmund Freud
His views on the power of the unconscious to influence behaviour gave rise
to the age of psychotherapy
17. Richard Arkwright
The founder of the modern factory system, a system in which specialized
workers using specialized machinery, work
together in one place
18. Karl Marx
19. Nicolaus Copernicus
The sun is the center of the solar system.
20. Orville and Wilbur Wright
Flew the first powered airplane
21. Albert Einstein
Theory of relativity
22. Mohandas Gandhi
Led India's drive for independence through his policy of non-vioolent non
cooperatioon and civil disobedience
23. Kublai Khan
Ruler of the Mongols who completed the conquest of China and became the
first emberor of the Yüan dynasty
24. James Madison
25. Simón Bolívar
Fought for the independence of northern South America
26. Mary Wollstonecraft
27. Guglielmo Marconi
Invention of the wireless
28. Mao Zedong
Communist Chinese leader
29. Vladimir Lenin
Powerful Russian leader of the Bolshevik revolution
30. Martin Luther King Jr.
Leader of the Civil Rights movement
31. Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor of the telephone
32. René Descartes
33. Ludwig Van Beethoven
34. Thomas Aquinas
35. Abraham Lincoln
President of the United States as the nation faced the Civil War
36. Michelangelo
The greatest sculptor of all time
37. Vasco Da Gama
The first European to round Africa's Cape of Good HOpe
38. Süleyman the Magnificent
Greatest Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
39. Samuel F. B. Morse
Developed the first telegraph machine
40. John Calvin
41. Florence Nightingale
Worked for health-care reform in the military, improved conditions in hospitals,
workhouses, and established first
school for nurses
42. Hernán Cortés
Led the conquest of the Aztec's in Mexico
43. Joseph Lister
Revolutionized surgery
44. Ibn Battuta
Islam's most extraordinary traveler, having traveled from Spain to the east
coast of China
45. Zhu Xi
46. Gregor Mendel
Discovered the fundamentals of genetics
47. John Locke
Enlightenment philosopher who wrote that people by nature have certain rights,
including life, liberty and property
48. Akbar
The greatest of India's Mughal emperors
49. Marco Polo
Inspired Europeans to seek out the Orient
50. Dante Alighieri
Author of The Divine Comedy, a walk through the cultural, political and
religious landscape of 13th century Italy
51. John d. Rockefeller
The first American billionairre who made his money in oil and turned to
philanthropy in later life
52. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A polemicist who wrote that a good society could improve people if they
would submit their own desires to the General Will
53. Niels Bohr
Elucidation of quantum theory changed how we understand the smallest components
of matter and energy
54. Joan of Arc
French hero who led the French to crucial victories in the Hundred Years
War
55. Frederick Douglass
Advocate for freeing the slaves and a beacon of morality
56. Louis XIV
The Sun King, credited witth making France a leadinng power and blamed for
precipitatinng its decline
57. Nikola Tesla
An inventor of the electric age, patenting his work on the rotating magnetic
field and alternating current
58. Immanuel Kant
He established the direction of modern philosophy
59. Fan Kuan
Chinese painter of monumental landscape, Travelers Amid Streams and Mountains,
based Taoist principles
of becoming one with nature
60. Otto Von Bismarck
Unification of Germany into a single powerful nation
61. William the Conqueror
The conqueror of England in the Battle of Hastings in 1066
62. Guido of Arezzo
Musical theorist who devised a system of musical notation and perfected
a method of teaching sight-singing
63. John Harrison
Developed the marine chronometer
64. Pope Innocent III
HIs 18 year reign dominated the Middle Ages, increasing the influence of
the Chatholic Church
65. Hiram Maxim
Changed the way we wage war with the invention of the recoil mechanism for
weapons
66. Jane Addams
Founder of Chicago's Hull House, helped to found the American Civil Liberties
Union.
