masterwordsmith-unplugged

I am sure many of us are familiar with the cartoon character "Shrek" but how many of us are aware that the creator of that CGI character modeled Shrek after a real person named Maurice Tillet who was not only very intelligent but was a poet and writer. Maurice mastered 14 languages.

According to Wikipedia:

Maurice Tillet (October 23, 1903 – September 4, 1954) was a Russian-born French professional wrestler known as The French Angel. Tillet was a leading box office draw in the early 1940s and was twice recognized world heavyweight champion by the American Wrestling Association run by Paul Bowser in Boston. Tillet was born in the Ural Mountains in Russia to French parents. His mother was a teacher and his father was a railroad engineer. Tillet's father died when he was young. As a child he had a completely normal appearance and Tillet was nicknamed "The Angel" due to his angelic face. 

In 1917, Tillet and his mother left Russia due to the Revolution and moved to France, where they settled in Reims. When Tillet was 17, he noticed swelling in his feet, hands, and head, and after visiting a doctor was diagnosed with acromegaly - a condition usually caused by a benign tumor on the pituitary gland, resulting in bone overgrowth and thickening. 

He had wanted to become a lawyer, but his acromegaly prevented him from doing so. Tillet served in the French Navy for five years as an engineer. 

Professional wrestling career

 In February 1937, Tillet met Carl Pojello in Singapore. Pojello was a professional wrestler, and convinced Tillet to enter the business. Tillet and Pojello moved to Paris for training, and Tillet wrestled for two years in France and England until World War II forced them to leave for the United States in 1939.

In Boston, Massachusetts, in 1940, promoter Paul Bowser pushed Tillet, who was wrestling as The French Angel, as a main eventer, and he became a large draw in the area. As a result of his popularity, Tillet was booked as unstoppable, going undefeated for a span of 19 consecutive months. Tillet won the Boston-version of the World Heavyweight Championship in May 1940, holding it until May 1942. 

In early 1942, he also held the Montreal-based world heavyweight championship. He regained the Boston-based title for a short time in 1944. As a result of his success, several Angel imitators emerged, including the Tony Angelo (Russian Angel), Super Swedish Angel, Jack Rush (Canadian Angel), Wladislaw Tulin (Polish Angel), Stan Pinto (Czech Angel), Clive Welsh (Irish Angel), Jack Falk (Golden Angel), Gil Guerrero (Black Angel), and Jean Noble (Lady Angel). Tillet actually competed against Tor Johnson billed as The Swedish Angel on several occasions.

By 1945, Tillet's health began to fail and he was no longer booked as unstoppable. In his final wrestling match, in Singapore on February 14, 1953, he lost to Bert Assirati. In 1950, Chicago sculptor Louis Linck befriended Tillet and made a series of plaster busts commemorating him for his wrestling career. One of the busts is in the Chicago’s International Museum of Surgical Science.

Tillet died on September 4, 1954, in France, from heart disease. Tillet is buried at Lithuanian National Cemetery in Justice, Illinois in (Cook County, Illinois) 

According to this site, it seems that there were actually three casts, one of which ended up in Iowa (International Wrestling Museum); the second mask went to his friend, and the third one was sent to the York Barbell Museum, where it would allegedly be used as a model to design the popular cartoon character.

CLICK HERE for images of Maurice Tilbert.

CLICK HERE for a video tribute for Maurice Tilbert.

Bob was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife wa really pissed.

She told him "Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE !!"

The next morning he got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, brought the box back in the house.

She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Bob has been missing since Friday.

____________________________
Saturday morning I got up early, put on my long johns, dressed quietly, made my lunch, grabbed the dog, slipped quietly into the garage to hook the boat up to the truck, and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour.

There was snow mixed with the rain and the wind was blowing 50 mph. I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad throughout the day.

I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. There I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, "The weather out there is terrible."

She sleepily replied,

"Can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that shit."

A husband and wife and their two sons are watching TV. She looks at her husband and winks at him, he gets the message and says, "Excuse us for a few minutes boys, we're going up to our room for a little while."

Pretty soon one of the boys becomes curious, goes upstairs and sees the door to his parents bedroom is ajar. He peeks in for a few minutes, trots downstairs, gets his little brother and takes him up to peek into the bedroom.

"Before you look in there," he says, "keep in mind this is the same woman who smacked our asses just for sucking our thumbs."

