★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno!♥~★~★~♥
December 9, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote: “You cannot reach perfection however hard you try; there’s always one more friend or so you should have sent a card to,” Richard Armour.

★~ Christmas Card Day:

Sir Henry Cole hired painter and illustrator John Calcott Horsley to create a seasonal greeting to send to his friends and family. The lithograph edition of 1,000 depicted a scene of a merry family drinking at the dinner table. Only 20 of the original postcards were thought to have survived and the original proof was auctioned in 2005 for $16,000 according to USA Today. It’s considered the world’s first known Christmas card, according to the Greeting Card Association. Puritans objected to the picture showing people raising a glass to Christmas,” according to the BBC, but the sentiment behind the card, “A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to You” has became a  Christmas tradition.. Christmas is the No. 1 card-sending holiday in the U.S. according to the greeting card industry.

★~ National Pastry Day:

Pastries have been around forever. In 2600 B.C., the Egyptians were making doughnut-like pastries out of crude flour and honey, and dipping them in wine.

In the 7th century, pastry making developed as a culinary art form in the Middle East. It spread to Europe after the Crusades, and French and Italian chefs developed their own version of the recipes and experimented with new techniques.

French Napoleons

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1854 – Alfred Lord Tennyson’s noted poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” was published in England.

♥~ 1965 – The Peanuts gang made its TV debut this day. A Charlie Brown Christmas ran for the first time on CBS.

♥~ 1988 – According to a poll released in the US, the music of Neil Diamond was the best background music for sex, Beethoven was the second choice and Luther Vandross was voted third.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1906 –  Grace Murray Hopper was an American computer scientist and United States Navy Rear Admiral. A pioneer in the field, she was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, and developed the first compiler for a computer programming language.She conceptualized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages. She is credited with popularizing the term “debugging” for fixing computer glitches (inspired by an actual moth removed from the computer). Owing to the breadth of her accomplishments and her naval rank, she is sometimes referred to as “Amazing Grace”. The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Hopper (DDG-70) is named for her, as was the Cray XE6 “Hopper” supercomputer at NERSC. Google Doodle honors her birthday.

♥~ 1916 – Kirk Douglas actor: Greedy, The Secret, Oscar, Queenie, Tough Guys, The Final Countdown, The Chosen, A Gunfight, There was a Crooked Man, The Arrangement, The Brotherhood, In Harm’s Way, Seven Days in May, Spartacus, Lonely are the Brave, Paths of Glory, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Lust for Life, Ulysses, Young Man with a Horn, Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful; father of actor Mike Douglas

♥~ 1928 – Dick Van Patten actor: Eight is Enough, When Things Were Rotten, WIOU, The Partners, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Mama, A Dangerous Place, Spaceballs,Westworld, Superdad, Son of Blob

♥~ 1934 – Judi Dench Academy Award-winning actress [Shakespeare in Love (1999)]; The Corrections, Casino Royale, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Pride and Prejudice,The Chronicles of Riddick, Die Another Day, Mrs. Brown, Chocolat, Iris

♥~ 1942 – Dick Butkus College and Pro Football Hall of Famer: Chicago Bears: middle linebacker: NFL Defensive Player of the Year [1969, 1970]; actor: Rich Man, Poor Man, Half Nelson

♥~ 1957 – Donny Osmond singer: Go Away Little Girl, Puppy Love; [w/sister, Marie]: I’m Leaving It All Up to You; group: Osmond Brothers: One Bad Apple; TV host:Donny and Marie; actor: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; dance champ: Dancing with the Stars [2009]

♥~ 1962 – Felicity Huffman actress: Desperate Housewives, Transamerica, Christmas with the Kranks, Raising Helen, Path to War, Snap Decision, Magnolia, Harrison: Cry of the City

★~ Good to Know: Radiant Orchard is the “In” Color of 2014

Move over, emerald. The color watchers at Pantone say the “It” color of 2014 is a pinky purple known as “radiant orchid.”

Expect to see the peppy shade on everything from cardigans to coffee makers next year. Vibrant and inviting, it has enough warm tones to look good on most skin types, which makes it a natural for nail polish and lipstick. Pantone executives say that because it is nuanced and bold, the color suggests creativity and ingenuity, which may appeal to fashion-minded, tech-savvy customers in their 20s and 30s. The hue also offers a sharp contrast with emerald, Pantone’s color of 2013.

In a press release, Pantone sung the color’s praises. The “surprisingly versatile” color complements many shades of green, as well as turquoise, teal, and light yellows, says the company. It also symbolizes originality. “An invitation to innovation, Radiant Orchid encourages expanded creativity and originality, which is increasingly valued in today’s society,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.

For the uninitiated, Pantone famously created a widely used color-matching system that standardizes more than 2,000 color variations, giving companies around the world a common vocabulary for discussing colors for their products.

Each year, Pantone holds a “secret meeting” at a European capital in a purposefully drab, colorless room, Slate reported in a 2012 article on the process. Over two days, representatives from different countries’ color-standards groups present and debate their ideas and collectively narrow it down from 2,000-plus to one. Last year they landed on Emerald. The year before it was Tangerine Tango.

Pantone and its experts consider a variety of factors, says The Wall Street Journal.

Pantone…each year polls graphic, industrial, fashion, and other designers around the world, as well as manufacturers and retailers, asking what colors they plan to use in coming seasons. A color committee made up of Pantone executives and clients makes a pick based on the surveys, sales of color swatches, and its experts’ opinions. [The Wall Street Journal]

In other words, it’s not just a group of fabulous taste makers deciding what color products companies should make. It’s fashion designers whose creations have already graced the runways, and manufacturers that are already producing pinkish-purple kitchen appliances.

Their inspiration comes from the “entertainment industry and films that are in production, traveling art collections, hot new artists, popular travel destinations, and other socio-economic conditions,” says the press release. This latter factor may have been especially key last year, when Pantone chose emerald green, a color people associate with “growth, renewal, and prosperity,” according to the company.

Since the products are already on production lines, it’s hard to say how much influence Pantone has on color trends. “But given the company’s insider access — which amounts to a cheat sheet from style leaders — its choice tends to show insight,” says the Journal. There’s even a radiant orchid Keurig machine already in the works, the paper points out.

What do you think? Radiant Orchard works for me as a shoe color, but is not my cuppa when it comes to Keurig.

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It finally snowed. Thank you Chicago. Nary an ornament, snow globe, or Santa  graces our humble abode. Perhaps, the snow will inspire me or as Cole suggested maybe we’ll put the tree up the weekend before Christmas and leave it up to brighten January. In any case,  I’d better put some Merry in my Monday, and get high behind.

Wishing you a wonderful day!