67. Cao Xueqin
Wrote the greatest novel written in vernacular Chinese
68. Matteo Ricci
Influenced European Enlightenment thinkers with his manuscript on China
69. Louis Armstrong
His improvisational verve and technical virtuosity defined jazz
70. Michael Faraday
Discoveries and inventions dealing with magnectic flields and electric currents
laid the groundwork for the electrical age
71. Ibn-Sina
Islam's most renowned philosopher-scientist
72. Simone De Beauvoir
Developer of existentialist philosophy and writer of the most influential
feminist book of the 20th century
73. Jalal Ad-Din Ar-Rumi
A 13th centruy Sufi Mystic whose poems spread Islam to a wider audience
74. Adam Smith
Scottish economist whose principles would become the bedrock of modern capitalism
75. Marie Curie
Won two Nobel Prizes for her work with radioactivity and isolation of radium
76 Andrea Palladio
The man who is probably history's most imitated architect
77. Peter The Great
Willed Russia to be a modern world power, a great reformer and a great despot
78. Pablo Picasso
Spanish artist who dominated 20th century art
79. Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre
Developed a practical process of photography
80. Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier
Founder of modern chemisstry
81. Phineas T. Barnum
The consumate showman
82. Edwin Hubble
Discovered that the Andromeda nebula is located beyond the Milky Way, and
that the universe is expanding
83. Susan B. Anthony
Tireless campaigner for women's suffrage, a leader in the first wave of
American feminism
84. Raphael
Italian artist who has influenced artists every since the early 1500's
85. Helen Keller
Renowned author, antiwar activist and advocate for the rights of workers
and women, the deaf and blind
86. Hokusai
One of the greatest artists of the millennium whose works include Thirty-six
Views of Mount Fuji
87. Theodor Herzl
Father of the movement that led to the founding of a Jewish state
88. Elizabeth I
Ruled England for 45 years providing a span of stability, growth and achievement
89. Claudio Monteverdi
Wrote some of the first successful operas
90. Walt Disney
Creator of a stable of unforgettable cartoon characters; a multimedia visionary
91. Nelson Mandela
South African leader agains apartheid
92. Roger Bannister
First man to run a mile in under four minutes
93. Leo Tolstoy
Russian author and philosopher
94. John Von Neumann
One of the greatest mathematicians of time, working on both the hydrogen
bomband the digital computer
95. Santiago Ramón Y Cajal
His work is the basis for modern neuroscience
96. Jacques Cousteau
Popularized exploration of the oceans, promoted marine conservation, invented
scuba-diving equipment
97. Catherine De Médicis
Italian-born queen of France and mother of three French kings
98. Ibn-Khaldun
A Tunisian diplomat, one of the 14th century's most brilliant minds, wrote
a history of the Muslim world
99. Kwame Nkrumah
Worked to gain independence for Ghana, triggering decolonization throughout
Africa
100. Carolus Linnaeus
Devised system of naming orders, genus and species of plants and animals
("The 100 Most Important People of the Past 1000 Years". LIFE
Special Double Issure, The Millennium. Fall 1997)
BACK TO TOP
8) Crazy State
Laws Still on the Books (as of 1998)
Alabama:
It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle.
California:
Community leaders passed an ordinance that makes it illegal for anyone
to try and stop a child from playfully jumping over puddles of water.
Connecticut:
You can be stopped by the police for biking over 65 miles per hour.
You are not allowed to walk across a street on your hands.
Florida:
Women may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon
owner.
A special law prohibits unmarried women from parachuting on Sunday or she
shall risk arrest, fine, and/or jailing.
If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to
be paid just as it would for a vehicle.
It is illegal to sing in a public place while attired in a swimsuit.
Men may not be seen publicly in any kind of strapless gown.
Illinois:
It is illegal for anyone to give lighted cigars to dogs, cats, and other
domesticated animals kept as pets.
Indiana:
Bathing is prohibited during the winter.
Citizens are not allowed to attend a movie house or theater nor ride in
a public streetcar within at least four hours after eating garlic.
Iowa:
Kisses may last for as much as, but no more than, five minutes.
Kentucky:
By law, anyone who has been drinking is "sober" until he or she
"cannot hold onto the ground."
It is illegal to transport an ice cream cone in your pocket.
Louisiana:
It is illegal to rob a bank and then shoot at the bank teller with a water
pistol.
Biting someone with your natural teeth is "simple assault," while
biting someone with your false teeth is "aggravated assault."
Massachusetts:
Mourners at a wake may not eat more than three sandwiches.
Snoring is prohibited unless all bedroom windows are closed and securely
locked.
An old ordinance declares goatees illegal unless you first pay a special
license fee for the privilege of wearing one in public.
Nebraska:
A parent can be arrested if his child cannot hold back a burp during a
church service.
New Mexico:
Females are strictly forbidden to appear unshaven in public.
New York:
A fine of $25 can be levied for flirting. This old law specifically prohibits
men from turning around on any city street and looking "at a woman
in that way." A second conviction for a crime of this magnitude calls
for the violating male to be forced to wear a "pair of horse-blinders"
wherever and whenever he goes outside for a stroll.
North Dakota:
Beer & pretzels can't be served at the same time in any bar or restaurant.
Ohio:
Women are prohibited from wearing patent leather shoes in public.
Oklahoma:
Violators can be fined, arrested or jailed for making ugly faces at a dog.
Females are forbidden from doing their own hair without being licensed
by the state.
