Entertaining Talk Show Questions

Writen by John Dir

With the wide variety of talk shows on the air, it would be nice to have questions outside the box. Here are some possible questions that fit this category:

1. When was the last time you were at a party, and decided to really pig out on the dip?

2. If you could choose a super power, would you choose the ability to read minds, or pour water really fast without spilling a drop?

3. What is the record amount of time you have gone without a shower?

4. What type of phone solicitation messages are you likely to listen to completely?

5. What kind of free gifts do you most crave?

6. What are some of the favorite names you call fellow drivers in a traffic jam?

7. What is your most memorable experience with cheese?

8. If you had a dime for every time someone called you a wart hog, would you be poor or rich?

9. Can you describe the smell of a really hot barn?

10. If you accidentally dropped the lid of the aspirin bottle into the toilet, would you fish it out or flush it down?

11. Are you satisfied with the shape of your tongue?

12. What is the purpose of the battery in a blade razor?

13. What is your favorite type of dried meat?

14. When you take photographs, do you make your subjects look at the camera?

15. Have you ever learned how to whittle?

16. Do you look for abandoned change in vending machines and pay phones?

17. What is the biggest gum wad you have ever chewed?

18. Where were you the last time you ripped your pants?

19. How many tissues can you fit in your mouth?

20. What kind of lessons are you willing to pay for?

21. How much would you bid for a Rembrandt painting?

22. Can you describe your most frustrating experience with plastic wrap?

23. What are your favorite types of hardware items?

24. Do you have a lucky shirt, and why is it lucky?

25. Where do you put your spare change?

26. How many times per week do you find yourself trying to identify certain odors?

27. What is the strangest thing you have ever done with a spoon?

28. How long would wicker furniture last in your house?

29. What are your favorite things to do with your fingers?

30. Have you ever written any graffiti, and if so, what was your favorite?

31. If you smell body odor, do you check to see if it is you?

There are a lot more, but I guess that is enough for now.

Speed Secret

Writen by John Dir

A high school coach was looking forward to track season. As he assembled his class of young men to compete for the 100 yard dash, he had several boys line up for the start of the race. One boy seemed a bit shorter than the rest of the group, but the mismatch in size did not have much bearing on the exercise. The coach prepared his stopwatch, raised his hand and called out the sequence to start the race, blowing his whistle to signal the launch.

To the coach’s surprise, the first one across the finish line was the boy he had noted to be the shortest one in the line. As the coach looked at his stopwatch, he did a double-take. The time his watch showed for the race was faster than the school record for the varsity members of his track team, by a significant margin. Thinking he must have somehow delayed the start of his watch, or stopped it too early, the coach made a mental note to verify the results later, after the boys had a few minutes to rest up from their race. Later on, the coach lined up another group of boys which included the one who had registered such speed on the first round. As he started this race, the coach was careful to be sure the stopwatch was started and stopped precisely for the interval of the race. On this round, the short boy again registered the fastest time, and even slightly improved the previous mark.

At the end of the class, the coach took the boy aside from the rest of the class, and spoke to him about the possibility of trying out for the track team after school. The boy agreed to show up for the practice. When the time came to begin the team warm ups, the coach instructed the boys to take a lap around the track. As the group circled the track, the short boy fell far behind the rest of the pack, and was the last one to complete his lap. He seemed extremely winded from his run.

“Are you all right?” asked the coach.

“Yeah,” replied the boy, “I just need to catch my breath. If it’s all the same to you, Coach, I would rather do my running without having to go through this warm up stuff. I’ll run the 100 yards, but that’s about all I can do.”

The coach saw an immediate problem with this technique. Without the ability to run more than 100 yards and participate in warming up exercises, the coach felt he could not use the boy on his team for fear that he might be injured in a meet. Reluctantly, he decided to release the boy from the squad. He told the boy the reason for his decision, which did not appear to cause the young man any disappointment. Before the boy left the field, the coach could not resist satisfying his curiosity about the kid’s exceptional ability for short distance running without any kind of preparation.

“I’m curious about your talent, son. If you never warm up for a race, and you have never participated in a track meet, how did you develop such exceptional speed in short distance running?’

The boy did not hesitate in his reply, “I do better when someone is chasing me. I tease my brothers a lot, so I got pretty quick at running away from them. If they ever kept after me, they would eventually catch me and probably beat the crap out of me, but they never do. When I race, I just imagine they’re after me, and that is why I win.” It would be several more years before we figured out the secret to how to catch up with my brother.

Director of Software Concepts
BHO Technologists - LittleTek Center
Teaching computers to work with people. We make software more fun for everyone. Stop by for a visit to our web site, and see what a difference ITL technology makes!

http://home.earthlink.net/~jdir

A Short Biography on Some of Europe’s Most Loved and Hated Monarchs - Pt2 (Mad) King George III

Writen by Stuart Bazga

King George III who suffered from porphyria, a maddening disease, was born in 1738 to Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta. In 1761 George married Charlotte of Mecklinburg-Strelitz and together produced fifteen children: nine sons and six daughters.

King George III came to the throne in 1760 and was determined to recover the power lost to the ministerial council by the first two Georges by systematically weakening the Whig party through bribery, coercion and patronage. Prime Minister, William Pitt the Elder was toppled by Whigs in 1763 after the signing of the Peace of Paris, and men of ordinary aptitude were then hand-picked by George as Cabinet members to become little more than yes-men. Bouts with madness and the handling of the American Revolution eroded his support and the power of the Crown was granted again to the Prime Minister.

In 1763 The Peace of Paris brought an end to the Seven Years’ War with France and Great Britain emerged from the conflict as the world’s greatest colonial power. England thrived but King George III’s ongoing commitment to taxing the American colonies to pay for military protection led to conflict in 1775. The colonists declared their independence from England in 1776, but George stubbornly continued with the war until the final American victory at Yorktown in 1781. The signing of The Peace of Versailles in 1783 ensured British recognition of the United States of America. The stress of these events took their toll on George: his sanity was stretched to the breaking point and his political power decreased when William Pitt the Younger became Prime Minister in 1783. George clawed back some of his powers, driving Pitt from office during the years 1801 to 1804, but his condition worsened and he ceased to rule in 1811.

Ten years after the ending of war with France, England joined a continental coalition against French revolutionary forces who sought total French supremacy throughout Europe. By 1797, most of Europe was under French control, with England going at it alone against the oppressive French Republic. The British Navy again proved its worth by defeating French forces at Camperdown, Cape St. Vincent and the Battle of the Nile in 1797, and finally at Copenhagen in 1801. France sued for peace in 1802.

Napoleon Bonaparte came to power and in 1803 renewed attacks against England, which lasted until 1814. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, led the army whilst Lord Horatio Nelson, who won the decisive battle off Cape Trafalgar, commanded the British navy. In addition to the war with France, England was also at war again with the United States during the period 1812-14, over the British practice of conscripting American seamen into service in the British Navy.

In 1814, both wars came to an end; Napoleon was defeated and England agreed not to press into service anymore-American sailors.

George’s madness ultimately left the fate of the crown in the hands of his eldest son George, Prince Regent. Prince George was put in the unenviable position of attempting to govern according to the increasingly erratic behaviour of his father.

King George III died blind, deaf and mad at Windsor Castle on January 29, 1820.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about King George III.

In my next article will learn about the life of King Ludwig II Unitl then,

Best wishes and have a great day

Stuart Bazga

Guide to Castles of Europe

A Guide to Castles of Europe was born from childhood dreams and aspirations. It is my hope to educate and stimulate you into exploring these castles for yourselves.

Deny Reality and Enjoy Life; Become a Liberal Today!

Writen by Lance Winslow

Have you had a tough life? Have you brought this upon yourself because you didn’t work hard and were lazy? Have you got involved with drugs? Have you lied to all your friends? Have you stolen things at work? All that doesn’t matter in fact your integrity level does not matter because now you can get free stuff from your government and various liberal organizations. It is best to deny reality and sponge off everyone else and enjoy life and all you have to do is become a liberal and deny all your observations.

If you are wealthy and you have done everything right and you have worked hard all your life and have been honest then that is great. Now you must give all of your money and everything that you’ve worked for to those who do not deserve it and then you can be a liberal too. You see liberalism is great because there are great advantages at both the bottom and the top of our society.

If you are wealthy you can give all your money to people that do not deserve it and will not work for it. If you are poor because you didn’t wanna work and never tried very hard anything you’ve ever done and have been dishonest your entire life then you can get free stuff and never have to work again. All you have to do is become a liberal and vote for all the politicians who will promise to give you free stuff.

If you’re in the middle class and you wish to become a liberal well then they need your vote to end all you have to do is erase your memory of all your experience and observations in life and deny reality. Then you can join the club and be a liberal as well. Isn’t liberalism great we should all become liberals today? Sign up please at your earliest convenience. Consider this a 2006.

Choosing and Using Glass Paints

Writen by Geraldine Jozefiak

How you choose and use your glass paints can make all the difference to your projects. It’s wise to know the pros and cons of paint options before you make a purchase.

There are many manufacturers out there selling their products through retailers and online stores, but essentially there are only 2 types of paint.

First though, be clear that whilst you may choose to use glass paint on ceramics, ceramic paint is opaque and will not give you the clear transparent look you may be after. Some ceramic paints also need to be set in the oven, and this could bring up some health and safety issues if you are working in groups.

Once you’ve decided on the type of paint you are going to use you can select the carrier: water-based or methyalted-based. There are pros and cons to both and the final decision really rests of the resulting look you are after.

Water based paint is widely used in schools and with groups as it is more easily washed off hands and clothing, and doesn’t give off fumes. The water based paints can be easily mixed on a plate to get the right colour tone, though of course, you can’t ‘make’ white or black.

Water based paint flows differently from methylated-based paint, and, is in my opinion, rather thin. That means that you will need a lot of paint to get the depth of colour you might be after. The problem with this is that as glass paints dry quickly, any extra layer of colour that you add, will look just that: additional, and it will be possible to see where you have added it. The resulting colour area will not be uniform as it would if you were to use methylated paints.

Methylated-based paint, on the other hand is vibrant and rich in colour. Again, the colours can be mixed on a plate to suit your purposes. This paint however has 2 big considerations:

1. it is not easily washable (use meths. To remove any spillages)

2. it gives off fumes.

It’s important when using these paints to ensure adequate ventilation by working with an open window. As an extra precautions I always keep the tops on the bottles for as long as possible. Your paint brushes will need to be washed in meths too rather than water. I decant fresh meths into an individual serving jam jar + lid. Don’;t worry if the colour changes as you clean your brush. The meths is still effective as a cleaning agent. Just make sure the brush is wiped off on kitchen paper before inserting back into a new colour.

You can build up a deep colour with this paint by loading your brush and pushing, rather than brushing the paint between your outlines. Brushing out too small an amount of paint can leave ‘thin areas’ on our glass, mirror or acetate. If this dries, before you have seen it, again, this paint is more forgiving, allowing you to add another layer of paint to increase the vibrancy/depth of colour.

If you can, push the paint to lie within your outline like a raised (convex) mound. When it dries the colour will be fuller than if you had brushed out the colour. This is one of those crafts where being generous with the materials will make a difference to the result.

Do though weigh up the fumes factor and be aware of any susceptible indivduals who may be prone to asthma or bronchial difficulties. If possible I try to do my painting sessions in a little used room, and better still, confine these activities to the afternoon, allowing any fumes to dissipate overnight.

At the end of the day, the choice is yours and hands-on use with a variety of products will help you may the decision right for you.

Geraldine Jozefiak is passionate about crafts and their place in education. Be part of raising standards in teaching and learning with craft instruction at its best. http://www.the-craft-teacher.com

Conspiracies: The Pyramid and the Sphinx

Writen by Steven N. Ng

Egypt has long been the source of countless conspiracies, ranging from ancient lost civilizations to extraterrestrial markers. The reason for this focus is likely because Egypt is the most romanticized ancient civilization, and also because it is home to the mystical Great Pyramid of Giza, the only surviving Wonder of the Ancient World. This article will describe some of the conspiracies surrounding the Sphinx and the Pyramid.

The Riddle of the Sphinx

Most of the conspiracy theories revolving around the Sphinx usually involve its age. The Sphinx is generally accepted to have been built along with the Pyramids of Giza around 2500 BC. It is even accepted that the face of the Sphinx bears the likeness of Khafre (Chephren), the Pharaoh during that time.

However, there was no written record from that era regarding the Sphinx or its construction. In addition, the human head of the Sphinx is small in relation to the rest of the body, indicating that the head bearing Pharaoh Khafre’s likeness could have been carved out of a larger lion’s head. These points led some researchers to believe that the Sphinx could have been built much earlier by a more ancient civilization, thus starting a whole host of conspiracy theories.

Geologist Dr. Robert Schoch and author John Anthony West made a case that the erosion marks on the Sphinx appears not to be made by wind or sand, but by water, such as falling rain. They used evidence of other structures in the Giza area to prove their point. If this were true, the construction of the Sphinx could then be dated back to at least 5000 BC, when the area still received substantial rainfall, in contrast to desert conditions later on.

In his official website, Director of the Giza Monuments Dr. Zahi Hawass provides various points suggesting that the evidence used in proving Dr. Schoch’s theory is flawed.

Adding to the conspiracies surrounding the age of the Sphinx, writers Graham Hancock and Robert Buvaul provide evidence in their book Message of the Sphinx that the creation of the Sphinx and Pyramids can be pushed back as far as 10,500 BC using astronomical data.

Secret of the Pyramids

The Pyramids of Giza have been the objects of many conspiracies over the years. Many people believe that the Pyramids are a link to an ancient lost civilization, and may still contain evidence to prove it. Many conspiracy theories regarding secret chambers and passageways within the pyramids exist to this day.

These conspiracy theories became even more widespread in 1993, when Dr. Zahi Hawass announced that the Great Pyramid of Khufu was to be closed to the public for a year. The reason given for the closure was to facilitate cleaning, conservation and restoration of the interior chambers in the Great Pyramid.

However, conspiracy theorists believe that the Egyptian authorities had uncovered evidence of a lost civilization in the Pyramid, and were secretly excavating it to reveal more information.

During the conservation process in 1993, robots were used to explore the small ventilation shafts leading from the “King’s Chamber” and the lower “Queen’s Chamber” in the Great Pyramid. An intriguing discovery was made: partway through the shafts of the “Queen’s Chamber” were “doors” with handles.

In order to prove the transparency of their work and debunk any conspiracies, Dr. Zahi Hawass decided to partner with National Geographic to explore beyond the “doors”, and provide a live telecast of the exploration to the rest of the world.

After much publicity, the expedition commenced, with footage telecast live around the world. During the last minute of the show, a camera was sent in a hole made in the “door” of the shaft, revealing another “door” behind it. And that was when the show finished. Conspiracy theories started sprouting, asking the following questions: “What’s behind the 2nd door? Why did the show end so abruptly? What are they hiding from us?”

Steven maintains the informational website Wonders of Ancient Egypt at http://www.nekhebet.com . Do visit if you want to find out more about the wonders of Egypt such as the Pyramids and the Lighthouse; or mysteries such as mummifcation and conspiracy theories; or its religion and history.

Read this Article if You Like Dolphins

Writen by Lance Winslow

Many people naturally like our Dolphin mammal cousins, they seem very nice and friendly and they seem to like us too. Well, especially if we give them free fish, while they are in captivity. And to them we are mostly harmless although some human fishermen do in fact get them caught in nets as they try to catch tuna fish that the Dolphins are following for food.

Dolphins are highly evolved and their sonar works by bouncing sounds off objects and they can feel the differences in their teeth, which are slightly offset. This is an incredible ability and very few mammals can do this.

Recently I was talking with a lady who use to work with dolphins and swim with them. She spent much of her life doing research and studying their language and behaviors. She was convinced that they are so highly intelligent that they are perhaps smarter than the average human by quite a bit.

She also indicated that they liked to play practical jokes often and that she felt like they were laughing at her as she attempted to swim with them. Often she said they would play with her as companion, but also sometimes like child plays with a floating toy in a swimming pool. Interesting indeed. Think on this tonight.

Lance Winslow

Japan -The Samurai Were Its First Protectors

Writen by Michael Russell

Japan is a country that is widely known for its technology. But the more popular interests of the people lie in the history of the first descendants and protectors of Japan.

The first protectors of the people were called Samurai. In order to understand the way of the Samurai, you have to first look at the aspects of their education, their lifestyles, and then the end of their era. The term “Samurai” is derived from a common term in pre-industrial Japan meaning “warrior”. Most Japanese Samurai were brought up to respect the attributes of honor and loyalty and were expected to set an example to all those below them. If a Samurai were to be disgraced such as losing a battle, or shamed for something they had done, they believed that the only way to retrieve their honor was to commit suicide. More specifically they had to stab themselves in the stomach with their own weapon. It was also said that a friend or co-combatant had to be there to decapitate them after the initial stab.

Life for a Samurai was very demanding and strict but one of the recreational activities that they all enjoyed was called “Kabuki”. Kabuki was a form of theater performed by other members or guests. The Japanese men would perform in front of the audience, singing songs, performing mime tricks, and dancing. Not all Samurai were allowed to go to the Kabuki, but hardly any obeyed this strict rule, and they often went in disguise.

The Samurai believed and stood by a rule that if a son was born into a Samurai family, his sure destiny was to be Samurai. The father would teach him “Bushido” which is the “way of the warrior” and the term is the code that is used by all the warrior classes.

Skill in battle was the primary qualification for becoming a Samurai and the higher ranked warriors would usually get to marry higher ranked women. Divorce was frowned upon, as it damaged a warrior’s reputation. Only one reason for divorce was accepted among the people, and that was if the woman could not bear a child.

The coming end of the Samurai period first became apparent during the “Tokugawa” period. Their status was still high, but their incomes became more unstable, and the need for warriors started to decline. Many lower class Samurai would be seen in the streets on their knees begging for money as people walked by and they often had to do dirty deeds or manual labor for the merchants, without any compensation, as a way to pay back their debts. The lower ranked men also had to obey any order given to them by a higher rank without any complaint. This is when the Samurai started to lose all self-respect for themselves and times were so severe that if they somehow could not fulfil an order they would actually kill themselves with the honorable suicide in order to escape from the impossible situation.

——————————————————-
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Japan
——————————————————-

Beyond Black and White

Writen by Leslie Fieger

Over visiting a neighbor the other day

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” he asks. “I just roasted the latest batch.”

“Yes. Coffee sounds great.”

“How do you take it?” he asks as he grinds the beans.

“Black; no sugar, no milk.”

“Well, we have no milk anyway, only cream.”

“In that case, I’ll have it with no cream.”

“We could water the cream down to make milk, I suppose, if you’d prefer.”

“That’s ok,” I say, “No cream is better than no milk anyway.”

“Well, actually, I prefer cream also,” he says, “but like you, I don’t put it in my coffee.”

“What about milk?” I ask.

“Never.”

“Unless it’s a caf

Learn How To Draw Faces Realistically

Writen by Adam Reeder

Drawing a face isn’t as hard as it looks. To draw a realistic human face, it takes mapping out the face correctly before you fill in the finer detail. If you would like to get the most out of this article, I recommend sitting down with a pad and paper and drawing each step as you read it.

To begin, start with an egg shaped oval. Draw a line down the center of this egg. This line will give you a midpoint for measuring eye separation, nose width, etc.

Next, separate the egg shape into 3 equal portions (horizontal lines) with 2 lines. The top of the egg will be be the top of the hairline and the bottom of that segment will be the eyebrows. The second segment goes from the eyebrows to the bottom of the nose. The third segment goes from the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin.

Two of these segments turned sideways will give you the measurement sideways from cheek to cheek.

The measurement of one eye should be equal to the distance between the two eyes. The corner of each eye should line up with the wings of the nose.

If you divide the third segment (under the nose) in half, with a horizontal line, you have the line for the bottom of the bottom lip. The corners of the mouth should line up with the middle of the pupil of the eye.

The ears should be visible from a front view as they do not sit flat on the side of your head. These points can be found by finding the middle segment from the eyebrow to the bottom of the nose. The ears should only stick out about as far as from the center line of the head to the wing of the nose.

The hair can be drawn by drawing the hair from the edge of the ear up. The top of the hair is