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To my dear Parkinson's family, Below is an e-mail message passed along by a friend of my son's. We don't know anything about its origin other than the names listed at the end. It's a propos of Piet's message about our group being predominantly North American. Internet technology is still such a lopsided tool. Is it really true that two-thirds of the world's population live and die without ever even using a telephone? Being able to read your messages every day is a precious gift. I appreciate it so much. Viva Barbara Patterson! Where do people with Parkinson's fit into this compressed world view? One wise wag on our list suggested we'd be represented by a fraction of a funny bone. Or I could volunteer my right pointer finger which does its tarantella tremor every evening around 6:00. Mary Yost [log in to unmask] 48/diagnosed 1990; Belgian-American; faithful, bumbling member of the "Cordy Corps" of Internet PD Activists; looking forward to a fresh beginning in 1997 ************************************************************* A compressed view of the world If we could shrink the population of the earth to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, the planet's demographics would look like this: There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 Western Hemisphere people (both North & South Americans), and eight Africans. Seventy persons would be non-white, 30 would be white, 70 would be non-Christian, and 30 would be Christian. Fifty percent of the entire world's wealth would be owned by only six people, and these six all would be citizens of the United States. Seventy people would be unable to read, 50 would suffer from malnutrition, 80 would live in substandard housing, and only one would have a university education. When we consider our world from such an incredibly compressed perspective, the need for both tolerance and understanding becomes glaringly apparent. From: Hem Inder Singh via HariDass Singh Khalsa and Nancy Sellers *********************************************************