___________________________________


An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, several Americans (including a Hawaiian and an Alaskan), an Argentinean, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovak, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, a Uzbek, a Cypriot, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an Israeli, a Venezuelan, an Iranian, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Syrian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, an Aruban, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahaman, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Jamaican, a Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, a Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian and 2 Africans...

walk into a very fine restaurant.

"I'm sorry," says the maître d', after scrutinizing the group...

"You can't come in here without a Thai. "

_______________________

A fellow was ordered to lose 75 pounds, due to VERY serious health risks. As he wondered how in the heck he would ever do it, he ran across an ad in the newspaper for a guaranteed weight loss program. "Guaranteed my ass", he thought to himself, but desperate, he calls them up and subscribes to the 3 day 10 pound weight loss program.

The next day there is a knock at his door and when he answers, there stands before him a voluptous, athletic, beautiful babe dressed in nothing but a pair of running shoes and a sign around her neck. She introduces herself as a representative of the weight loss company.

The sign reads, "If you can catch me you can have me!"

Without a second thought he takes off after her. A few miles later, huffing and puffing, he finally catches her and has his way with her.

After they are through and she leaves, he thinks to himself, "I like the way this company does business."

The same girl shows up for the next two days and the same thing happens. On the fourth day he weighs himself and is delighted to find he has lost ten pounds, as promised.

So, he calls the company and orders from them their 5 day/ 20 pound program. As expected, the next day there's a knock at the door and there stands the most stunningly beautiful, sexy woman he has ever seen in his life, wearing nothing but running shoes and a sign around her neck that reads, "If you can catch me, you can have me."

He's after her in a shot. This girl is in great shape and it takes a while to catch her, but when he does, it's worth every cramp and wheeze. She is by far the best he's ever had. For the next four days, the same routine happens and much to his delight on the fifth day, he weighs himself and found he has lost another twenty pounds as promised!

He decides to go for broke and calls the company to order the 7 day/50 pound loss program. "Are you sure," asks the representative on the phone, "this is our most rigorous program..." "Absolutely," he replies. "I haven't felt this great in years!"

The next day there is a knock at the door and when he opens it he finds Richard Simmons standing there wearing nothing but pink racing spikes and a sign around his neck that reads, "If I catch you, I can have you!"

______________________________

Q. Why does Dr. Pepper come (cum) in a bottle?

A. Because his wife died!

Q. What do the Mafia and a pussy have in common?

A. One slip of the tongue, and you're in deep shit.

Q. How does a woman scare a gynecologist?

A. By becoming a ventriloquist!

This analogy makes perfect sense!

1. The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.

2. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.

3. The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.

4. The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL.

5. The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.

6. The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.

THE INEVITABLE CONCLUSION:

The higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your fixation on balls become.

Therefore, one might conclude, there must be a ton of people in Ottawa (and Washington) obsessed with playing marbles!

_____________________

-Author Unknown-

*Posted for laughs with absolutely no intention to offend/insult anyone.

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agree that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land and he was able to eat it’s fruit. The other man’s parcel of land remained barren!

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, there was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, again there was nothing!

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing!

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could  leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”

“My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything.”

“You are mistaken!” the voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.”

“Tell me, O God,” the first man asked the voice, “What did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”

“He prayed that all your prayers be answered.”

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.

My prayer for you today is that all your prayers are answered. Be blessed.

“What you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself.”

-Author Unknown-

This post showcases ten really incredibly unbelievable s** facts which I picked up from various websites. I am posting these for the sake of knowledge and interest. Every single fact is backed by documented evidence. :-)

Fact # 1: Heavier Men Last Longer in Bed (??????)

The Daily Beast reported that a new study suggests heavy men make love for longer than their thinner counterparts. Researchers in Turkey have finished a yearlong study that correlated body mass index with male sexual performance. Their findings may surprise you: Heavier men were able to make love for an average of 7.3 minutes, while slender men lasted an average of 108 seconds. The study, published in Nature, showed overweight men had higher levels of the female estradiol hormone, which blocks male hormones and delays the climax.

At this site, Annelis Rufus, author of many books, listed 15 other factors that influenced staying power. She burst my bubble for I always thought Italians led the pack! CLICK HERE for the post.

Fact # 2: The Cure for Morning Sickness

It is so *coughs* unbelievable that I dare not even copy and paste it here. So, if you really want to know what  Gordon Gallup's research discovered as the cure for morning sickness, please CLICK HERE and be bowled over. Note: I am not advocating that measure but merely sharing information as obtained from the New York Daily News.

