Posts tagged ‘christmas gift’

HOW TO GIVE SERVING PERSONNEL MERRY CHRISTMAS

By admin, 22 November, 2009, No Comment

The government of United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence issued the following news release:

As the season of good will is nearly upon us, the British public are being urged christmas gift to help the forces as much as possible by refraining from sending Christmas parcels to troops in Afghanistan.

Soldiers serving in theatre are literally being overwhelmed by support from the British public who generously post unsolicited parcels, putting a massive strain on the Forces Post Office in Camp Bastion, resulting in packages from friends and family taking longer to reach the intended recipients.

Many of the parcels are addressed to chaplains who have long left theatre, but whose legacy continues. The intention is that the current generation of padres will distribute the parcels to troops on the front line.

Padre Richard Downes, who is the British chaplain at Camp Bastion, said:

“The Enduring Families Free Mail Service enables families and close friends of Service silver money clips personnel to send packages out to theatre. While such unsolicited parcels are without doubt popular with recipients, the all-important personal mail from soldiers’ families becomes significantly delayed.

“Occasionally the perceived needs of recipients have become somewhat confused, as one chaplain discovered to his dismay when he opened a welfare parcel addressed to him personally, but which contained amongst other things a glossy pin-up calendar!”

Only a small fraction of the unsolicited parcels make it to the front line, the rest are processed by staff in Camp Bastion and the contents held in storage in welfare rest areas and churches until they can be sent on.

Some of the contents, including toiletry items, lie untouched for months at a time and one chaplain silver pendants reported that he had 70 brand new toothbrushes in the back of his church in a Forward Operating Base (FOB).

In response to the growing problem, the Ministry of Defence is working with the forces charity SSAFA to enable generous members of the public to donate money to the charity as an alternative to sending parcels.

The Operational Welfare Fund is focused on providing support direct to the front line and enables commanders on the ground to bid for those items which they know will boost the troops’ morale.

Padre Downes said:

“The postal service puts on a massive extra push at Christmas and put extra flights on to get the stuff here. But getting the mail out to the FOBs also takes longer, as mail must fit in around operational transport priorities.

“I thank the British public for their support but I would ask that they keep the pressure off the postal system silver earrings over the Christmas period. The British military are a generous bunch and the troops will always share with those whose parcels may have been held up.”For more information please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.

Give A Ring, Get A Grin

By admin, 15 November, 2009, No Comment

HANSEN: Thank you very much. We had a great time in the Upper Peninsula tiffany sale of Michigan and we’re going to be telling everybody our stories next week. But meanwhile, you gave us a challenge last week, which did not involve the Periodic Table. Would you tell us what it was?

(Soundbite of laughter)

SHORTZ: Yes. It came from listener Michael Duran from Topsham, Maine. I said take a familiar French word in three letters. I’d say it’s a word that everyone knows. Then take its meaning in English, also in three letters. Say these two words one after the other, and phonetically they’ll sound like another French word everyone knows. What is it?

HANSEN: What is it?

SHORTZ: Well, the first word is mer, M-E-R. That means sea, S-E-A. Say them together you get merci.

HANSEN: Oh, tres bien. Tres bien.

(Soundbite of laughter)

HANSEN: Our listeners I guess really know their French One. Or like me tiffany shopping, took French One for six years.

(Soundbite of laughter)

HANSEN: We received about 1,500 entries this week and from the correct entries, our randomly selected winner is Elaine Chapin of Geneva, New York. Hi, Elaine.

Ms. ELAINE CHAPIN: Hi.

HANSEN: How long did it take you to solve the puzzle?

Ms. CHAPIN: It popped into my head in about half an hour.

HANSEN: Really?

Ms. CHAPIN: Yeah.

(Soundbite of laughter)

HANSEN: Wow. How long have you’ve been playing?

Ms. CHAPIN: Well, off and on for years, but only in the last three or four months have we’ve been sending in answers.

HANSEN: We, meaning you and your husband?

Ms. CHAPIN: Yes.

HANSEN: Yeah? And so you’re getting confident enough to christmas tiffany on sale send them in, right?

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. CHAPIN: Yes.

HANSEN: Do you like puzzles?

Ms. CHAPIN: I love puzzles.

HANSEN: Oh, well are you ready to play this one?

Ms. CHAPIN: Yes.

HANSEN: All right. Look, she is confident.

(Soundbite of laughter)

HANSEN: So Elaine, meet Will. Will, meet Elaine. Let’s play.

Ms. CHAPIN: Hi, Will.

SHORTZ: Hi, Elaine. I’m going to give you some clues. Each answer is a four- letter word. And this word is an anagram of one of the words in the clue. For example, if I gave you the clue, main line through Egypt, you would say Nile, and Nile is a rearrangement of the letters of line.

Ms. CHAPIN: Okay.

SHORTZ: Okay. Number one is group that acts in a play.

Ms. CHAPIN: Cast.

SHORTZ: Cast. Right, being an anagram of acts. Good. Number two is christmas tiffany sale cheese made in Holland.

