Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was an American Jurist
on the Surpreme Court of the United States during the early 1900s. He
retired from the Supreme Court when he was 90 years old, making him
the oldest Justice in the history of the Supreme Court. This month, he
points out the dangers of expanding your experiences.
This month's puzzle is taken from the philosophy
of Buddhism. It considers the question of how best to live your life
and the affect your actions have upon it.
Robert Heinlein, a well-known author of science
fiction novels, makes a statement about the impossibility of
everything and how everything is theoretically possible in this
month's puzzle. This quotation was taken from his novel "Between
Planets", published in 1951.
Vincent Lombardi, an American football coach who
helped coach the New York Giants to a league championship in 1956 and
later was head coach of the Green Bay Packers, discusses what
qualities he believes separate a successful person from those who do
not achieve success in this month's puzzle.
The wisdom for this month's puzzle comes from an
unusual source - a fictional character. Captain Jean Luc Picard, from
Star Trek: The Next Generation, is an experienced starship captain and
is presented as an educated scholar and student of history. During a
discussion with his first Officer Riker, whom he often calls Number
One, Captain Picard discusses his view of time and how we should live
our lives.
In this month's puzzle, Rudyard Kipling suggests
a new way of learning history...and remembering it. Rudyard Kipling
was a British author and poet best known for his works of fiction,
including "The Jungle Book".
Lloyd Douglas, an American minister and author,
had an interesting way to look at what happens when you're fearful.
The New Year tends to make us introspective as we look back at what
happened during the past year and turn our eyes towards a new year
with new opportunities. So this month's puzzles reflect that
introspective feeling.
Sarah Miles, a British actress, shares with us
her view for how an unforgiving nature can affect our health. The New
Year tends to make us introspective as we look back at what happened
during the past year and turn our eyes towards a new year with new
opportunities. So this month's puzzles reflect that introspective
feeling.
What does it take to be an executive? What kind
of ability does an executive need to succeed? Author J.G. Pollard
expresses his answer to these questions with this month's puzzle.
Happy Anniversary! Erma Bombeck was an American
humorist and newspaper columnist who described suburban homelife, and
the role of a housewife, with witty and eloquent strokes. In our bonus
anniversary puzzle this month, she observes a truism that every child
learns about receiving advice from mother.
How do you measure the worth of a day's work?
Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish novelist who wrote the
still-popular novel "Treasure Island", provides one way of looking at
this question with this month's puzzle.
Steven Wright is an American comedian known for
his lethargic, deadpan delivery of his off-the-wall humor. In this
month's puzzle, Mr. Wright makes a comment about the role of answering
machines in our day-to-day life.
Perspective and the basic ideas that we believe
in are the foundations for how we live our lives. This month, Albert
Einstein shares insight into how he viewed life and how a person
should live.
Trivia is described as the collection of little
known facts that are of dubious usefulness. Ron Darian, a Hollywood
writer and producer, pokes a bit of fun at trivia with this month's
puzzle.
A turn-of-the-century New England poet, Robert
Frost lived in a time of great changes for American life. While his
work is renowned for his depictions of rural New England life, he
still had a sense of humor. That humor comes to the fore with this
month’s puzzle in his observation about how people worry and work.
Talking is our primary tool for communicating
with our fellow people. However it is remarkable sometimes what people
decide is worth communicating to their fellow man. Robert Frost, a
well-known and respected American poet, makes his observation on what
people say with this month's puzzle.
Whether you live in the middle of an undeveloped
wilderness or in the heart of the city, the natural world of this
earth is all around you. Emily Dickenson, a 19th century American
poet, observes one of nature's habits in this month's puzzle.
Everyone knows who Walt Disney is but he's not
just a creator of giant theme parks. He also revolutionized animation
and the animated feature. In this month's puzzle, Walt Disney shares
with us a bit of how he sees animation.
Age only matters when you make it matter,
although it is an adult tradition to make fun of growing old. Tom
Lehrer, a popular American satirist, song-writer, and mathematician,
shares his thoughts on growing old with this month's puzzle.
Baha'u'llah, an Arabic religious leader who
founded the Bahai Faith, shares with us his views on the difference
between the acts of the thankful and those who love to complain.
The formal definition for the literary form of
satire is the use of irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to expose or denounce
human folly and vice. Philip Roth, an American novelist, provides his
definition of satire in this month's puzzle.
At some point in our lives, we've all had
aspirations - a great longing or ambition to do something more or to
attain a greater treasure. Zora Neale Hurston, an American folklorist,
reflects on the aspirations of her mother and her mother's attempts to
get her children to aspire to something more as well.
The term "dream" can refer to both what you do
during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) period of your sleep as well as
your vision or hope of the future (the most famous example probably
being Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech). In this month's
puzzle, Stanislaw J. Lec makes a humorous observation regarding the
dreams of sleep. Mr. Lec was a Polish poet and aphorist, considered
among the greatest writers of post-World War 2 Poland.
Dreaming is something we all have in common -
whether we dream in stories or images, black and white or color,
everyone dreams while they sleep. Some speculate it's a way for our
subconscious minds to work out problems. Others say that our dreams
have no meaning at all and are simply random images and such from our
sleeping minds. Whether they have meaning or not, William Dement, a
pioneering US sleep researcher, makes an amusing observation about our
dreams with this month's puzzle.
Jeff Valdez, a multi-talented comic writer and
producer, answers an age old question in this month's puzzle. Mr.
Valdez even provides an example to support his conclusion. So, the age
old question - which are smarter, dogs or cats?
We've seen what actors and actresses do when
they're on the screen and many say that to act is to live "in the
moment". But how do they choose which moments, or what roles, they
wish to play? Val Kilmer, a talented American actor, discusses what
motivates him to select the movie roles that he plays.
During our lifetimes, we make many decisions and
all, no matter how large or small, ultimately affect the path of our
life. You could say that our road of life has many forks and there can
be endless speculation about the fork, or path, not taken. The
American humorist, Will Rogers, makes a philosophical observation
about the path taken in this month's puzzle.
What makes you happy? What do you consider a
successful life? What lifetime accomplishments can make you feel
fulfilled? We have no attribution for this month's puzzle, but it's a
wonderfully succinct way of feeling accomplishment during your
lifetime.
This month, our puzzle doesn't spring from the
lips of a famous or influential person but from a 10-year-old girl
with no home. Children see the world through a clearer lens than do
most adults. So, let us share a child's perception of home.
Everyone's heard the old adage, "The only dumb
question is the question not asked." This month's puzzle takes a
slightly different look at this same question - is there shame in not
knowing? An old Russian proverb provides us with the answer.
