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[Human Interest]
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Air force records and other records of military service are carefully preserved by the government. I know, because my grandfather was a pilot in world war two and we are all very proud of him, but for a while, he was a mystery. My dad was young when his father died, and did not really know how he died or when. His mother was already dead, and so he couldn't ask her, and there were no other older relatives to ask. So we submitted for his air force records and found all kinds of information. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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As an adopted child, I have had to face many traumas that other children never had to face. It wasn't just the teasing in school, although that was certainly part of it. It was the feeling that I didn't belong, that I wasn't quite like the other kids. My mother and father loved me and always made me feel accepted, so it wasn't like I had any lack of affection in my life, but I couldn't help wondering and wanting to figure out why my birth parents had put me up for adoption. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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Every day my husband puts the spare change from his pockets into a sizeable jar that we keep on the nightstand. After a few months, the jar is full and he takes the coins to our local bank. They have a money counter and they do not charge any fees for totaling the amount you submit. This is a great convenience for us. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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Elephants are big and heavy. Just how big and heavy is that? The largest elephant on
record was an adult male African elephant that weighed about 24,000 pounds and was
13 feet tall at the shoulder! African elephants grow larger than Asian elephants.
African elephants are the largest land animals with body growth continuing for up to
30 years. Bulls (males) may reach a height of 9-13 feet at the shoulder and weigh
between 9,000-13,000 pounds. Cows (females) are smaller in size, averaging 7-9 feet
at the shoulder and weighing between 4,500-7,000 pounds. An adult elephant will be
almost as tall as it is long. The ears alone can measure nearly 6 feet high and 4
feet wide and weigh almost 100 pounds. These figures apply to elephants living in a
well-run zoo or circus. Wild elephants in Africa and Asia and working elephants
weigh substantially less and rarely grow so tall. The reasons for this could be the
lack of food, insufficient drinking water and/or a lack of medical care, depending
on the circumstances. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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One of the most telling t-shirt and bumper sticker slogans ever is the one that reads, “It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.” Witty, clever, and unfortunately, expressive of what a sad financial state our schools are often in (private schools excepted). The reality still holds that schools have to hold fundraisers to support many programs and functions that once were not under threat of becoming extinct. The high school band didn’t NEED to do carwashes. The third-grade drama club didn’t NEED to solicit funds by selling schlocky Christmas cards. The community college associated students governing body didn’t NEED to hawk raffle tickets. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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The term “flea market” doesn’t bring up many positive connotations. At best it usually makes people think of a dingy market where peddlers try to sell off pieces of useless junk and rob you of your money, while at worst it usually makes people think of, well, fleas. Though the flea markets of years past may have been tattered, dingy affairs, things have changed considerably. Today’s flea market items are now more often new than used, and lots of times they’re sold through reputable businesses, especially if the flea market is a weekly or monthly affair at a particular location. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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It was not until recently I heard of the diversity lottery. Maybe it was not until recently that the concept of implementing a diversity lottery came about. But I have to say before I gave the concept credit or full, investigative attention, I was skeptical. The first thing I thought of, before knowing anything about it, was not the money lotteries we obsess over nationwide (here in the United States, anyway). I immediately thought of the famous Shirley Jackson work, THE LOTTERY, wherein characters are part of a community that gathers at the town square, each putting his or her name on a slip of paper and each getting his or her slip back—one having a black mark on it signifying that person is to be stoned to death. I am not sure if there was an implication that the lottery was held because the town was overpopulated and starving or if I just read that in as one of the possible motives behind such a crude solution. But I read the work a zillion years ago and now should focus on what we came here for, information on our diversity lottery. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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I’ve been having many episodes of deja vue. I keep feeling that I have experienced events that I’m currently feeling in the past. Some of the deja vue episodes last for up to a minute, which is an eternity for such an occurrence. One of my closest friends suggested that I look into finding out what person I was in a past life to see if there is some connection to the deja vue. I am not sure if there is a connection between a past life and deja vue, but I gave it a try. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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Mad money. I didn’t know of it as such when I was growing up. Instead, my gramma would send me ten dollars in a letter she had written on drugstore tablet paper, adding in her letter a p.s. that read she was including some “pin money, hah hah.” I didn’t get the reference—to either the pin money or the “hah hah”, until years later. Pin money is akin to mad money in that it is set aside, kept in a side compartment of the wallet (or pinned inside the bra or slip at the bosom) in case of emergency. But pin money is also for things other than emergencies, too. Pin money is for what one dictionary includes as “contingencies” and another determines as “incidental expenses.” The phrase originated, I imagine, when housewives were responsible for the shopping at the general food and feed outlet but were not in charge of the money, and since they did everything else in the household—cooking, cleaning, sewing—from scratch and in the most frugal of ways, they likely had to ask for allowance for pins, even. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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I heard the click of custom billiard balls breaking across a table and looked up. There she was, sleek and lean in a jean vest and cowboy hat, leaning low over the table and aiming up her next shot already. The man she was with didn't know what he was in for, as she leaned over the billiard table. I could see before he even laid his cue into the billiard balls, he wasn't someone who had what it took. But I did. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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Many radical religious people try to scare us with tales of end times, the so-called coming end of the world. Books such as Tim LaHayne's “Left Behind” series tell us that the end is coming, that the hour is at hand and that we must all repent or be quickly destroyed by the wrath of God, but this is nothing new. People have been talking about end times since before the coming of Jesus Christ, and they will be talking about end times as long as end times have yet to come. In truth, as far as I'm concerned, nothing ever ends. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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In a safely determined pre-Christmas shopping/errand jaunt—which we intentionally chose far in advance, to avoid the manic and the panic of people pushing and knocking us over with handbags and Christmas wrap tubes—my friend and I drove from destination to destination with pending anxiety. We were sure at any minute the shockingly sparse highway would morph into the real December nightmare and cars would be honking and sleet would be slamming, and people would be fingering and gesturing and scowling. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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When I was a child I had a book of Bible stories written especially for young children. One of my favorite stories was about Moses and his encounter with the burning bush in the wilderness. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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[Human Interest]
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If you have a special man in your life you might find yourself struggling when it comes time to purchase birthday or holiday gifts. For the man who has everything it can prove a challenge to find him something unique that he’ll really enjoy. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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A perfect day is the most rare of things - when the sun is just right in the sky, and the wind is blowing moderately and cooly by you and there ire no clouds in the sky except for a few which are exceedingly fluffy and lovely. That's the kind of day that makes me happy, a perfect day for kite flying, a perfect day for visiting with friends, a perfect day for a picnic – a perfect day to be alive. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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I am Scottish and Scottish people are notorious for being thrifty. We don’t like to waste money and we are not very concerned about materialistic things. Some people mistake being thrifty for being cheap but there is a significant difference. My mother is a Scottish person who is cheap. She spends a lot of money on frivolous things but she spends the money a little at a time. In short, she buys cheap things in bulk. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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We call my father “The Watcher” because he is extremely quiet in social settings. He likes to observe other people’s behavior and he occasionally makes a cute little comment. Aside from being a watcher, my father is also a prankster and he is also very naïve. This is a very dangerous combination. Every year, my father gives money as gifts and the money is always presented in unusual ways. See more ...
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[Human Interest]
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