><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine - ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Issue Vol 2 # 2 FreEzine@telstra.easymail.com.au February 2001 ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> FreEzine is a free email magazine/newsletter containing articles of interest from a Christian perspective and is published no less than monthly. FreEzine is NOT Spam and is only sent to people who request it. If you ever want to stop (or start) receiving FreEzine you'll find instructions at the end of this newsletter. A special "hello" to all of our new subscribers. We welcome and appreciate feedback on how we can improve this e-zine for you. IF YOU FIND THIS NEWSLETTER USEFUL... ... PLEASE FORWARD IT TO FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES! ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> IN THIS ISSUE: Editorial News Break: Jailed Baptist Pastor Nears Death in Turkmenistan What's On? Seminars & Workshops Repeatable Quotable: Serial story: The Continuing Saga of Peter Blank Episode 8 Article: The Trouble with Living by Ron Allen Free Software: Program Editor Opinion: (by the editor): In God's House Focus on Health: Scientific Breakthrough Focuses on the Nature of Human Life Book Look: Crisis NEW FEATURE: The Extensive Exposition: The Funny Bone: MKs Website Review: http://www.mkministries.com Cook's Corner: Asparagus Au Gratin Take a Hint: Creating Document Scraps Agony Aunt Ezine : Smoking Letters to the Editor Overheard: One Step Is All It Takes Watch This Space Subscription & other information Last words: ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine -FreEzine ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Editorial: The Leaven of the Spirit :-) Lord, You are the bread of life. Make me, Lord, a slice of thee; May life for me be Spirit filled- The leaven swelling up in me. :-) The silent unseen working Transforming lazy flour Into holy-air filled bubbling life; Risen, baked, and given power! :-) So life no longer is a loaf Of wasted energy. Lord, may the crumbs I leave behind, Draw other souls to thee. -- Lionel Hartley (c) 22/7/97 ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> News Break: Jailed Baptist Pastor Nears Death in Turkmenistan As a Baptist pastor fights for his life in a Turkmenistan prison, religious and civil leaders around the world are calling for his release. The Reverend Shagildy Atakov, who was arrested on December 18, 1998, has reportedly endured torture, solitary confinement, and repeated beatings, and has told his wife that he does not think he has long to live. Atakov, who is being held in the Seydy prison labor camp in Northeastern Turkmenistan, is reportedly suffering from liver and kidney damage caused by frequent beatings. Before his arrest, Atakov continued to preach to his congregation in the port city of Turkmenbasi despite repeated threats from city officials that he risked "legal charges." Keston News Service reports that Atakov has refused an offer of freedom by the government amnesty commission, which was conditional upon his swearing an oath of allegiance to Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov and reciting the Muslim creed over the Koran. Among those who have protested Atakov's imprisonment is United States Helsinki Commission co-chairman, Representative Christopher Smith, who has called Atakov's treatment "cruel and unjust." On Feburary 12, Ambassador Istvan Venczel, the head of the Ashgabat center of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation, requested permission to visit Atakov in prison, but has received no reply from Turkmen officials. Turkmenistan has gained notoriety within the international community for its systematic repression of religious minorities. Only Sunni Muslims and the Russian Orthodox Church have official recognition as religious organisations; all other groups are prohibited from public worship and police frequently break up private meetings. Bettina Krause, ANN Bulletin, adventistnews@lists.gc.adventist.org ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> What's On? Seminars & Workshops - See the Website http://members.nbci.com/seminars_workshops/whats_on.htm If you know of a forthcoming seminar, conference, workshop or similar that OUGHT to advertised on this free Website, please write to the editor or go to the site yourself and follow the links. ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Repeatable Quotable Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret. I've been to church. I didn't feel anything special there God, even though I wanted to. I'm sure that (church) has nothing to do with you! Next time I'll try harder! -- Judy Blume, ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET, Chaucer Press, Suffolk, 1970 p57 ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Aside: A ballet dancer, who had been badly burned in a back-stage fire and consequently suffered with severe injuries, was determined to return to the profession she loved as a teacher. Finally, after a great struggle and many setbacks, she succeeded. When someone asked her why the accident had not made her bitter and discouraged, a distant look came into her eyes and after some consideration she replied, "Well, I suppose it's because those flames never touched my heart." -Anon ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Serial story: "Not Finished Yet" - Episodes in the Continuing Saga of Peter Blank. This serial saga, although novel, is not a novel. It is merely a series of true-life episodes highlighting the extraordinary working of an extraordinary God in a very ordinary life. Each episode contained a lesson for Peter Blank, a lesson we can all learn, from a lesson-book life that is not finished yet. Episode 8: The First Day In A New Land. It was Peter's first day in the new land. With a seven-cubic-foot cabin trunk and an airline travel bag, Peter struggled from an airport shuttle 'bus onto the footpath outside the City Central Railway Station. Having been warned of the danger of leaving luggage unattended in the big city, he searched in vain for a luggage trolley. With difficulty, he then manually hauled the trunk to the luggage depot to have it put on the train for him. He was, however, told that "due to an industrial dispute" luggage would only be accepted at a named station elsewhere in the city -- a station he would have to "go to anyway to change trains" so as to get to his chosen destination. He was also told that not only were there no luggage trolleys or porters, but that the only way to the underground platform was on an escalator. The stairs were closed for re-tiling and there were no elevators. With a great expenditure of breath and perspiration, Peter managed to get the trunk to the top of the escalator -- a clanking mechanical staircase which hurried passengers down into the bowels of the railway station. The wide trunk only just fitted between the stationary sides of the moving staircase and they descended while Peter stood on the step above, balancing the trunk with one hand while holding his travel bag with the other. As an herd of hurrying commuters pressed behind him, Peter was to learn something he had not even imagined. The walls of this staircase tapered together as they neared the bottom. This had the unfortunate effect of wedging the cabin trunk in mid-air. The cabin trunk stopped. Peter did not. In fact, the unrelenting escalator dragged him under the wedged cabin trunk, and it was there that he stopped! Of course, the escalator continued to move, each step clouting his head and piling angry commuters upon him and the cabin trunk. Somehow, someone found a switch to stop the mechanical monster. And, with some difficulty and an abundance of Australian colloquialisms, Peter was extracted, carried, cursed, and bundled onto a waiting train in an almost singular movement. The commuter train, in contrast to the escalator, was amazingly free of passengers -- Peter guessed that most had sought safety from him and his trunk in other carriages. Knowing he was to leave the train after only a few stops, he waited with his trunk, just inside the door, rather than try to find a seat large enough for himself and his travelling companion. This would have been a good idea if, at the next station, a convoy of bicyclists, each with an antler-handled velocipede, had not tried to squeeze into the space he occupied. The air was filled with phrases in the Australian vernacular -- words of unknown meaning yet unmistakable intent. Finally the troublesome trunk, which seemed to grow heavier and larger by the hour, was lodged at the luggage depot at the named station. Peter could now relax while an electric train sped him to the seaside town, which marked the end of the electric line and the half-way point in his rail journey. Upon arriving, he made his way to the adjacent platform to await the diesel train to take him the next leg of his journey. It seemed he was the only one travelling further north as everyone else had disappeared into the town. He checked his timetable again, and patiently sat alone on the platform to wait. Presently, an elderly couple asked his reason for waiting. His response prompted them to advise him that the industrial dispute he had been frustrated with in the City affected all trains other than the electric commuter trains. There would be no trains further north that day. However, before he had time to become anxious, they asked him the location of his final destination. He had hardly uttered the name of the tiny village when they exclaimed that they would be going by car through that very village -- and would he care to travel with them? That very day he arrived at his destination, travel-bag in hand, thanking God for His mysterious intervention. The following week he had to return to the City to locate a lost cabin trunk and to have it put on the correct train, but by then the lessons learned were applied. However, Peter is quick to acknowledge that his life lesson is not finished yet. Watch in the next newsletter for the next episode in the continuing true-life saga of Peter Blank. "Not Finished Yet" is Copyright ((c) 2001, FreEzine) ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Article: The Trouble with Living by Ron Allen There are two million species living on planet Earth and humanity is the only one that knows it will die, yet refuses to believe it. Known history supplies evidence that there have always been notions of some kind of continuance beyond death. Rupert Brooke's poem illustrates: "Fish,(fly replete in depth of June Dawdling away their watery noon), Ponder deep wisdom, dark or