A Touching Story

A man was on holiday in Kenya. While he was walking through the bush, he came across an elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed so the man approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot. There was a large thorn deeply embedded in the bottom of the foot.

As carefully and as gently as he could he removed the thorn and the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man and with a rather stern look on its face, stared at him.

For a good ten minutes the man stood frozen -- thinking of nothing else but being trampled.

Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away.

For years after, the man remembered the elephant and the events of that day.

One day the man was walking through the zoo with his son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to where they are standing at the rail. It stared at him and the man couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

After a while it trumpeted loudly; then it continued to stare at him.

The man summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

Suddenly the elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of the man's legs and swung him wildly back and forth along the railing, killing him.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Ah, Technology!

I recently purchased a new photo viewer for all of the various digital pictures I take. The Epson P-2000 lets me load pictures of my choosing to a small, hand-held device about the size of two iPods. I can share them with my friends, hook it up to a TV for group viewing, and even view video taken on my camera. As an added bonus, I can convert DVDs to a compatible format and use the device to watch movies on the road when I travel. The four inch screen is crystal clear…probably the best I have seen in this type of device. The unit also accepts SD and Compact Flash cards for direct download, as well as USB connectivity to a PC. The only downside I have found is the way it renames files and the filing structure. They are not deal breakers, but takes a bit of adjustment. I can definitely see benefits and uses for the device. Besides that, it’s really cool!

Update 7.31.06: I returned the unit yesterday. After about 25 minutes of use it gets hot and produces file errors. A nice idea...hopefully they will get it right in the future.