Ms. CHAPIN: Edam.

SHORTZ: That’s correct. Person one likes very much.

Ms. CHAPIN: Chum.

HANSEN: Chum.

SHORTZ: Chum. That’s it. Musical tone.

Ms. CHAPIN: Note.

SHORTZ: Uh-huh. Clothing item worn inside a shoe.

Ms. CHAPIN: Sock?

SHORTZ: No there’s no anagram…

Ms. CHAPIN: Hose?

SHORTZ: Hose. That’s it. Good. Overrule, as a congressional vote.

Ms. CHAPIN: Veto.

SHORTZ: That’s right. Bit of land that lies in the ocean.

Ms. CHAPIN: Isle.

SHORTZ: Good. Vile, V-I-L-E. What word means vile? christmas gift It’s a rearrangement of vile.

Ms. CHAPIN: Evil?

HANSEN: Yeah.

SHORTZ: Evil is it. Good.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SHORTZ: How about ayes, A-Y-E-S? These might be votes in a legislator.

Ms. CHAPIN: Yays.

SHORTZ: Yays and ayes mean the same. Right. Wander over.

Ms. CHAPIN: Rove.

SHORTZ: Rove is it. What freezers do when the electricity is turned off?

Ms. CHAPIN: Thaw?

SHORTZ: Thaw is it, anagram of what. Good. How about drinks for sale at a pub?

Ms. CHAPIN: Ale.

SHORTZ: That’s it. Source of money used by clubs.

Ms. CHAPIN: Dues?

SHORTZ: Dues is it. And your last one: last thing added to buttered popcorn.

Ms. CHAPIN: Salt.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SHORTZ: Salt, anagram of last. Good job.

HANSEN: Elaine. Well done. Well done. And you were xmas tiffany on sale doing these in your head I bet.

Ms. CHAPIN: Yes.

HANSEN: Yes. Oh, man. Put me to shame. Well, we have a group of specials guests to tell you what you’ll get for playing today’s puzzle. They wrote a Hip-hop song that’s been viewed more than five million times on YouTube, but they’re not your everyday rappers. They’re scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. And the rap is about the Large Hadron Collider. Now here’s the rap.

CERN RAPPERS: (Rapping) Two beams of protons swing round, through the ring they ride ’til in the hearts of the detectors, they’re made to collide. And all that energy packed in such a tiny bit of room becomes mass, particles created from the vacuum. And then…

HANSEN: All right. Now wait for it. Here are the CERN rappers with your puzzle prizes.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Unidentified Woman (Member, CERN Rappers): For playing the puzzle, today you win some WEEKEND EDITION bling.

FOSTER (Member, CERN Rappers): A lapel pin.

Unidentified Woman: The 11th edition of “Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus.” Take it Foster.

FOSTER: Important both they know it. You ain’t no rebel got your Deluxe Edition of a game they call “Scrabble.”

Unidentified Woman: We call it “Scrabble” too.

FOSTER: Ha, great. Will Shortz Presents KenKen 1, 2 and 3″ from St. xmas tiffany sale Martin’s Press. Welcome Will Shortie, “Puzzlemaster Decks of Riddles and Challenges” from Chronicle Books to impress all you…

Unidentified Woman: Oh, hey.

FOSTER: …friends.

Unidentified Woman: The Puzzle master Presents from Random House and Volume 2.

FOSTER: Are we through?

Unidentified Woman: Yeah.

FOSTER: All right, then we’re out.

(Soundbite of laughter)

HANSEN: Oh, wow. Elaine, what’d you think?

Ms. CHAPIN: Oh, it was exciting.

HANSEN: Yeah. And, Will, they should know, it’s not Will Shortie. It’s Will Shortzie, right?

SHORTZ: They had to get the rhyme there. Yeah.

(Soundbite of laughter)

HANSEN: Yeah. All right. Well, before we let you go Elaine, tell us what member station you listen to.

ELAINE: WRVO in Oswego, New York.

HANSEN: All right. Elaine Keppen of Geneva, New York, thanks so much for playing the Puzzles with us. You were fantastic.

(Soundbite of laughter)

ELAINE: Thank you.

(Soundbite of laughter)

HANSEN: All right. And, Will, what do you have to put in our heads for next week?

SHORTZ: Yes, a straightforward puzzle. Name a well-known university, move the last letter three places earlier in the name, the result will be a phrase meaning represent. What’s the university and what’s the phrase? So, again, a well-known university, move the last letter three places earlier in the name, the result will be a phrase meaning represent. What’s the university and what’s the phrase?

HANSEN: When you have the answer, go to our Web site npr.org/puzzle and click on the submit your answer link. Only one entry per person, please. Our deadline this week is Thursday 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. We’ll call you if you’re the winner and you’ll get to play puzzle on the air with the puzzle editor of the New York Times and Weekend Edition’s puzzle master Will Shortz. Thanks a lot, Will.

SHORTZ: Thanks, Liane.