It was October and the Indians on a remote reservation asked their new Chief
if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was Chief in a
modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets.  he looked at the
sky, he couldn't tell what the winter was going to like. Nevertheless, to be
on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be
cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be
prepared.

But being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to
the phone booth, called the National Weather Service, and asked, "Is the
coming winter going to be cold?"

"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold," the meteorologist at
the weather service responded.

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more
firewood in order to be prepared.  A week later he called the National
Weather Service again. "Does it still look like it is going to be a very
cold winter?"

"Yes," the man at the National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to
be a very cold winter."

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every
scrap of firewood they could find.

Two weeks later the Chief called the National Weather Service again.  "Are
you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?

"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's looking more and more like it is going
to be one of the coldest winters ever."

"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy."

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *