Monday, December 7, 2009

An inspirational Christmas Story: The Christmas Truce

 I thought this story should be shared for the seasonal aspect, and the fact that a war “stood still” for Christmas in 1914 -

 By David G. Stratman

 From his book We Can Change the World

 “It was December 25, 1914, only 5 months into World War I.

 German, British, and French soldiers, already sick and tired of the senseless killing, disobeyed their superiors and fraternized with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the Western Front (a crime punishable by death in times of war). German troops held Christmas trees up out of the trenches with signs, "Merry Christmas."

"You no shoot, we no shoot." Thousands of troops streamed across a no-man's land strewn with rotting corpses. They sang Christmas carols, exchanged photographs of loved ones back home, shared rations, played football, even roasted some pigs. Soldiers embraced men they had been trying to kill a few short hours before. They agreed to warn each other if the top brass forced them to fire their weapons, and to aim high.

A shudder ran through the high command on either side. Here was disaster in the making: soldiers declaring their brotherhood with each other and refusing to fight. Generals on both sides declared this spontaneous peacemaking to be treasonous and subject to court martial. By March 1915 the fraternization movement had been eradicated and the killing machine put back in full operation. By the time of the armistice in 1918, fifteen million would be slaughtered.

Not many people have heard the story of the Christmas Truce. On Christmas Day, 1988, a story in the Boston Globe mentioned that a local FM radio host played "Christmas in the Trenches," a ballad about the Christmas Truce, several times and was startled by the effect. The song became the most requested recording during the holidays in Boston on several FM stations. "Even more startling than the number of requests I get is the reaction to the ballad afterward by callers who hadn't heard it before," said the radio host. "They telephone me deeply moved, sometimes in tears, asking, `What the hell did I just hear?' "

I think I know why the callers were in tears. The Christmas Truce story goes against most of what we have been taught about people. It gives us a glimpse of the world as we wish it could be and says, "This really happened once." It reminds us of those thoughts we keep hidden away, out of range of the TV and newspaper stories that tell us how trivial and mean human life is. It is like hearing that our deepest wishes really are true: the world really could be different.”

WW I Photo via the Daily Mail

Peanut Butter Plan to feed the homeless spreads

The world is getting better, one peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a time. It's called the Peanut Butter Plan.

Like many of the best plans, it's simple: Strangers get together, make peanut butter sandwiches and immediately pass them out to homeless people. No federal subsidy, no foundation, no vouchers.

No official sanction from anybody. Just strangers, good will and peanut butter. Jory John, a San Francisco children's book writer, got the idea for the PBJ stealth campaign this spring. John put forth the idea on Facebook and, over the past few months, PBJ handouts have taken place in Los Angeles; Berkeley; Phoenix; Little Rock, Ark.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Austin, Texas; and London.

"People are joining from all over the place," John said. "I thought it was about time to use a social networking site to do some good." The monthly gathering took place the other evening around a conference table inside a publishing house that had donated its office for the cause. Some sandwich-laden volunteers [went] to the Tenderloin and some others to the Haight and South of Market.

There was no shortage of people who found the idea of a complimentary peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich to be just the thing. Outside the BART station at 16th and Mission streets, a dozen folks accepted sandwiches.

When the sandwiches were gone, [the] sandwich makers retired to a nearby tavern for a beer. The camaraderie of doing something nice, along with the beers, made everyone feel pretty good and some of the strangers exchanged phone numbers. "The smallest actions make the biggest difference," [John] said.

"There are some cynics who say it's not really curing hunger, and it isn't curing hunger. But it's curing one person's hunger. There's nothing wrong with that."

Note: Information on the Peanut Butter Plan and its operations in various cities around the U.S. is available at www.peanutbutterplan.org.

Photo of little girl by John Wollwerth | Dreamstime.com

Article from wanttoknow.info

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Here’s another reason why I wrote today’s column on shoddy Chinese products

Today’s column has been picked up by a web site called “Made in China Product Recalls,” and it gives links to other stories about what else is happening with our major trade partner.

Here are some other articles dealing with this latest recall involving lead again. The irony of this particular product is that it was so popular that shoppers couldn’t find it on the shelves this weekend and have been bidding on eBay for it – with prices going up to $100! It retailed for about ten bucks!

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE:

Zhu Zhu Pets Recall Could Be Just Around The Corner.Toys Found To Be Toxic
IndyPosted (blog)
No surprise here, but the Zhu Zhu pets are made in China which has had many problems with unsafe levels of lead being used in the production of toys. ...
Zhu Zhu Hamsters May Pose Health RiskCBS News
Zhu Zhu Pets Have High Levels of Antimony, Risking the Health of Your ChildEverything PR
Toxic Zhu Zhu petsGather.com

It's as simple as ABC: 'You get what you pay for'

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 12/06/2009 01:27:13 AM PST

Once upon a time, Country A was a major trading partner of Country C and bought huge amounts of their shoddy products. Country B, a much smaller trading partner of Country A, exported quality products.

Country C's exports were cheap and often dangerous to the public health and the environment. Country B, on the other hand, turned out superior products and carefully monitored them for quality.

Who do you think was the better trading partner? Go to The Times-Standard for the rest of this column.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Amateur Comedians Have Field Day With Tiger Woods

Did you hear the one about how Tiger Woods has a lot of expensive cars, but now he has a hole in one?

Did you hear Tiger changed his name to Cheetah? In this age of Twitter and time stamps, it's possible to trace the jokes around Woods' debacle down to their inception. And the early public domain jokes have something in common — they're puns.”

On All Things Considered

A matter of perspective…

Via jesusandmo.net

Friday, December 4, 2009

Build it and they will come: see the world’s largest swimming pool

At first,I thought the pool was going to be owned by a private party who went off the deep-end to show off.

But No! It’s a little South American country that knows how to draw the tourists.

From Oddity Central:

“This man-made wonder is 1013 meters long covers 80 acres, its deepest end reaches 115ft and it holds 66 million gallons of water. If you want to take a dip in the world’s largest swimming pool you’ll have to travel to San Alfonso del Mar in Algarrobo,Chile, where a computer-controlled suction and filtration system continuously pumps water from the ocean, keeping crystal clear.”

See more views here.

A cheerful bit of news for Friday

Holiday spirit?

A convenience store owner who showed mercy to a would-be robber says he's received an apology note and $50 in the mail.

The unsigned note said it was from the man who tried to rob Mohammad Sohail, who has a store on Long Island, near New York City. The note said the would-be robber has a new job, a new child, and is staying out of trouble.

Sohail told the newspaper Newsday that he is saving the $50 for charity.

The bat-wielding man tearfully told Sohail in May that he was trying to feed his family. The rifle-toting businessman gave him $40 and bread, and made him promise never to rob again.

Rubbed The Wrong Way

After my first cup of Joe this morning I ran across this little news item that I’ve decided to file under “Gullible People.”

 Seriously, who in their right mind would let a total stranger enter their house to give them a massage?

There was a guy in Florida last year claiming to be a doctor as he went door-to-door offering free breast exams. He was caught and convicted. Apparently the cops are still looking for the joker in this story.

From The Smoking Gun:

Cops: Woman had session with fake door-to-door "massage student"

 Read the story here.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Time to bail out the newspaper industry?

What a slippery slope!

Can you say BIG BROTHER? Only allowing “serious” journalism…hmmmmm…what might that constitute?

The government in any kind of association with newspapers is a recipe for pure propaganda. That’s not to say we don’t get plenty of propaganda now, but we can still pick and chose among sources offered.

There are some news agencies (NPR) that actually try to stick to the facts, but even they have an agenda – who doesn’t?

If newspapers can’t figure out a business model to survive and adapt to the times, they don’t deserve to be in business anyway. News is a business, just like all the other ones struggling in this recession/depression (depends on who you talk too).

Photo: US Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA).

From Breitbart this morning:

Struggling media will need government help: US congressman

“The newspaper industry is suffering "market failure" and the government will need to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy, an influential US congressman said Wednesday.”

 

Trump's Lowest Grift Ever Saved for Holy Week

This is a story about how the devil's puppet, aka Donald Trump, mocked Christianity by selling a book combining the Bible, the Constitu...