Dogs must have a permit signed by the mayor in order to congregate in groups
of three or more on private property.
Pennsylvania:
A special cleaning ordinance bans housewives from hiding dirt and dust
under a rug in a dwelling.
No man may purchase alcohol without written consent from his wife.
Texas:
A city ordinance states that a person cannot go barefoot without first
obtaining a special five-dollar permit.
It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer at a time while standing.
Vermont:
Lawmakers made it obligatory for everybody to take at least one bath each
week-on Saturday night.
Washington:
All lollipops are banned.
A law to reduce crime states: "It is mandatory for a motorist with
criminal intentions to stop at the city limits and telephone the chief of
police as he is entering the town.
West Virginia:
No children may attend school with their breath smelling of "wild
onions."
BACK TO TOP
9) Japanese Haiku
Error Messages
A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
The Web site you seek
cannot be located but
endless others exist
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
ABORTED effort:
Close all that you have.
You ask way too much.
First snow, then silence.
This thousand dollar screen dies
so beautifully.
With searching comes loss
and the presence of absence:
"My Novel" not found.
The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao, until
You bring fresh toner.
Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
Stay the patient course
Of little worth is your ire
The network is down
A crash reduces
your expensive computer
to a simple stone.
Yesterday it worked
Today it is not working
Windows is like that
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
You step in the stream,
but the water has moved on.
This page is not here.
Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.
Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.
Rather than a beep
Or a rude error message,
These words: "File not found."
Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
BACK TO TOP
10) Interesting
Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
A snail can sleep for three years.
All polar bears are left handed.
American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each
salad served in first-class.
Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches
2 to 6 years of age.
Butterflies taste with their feet
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, dogs only have about 10.
Cats urine glows under a black light.
China has more English speakers than the United States.
Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear any pants.
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood
donors.
Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full
moon.
Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
I am. is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would
stand seven feet, two inches tall and have a neck twice the length of a
normal human's neck.
If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would
never end because of the rate of reproduction.
If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced
to create the energy of an atomic bomb.
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you will have produced
enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including
their eyebrows and eyelashes.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Marilyn Monroe had six toes.
Michael Jordan has more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory
workers in Malaysia combined.
No word in the English language rhymes with month.
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers
in the 1930's lobbied against hemp farmers-they saw it as competition.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never
stop growing.
Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed
people do.
Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.
Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
Starfish haven't got brains.
Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
The average human eats eight spiders in their lifetime at night.
The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, moves only six inches for each gallon
of diesel that it burns.
The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body
To squirt blood 30 feet.
The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its
body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start
with.
The name Wendy was made up for the book 'Peter Pan'.
The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as necessary.
When it was built in the 1940's, the state of Virginia still had segregation
laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.
The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right
or right to left.
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only
on one row of the keyboard.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
You are more likely to be killed by a Champagne cork than by a poisonous
spider.
You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
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11) Dumbing
Down Our Kids
from Charles Sykes, Dumbing Down Our Kids
Charles Sykes is the author of Dumbing Down Our Kids.
He volunteered for high school and college graduates a list of eleven things
they did not learn in school.
In his book, he talks about how the feel good, politically-correct teachings
created a generation of kids
with no concept of reality and set them up for failure in the real world.
You may want to share this list with them.
Rule 1:
Life is not fair; get used to it.
Rule 2:
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to
accomplish something BEFORE
you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3:
You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school.
You won't be a vice president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4:
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't
have tenure.
Rule 5:
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different
word for burger flipping;
they called it opportunity.
Rule 6:
If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your
mistakes. Learn from them.
Rule 7:
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They
got that way from paying your bills,
cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you are.
So before you save the rain forest from the
parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your
own room.
Rule 8:
Your school may have done away with winners and losers but life has not.
In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as
many times as you want to get the right answer.
This, of course, doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real
life.
Rule 9:
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off, and very
few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your
own time.
Rule 10:
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave
the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11:
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
(Sykes, Charles J. Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good
About Themselves but Can't Read, Write, or Add. St. Martins Press. 1995.)
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12) If
A Dog Were Your Teacher...
You would learn stuff like:
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure
ecstasy.
When it's in your best interest -- practice obedience.
Let others know when they've invaded your territory.
Take naps and stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting, when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and
pout... run right back and make friends.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them
gently
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13) Dilbert's
Rules of Order
1. I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow
is not looking good either.
2. I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as
they go flying by.
3. Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
4. Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
5. Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he isn't there the first
time, chances are you won't need him again.
6. I don't have an attitude problem; you have a perception problem.
7. Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky, and I thought
to myself, where the heck is the ceiling?
