Is trust a noun or a verb?

In the depth of the Great Depression, railroad engineer Archie Lafferty of Perry, Iowa, had been unemployed for two years. By nature he was a generous man, but he had seven children to feed and there was no welfare safety net, so every penny counted. All this ran through his mind one Sunday morning as he sat in a pew at the little Christian Science church in Perry. It was almost time for the offering. He didn't have to feel his pocket. He knew how much he had -- a dollar and a dime. But he had more than money. From the Bible he'd glimpsed how God is the giver of all good. He trusted God with his health. Could he trust God with his money?

Perry, Iowa, during the Great Depression.

With so much gratitude for God-given health and happiness, he couldn't feel poor, so he confidently put a dollar in collection. Some might say that was a risky decision, but for Archie, trust was a verb. He trusted God to care for him, his children and everyone else who needed help. And what was the result? As he left church, one of his kids ran up with news of an immediate repair job at the Perry light plant. And the next day the railroad called him back to work. He was never unemployed again. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe trusting God really does pay rich dividends. It's worth a try.

A book you might really enjoy

 John Steinbeck wrote timeless novels including The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden and Of Mice and Men. But a few years before he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, he realized he'd lost touch with his favorite topic, the people of America. So in 1960 he had a custom camper built on the back of a GMC pickup for an ambitious cross-country road trip. At the last minute, he decided to take his wife's 10-year-old poodle, Charley. He drove 10,000 miles through 38 states, using the tools of his trade to depict the sounds, smells, colors, hopes and fears of American in his 1962 book, Travels with Charley.

His unique camper, named Rocinante after Don Quixote's horse, has been restored and is now on display at the National John Steinbeck Center in Salinas, CA.

Travels with Charley is more an observation than a diary. As he and Charley moved slowly from state to state, Steinbeck wrote, "I wonder why progress looks so much like destruction." He concluded, "I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless." And later in California, "The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark that stays with you. No one has ever successfully photographed a redwood tree. They are ambassadors from another time."

"Crumbs of Comfort" recommends reading Travels with Charley, even if you recall it from college. You'll find it improves with age and will leave you wiser than before. If your local library does not have a copy, visit http://www.amazon.com/Travels-Charley-Search-America-Steinbeck/dp/0140053204

Great attitude for high altitude

Martha "Marty" Cobb of Lubbock, TX, is a single Mom who raised three children, Haley, 24, Hagen, 20, and Heath, 23, to successful adulthood. Her kids always knew she was awesome, and now they're glad the world knows too. How did the world find out? Nine years ago, Marty landed her dream job as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines. Before long she realized nobody listens to important pre-flight announcements, so she converted hers into a comedy routine. Now passengers remember every word and tell their friends. Among other things, she explains that "this is a no smoking, no complaining, no whining flight," and "just do what we say, and nobody will get hurt." She explains that in case of loss of cabin pressure, masks will drop from overheard. "Place the mask over your nose and mouth and insert 75 cents for the first minute of oxygen." She ends by inviting passengers to "sit back and relax, or sit up and be tense."

                                                                                                                                       Youtube photo
Someone suggested she record her monologue, so before one take off she handed her phone to another flight attendant. Her kids showed her how to get the clip off her phone onto YouTube, where it has been watched over 11 million times. Then came an invitation to appear on the Ellen De Generes Show.  Ellen praised Marty for making passengers relax and listen to the announcements. Marty wept when she received several thousand dollars worth of store debit cards and a check for $10,000 to help cover college tuition for her children. Since appearing on Ellen, Marty has made a commercial for Southwest and may do more in the future. But for now, she says, "I'm going to pass out peanuts and clean up after 137 people. Stand-up isn't a goal I've had, but I've prayed a lot about it, and whatever happens, happens." To watch the fast-paced 3-minute video she uploaded to YouTube, turn up your volume and visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=07LFBydGjaM

Information please?

Today's crumb comes from an alert reader in Redlands, CA, USA. It's a brief summary of an article by Paul Villiard in the June, 1966 issue of Reader's Digest. The author lived in the Pacific northwest as a boy, and recalls that his family owned one of the first telephones in their neighborhood. Inside the phone lived an amazing person. Her name was Information Please.  She knew everyone's phone number, and the correct time! One day after his pet canary died, he called Information Please and told his sad story. She answered, "Always remember, there are other worlds to sing in," and somehow he felt better.

After that, he called Information Please for everything. She helped him with his math and geography. She told him where Philadelphia was. Eventually his family moved to Boston, and later, en route to college, his plane stopped in Seattle. He dialed his hometown operator and when he requested "information please," he heard the voice he remembered so well. He told her how much she helped him as a child, and she said she never had kids and his calls meant a lot to her. He promised to call the next time he came through town, and she said "just ask for Sally." Three months later he was back in Seattle and called her number, but a different voice answered. He asked for Sally and was told she passed away. When he explained who he was, the operator remembered that Sally left a message for him. It said, "Tell him there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean." And he did.

To read the heartwarming story in full, visit http://bragg.com/blog/index.php/all-natural-organic-whole-live-foods/phone-on-the-wall-hello/

Anti-Islamic protester disarmed with hug

A Facebook campaign tried to organize pickets at dozens of mosques across the United States last October 10. Members of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Columbus, OH, received police protection, but only one protester showed up, a woman called Annie. Even though Annie was carrying two signs denigrating Islam, members invited her inside for coffee and bagels, but she firmly refused. Then a member of the mosque, newlywed Cynthia DeBoutinkhar, asked Annie an unexpected question. Could she hug her? Annie reluctantly agreed, and Cynthia recalled, "I felt her body go from tense to soft, and asked her to please come inside with me." Annie agreed to enter the lobby, where they were welcomed with applause.

                                                                                                                      Photo by Micah David Naziri
While touring the mosque, Annie admitted she learned to fear Islam from watching Fox News. She asked questions about the faith which the mosque president gladly answered, giving her an English copy of the Quran. She and Cynthia talked for two hours, and before leaving Annie told her, "I had no idea Muslims could be so nice to me, even after I stood out there with those signs. Sorry."

Alger kim curry blond puck Horse

Pulitizer Prize winning investigative journalist Julia Angwin is also author of the 2014 book,  Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance.  It chronicles how government and business track our everyday lives and stockpile data on each of us. She mentions how we could protect our privacy with stronger passwords. The most common password today is 1234, and second place goes to PASSWORD. A few forgetful people even use INCORRECT as a password, so if they can't remember it, any mistake will cause their computer to remind them, "Your password is incorrect." In her book, Angwin mentions Diceware, a method of building passwords that are famously difficult to crack. It involves rolling dice to create five digits in the Diceware dictionary, creating random passwords like the title of this post. On her book tour, readers asked Angwin to demonstrate the Diceware system but she was too busy signing books, so she paid her 11-year-old daughter Mira Modi to roll dice and create passwords for her. This gave Mira (shown below) an aha moment! Anyone can use Diceware to make passwords, but if you're too busy, she'll make one for you for two dollars -- half the cost of a Big Mac.

                                                                                                          Credit: Mira Modi / Diceware Passwords
The New York City sixth-grader never ran a business before, except the occasional lemonade stand, but her new enterprise has a Web site and is recognized in a New York Times video.  If you order from her Web site, she'll roll the dice and create a unique password to keep your data safe. She'll mail it to you by snail mail, which is more secure than email. She hasn't earned enough money for college yet, but who knows what will happen after "Crumbs of Comfort" readers see this post. To order one of Mira's secure passwords, visit http://www.dicewarepasswords.com/

Locals save car by sitting on it

A Canadian tourist visiting Istanbul, Turkey, rented a car and parked it near the Bosphorus Strait. She remembered to lock the doors, but forgot to set the parking brake. While she was shopping, the empty rental car began rolling backward across a sidewalk and down some steps. It didn't stop until its back half was dangling over the edge of a stone pier.

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That's when four local men all jumped on the hood of the car, using their body weight as a counterbalance, and when the tourist returned, a tow-truck was already pulling the car to safety. We're not sure what the rental contract said about losing a car in the Bosphorus, but thanks for the quick thinking of strangers, this tourist will get her deposit back.