Medieval History
My friend, an American history professor at Mount Union College in Ohio, was asked to teach a medieval history class.
Not an expert on the Middle Ages, he was concerned about what he’d be able to offer the students. But his fears were soon laid to rest.
During the first class, he asked the students, “Why are you taking this medieval history course?”
A freshman piped up, “Because I really like the 1800’s.”
A Good Job Done
The farmer’s son was returning from the market with a crate of chickens his father had entrusted to him, when all of a sudden the box fell and broke open.
Chickens scurried off in different directions, but the determined boy walked all over the neighborhood scooping up the wayward birds and returning them to the repaired crate. Hoping he had found them all, the boy reluctantly returned home, expecting the worst.
“Pa, the chickens got loose,” the boy confessed sadly, “but I managed to find all twelve of them.”
“Well, you done a good job, son,” the farmer beamed, “because you only left with seven.”
Daytime Television
A newspaper reporter was writing a feature story about prison life and was interviewing one of the prisoners. “Do you watch much television here?”
“Only the daytime shows,” the inmate said. “At night we’re locked in our cells and don’t see any television.”
“That’s too bad,” the reporter said, “But I do think it is nice that the warden lets you watch it in the daytime.”
“What do you mean, nice?” the inmate said. “That’s part of the punishment.”
Expert Testimony
Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the science fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, was also a scientist.
He received a telegram from newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst demanding, “Is there life on Mars? Cable one thousand words.”
Clarke wired back: “Nobody knows. Repeat five hundred times.”
