In today's NY Times there is an orbituary to Mischa Richter, a cartoonist for the New Yorker who just died at the age of 90. The orbit has one of his cartoons from 1967, out of some 1,500 of his that they had published over the years. In the cartoon, the god Zeus is on a cloud alongside a Greek godess. Lightning is flashing down to earth from his right hand. The godess, with one hand on her hip in a stance of contempt, says to him "If you're so good, why can't you ever strike twice in the same place?" Which brings up an interesting theory on how to avoid getting struck. Have your friend, Arnie (don't we all have one?), stand up tall when lightning begins to strike. Hand him a cheap aluminum shaft paddle to hold up high (Tell him you want to test out a theory) while you crouch down low 20 yards away. When he gets hit, rush to the spot he was standing in. :-) I have to thank my high school sophmore chemistry class for my warped thinking. One day while we were in lab and doing experiments with various chemicals and bunsen burners, my classmate O'Connor's beaker suddenly started foaming up violently. Brother Ivo, who had survived a childhood in a wartorn Poland, came rushing over. He looked at what O'Connor had been mixing and heating up, did an instant calculation in his head that the thing was about to explode and pulled O'Connor in front of him as a shield to take the impact of the blast. Brother Ivo quickly but unapologetically applied first aid to a bloody O'Connor before sending him down to the school nurse. I don't know about the other kids in the class but I was saying to myself "Hmm, so that is how he survived all those years." ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Mar 27 2001 - 08:10:59 PST
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