Ice Cream Soda Day

~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
June 20, 2013

Wiesenblumen

★~ Today’s Quote: There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.  ~Celia Thaxter

★~ Reminder: Today is the last day of Spring. The longest day of the year — the summer solstice — is almost here. On June 21 2013, at exactly 1:04 am EDT (5:04 UTC), the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth will reach its point of greatest inclination to the Sun. Time to plan those beach or backyard picnics!

★~ Ice Cream Soda Day:

Rootbeer float

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream (soda)!  And what better way to celebrate the last day of Spring than with a cold, creamy ice cream soda. El Morno friend Carol it’s your day! Cheers.

Dating all the way back to 1874, ice cream sodas were first invented by Robert Green, who, as legend has it, ran out of cream for the flavored soda he was making. With nothing left but some vanilla ice cream, Green decided to add it to the drink instead – and voila, the ice cream soda was born!

Sounds delicious, right? My Ice Cream Soda of choice is a rootbeer float (Brown Cow), but you might want to float your boat with one of these fine choices…

Chocoberry Splash

Chocolate Coffee Iced Cream Soda 

Triple Play Ice Cream Soda

★~ Today in History:

williemays2

♥~ 1947 – Gangster Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel was shot to death at his girlfriend’s mansion in Beverly Hills. The mob was reportedly angry over his high-rolling Las Vegas gambling sprees.

♥~ 1950 – Willie Mays graduated from high school and immediately signed with the New York Giants for a $6,000 bonus. The ‘Say Hey Kid’ would play most of his career for the Giants — in both New York and San Francisco — becoming a baseball legend

♥~ 1969 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix earned the biggest paycheck ever paid (to that time) for a single concert appearance. Hendrix was paid $125,000 to appear for a single set at the Newport Jazz Festival.

♥~ 1970 – The Long and Winding Road, by The Beatles, started a second week in the number one spot on the pop music charts. The tune was the last one to be released by The Beatles.

♥~ 1975 – The movie Jaws was released

★~Born Today:

Nicole-Kidman

♥~ 1949 – Lionel Richie musician: tenor sax, songwriter, singer: group: Commodores: ASCAP Nashville Country Songwriter Award: Three Times a Lady [1978]; solo: Truly, All Night Long [All Night], Hello, Say You Say Me

♥~ 1952 – John Goodman actor: Roseanne, The Flintstones, The Babe, King Ralph, Born Yesterday, Matinee, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Blues Brothers 2000, What Planet Are You From?, O Brother, Where Art Thou?

♥~ 1967 – Nicole (Mary) Kidman Academy Award-winning actress [The Hours (2003)]: Days of Thunder, Far and Away, Malice, Batman Forever, Billy Bathgate, The Portrait of a Lady, Eyes Wide Shut, Practical Magic, Moulin Rouge

★~ Good to Know:

card swipe

I’m sharing a tip, that I just learned at the store cash register. When I went to pay for my purchases and was unable to swipe my debt card the cashier wrapped the card in a plastic bag and ran it through again and it worked like a charm. At the time, I was happy to just take my purchases and leave, but later read the magic behind the plastic bag technique on Science is Awesome.

The black stripe on the back side of the credit card is made up of a bunch of tiny magnetic particles bound in plastic. The particles are arranged in magnetic and non-magnetic “zones” to encode the data—like your account number, expiration date, etc.—that the card reader on the register needs to process the transaction. When you swipe the card, the card reader reads the information by detecting the changes between the zones. For the transaction to work, the info needs to get from the card to the reader to the computer without any errors.

The strip is pretty delicate, and the data on it can be corrupted by exposing it to a strong magnet or scratching it. Damage can also occur gradually with use and carrying the card around in your wallet. Over time, some of the magnetic particles can get dragged out of position in a process called smearing. If enough magnetic bits move into a non-magnetic space to create a weak signal, the data gets corrupted and the card reader gets an error.

With just a little bit of magnetic material in them, the contaminated non-magnetic zones still have a much lower magnetic strength than the parts that are supposed to magnetized. Increasing the distance between the card reader and the corrupted zones is enough to get the reader to read those weak parts as non-magnetized again. A plastic bag, usually at-hand at the cash register, makes a great spacer. Wrapped tightly around the card, the bag basically mutes the corrupted parts of the magnetic stripe so the reader is presented with the data as its supposed to be.