clear; Each secret fishy hope or fear. Fish say, they have their stream and pond; But is there anything beyond? This life cannot be all, they swear; For how unpleasant if it were." The distinctive quality of humanness is self-consciousness. Though we are part of nature we are not determined as nature is. Nature provides us with a set of givens and we can respond to these with conscious planning and effort. In plants and animals, nature sets down the goals of existence and effects what changes are necessary for their achievement. In humans there is another dynamic at work. Changes can be wrought by conscious choice. The goal of existence is not a foregone conclusion. We must work at it to reach it. We are free to become. We may or may not grasp our own destiny. This is why death has always been an event of utmost significance for us. Since we are ever in the process of becoming, the future is always filled with possibilities. Death stands between us and an anticipated experience of self-actualization. Death strikes at the centre of personality and forces questions upon it. Who am I? Why was I born if my development is to be stopped? What will be after? Self-consciousness provides us with the task of reacting to death. We can reject it; fight it; submit to it or embrace it. But we can never die as mere objects. This is why people are so passionate about "dying with dignity". Many have been disturbed to visit a loved one in intensive care, by seeing them lying with all manner of pipes and plastic-ware passing in and out of their anatomy; with every day decisions such as bowel and bladder movements taken from them and made public. Those who want some form of euthanasia and those who oppose it, both argue from the same premise- that death in humans is not the same as the death of other creatures. In Old Testament times there was a primitive notion of immortality. It consisted in the individual's belonging to the clan. A man could live on in the corporate personality of the tribe. This why the sins of the fathers could be visited on their children. Between 800 and 200 BC a new religious insight emerged in Israel. It came when the corporate life of the nation was in tatters. Prophets like Jeremiah came with the thought that "each man will die- not for his father's- but for his own sins". Jeremiah 31:30 The arrival of this concept of individual responsibility, brought into focus the question of individual destiny. Death, for the ancients, was not a gateway to paradise. It meant entrance into a subterranean cavern; to a depleted, joyless, half-existence. The place was called Sheol and there was nothing in it that had been part of the former life. The person was not reassembled there. It was an altogether undesirable state. Against this background the idea of a blessed after-life emerged. It was not bred by desperate "pie in the sky" hopefulness. It came as the thought of the value and importance of individuals developed in the covenant history of Israel. Under the ministry of the prophets, minds were gripped by high conceptions of God's sovereignty and the moral order of his universe. The accompanying realisation that individuals had meaning within themselves, brought a self-consciousness which could no longer be satisfied with mere survival through descendants. From Good News Australia No. 2 1996 - Next issue of FreEzine will have the companion article, The Trouble with Dying. ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Aside: I like in some things, to differ with a friend, and that he should know I differ from him; it seems to make a more healthy friendship. -- William Wordsworth - Letter to Sir George Beaumont (February 11th. 1806) ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Free Software - Free Program Editor This new column has been added to FreEzine as a trial and will feature free software available from the Internet and other sources. The information will be gleaned from a variety of sources including your suggestions and FreEzine neither endorses nor takes responsibility for the programmes or their usage. This month's Freebie: Pedit Program Editor 3.20 We had a request following our last newsletter for software for DOS to be included in this column. We will plan to do this from time to time, starting with this issue. Pedit is a terrific DOS editor. Its features include: mark columns and lines for altering or deleting; undo; position marking and jump to mark; word wrap of marked blocks to make text easier to read; insert or append another file to the current file; copy and paste to Windows applications; as well as a built-in spell checker and thesaurus. It also has a macro editor, and a host of hot keys to speed up your work. If you don't like the way the editor behaves, then you can press Alt+F1, and customise it to suit. Changes you can make include: change the screen and dialog windows; change text colour; change background colour; change number of lines displayed; and much more. Freeware available from Paul Brand, http://www.goldshell.com/pedit Requirements: DOS 5. If you have trouble downloading Pedit, contact the editor and we will email you a copy. (236kb) ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Opinion: (by the editor): In God's House. Some go to church to take a walk, Some go there to laugh and talk. Some go there to meet