This picture of gaping chasms in a Japanese road illustrate the power of the March 11, 2011 earthquake.

Repair work began on March 17 and six days later the cratered section of the Great Kanto Highway in Naka was restored and re-opened to traffic. The astonishing speed of reconstruction highlights Japan’s ability to get back on its feet.

This says a great deal about the spirit of the Japanese people, as do the following:

1. THE CALM = Not a single visual in the news media of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY = Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY = The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.

4. THE GRACE = People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER = No looting in shops, no honking and no overtaking on the roads — just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE = Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water onto the nuclear reactors. They can never be compensated for this sacrifice.

7. THE TENDERNESS = Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak .

8. THE TRAINING = Everyone knew exactly what to do, the young and old alike. And they did it.

9. THE MEDIA = They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE = When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly

What would have happened in your community?

In March 2003 a Los Angeles man walked into a local casino put a buck into the slot machine and won $39.7 million. When talking to casino officials afterward he asked, “Please don’t tell my wife or publish my name.” Why? His wife did not approve of him gambling and he was afraid of what she would say or do if she discovered that he had been gambling. I may be wrong, but my guess is that she would forgive him when she discovered that he had won almost $40 million. She had 40 million reasons to forgive him.

But, if you play and win $39.7 million, it really isn’t a good idea to keep it a secret from your spouse.

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Can you cry under water?

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How important does a person have to be before they are considered
assassinated instead of just murdered?

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Why do you have to “put your two cents in”… But it’s only a “penny for
your thoughts”? Where’s that extra penny going to?

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Once you’re in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were
buried in for eternity?

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Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

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What disease did cured ham actually have?

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How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be
a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

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Why is it that people say they “slept like a baby” when babies wake up
like every two hours?

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If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

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Why are you IN a movie, but you’re ON TV?

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Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in
binoculars to look at things on the ground?

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Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They’re going to see
you naked anyway.

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Why is “bra” singular and “panties” plural

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Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible
crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

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If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about
him?

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Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?

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If the professor on Gilligan’s Island can make a radio out of a coconut,
why can’t he fix a hole in a boat?

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Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re
both dogs!
If Goofy is Mickey’s dog, why isn’t Mickey Goofy’s mouse?
(I figured these one out: Goofy wears clothes. If you’re a cartoon character and wear clothes, you can’t be owned by someone. Even if it’s only a bow tie!)
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If Wiley E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME junk, why
didn’t he just buy dinner?

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If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

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Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same
tune?

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Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

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Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at
you, but when you take him for a car ride; he sticks his head out the
window?

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Related Content

• The Eyes Have It
• Why Spelling Isn’t Important
• Thinking Out Loud

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Looking for a craft or project? Why not create your own Guardian Angel?

A quick Google search will turn up hundreds of sites claiming that orbs appearing in photos are ghosts/dead relatives/fairies/guardian spirits — depending on the worldview of the storyteller. It seems that over the last few decades these orbs have miraculously started appearing in photographs. Logically, if an orb appears in a photo, it must be a ghost. Right?

Actually, it is a matter of optics, not super-naturalism. The orbs started appearing simultaneously with the growth in digital photography. When a digital camera using a flash takes a photo and there is some kind of side lighting the camera interprets the feedback from air-born dust and pollen in his way. To make your own orb photo, use a digital camera with flash in a slightly darkened room and wave a duster around before taking the photo… ta da, guardian angels.

I certainly believe in the supernatural, and thank God for any and all guardian angels that might be looking out for me. But to believe that orbs in pictures are guardian angels or ghosts makes as much sense as believing that red-eyes for a person in a photo means that they are demon possessed.

Grand Theft Skunk. No that is not a new video game. It is what a 21-year-old man in Florida is being charged with after taking one from the Animal Crackers Pet Store.. Evidently, if you want to buy a skunk — don’t we all? — they run about $400 which puts them into the grand theft category.

Something about this whole situation stinks.

The owner of the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop

in Vassalboro, Maine evidently wanted to give new meaning to the term “hot coffee.”

Donald Crabtree served up his coffee with topless waitresses. However, it wasn’t just the coffee, and one supposes the waitresses, that was hot. His establishment recently burned to the ground — or should we say “grounds”.

He plans to rebuild by having clothed waitresses collect donations in parking lot. However, I would imagine that Starbucks has little to worry about as there will be lots less interest in his coffee and donuts now that there is lots more clothing on his waitresses.

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