Maybe just knowing that if you wrapped your card in a plastic bag it would work, would have been enough for you, but now you can swipe your card and bore people with this tidbit of information at dinner parties, on the street, while waiting in line at the post office. Just saying’

#

I overslept this morno, so I’m going to hit publish and send El Morno on it’s way. These summer days are wearing me out or are they making me lazy? I’ll get back to you on that one.

Odd Loves Company!

11 thoughts on “Ice Cream Soda Day

  1. Morno,
    Off doing Gods work and Geri is sliding into my spot. I tell you she is wicked. In a good way maybe, but still wicked. Hot work in Oklahoma but people really pull together and spirits are higher than you might expect as people rebuild and clean up. Financial support has also been better than expected which has made it easier to doing things at a quicker pace.
    I’ll plan for a rootbeer float later today. I’m staying through the weekend and will more than likely head home on Monday.
    Have a good one.

    • Mike!
      Yep Geri is wicked…awful…sneaky! Is that why we love her?
      I’m so glad it is going well and you have the support you need. Anything that makes things easier is a blessing. Including you!
      Hope you had your float!

  2. My favorite day of the year. I love floats and since the kids are in town for a few days I see an rootbeer float outing in our future. Have you ever tried mixing orange soda with 7-up to make a float? It’s a delicious combination. We might make those at home. Diet rules go out the window when you visit Grandma’s house.
    Good tip about the plastic bag. I had that happen a few months ago and it was very inconvenient until the new card arrived.
    Enjoy your day. Lazy is summers middle name.

    • Hope Rootbeer float day was a hit at your house. Yep, Grandmothers Rule! The plastic bag tip works most of the time and is always worth a try.

  3. nice job in ok, mike ^! you’re a very good person to help out a friend in need. your son as well.
    i’d say my favorite ice cream soda would be a root beer float, too. newly relocated from pa to mi, i ordered a root beer soda & was brought the float instead! huh? soda in pa is pop in mi. i thought your favorite would be the coke float.
    a shame the beatles disbanded.
    am busying myself with range of motion, boot walking & icing until pt can begin in four weeks. poor nik whines at times during the day. we’ll get through this.
    good day!

    • I like a Coke floats but sometimes you have to branch out beyond your comfort zone…so I drink rootbeer floats and sometimes an orange crush float.
      Poor Nik. Poor Irene. But you do have each other and that counts! Hope vistors bring good snacks and lots of cheer this weekend!

  4. Bar study update: today was Conflict of Laws day. Even more boring than it sounds. Just a bunch of nitpicky rules about which law states should apply. So el Morno was my very welcome lunch break amusement.

    My lunch is the SAME every day. A wedge of laughing cow cheese spread on two slices of reduced calore whole wheat bread. Piece of fruit. String cheese. Granola bar if I remember to bring it. This bar prep takes so much mental wherewithal that I realized I couldn’t afford to waste any brain power. So I drastically reduced the number of daily decisions I have to make. So every day it’s the SAME breakfast and lunch. Same train times. Same earrings. Clean clothes every day, but choice is limited to just jeans and shirts. Same process every day: morning lecture, afternoon review of lecture. Evening of practice exam questions. Lather, rinse, repeat. Every day of the week. I CAN do it!

    I do like a nice orange soda (orange ‘pop’ with vanilla ice cream). Well, no rest for the wicked, it’s back to the books I go. My orange soda AND my Martini will have to wait until July 31 at about 5pm!!!

      • I recently read somewhere that the first thing we should do when we are feeling stressed or overwhelmed it to reduce the amount of decisions we have to make. Decisions eat away at our energy and create more stress. So you are already ahead of the game! I’m sure that I can find an article that documents how an occasional treat and Orange floats boost enthusiasm, prevent burn out, and keeps your mood afloat somewhere! I’ll look!

  5. Changed my mind….will have that rootbeer float tonight even though it will be the diet version…I just told myself I deserve it after reading all the other comments. Still will stick to the diet and either die trying or make it!

    • Good for you! I’m glad you indulged a bit. You’ll make your weight loss goals even with a few treats along the way!

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