Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 14 – No. 0712 February 18, 2012
Thought for the week: "The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken." – Samuel Johnson
NOTE: I stand corrected. This report, according to Snopes.com, is false. My apologies.
When staying at a hotel or motel, did you ever wonder what is on your magnetic key card?
Answer:
a. Customer's name
b. Customer's partial home address
c. Hotel room number
d. Check-in date and out dates
e. Customer's credit card number and expiration date!
When you turn them in to the front desk, your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner. An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense.
Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee reissues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest's information is electronically 'overwritten' on the card and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process.
But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!
The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them. NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them into the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader.
For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip!
If you have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it in the door—it will not work. It erases everything on the card.
Information courtesy of: Metropolitan Police Service.
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by people like me,
But only God can make a tree.
According to Henry David Thoreau, a philosopher is a person who seeks to understand and solve the most serious problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically. A true philosopher, Thoreau added, is so committed to wisdom that he seeks to live wisely and so lives a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.
By this definition, John Wooden, my favorite coach and teacher, was every inch a great American philosopher. Here are just a few of his powerful insights:
On Perfection: "Perfection is an impossibility, but striving for perfection is not. Do the best you can. That is what counts."
On Management: "You'll get better cooperation and results if you are sincerely interested in people's families and interests, not simply in how they do their job."
On Learning: "Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow."
On Success: "You must be interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way."
On Trust: "You will be hurt occasionally if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough."
On Joy: "Mix idealism with realism and add hard work. This will often bring much more than you could ever hope for."
On Winning: "If you prepare properly, you may be outscored but you will never lose. You always win when you make the full effort to do the best of which you're capable."
You can read more in Be Quick—But Don't Hurry with Andrew Hill and Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court with Steve Jamison.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."1
Paul Dickson discovered that the size of the cut he inflicted on himself while shaving was directly proportionate to the importance of the event for which he was shaving. That led him to an interest in other "universal laws" evident in daily life. The following are a few of the many he has collected:
"No books you lend are lost except those you particularly want to keep." "There are three ways to get something done: do it yourself; hire someone; or tell your kids not to do it." "You can throw a burnt match out of the window of your car and start a forest fire easier than you can start one under dry logs in your fireplace with a box of matches and the complete edition of the Sunday newspaper."
Let's face it, more often than not, it's life's little annoyances that get to us and hit our "frustration" button. As one humorist put it:
It's the little things that bother us
And put us on the rack,
You can sit upon a mountain,
But you can't sit on a tack!
And most of us have at least one "frustration" button—by whatever name you call it—which is an area of weakness that God wants us to overcome. As long as I have a "frustration button" that is still active, it's a reminder that I still have some growing to do so I can get to the place where I quit being frustrated and trust God for everything!
Hmmm ... I'm still working on mine ... but God hasn't finished with me yet, fortunately.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that I can bring all my 'frustrations' to you. When I do this, please help me to see if there is anything I can do to resolve the problem that is causing my frustration, and then do what I need to do to the best of my ability, and trust the outcome to you so that I will experience peace of mind. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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"Because the world is hungry,
go with bread.
Because the world is filled with strife,
go with peace.
Because the world is filled with deceptions and lies,
go with truth.
Because the world would die without,
go with the love of God."
