Shortcuts Learned from Someone Over 70 for Those Under 30 In 1850 an English explorer named George Everest was surveying the Himalayan mountain range when he discovered the highest peak in the world at over 29,000 plus feet. Today that mountain is known as Mt....
In 1968 I was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army stationed in Ft. Riley, Kansas. That fall I attended all the home football games for Kansas State. At the time Kansas State was a member of the Big 8 Conference that had four powerhouse teams: Oklahoma, Nebraska,...
Most of us are familiar with the story of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise may be slower, but he wins the race. The pacespeed of life in the fast- paced, high- tech world of the 21st century is fast, faster, and fastest. Yet all of nature seems to resists...
Dr. Boris Kornfeld was a Russian Jew who was a prisoner in a gulag during the 1950s in Ekibastuz, deep in Siberia. Because Kornfeld was a doctor, the Russians used him in the hospital. One of his patients was suffering from a disease known as pellagra. It is a disease...
During the 1890s, Oliver Wendell Holmes was the chief justice of the Supreme Court. One day he was traveling on a train and had all of his papers spread out on the seat across from him, next to him, and even on the floor. He was totally consumed in studying the papers...
The following are excerpts from a newspaper advertisement run by the Cadillac Motor Company in 1915: “The Penalty of Leadership In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested...
Two frogs fell in a pail of cream. One frog swam around for a while, but eventually gave up and drowned. The second frog refused to quit. This frog persisted. He paddled and paddled. It seemed hopeless—but there was hope. The second frog persisted in paddling until...
When I was a younger I read a magazine entitled Mad Magazine with the character Alfred E. Neuman who mocked the world with the slogan, “What? Me worry?” on the front cover. The truth is that we all worry. The uneducated worry that they need to know more. The educated...
Words that Destroy: “I hate you.” “I couldn’t care less.” “Don’t bother me.” “I’ll get even.” “You can’t do it.” “You’re no good.” “You’re nothing.” “Count me out.” “You’re in my way.” Words that Heal: “I love you.” “I care about you.” “I need you.” “I forgive you.”...
Doomsday scenarios abound. The possibilities of disaster are all around us. There could be a nuclear holocaust, a new infectious disease, a super volcanic eruption, more climate change, an asteroid that wipes out humanity, or machines that take the place of men....
A traveler going through the Arizona desert was overcome with thirst. He had almost given up all hope when he came upon a water pump that had a note on the handle. The note read: “This pump is all right as of June 1962. I put a new washer in it, but the washer dries...
A caterpillar is scientifically referred to as a larva. It has 12 legs; its hairy, brown, black body crawls along the ground, stuffing itself with leaves and growing bigger and longer. It molts out of its body several times. Finally, it can no longer eat any more and...