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["Morris Krok" essence@xxxxxxxx]

from Morris

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 From George Washington Carver
 by Anne Terry White

 To make things and to make things grow - these were the weekday occupations
that kept George happy. But the Sunday spirit quite never left him. It was
as though George carried a wonderful secret about with him, a secret about a
very special friend who loved and understood and watched over him.

 One day George had a dream. He dreamed that out in a corn field he saw a
watermelon lying. The watermelon had been cut open and partly eaten. The
rind was lying on the ground. He could see just where it lay against a corn
hill out of which three stalks were growing.

 But that was not the important part of the dream. The important part was
that right beside the watermelon rind a knife was lying. It was a lady's
knife, not much broader than a pencil. It had a black handle and two blades.

 Now of all things the one George wanted most was a knife. Though he could
always borrow one of Uncle Mose's hunting knives, that wasn't at all the
same thing as having a knife of your own. So he clung to his dream. Uncle
Mose had often told him that a hungry chicken dreamed of grain. But George
didn't want to believe that you dreamed about the things you were hungry
for. He thought the dream was a special message for him.

 As soon as he could get away from the breakfast table, he made off over the
fences. The corn field of his dream wasn't one of their own. He knew exactly
which one of their neighbours the dream corn field belonged to, and even
while he ran he knew he was going to the very spot. Sure enough, there were
the three cornstalks and the half-eaten watermelon and the rinds. And there
was the knife!

 What would Uncle Moses say to that? Wasn't this proof that someone was
watching over him?

 THINKING FORTH
 L Brodie

 Programming computers can be crazy-making. Other professions give you the
luxury of seeing tangible proof of your efforts. A watchmaker can watch the
cogs and wheels; a seamstress can watch the seams come together with each
stitch. But programmers design, build and repair the stuff of imagination,
ghostly mechanisms that escape the senses. Our work takes the place not in
RAM, not in an editor, but within our own minds. L Brodie

 Forth is like Tao: it is a Way, and is realized when followed. Its
fragility is its strength; its simplicity is its direction. Michael Ham

 More fundamentally, Forth has reaffirmed my faith in simplicity. Most
people go out and attack problems with comlicated tools. But simpler tools
are available and more useful.

 I try to simplify all aspects of my life. There is a quote I like from Tao
Te Ching by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu: "To attain knowledge, add
things every day; to obtain wisdom, remove things every day." Jerry
Bouttelle