Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

A young man who was also an avid golfer found himself with a few hours to spare one afternoon. He figured if he hurried and played very fast, he could get in nine holes before he had to head home. Just as he was about to tee off an old gentleman shuffled onto the tee and asked if he could accompany the young man as he was golfing alone. Not being able to say no, he allowed the old gent to join him.

To his surprise the old man played fairly quickly. He didn't hit the ball far, but plodded along consistently and didn't waste much time. Finally, they reached the 9th fairway and the young man found himself with a tough shot. There was a large pine tree right in front of his ball - and directly between his ball and the green.

After several minutes of debating how to hit the shot the old man finally said, "You know, when I was your age I'd hit the ball right over that tree."

With that challenge placed before him, the youngster swung hard, hit the ball up, right smack into the top of the tree trunk and it thudded back on the ground not a foot from where it had originally lay.

The old man offered one more comment, "Of course, when I was your age that pine tree was only three feet tall."

From Time Magazine, 'Numbers' section:

$5 million:
Estimated annual cost for a 10-year programme that would identify large asteroids most threatening to Earth.

$75 million:
Budget for 'Deep Impact', a film about the devastation caused when a comet hits Earth.

A woman strode angrily into the large drug-store-cum-general-store, slapped a package on the counter, and loudly expressed her dissatisfaction. The clerk asked, "What's the problem? Wouldn't your cat eat them?" The woman's eyes got very large, and she whispered, "Do you mean to tell me that Pussy Treats are meant for 'cats'?"

The makers of the famous Haynes car manuals have brought out a new book - on the mechanics of good fatherhood.

The Dad Manual shows men how to turn their children away from computer games and embrace traditional hobbies and pastimes.

The £14.99 book is flying off the shelves and is tipped to be a Christmas bestseller, reports the Daily Mail.
The manual tells fathers how to build traditional play equipment such as go-karts and Wendy houses.

It also shows how they can help their children construct camouflage periscopes, create planes from pizza boxes and make bows and arrows.

There are also instructions on building see-saws, model railways, playhouses and rope ladders. Fathers are also told how to teach their children to ride bicycles, make skateboard ramps and tie knots.

There are sections on cookery, gardening, bird-watching and traditional games including chess, battleships and marbles.
Editor Mark Hughes said: "Good parents spend time with their children doing things - and this is what the book encourages them to do.

"Haynes is famous for making car repairs easy to understand and carry out, and the same principle applies here."