Fact # 3: The Cure For Headaches

The "I'm sorry, dear..not today...I've got a headache.." can't be used much longer for Dr. Vincent Martin discovered that s** can actually cure headaches because the increase in serotonin levels which happens during sex eases the pathways in the brain that can lead to and sustain a headache! Unbelievable? CLICK HERE to read the rest of the report.

Fact # 4 The Most Satisfying Spot

According to The Daily Mail, "The old phrase ‘You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ may need updating.

For the ankle has overtaken the back as the most satisfying spot to scratch, according to researchers at the Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina.

In the study, reported in the British Journal of Dermatology, healthy volunteers were made to itch on the forearm, ankle and back by rubbing them with cowhage, a plant with tiny hairs that irritate the skin. " CLICK HERE for the rest of the entry.

Fact # 5 Vibrators were used as medical treatment during the 19th century

According to the Museum of Sex, the vibrator was originally used as a medicinal treatment for female "hysteria" during the 19th century. The vibrator-induced orgasms helped doctors dissipate hysteria's anxiety-related symptoms. You don't believe me, right? Check it out HERE!!!!

OK....More next time in Part 2.. Have a great day!!! Do leave a comment!

I know some who have never hugged their parents, siblings or friends in their entire life. Some could be averse to physical contact of any sort. Sometimes, we forget the power of a simple hug - an act that costs nothing. Have you ever seen the following photo popularly known as "The Rescuing Hug"?

The following story is confirmed to be true by Snopes. It is about the first week of life of a set of twins who were in their respective incubators. One of them was not expected to live. However,  a hospital nurse fought against hospital rules and placed the babies in one incubator. That was the beginning of a miracle. When they were placed together,  the healthier twin threw an arm over her sister in a endearing embrace. The smaller baby's heart rate stabilized and her temperature rose to normal. Read about it in the following article....

Kyrie and Brielle Jackson were born on 17 October 1995 at the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in Worcester, MA. Each of the twins weighed all of two pounds at birth. Though Kyrie was putting on a bit of weight in the days following her arrival, Brielle was not doing as well. She cried a great deal, leaving her gasping and blue-faced.

Brielle was having a particularly bad day. NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) nurse Gayle Kasparian tried everything to calm her. She held her. She had her dad hold her. She wrapped her in a blanket. She suctioned her nose. Nothing worked.

Then, she remembered hearing about a procedure done in Europe. She put Brielle in the incubator with her sister Kyrie. Almost immediately, Brielle snuggled up to Kyrie. Her blood-oxygen saturation levels, which had been frighteningly low, soared. She began to breathe more easily. The frantic crying stopped and her normal pinkish color quickly returned. Over the next weeks, her health improved steadily in her new, less lonely quarters.

The children survived their rocky beginning and in time went home with their parents. When last heard from, Brielle and Kyrie were healthy preschoolers. The media attention brought about by their story and the now-famous photo caused their parents, Heidi and Paul Jackson of Westminster, to change their telephone number.

And famous that photo became. Besides being circulated on the Internet, it has run in Life magazine and Reader's Digest. The photo was taken by Chris Christo of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette.

The Jackson girls made history at Memorial. According to that hospital, "The first co-bedding of twins occurred as an innovation from a staff nurse, Gayle Kasparian, RN."

Another method used to stabilize preemies is "kangaroo care," a term for prolonged skin-to-skin contact with parents and other caregivers.

The technique, so named because of its resemblance to the way pouched animals care for their young, involves skin-to-skin contact between parent and baby. Often the child, wearing only a diaper and covered by a blanket, is placed against the parent's bare chest.

The method is especially effective with premature babies, who are extremely fragile and have almost tissue-thin skin when born. Proponents say the method can have amazing effects: a steadier heart rate, better breathing, greater contentment, deeper sleep.

"Everybody in the world knows you can take a crying baby and pick him up and he'll stop crying," Susan Ludington, professor of maternal and child health nursing at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, says. "You put him down he starts crying again. Babies, and they give us the message quite clearly, prefer to be held. Now we're just finding out that when they are held, there are all these tremendous physiological benefits."

-Author Unknown-

I cannot find the original source of this story because a google search showed up 1.16 million sites that carried this story.

May you be instrumental in touching someone's life today via a kind word, even a hug. Have a great day!