their friends, Some go there their time to spend. Some through habit go there weekly, Others go more often, seeking variety. Some go there to hear the preaching, Some go there to question the teaching. Some go there to meet each other, Some go there a fault to cover. Some go to church to court a lover, Others go to chide a brother. Some go there to strike a bargain, Some go there to seek for pardon. Some go there to take their children, Some go there to escape their children! Some go there 'cause they feel proud, Some go there to sing out loud. Some go there to rest from labour, Some go just to impress a neighbour. Some go there to doze and nod, The Wise go there to worship God! -- Anon, expanded by Lionel Hartley (c)1998 ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Focus on Health: Scientific Breakthrough Focuses on the Nature of Human Life Scientists have released results from their first full look inside the human genome--or human DNA--and some say that the data has the potential to change the way scientists view human life. The surprisingly low number of genes in the human genome, compared with other life forms, is one of the significant findings of this initial analysis, scientists say. According to the results released February 12, humans possess approximately 30,000 to 40,000 genes, just twice the number of genes of a fruit fly, or 10,000 more than a roundworm. This is an important reminder that human life cannot be adequately described by reference only to genes, suggests Svante Paabo, an anthropologist in Germany who is associated with the study. "It's delusional to think that genomics in isolation will ever tell us what it means to be human," writes Paabo, whose article about the Human Genome Study will be published in this month's edition of Science magazine. The mapping of the human genome is a "fantastic scientific achievement," says Dr. Ronald Carter, chair of the Natural Sciences department at Loma Linda University, a Seventh-day Adventist institution located in Southern California. He says that in spite of the fact that "geneticists have 'opened the genetic book of life,' we are still far from understanding the multi-dimensional nature of life itself." According to Carter, it is not the number of genes that is the most significant difference between sophisticated and less-sophisticated life forms. "What really counts is how genes interact with each other, their products, and their environment; and how genes are differentially regulated throughout an organism's life." "Whenever I look at the results of the human genome," adds Carter, "I'm impressed with what appears to be tremendous design and the vast amounts of information derivable from a simple linear biochemical sequence." As a scientist who is also a Christian, Carter says that his scientific appreciation for the complexity of the human genetic makeup encourages his faith in a creator God. While the Human Genome Project has opened up new vistas in scientific understanding of human life, it also "brings a heavy weight to bear on the system of human morality," says Dr. James Gibson, director of the Adventist-sponsored Geoscience Research Institute. "The deeper we delve into human genetics and the greater the ability we have to alter genetic matter, the more pressing the need for a code of scientific ethics that can deal with these new scenarios," says Gibson. "I see great potential for good, but also great potential for evil." The Human Genome Project combines the efforts of geneticists around the world with researchers at Celera Genomics, a private research company. In late 2000, the team completed the mammoth task of producing a first complete "map" of human DNA. Scientists hope this knowledge will one day be harnessed to cure diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer to Parkinson's disease. -- Bettina Krause, ANN Bulletin, adventistnews@lists.gc.adventist.org ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Book Look: CRISIS! Is a two volume commentary on the Book of Revelation by Dr Des Ford. A free selection from the book is available by writing to the editor and requesting "Crisis Selection". The set of two books are available from www.goodnewsunlimited.org.au ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> The Extensive Exposition. This is a new feature of FreEzine. Each issue we will make available a longer article available by email free to those who request it. This is to keep the FreEzine a readable length yet make available more in-depth material for those who are interested. In some issues more than one article will be available under this section and articles will need to be asked for by name to save confusion. This month's article: Living Between The Times by Stephen Travis. Articles may be obtained by writing to the editor (hartley@telstra.easymail.com.au) and asking for the article by name. ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> The Funny Bone: MKs You know you're a missionary kid (MK) when . . . ~ You're an expert on the quality of airline travel. ~ You speak two languages but can't spell either. ~ You have a time zone map next to your telephone. ~ You have friends from or in 29 different countries. ~ Your life story uses the phrase "Then we went to . . . " five or more times. ~ You never take anything for granted. ~ You send your family peanut butter and Kool-Aid for Christmas. ~ You watch National Geographic specials and recognise someone. ~ You see a movie set in a foreign country, and you know what the nationals are really saying into the camera. ~ You realize what a small world it is, after all. [From www.InternetForChristians.com] ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Website Review: http://www.mkministries.com Missionary Kids: If you are one or know one: MK Ministries ("Connecting Missionary Kids to Missionary Kids"), a nesting place for missionary kids world-wide, provides friendship and fun for a host of MKs around the world. Its goal is "to encourage, support and connect missionary children around the world through the Internet, email and mail." The ministry Web site, under continuing development, provides educational resources, tips to churches on ways to support MKs, and will soon contain helpful resources for parents. Find resources for pre-schoolers, elementary kids, teens, and young adults--colouring pages, activities, stories, photos, puzzles, jokes, crafts, Bible studies and more. If you're an MK, check it out--and be sure to join the MK's Club--you will find a warm welcome there! MK Ministries: http://www.mkministries.com [From www.InternetForChristians.com] ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Aside: Blest Hope When the final enemy breaches home And breaks the quivering silver chord When the clods of the valley fall Like lead upon the sorrowing soul When comforting sympathetic words Like icicles cold are heard :-) Then maybe, the only hope words That we shall see, are the ones that say That the Lord Himself shall descend one day And the dead in Christ arising first From 'neath those clammy clods shall burst And together ne'er to part, we shall rise To meet our Saviour in the skies. -- the late Bruce Whittaker, Poems & Prose by Bruce of Farrants Hill, L&R Hartley, Murwillumbah, 2000, p9. Available from http://www.users.bigpond.com/lionelhartley/ ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Cook's Corner: Asparagus Au Gratin First stage: 4 tbsp. butter or margarine 1 small onion, finely chopped 4 tbsp. flour 3 cup milk, heated 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/3 cup grated Gruyere or Parmesan cheese 1 pinch cayenne pepper(optional) 1 pinch white pepper(optional) 1 pinch salt Second stage: 1 bunch fresh asparagus 1/2 lemon 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, grated 1 pinch salt 1 pinch pepper (optional) 1 pinch paprika (optional) -------- To make cheese sauce; heat butter in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook 2 minutes. Add flour and mix well. Cook 2 minutes over low heat. Pour in half of milk and mix well. Add remaining milk and mix again. Add all seasonings and cook sauce for 12 minutes over low heat, whisking occasionally. Mix in cheese and season to taste. Cook 3 minutes over low heat. Your editor grows his own asparagus. However, not all readers have that luxury. Out of season, canned New Zealand asparagus, will suffice. When purchasing fresh asparagus, select a large bunch or several small bunches of the thinner younger looking asparagus. Trim off tough ends of asparagus if needed. Wash them, then place in a saucepan with salted, boiling water. Squeeze a little lemon juice into salted boiling water, drop in half lemon and cook 12 to 18 minutes. Do not overcook! Test if asparagus are cooked by pricking stalk with sharp knife. Stalk should be tender not soft. Drain asparagus well and cut stalks in two. Place in a buttered baking dish and cover with cheese sauce. Top with grated cheese. Season with pepper and paprika. Brown in a 400 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Serve. Serves 4. ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Take a Hint: Creating Document Scraps with Word 7.0 for Windows 95/98 If you are using Microsoft Word 7.0, you can highlight a section of the document then drag and drop the highlighted area to your desktop. Windows will create a file for you with a name like Document Scrap From... followed by the first few words you selected. ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Agony Aunt Ezine - A service provided by The Listening Post Dear Listening Post, I know smoking is bad for me and my friends all want me to quit. But I enjoy it, so I wonder, how can I give up? Reader, QLD --------------------- Dear reader, The fact that you have taken the time to write to me, suggests that deep down, you want to quit. However, nobody can force you to quit. It's something you must choose for yourself. Ask yourself these questions: What kind of smoker am I? What do I get out of smoking? What does it do for me? It is important to identify what you use smoking for and what you feel that you are getting from smoking. Once a smoker understands his own smoking behaviour, he will be able to cope more successfully in selecting the best quitting approach for himself. Smoking is a form of addiction and over 80 percent of smokers who quit will experience some withdrawal symptoms. These may include headache, light-headedness, nausea, diarrhoea, and chest pains. Psychological symptoms, such as anxiety, short-term depression, the inability to concentrate and increased irritability may also appear. For this reason I suggest that you