Silverfoxesclub-digest
Wednesday, December 13 2000
Volume 01 : Number 075

In this issue:

-Coke, anyone?
-Top 10 Reasons Why Email
Is Like A Penis
-Re: The unsighted Bocelli
-Japanese Name Noodles Best Invention

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Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 10:32:47 -0800
From: Ben Boxer

Subject: Coke, anyone?

Just when you thought you knew everything....

1. In many states the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.

2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.

3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl... Let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean.

4. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.

5. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

6. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away corrosion.

7. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

FYI:
1.The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days.

2.To carry Coca Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly Corrosive materials.

3.The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years! Drink up!
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Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 12:40:55 -0800
From: "Ben Boxer"
Subject: Top 10 Reasons Why Email Is Like A Penis

I don't usually cross-post these days, but one of my nephews sent this to me this morning, and I sent it to another list and have had so many letters from guys who loved it that I thought you might enjoy it, too. So much of this stuff is passed around for so long, it's hard to tell what's fresh and what's stale. About my nephew, he's a beauty if you like tall, big, ash-blonde guys around 30. But he's married, fellas, although a gay-sympathizer. He knows all about me, of course. I stayed with him and his wife and kids a couple of years back. During the visit, we had a lot of laughs. After I had gone, he wrote me one day and said, "Hey, Uncle, I just found out a buddy of mine owns a gay bar! If I'd known when you were here, I could have got you laid!"
=======================

Top 10 Reasons Why Email Is Like A Penis

10. Those who have it would be devastated if it was ever cut off.

9. Those who have it think that those who don't are somehow inferior.

8. Those who don't have it may agree that it's neat, but think it's not worth the fuss that those who have it make about it.

7. Many of those who don't have it would like to try it, a phenomenon psychologists call "E-mail Envy."

6. It's more fun when it's up, but this makes it hard to get any real work done.

5. In the distant past, its only purpose was to transmit information vital to the survival of the species. Some people still think that's the only thing it should be used for, but most folks today use it mostly for fun.

4. If you don't take proper precautions, it can spread viruses.

3. We attach an importance to it that is far greater than its actual size and influence warrant.

2. If you're not careful what you do with it, it can get you into a lot of trouble.

And the number one reason why E-mail is like a penis.....

1. If you play with it too much, you'll go blind.
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Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 12:24:41 -0800
From: "Ben Boxer"

Subject: Re: The unsighted Bocelli

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Feinstein"
Cc: "@FoxList"

I love Andrea's voice...I feel proud that a blind person is so popular, and is so talented. I wonder how he manages the movements on stage, or facial expressions, or gestures...
=============
Ben Boxer responds:
He is 6' 3" and solidly built and has a lot of natural grace, having been athletic as a boy. He also has the best voice and drama coaches money can buy.
=============
Bob says:
I think Andrea had sight and became blind.
============
Ben responds:
Bocelli was born with glaucoma which is related to optic nerve damage. His vision was impaired throughout childhood, but he could see and was into sports. When he was 12 (he was born in 1960), he had some sort of accident during a soccer game and lost his sight completely.
============
Bob says:
I also read somewhere that he had studied law.
============ Ben responds:
His blindness did not stop him from getting an education. He had a lot of help from loving parents and siblings. He studied law at the University of Pisa and actually practiced law for a year after graduation. But he quit after deciding to seek a career as a singer. He played and sang in piano bars and cafes to get the money together for lessons. The rest is history.
============
Bob then speaks of himself:
I remember once in a coffee shop, I had ordered a piece of chocolate cake and was eating it, using my finger to gently feel that the cake was on the fork. This woman, who probably didn't know I was blind, said to my mother, "Why don't you teach your son how to eat properly? He's old enough not to be making such a mess and using his fingers. What's wrong with him, anyway?" And my mother said, very quietly, "He can't see, and anyway, fingers were here way before forks and spoons." Of course the woman was mortified.....
==========
Ben responds:
God bless your sweet mama! It looks like you had some loving help from your family, too. That busybody who talked out of turn should have looked before she leapt. Had she been more observant, she might have understood and held her tongue. As for eating with your fingers, I think of a Mother Goose nursery rhyme:

"Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner,
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said, What a good boy am I!"

Your mom had the right idea!
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Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 00:06:30 -0800
From: "Ben Boxer"

Subject: Japanese Name Noodles Best Invention

Ben Boxer notes: I was a partner in a small import business in San Francisco many years ago, which kept me on the move around the Far East quite a lot. I loved the ramen cafes in Japan, sort of fast-food centers for people on the run. I picked up several packages of the "instant" variety and brought them back to the States. They came in cellophane packs with the flavoring mix in a foil envelope tucked inside. You had to boil water and cook the noodles for awhile before pouring them into a bowl and adding the seasoning. My partners and I hustled those noodles up and down the West Coast, but had no luck selling the idea at all. We finally gave up and went on to other things. The super-simple, super-quick cup-noodles hadn't been invented yet. As you can judge from the article below, my partners and I were ahead of our time, i.e. born 30 years too soon!

Headline:
Japanese Name Noodles Best Invention
(ABC News, 12/12/00)

Text:
Modern Japan boasts of many technological marvels: robot dogs that run and bark, ingenious household appliances that make everyday life easier, and computers that make fiendishly complex problems almost childishly simple.

But when it comes to which invention is best, the Japanese may not be thinking with their heads or their hearts... but their stomachs.

They named instant noodles the best invention of the 20th century.

As for life-changing technology, that came in at No. 2: karaoke.

The admittedly non-scientific poll by the Fuji Research Institute, a think-tank attached to the generally staid Fuji Bank, asked 2,000 adults in the Tokyo region to rate the greatest inventions of the 20th century in three categories: manufactured goods, culture and technology.

Respondents were asked to take into consideration worldwide acceptance of the various customs and inventions.

An astounding 692 placed instant noodles, an "invention" from 1958, at the top of the list.

Instant noodles went into commercial production in 1971, and almost 50 billion cups are now consumed each year worldwide. In 1996, a giant billboard of a steaming cup of noodles was erected above Times Square in New York City, a proud declaration of the place ramen has earned in world cuisine.

Headphone stereo sets, TV video games, CDs and cameras came in at 3-6, respectively, while the only human on the list the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa (see pic, left) came in at No. 7.

He may have finished behind instant noodles and off-key wailing, but at least he finished ahead of the Pokemon barely. Known as Poketto Monsters (Pocket Monsters) in Japan, Pikachu and his popular little friends came in at No. 8.

In a bow to practicality, automobile-related technology came in at No. 9 -- automobiles themselves, invented overseas, were not ranked.

Sushi, perhaps the original fast food, rounded out the top 10 list.

While the Fuji Institute's survey may not have been the most scientific, it does suggest one thing: technology may rule the world, but at least in Tokyo, it begins and ends with the tastebuds.

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End of silverfoxesclub-digest V1 #75 ************************************