Contact Lens
Smelly Debt Collector
Why People Like To Climb Mountains
When You Want Knowledge
When The Sun Comes Up
Topic : Mountain
Consider Incentives When You Want To Change Behavior
In a recent Michigan State University study, 97% of the faculty members and staff who bet $40 that they could stay with a six-month exercise program were successful.Only 19% of a non-betting group stayed with their six-month program, however. TIP: Consider incentives when you want to change behavior.
Contact Lens
The teenager lost a contact lens while playing basketball in his driveway. After a fruitless search, he told his mother the lens was nowhere to be found. Undaunted, she went outside and in a few minutes returned with the lens in her hand. "I really looked hard for that, Mom,? said the youth. "How'd you manage to find it"? "We weren't looking for the same thing,? she replied. "You were looking for a small piece of plastic. I was looking for $150.?
Smelly Debt Collector
He may dress like a skid-row bum and smell like a dead rat, but Andy Smulian is a hit among London businessmen plagued by those who won't pay their bills.
Employed by the London-Manhattan Debt Collection Agency, the 20-years-old youth will stumble into a deadbeat's office for $65 and raise a stink until the freeloader pays up. 'the receptionists do most of my work for me,? says smelly Smulian. "I hear them tell their bosses, "If you're not going to write a check, you'd better find yourself another secretary."'
Though the enterprising young man has generally been successful with his debt-collecting efforts, he has recently been taken to court because of his villainous stench. But he insists he is not to be sneezed at and is sure the London magistrate will rule in his favor. 'the law doesn't define when a smell becomes offensive,? he says with confidence.
But who is he to talk? Afflicted with permanently blocked sinuses, he can't smell a thing.
Why People Like To Climb Mountains
The sister of Paul Petzoldt, a well-known mountain climber, gave this explanation of why people like to climb mountains:
"They want to get to the top and let the air rush through the holes in their heads.?
When You Want Knowledge
There's a story about a proud young man who came to Socrates asking for knowledge. He walked up to the muscular philosopher and said, "O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge.? Socrates recognized a pompous numbskull when he saw one. He led the young man through the streets, to the sea, and chest deep into water. Then he asked, "What do you want"? "Knowledge, O wise Socrates,? said the young man with a smile. Socrates put his strong hands on the man's shoulders and pushed him under. Thirty seconds later Socrates let him up. "What do you want"? he asked again. "Wisdom,? the young man sputtered, "O great and wise Socrates.? Socrates crunched him under again. Thirty seconds passed, thirty-five. Forty. Socrates let him up. The man was gasping. "What do you want, young man"? Between heavy, heaving breaths the fellow wheezed, "Knowledge, O wise and wonderful...? Socrates jammed him under again Forty seconds passed. Fifty. "What do you want"? "Air!" he screeched. "I need air!" "When you want knowledge as you have just wanted air, then you will have knowledge.?
When The Sun Comes Up
Columnist Herb Caen wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.'
