~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 21, 2011

★~  Todays Quote: Grow old with me! The best is yet to be.  ~Robert Browning

★~ National Senior Citizens Day: 

In his Presidential Proclamation (August 19, 1988), President Ronald Reagan said “For all they have achieved throughout life and for all they continue to accomplish, we owe older citizens our thanks and a heartfelt salute. We can best demonstrate our gratitude and esteem by making sure that our communities are good places in which to mature and grow older.”

With people living and working longer, it’s increasingly important that we recognize the importance of supporting senior citizens and OAPs within our society and show appreciation for the value and contribution of elderly people to our homes, family and community.

★~ Pecan Torte Day:

Not to be confused with tort, a civil wrong at law. A Totre is a rich and often layered and filled cake usually made with little or no flour; instead, fine bread crumbs or grated nuts are used. Rich butter icing, chocolate or whipped cream complete it.

Tortes are Central European in origin. The word torte is derived from the German word Torte, which was derived from the Italian word torta, which was used to describe a round cake or bread.

Sweet icing is common to most tortes. When the cake is layered, a thick covering of icing is placed between the layers, and there is almost always icing on the tops and sides of the torte. Although a  number of European tortes do not have layers.

★~ Today in History:

★~ 1888 – William Burroughs of St. Louis, MO patented his adding machine. It was an invention that bore the name of Burrough’s office machine company for many years.

♥~ 1984 – Victoria Roche was the first girl to compete in a Little League World Series game. The reserve outfielder from Belgium played in the annual event held in Williamsport, PA with her brother, starting outfielder Jeremy Roche.

♥~ 1984 – Clint Eastwood contributed a hand print and the words, “You made my day,” to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre.

♥~ 1993 – The soundtrack from Sleepless in Seattle hit number one on the Billboard LP chart. Other hit albums: #2 Black Sunday (Cypress Hill), #3 janet. (Janet Jackson), #4Zooropa (U2), #5 Core (Stone Temple Pilots).

♥~ 1999 – Hua Mei, the giant panda cub, was born at the San Diego Zoo weighing a not-so-giant 4-5 ounces. Her parents are Bai Yun and Shi Shi (they arrived at the zoo on Sep 10, 1996 on a 12-year conservation study). Hua Mei was the first panda born in the U.S. in ten years.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1936 – Wilt (Wilton) Chamberlain Basketball Hall of Famer: NBA MVP Award: Philadelphia Warriors [1960], Philadelphia 76ers [1966, 1967, 1968]; died Oct 12, 1999

♥~ 1938 – Kenny (Kenneth Donald) Rogers Grammy and CMA Award-winning singer: She Believes in Me, Lady, Lucille, Islands in the Stream [w/Dolly Parton], What are We Doin’ in Love [w/Dottie West], Through the Years, We’ve Got Tonight [w/Sheena Easton], You Decorated My Life, Coward of the County, The Gambler; groups: The Kirby Stone Four, The New Christy Minstrels, The First Edition; actor: The Gambler series

♥~ 1959 – Jim McMahon football: quarterback: Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears: Super Bowl XX

♥~ 1991 – In Independence, Missouri, the owner of a Domino’s Pizza restaurant, dressed as a giant red rabbit to attract business, was knocked unconscious by Bobo the Clown, who was promoting a Pizza Hut across the street. The rabbit declined to press charges.

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ The first panda came to the United States in 1936 – a cub to a zoo in Chicago. It took another 50 years before the States would see another.

♥~ The first giant pandas came to Australia’s, Adelaide Zoo in 2009.

♥~ A newborn panda cub is 1/900th the size of its mother and is comparable to the length of a stick of butter.

♥~ A panda’s paw has six digits – five fingers and an opposable pseudo-thumb (actually an enlarged wrist bone) it uses merely to hold bamboo while eating.

♥~ Of all the members of the bear family, only sloth bears have longer tails than pandas.

♥~ Pandas rely on spatial memory, not visual memory.

♥~ Female pandas ovulate once a year and are fertile for only two or three days.

♥~ Historically speaking, pandas are one of the few animals whose parts have not been used in traditional Chinese medicine.

♥~  Pandas must eat upwards of 30 pounds of bamboo daily just to stay full.

#

Do You Remember When: It took five minutes for the TV to warm up; when a quarter was a decent allowance; you could call 411-directory assistance for free; reaching into a muddy gutter for a penny; being awed by a hand held calculator; having your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped,  without asking, all for free, every time; And you didn’t pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot? No one ever asked where the car keys were  because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked;  playing sports without adults carrying your water bottles; having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot; Saturday morning cartoons weren’t 30-minute commercials for action figures?

Now it’s your turn! What do you remember?

Have a spectacular Sunday!