8. My reality check bounced.
9. On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.
10. I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier.
11. You are slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter.
12. Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, because you are crunchy and
taste good with ketchup.
13. Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
14. Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then
beat you with experience.
15. A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the butt.
16. Don't be irreplaceable - if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
17. After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the
week.
18. The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.
19. You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.
20. Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse
will happen to you the rest of the day.
21. If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.
22. When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried.
23. Following the rules will not get the job done.
24. When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily
by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
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14 ) The Dalai
Lama: Instructions for Life
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great
risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs:
Respect for self
Respect for others and
Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke
of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct
it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back,
you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation.
Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each
other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
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15) Newspapers
of the Day
1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The Washington Post is read by people who think they ought to run the
country.
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but
don't understand the Washington Post.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the
country, if they could spare the time.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running
the country.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the
country, as long as they do something scandalous.
9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is
a country, or that anyone is running it.
10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country.
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16) The Bell
Curve of Life
At age 4, success is ........... not peeing in your pants.
At age 12, success is ......... having friends.
At age 16, success is ......... having a drivers license.
At age 20, success is ........ having sex.
At age 35, success is ........ having money.
At age 50, success is ........ having money.
At age 60, success is ........ having sex.
At age 70, success is ........ having a drivers license.
At age 75, success is ....... having friends.
At age 80, success is ....... not peeing in your pants.
It's the bell curve of life!
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17) The Seven
Principles of Good Practice
Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann from Implementing the Seven
Principles
Good Practice Encourages Contacts Between Students and
Faculty
Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of class is a
most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern
helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few
faculty members well enhances students' intellectual commitment and encourages
them to think about their own values and plans.
Good Practice Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students
Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race.
Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive
and isolated. Working with others often increases involvement in learning.
Sharing one's ideas and responding to others' improves thinking and deepens
understanding.
Good Practice Uses Active Learning Techniques
Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting
in classes listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and
spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write
reflectively about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their
daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.
Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback
Knowing what you know and don't know focuses your learning. In getting started,
students need nelp in assessing their existing knowledge and competence.
Then, in classes. students need frequent opportunities to perform and receive
feedback on their performance. At various points during college, and at
its end, students need chances to reflect on what they have leanred, what
they still need to know, and how they might assess themselves.
Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task
Time plus energy equals learning. Learning to use one's time well is critical
for students and professionals alike. Allocating realistic amounts of time
means effective learning for students and effective teaching for faculty.
Good Practice Communicates High Expectations
Expect more and you will get it. High expectations are important for everyone
-- for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves, and
for the bright and well motivated. Expecting students to perform well becomes
a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning
Many roads lead to learning. Different students bring different talents
and styles to collegs. Brilliant students in a seminar might be all thumbs
in a lab or studio; students rich in hands-on-experience may not do so well
with theory. Students need opportunities to show their talents and learn
in ways that work for them. Then they can be pushed to learn in new ways
that do not come so easily.
(Chickering, Arthur C. and Stephen C. Ehrmann. Implementing the Seven Principles:
Technology as Lever. AAHE Bulletin)
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18)
The Top Investing Books of All-Time (according to the Motley Fool)
1. One Up on Wall Street
By Peter Lynch
2. The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America
By Warren E. Buffett, Lawrence A. Cunningham
3. The Intelligent Investor
By Benjamin Graham
4. Beating the Street
By Peter Lynch
5. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
By Philip Fisher
6. The Gorilla Game
By Geoffrey A. Moore
7. Stocks for the Long Run
By Jeremy J. Siegel
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19) Most Populous Countries
(according to the CIA - World Factbook 1998)
| Rank |
Country |
Population |
| |
|
|
| 1 |
China |
1,273,111,290 |
| 2 |
India |
1,029,991,145 |
| 3 |
United States |
278,058,881 |
| 4 |
Indonesia |
228,437,870 |
| 5 |
Brazil |
174,468,575 |
| 6 |
Russia |
145,470,197 |
| 7 |
Pakistan |
144,616,639 |
| 8 |
Bangladesh |
131,269,860 |
| 9 |
Japan |
126,771,662 |
| 10 |
Nigeria |
126,635,626 |
| 11 |
Mexico |
101,879,171 |
| 12 |
Germany |
83,029,536 |
| 13 |
Philippines |
82,841,518 |
| 14 |
Vietnam |
79,939,014 |
| 15 |
Egypt |
69,536,644 |
| 16 |
Turkey |
66,493,970 |
| 17 |
Iran |
66,128,965 |
| 18 |
Ethiopia |
65,891,874 |
| 19 |
Thailand |
61,797,751 |
| 20 |
United Kingdom |
59,647,790 |
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