Thursday, December 24, 2020
Note to self: do what you can’t until you can.
Thinking Out of the box.
In a small Italian town, hundreds of years ago, a small business owner
owed a large sum of money to a loan-shark. The loan-shark was a very old,
unattractive looking guy that just so happened to fancy the business owner’s
daughter.
He decided to offer the businessman a deal that would completely
wipe out the debt he owed him. However, the catch was that we would only wipe
out the debt if he could marry the businessman’s daughter.
Needless to say, this proposal was met with a look of disgust.
The
loan-shark said that he would place two pebbles into a bag, one white and one
black.
The daughter would then have to reach into the bag and pick out a
pebble. If it was black, the debt would be wiped, but the loan-shark would then
marry her. If it was white, the debt would also be wiped, but the daughter
wouldn’t have to marry the loan-shark.
Standing on a pebble-strewn path in the businessman’s garden, the
loan-shark bent over and picked up two pebbles.
Whilst he was picking them up, the
daughter noticed that he’d picked
up two black pebbles and placed them both into the bag.
He then asked
the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one.
The daughter naturally had three choices as to what she could have done:
1.
Refuse to pick a pebble from the bag.
2.
Take both pebbles out of the bag and expose the loan-shark for cheating.
3.
Pick a pebble from the bag fully well knowing it was black and sacrifice
herself for her father’s freedom.
She drew out a pebble from the bag, and before looking at it
‘accidentally’ dropped it into the midst of the other pebbles. She said to the
loan-shark;
“Oh, how clumsy of me. Never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”
The pebble left in the bag is obviously black, and seeing as the loan-shark didn’t want to be exposed, he had to play along as if the pebble the daughter dropped was white, and clear her father’s debt.
Moral of the story:
It’s always possible to overcome a tough situation throughout of
the box thinking, and not give in to the only options you think you have to
pick from.
Portuguese Angel Wings (Coscorões) Recipe
Ingredients
Directions
- Beat the sugar, eggs and butter. Add the pinch of salt, orange rind, orange juice, aguardente,(fire water/moon shine) and the flour and continue beating until the batter is smooth. Cover the bowl and set aside for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, pour the batter onto a very floured counter. Knead the dough with enough flour until the batter is no longer sticky.
- Roll out the dough into 3×5 inch rectangles 1/4 inch thick. Make cuts lengthwise in center of the rectangles.
- Fry in hot oil until golden brown. Place on paper towels to absorb any grease.
- Blend sugar with cinnamon in a bowl and coat each Coscorões.
Nancy comic strip 1947
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens” ― Jimi Hendrix
― Thomas Paine
― Sharon Salzberg
― Bob Marley
― Joseph Campbell
― Paulo Coelho
― Truman Capote
“May you live every day of your life.” ― Jonathan Swift
― Mark Twain
― Aristotle
― John Lennon
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.”
― Langston Hughes
― Aristotle, Metaphysics
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemis
― Abigail Van Buren
THE SERENITY PRAYER | |
GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY LIVING ONE DAY AT A TIME;
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