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  fortune index  all fortunes 
  
 |  |  | #10110 |  | After the Children of Israel had wandered for thirty-nine years in the wilderness, Ferdinand Feghoot arrived to make sure that they would
 finally find and enter the Promised Land.  With him, he brought his
 favorite robot, faithful old Yewtoo Artoo, to carry his gear and do
 assorted camp chores.
 The Israelites soon got over their initial fear of the robot and,
 as the months passed, became very fond of him.  Patriarchs took to
 discussing abtruse theological problems with him, and each evening the
 children all gathered to hear the many stories with which he was programmed.
 Therefore it came as a great shock to them when, just as their journey was
 ending, he abruptly wore out.  Even Feghoot couldn't console them.
 "It may be true, Ferdinand Feghoot," said Moses, "that our friend
 Yewtoo Artoo was soulless, but we cannot believe it.  He must be properly
 interred.  We cannot embalm him as do the Egyptians.  Nor have we wood for
 a coffin.  But I do have a most splendid skin from one of Pharoah's own
 cattle.  We shall bury him in it."
 Feghoot agreed.  "Yes, let this be his last rusting place."
 "Rusting?" Moses cried.  "Not in this dreadful dry desert!"
 "Ah!" sighed Ferdinand Feghoot, shedding a tear, "I fear you do not
 realize the full significance of Pharoah's oxhide!"
 -- Grendel Briarton "Through Time & Space With Ferdinand
 Feghoot!"
 
 |  |  |  | #10111 |  | After the last of 16 mounting screws has been removed from an access cover, it will be discovered that the wrong access cover has been removed.
 
 |  |  |  | #10112 |  | After this was written there appeared a remarkable posthumous memoir that throws some doubt on Millikan's leading role in these experiments.  Harvey
 Fletcher (1884-1981), who was a graduate student at the University of Chicago,
 at Millikan's suggestion worked on the measurement of electronic charge for
 his doctoral thesis, and co-authored some of the early papers on this subject
 with Millikan.  Fletcher left a manuscript with a friend with instructions
 that it be published after his death; the manuscript was published in
 Physics Today, June 1982, page 43.  In it, Fletcher claims that he was the
 first to do the experiment with oil drops, was the first to measure charges on
 single droplets, and may have been the first to suggest the use of oil.
 According to Fletcher, he had expected to be co-authored with Millikan on
 the crucial first article announcing the measurement of the electronic
 charge, but was talked out of this by Millikan.
 -- Steven Weinberg, "The Discovery of Subatomic Particles"
 
 Robert Millikan is generally credited with making the first really
 precise measurement of the charge on an electron and was awarded the
 Nobel Prize in 1923.
 
 |  |  |  | #10113 |  | After years of research, scientists recently reported that there is, indeed, arroz in Spanish Harlem.
 
 |  |  |  | #10114 |  | Against his wishes, a math teacher's classroom was remodeled.  Ever since, he's been talking about the good old dais.  His students planted a small
 orchard in his honor; the trees all have square roots.
 
 |  |  |  | #10115 |  | Air is water with holes in it. 
 |  |  |  | #10116 |  | Air pollution is really making us pay through the nose. 
 |  |  |  | #10117 |  | Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio, replied: "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat.  You pull his tail in New
 York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles.  Do you understand this?
 And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they
 receive them there.  The only difference is that there is no cat."
 
 |  |  |  | #10118 |  | Alexander Graham Bell is alive and well in New York, and still waiting for a dial tone.
 
 |  |  |  | #10119 |  | Algebraic symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about. -- Philippe Schnoebelen
 
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