seek professional support during your quitting time, Eg Quit Now! or Quit-For-Life. (c)2001 Listening Post (TM) is a trademark of the Listening Post Counselling Service. Address your questions to: listeningpost@telstra.easymail.com.au ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Aside: The Key To A Long, Happy Life A young woman walks up to a wizen old man rocking in a chair on his porch. "I couldn't help noticing how happy you look," she said. "What's your secret for a long, happy life?" "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day," said the man. "I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods and never exercise!" "That's amazing," the woman said. "How old are you?' He thought for a moment, and replied, "Twenty-six." --Luke Davis, http://sickjokes.about.com?PM=n2012401a ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Letters to the Editor (hartley@telstra.easymail.com.au) Ralph writes, Thanks for your great mag. I really enjoy reading it, especially your health news. Could you please send me Matthew Steele's article on Soy Products? Thanks so much, Ralph. Editor's comment - this article, advertised in the last issue has been requested by a number of people and is still available from hartley@telstra.easymail.com.au. ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Overheard: One Step Is All It Takes I was reared on a wheat and sheep farm out West. Here and there were sheep tracks where the constant filing of sheep had worn it's own private path; even though the grass was quite long around it. (And I have heard the story of the woman, who due to disability could only manage a row of knitting each day, but in no time she had knitted a pair of socks... her own "private path".) Sometimes we long to get to know God and His love. So many people are testifying as to how they have changed since accepting Jesus Christ into their lives. But of course we don't know where to start; it all seems such a mystery and we feel ignorant and the least worthy. Like the sheep we need to get on the track, take a sharp turn to God and ask Him to help us to know Him better and His wonderful love for us. We can read the Bible, talk to people whom we know love God and ask them to pray with us and for us. God will hear us and lead us step by step. One step is all it takes for the sheep to get back on the track and from the first stitch the women made the socks. God is real... why not take your first step toward getting to know Him better. -- Judy, Just a Minute, http://www.topica.com/lists/wer4jesus/subscribe/?location=listinfo ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Watch This Space: Future issues will include other sections not listed here. Why not write to us suggesting what you would like to see included. (hartley@telstra.easymail.com.au) ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Subscription information: FreEzine is a Free ezine magazine/newsletter, published no less than monthly. To subscribe, please send a blank message to FreEzine@telstra.easymail.com.au and type SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. To unsubscribe, please send a message to FreEzine@telstra.easymail.com.au and type UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line (we invite your comments also). Privacy: Protecting your privacy is very important to us. We will not share, rent, sell, or exchange your e-mail address with a third party for any purpose. Unsubscribing permanently removes your name and address. A note on the format: Your editor has considered many possible formats, including a colourfully illustrated E-book, webpage, Portable Document Format (.pdf), etc. Reluctantly, plain text was chosen to make this ezine available to the greatest number of users - DOS, Windows(r), Macintosh, etc. Address all correspondence to the editor: hartley@telstra.easymail.com.au Please do not use "Reply To Sender" email option as this magazine may occasionally be sent out by a commercial or other distributor, unrelated to FreEzine. Back issues? Contact the editor for information. In order to cater for a variety of tastes and beliefs, the content of FreEzine does not always reflect totally the beliefs of the editor. Contents of FreEzine are COPYRIGHT and we make every endeavour to acknowledge sources. You may freely quote from FreEzine PROVIDED FreEzine@telstra.easymail.com.au is cited as a reference source. Occasional contributions from Good News Australia are used with permission. YOUR contributions and comments most welcome. E&OE ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> : <>< : ><> Last words: Just Call Him "Flipper" Max, a terrible student, reported for his final exam, which consisted of yes/no answers. He took his seat in the hall, stared at the questions and took a coin out of his pocket. He then started tossing the coin and marking the answer sheet, "Yes" for heads and "No" for tails. Within 30 minutes, Max was done. The rest of the class was still sweating it out. During the last few minutes of the exam period, he frantically started flipping the coin again. The moderator, concerned about what he was doing, stopped by his desk and asked if he was ok. "Oh yes, I'm fine. I finished the exam a half-hour ago.", replied Max. "Now, I'm going back through and checking my answers." -- Mike Durrett, http://humor.about.com