My Daily Smile

Life is short - begin every day with a smile!

Q&A: Has anyone ever survived a really high fall without a parachute?

Posted on

Living (and loving) Life

Question from Jane:  I recently saw on the news that two navy jets had crashed into each other.

One of the planes managed to land safely but the pilot of the other plane was violently ejected from his plane by the force of the crash.

He fell about 2,000 feet without his parachute ever opening. Sadly, he didn’t survive.

That got my husband to wondering if anyone has ever survived a fall from such great heights without using a parachute, and now I’m wondering the same thing.

Do you know if such a thing has ever happened?  [Read more…]

Video: Precision flying (and nerves of steel)

Posted on

Want  to get a little something extra out of every day? Sign up for my Living (and loving) Life newsletter.

Have you ever looked at a massive structure and simply marveled at the hard work and steely nerves that must have been required to build it.

San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge is one such structure.

However, the short video I’m featuring today isn’t about the construction of the bridge itself.  [Read more…]

Video: The ten greatest inventions of Nikola Tesla

Posted on

Want  to get a little something extra out of every day? Sign up for my Living (and loving) Life newsletter.

The brilliant mind of Nikola Tesla created hundreds of successful inventions, several of which would end up literally changing the world.

Although he was awarded 300 patents for his inventions, many of his ideas were decades ahead of their time so they never really panned out in the commercial sense.

However, several of the ones that did pan out are still in widespread use today, eight decades years after his passing.  [Read more…]

Do giants really exist? The answer is actually yes.

Posted on

Want  to get a little something extra out of every day? Sign up for my Living (and loving) Life newsletter.

Chances are you’re familiar with several stories about giants, including the biblical Goliath who the young lad David slew with a single stone hurled from his trusty slingshot.

According to his description in 1 Samuel 17, Goliath’s incredible height was “six cubits and a span”. That equates to a mind-boggling 9 feet and 9 inches.

I know, it’s hard to imagine a human being ever managing to grow to a height of 9 feet. After all, even the tallest NBA players are over a foot shorter than that.

But truth be told, on extremely rare occasions humans do grow to about that height.  [Read more…]

The incredible life of Nick Vujicic

Posted on

Have you ever gotten down on yourself because some bit of misfortune came your way?

It happens to all of us, and when it happens to me I always try to tell myself that there’s always someone who’s having a rougher time than I am.

And I must admit that it usually helps.

This video features the incredible life and story of a man named Nick Vujicic. I won’t go into detail about Nick’s circumstance because the video speaks for itself.  [Read more…]