~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
October 15, 2011

★~ Today’s Quote: The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

★~ Sweetest Day:

Around 1922, a candy company employee named Herbert Birch Kingston decided that it would be a wonderful thing to distribute candy to the sick, shut-ins, and orphans of Cleveland, Ohio. Thus, Sweetest Day was born. Do something nice for someone today, something that will make him or her say, “Oh, that’s so sweet!”

★~ Chicken Cacciatore Day:

Cacciatore means “hunter-style” in Italian. This mouthwatering meal was first served in central Italy during the Renaissance period. It is made with chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and herbs served over spaghetti. Add a green salad and a loaf of garlic bread . . . magnifico!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1860 – Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard. Unedited, Grace’s letter read:

Hon A B Lincoln…

Dear Sir

My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin’s. I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brother’s and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband’s to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to but I will try to get every one to vote for you that I can I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be. When you direct your letter direct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chatauque County New York

I must not write any more answer this letter right off Good bye

Grace Bedell

♥~ 1917 – Mata Hari  possibly history’s most famous spy, Mata Hari refused a blindfold and threw a kiss to the firing squad at her execution.

♥~ 1951 – It has been 60 years since the first I Love Lucy Episode premiered. This was the first sitcom to be filmed live before a studio audience, and it did extremely well in the ratings both the first time around and in reruns. The last telecast ran Sept 24, 1961.

♥~ 1988 – Red Red Wine, by UB40, was the first reggae hit to make it to number one in the U.S. From the album Labour of Love, Red Red Wine was #1 for only one week, but turned out to be UB40’s signature song

♥~ 2004 – Authorities said the Northern Snakehead had invaded the Great Lakes. The voracious predator dubbed the ‘Frankenfish’ can breathe out of water and wriggle across land.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche philosopher: “Plato was a bore.”; The Birth of Tragedy, Thoughts out of Season, Human, All Too Human, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist; died Aug 25, 1900

♥~ 1920 – Mario Puzo novelist: The Godfather, Fourth K.; screen playwright: The Godfather series, Earthquake, Superman: The Movie, Superman 2, The Cotton Club,Christopher Columbus: The Discovery; died July 2, 1999

♥~ 1924 – Lee (Lido) Iacocca mechanical engineer, automobile executive: chairperson of Chrysler Corporation, president of Ford Motor Company; author: Iacocca; chairperson: centennial rehabilitation of Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island foundation

♥~ 1934 – Peter Haskell actor: Robot Wars, Child’s Play, Christina, Bracken’s World, The Law and Harry McGraw, Rich Man, Poor Man-Book II, Rituals; died Apr 12, 2010

♥~ 1943 – Penny (Carole) