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Week Ending 10 May 2013
Published by Yes Let's Help
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The World's Oldest Running Car
 | | Auction of the Oldest Running Motor October 7, 2011 |
Hard to believe but the oldest car still running was produced in 1884. It was an internal combustion vehicle and followed the earlier development on a car with a steam engine.
The earlier steam engine car had a boiler and engine mounted at the front, driving the front wheels by belts and steering with the rear, it burned to the ground on trials.
But 1884 finally saw the arrival of the De Dion, Bouton et Trepardou Dos-�-Dos a car that is still running today, 129 years later.
It proved its worth in 1887 when it was in "Europe's first motoring competition".
Evidently, the promotion was insufficient, for the De Dion was the sole entrant, but it completed the course, with de Dion at the tiller, and was clocked at 60 km/h (37 mph).
The vehicle survives, in road-worthy condition, and has been a regular entry in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
It last changed hand in 2011. If you're a veteran car buff and want to see it running Click Here
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| Quirky Quips by David Cummings | | |
A computer once beat me at chess,
but it was not match for me at kick boxing.
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 Following the wonder of "freeze dried" chicks, that come alive for Easter with a drop of water, we now have Michael Carbonaro helping his customers "celebrate" Valentines' Day.
As Michael says, "In doing the Magic Clerk segments, I'm always reminded of that line from The Usual Suspects, 'The best trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.'"
Carbonaro studied acting and magic at New York University before moving to Los Angeles where, in addition to his Tonight Show appearances, he landed a recurring role on Happily Divorced, The Newsroom, and Wizards of Waverly Place. Fans can find him performing his dazzling acts of illusion in the parlors of Los Angeles' legendary Magic Castle.
The Academy of Magical Arts recently honored Carbonaro with the Parlor Magician of the Year nomination. The awards will be hosted by Jason Alexander at the Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles on April 7.
To chuckle with amazement Click Here
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The "Greatest" Bargain in History
 It is generally related that Manhattan was purchased by Peter Minuit on 7 May 1626 from unnamed Native American people in exchange for trade goods worth 60 guilders, then said to be worth 24 US$.
However, by comparison with the price of bread and other goods the price was probably nearer $1,000 in modern currency.
It was originally named New Amsterdam but after conquest by the English it was renamed it "New York" after the English Duke of York and Albany, who later became King James II.
The purchase of Manhattan Island is said to be one of the greatest bargains of all time, but if the above-mentioned $24 had been invested, at 8 per cent annually, it would have been worth more than $28 trillion by 1995,
With that sum you could purchase Manhattan and still have money over to buy most of L.A. Clearly compound interest is not something to be sneezed at.
Want more history? Click Here
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A Little Reader Feedback
 Corporate Ninja, Ron Lee, writes to challenge our Thought for The day published on the last day of April.
He's pretty stern, but we know it's all in our best interests. As a master motivator with many years' experience he knows that getting things just right can make all the difference. He says:-
"Your thought for the day seems to imply that if you aim for the moon and fall short, you could at least be up there with the stars.
I don't want to spoil a mediocre metaphor but the moon is 384,400 km from us and the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, is 4.367 light years away. Even if you regard our Sun as a star, it is still 149,600,000 km away, so rather than fall short of the moon you'd have to overshoot it by a factor of 389 times.
The metaphor was clearly not well thought out, yet some people have adopted it as a life philosophy.
Perhaps he should have written, "If you aim for our Solar System sun, then if you fall short, you might make moderate impact on the moon or reach an area in its vicinity or an area equidistant from the Earth".
That would have been more accurate, believable and factual.
We take your point Ron and will now rephrase the old adage "Practice makes perfect" so that it reads "Only perfect practice makes perfect"
Want to know more about Ron Lee - The Corporate Ninja? Click Here
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Just How Big IS One Billion?
Following on Monday's thought for the day and yesterday's revised budget deficit we are prompted to ask "Just how big is a Billion" (and can you hit one with a sledgehammer?)
Well to start with there's the old question of "Is it a million millions, or merely, a thousand millions?", or, more formally is it the "long scale" 10 to the 12th (1,000,000,000,000) or the "short scale" 10 to the 9th (1,000,000,000)?
It's clear it's not clear. So just what figure was Howard Hughes talking about on Monday?
Thankfully Wikipedia can help and tells us that for Americans (and now it seems for all of us) it is the more modest one thousand million.
But it's still a big figure so when politicians talk about billions how can we grasp what they mean?
Here are some clues:-
- A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
- A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
- A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
- A billion days ago no-one walked on earth on two feet.
To see what Wikipedia has to say Click Here
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Who Is This Incredible Artist With Amy Keys?
 | | Phil Collins & Amy Keys - Separate Lives (Live at Paris 2004) |
It's 2004, it's Paris and it's a song by Steven Bishop (You know the guy who wrote the theme song for the movie "Tootsie")
The atmosphere is palpable and there will soon be a duet between an established, but relatively unknown artist and an acknowledged super star.
Trouble is, it's difficult to say which performance is the most amazing.
OK, we nearly all know the opening singer is Phil Collins from Genesis, but now we can see how being around him helps get the best out of people.
All the write ups seem to be saying things about inspiring, emotional, tears, faces and streaming, but we expect better than that of our readers.
Unless of course they happen to be like us in which case the chosen words seem quite appropriate.
To see if you agree Click Here
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