Noah's Ark Found

Only Surviving Photo Album From Auschwitz

The Auschwitz Album

Take the time to watch this. It is history. This is the story of a Hungarian Jewish woman who survived Auschwitz and found a coat belonging to a guard which she took to shield her from the cold immediately after her liberation. In the pocket of this coat she found a photo album. It contained pictures of what went on in this extermination camp. Imagine her reaction when she saw a picture of herself coming off of the train as well pictures of her family who were already murdered. This album at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem was donated by this woman in 1980 and will forever be displayed there. When you have 5 minutes of peace and quiet in front of your computer, watch it and consider passing it around to people that you know so they can share it and know about it. It is truly moving and important...

History You Don't Learn in School

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell. Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor: hence, the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the came the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs, thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt; hence the saying, "Dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way; hence: a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Everyday they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up; hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks stared running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.

Life Changing Call

Lloyd Newell reflects on his 20 years with
Music and the Spoken Word

In 1990, when President Gordon B. Hinckley sat down with Lloyd D. Newell to extend the call to serve as announcer for "Music and The Spoken Word," "he told me, 'this call will change your life.' I didn't really get what that meant at the time," Newell says. But looking back from a perspective of 20 years, "I've realized that it has changed my life in all the meaningful ways I can think of."

Not only has Newell rubbed shoulders "with all the wonderful people associated with the broadcast, who are the kind that would walk over hot coals for you," and been able to travel the world, he has come to have a more thankful, more appreciative view of that world.

"Another thing President Hinckley told me was to make sure each 'Spoken Word' was an inspirational gem. That's what I've tried to do with all my heart and soul."

Fifty-two times a year, Newell delivers a message "designed to uplift and inspire, to be a bright spot in someone's life. It's nondenominational, dealing with universal principles; it's something that anyone can listen to, can take from, learn from."

Occasionally, he gets letters saying he should preach the gospel. Sometimes he gets letters from people who think he is preaching for a church. "They write to Rev. Newell of the Church of the Crossroads of the West, saying they like this half-hour church."

But that's not what this broadcast is all about, Newell says. "It's simply a gift from the church to people everywhere."

Back when he started, "I never once thought about what it would be like to do it for 20 years. But the weeks turned into months, and the months turned into years, and here we are." Last Sunday, Newell started into his 21st year of doing the broadcasts, which makes him second only to Richard L. Evans in terms of longevity.

You could say his connection to the choir broadcast goes back even longer. In his home, he has a 1929 upright Philco radio that belonged to his mother, who grew up in a small town near Grace, Idaho. "She told me that on Sundays, her family would gather around the radio and tune into KSL and the Tabernacle Choir broadcast. To me, that's a wonderful connection with the past, an emblem of the broadcast. It warms my heart to think of them gathered around this radio."

Newell himself grew up listening to broadcasts, "but I was just a dorky kid. It never occurred to me that I could have a part of it."

Newell grew up in Utah, graduated from BYU and planned on going to law school and perhaps into politics. "But as the time came closer, I thought, 'Do I really want to practice law?' I decided to get a master's degree in communications instead."

His emphasis was on broadcast journalism, and his first job was as the 6-11 p.m. TV news anchor for WSEE in Erie, Pa.

A couple of years later, Newell's father passed away, and his mother developed health issues, and he decided to move back to Utah. He got a job teaching at BYU but also started doing speaking engagements around the country, talking about leadership and communications. "It's what a lot of people call 'motivational speaking,' but I always tried to give real substance." That endeavor took him to 46 states and a dozen countries.

He had also got an anchor job at CNN, doing news and also broadcasts from around the country, places such as Nashville, Tenn., and Pennsylvania. "But it got to the point where being on the road that much was not fun anymore." Newell had married his wife, Karmel, and found it harder to be away from the family.

He had done some voice-over work for Bonneville Communications, "so in the spring of 1990, I heard they were holding auditions for a backup announcer position, and decided to give that a try."

Newell was given the backup job, although he never appeared on air. But when then-announcer Spence Kinard left the choir job, Newell was asked to fill in on an interim basis while a search committee looked for a replacement.

Weeks became months, and in November, President Hinckley extended the call to serve on a permanent basis.

And it is a calling, Newell says. "A man came up to me once after a broadcast, and he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He said, 'it must be nice to get paid all that money for half-an-hour a week.' I explained that it takes much longer than a half hour, and I don't get paid for it."

Newell is still a professor at BYU. He does get paid for his writing and still does some speaking engagements around the country, most recently at a conference in St. Louis.

When he first started, most of the weekly messages were written by other people, and he felt a bit intimidated about writing his own, "although I did do a lot of editing." But it has evolved to where now he writes most of the messages himself.

And that he sees as both challenge and opportunity. With a weekly deadline, the term he uses affectionately is "a hungry beast that must be fed. We're always moving forward. We have about 30 seconds each week to say 'that went great,' and then we have to move on to the next week."

He and Choir Director Mack Wilberg sit down about six weeks ahead to map out future programs. "We talk about music, about themes, special guests. The music is the star of the show; that is clearly what drives it, and Mack knows the music so well. I have such respect and appreciation for him. But it's very collaborative. Sometimes there's an obvious connection between the music and the message; sometimes it's more subtle. The ideal is to have a sandwich of music and message that flows seamlessly."

Newell does most of his writing at home, sometimes with the help of his dog, Duke. More often, with input from Karmel. "She's my greatest help. She has written books; she's a great editor," he says, but more than that, "she has a great mind, a great soul. My greatest blessing is to have her."

Newell often finds himself looking at the world around him as a source for inspiration. He reads a lot. "I get a lot of ideas from the newspaper and what is going on in the world. I listen for stories." But he tries to make each message his own.

"I'm not Richard L. Evans. He was great, one-of-a-kind. During our 75th-year-of-broadcasting observance, we repeated some of his pieces. They are beautiful and timeless. But my messages are different than his because our world is different than his. My desire is simply to help lift burdens and help people go forward."

Many of the letters and cards he gets show there's a need for that, he says. "In all my years in the news business, I never got letters that said, 'That story touched my heart.' But we get them all the time, from around the world." It's a very gratifying but also very humbling part of the job, Newell says.

Choir President Mac Christensen sees Newell as a "wonderful presence week after week. He has a quick mind and a pleasant manner and just handles everything so well. His thoughts come from a magnificent mind and an outstanding heart, and he really means everything he says. The choir is blessed to have him with us."

Newell is quick to say that "Music and The Spoken Word" is bigger than any one person, any one time. "It has such a history and legacy. It's as much a part of our American culture as John Wayne and apple pie. A person can't help but be grateful to have a small part in something that is so loved."

Today In History...

Gettysburg Address
President Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The History of Father's Day

Every year certain holidays come around. Most of us know where the big ones came from such as Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc. But some of the less commercialized holidays have more humble beginnings. Father’s Day came about because of the efforts of a daughter who wanted to honor her dad.

Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington was inspired to create the holiday after hearing a sermon at church about the newly instituted Mother’s Day. Her father had raised his family alone after his wife died giving birth to his 6th child. In 1909 Sonora enlisted the help of the Spokane Ministerial Association and arranged for a celebration of fatherhood in her hometown. On June 19, 1910, young members of the YMCA went to church wearing roses: a red rose to honor a living father, and a white rose to honor a deceased one. Sonora rode through town in a horse-drawn carriage, carrying gifts to shut-in fathers.

It took several years to make the holiday official. While Mother’s Day was lauded with praise, Father’s Day was often met with laughter. After several attempts through Congress, it was President Lyndon Johnson who issued the first proclamation honoring fathers. And in 1972 President Richard Nixon signed a bill finally making Father’s Day an official holiday. Father’s Day is celebrated in 55 countries and in many different ways in those countries.

In the United States we honor our fathers on the third Sunday in June. But we should honor them everyday. The love and care of parents is special. And there is another father we should remember on this special day as well, our Heavenly Father. He is there to listen to our joys and our grief. He is infinitely patient with our mortal stumbles. He loves us with out qualification. So this year in addition to celebrating your earthly father, take a moment to honor your Heavenly Father and thank Him for all your blessings. Give Him the gift of recommitting yourself to doing all you can to come back to Him.

Pearl Harbor Day

These Pearl Harbor photos were taken by a sailor on the USS QUAPAW ATF-110 with an old Kodak Brownie camera. They were stored in a foot locker, and just recently taken to be developed...

Good Read

I just finished reading this book and I highly recommend it!
Granted, it has a weird title, but it makes sense
once you start reading.
Curl up by the fire and be totally delighted...

Now and Then

Manhattan 1609 vs. 2009
Natural Wonder to Urban Jungle
Mannahatta, as the indigenous called it meant
"Land of Many Hills"





via National Geogrpahic

Naming the Generations

G.I Generation: born 1900-1924

Also called the Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw, survived the Great Depression and fought in World War II as draftees. This generation were the first Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, but there were also gangsters.

Silent Generation: born 1925-1945

The term Silent Generation was coined in a 1951 story in Time magazine. It defined the generation as grave, fatalistic, conventional, possessing confused morals, expecting disappointment but desiring faith, and for women, desiring both a career and a family. Further characteristics include withdrawn, cautious, unimaginative, unadventurous, and silent.

Baby Boom Generation: born 1946-1953

A baby boomer is anyone born during the demographic post World War II baby boom. They are associated with a rejection of, or redefinition of traditional values. In Europe and North America, Boomers are associated with privilege. This generation is still a demographic bulge, by sheer force of its numbers, that continues to remodel society as it passes through.

Generation Jones: born 1954-1965

Generation Jones is a term coined by Jonathan Pontell. Before that, members of this generation were identified with either Baby Boomers or Generation X. The name has many conotations: 1) a large, anonymous generation, 2) "keeping up with the Joneses compentiveness, and 3) the slang word "jones" or "jonesing," meaning a yearning or craving. The Jones Generation was given huge expectations in the 1960s, and then confronted with a different reality as they came of age in the 70s.

Generation X: born 1966-1979

Generation X grew up during the later years of, and in the decade following the Cold War. Statistically Gen X hold the highest education levels when looking at age group, but also earn 12% less, in real dollars, as the previous generation at the same age.

Generation Y: born 1980-2000

A pictures speaks a thousand words.

Thumbs Generation: born 2001-present

I think the name fits...

CSI: The Beginning

151 years ago today...

the first fingerprint was taken!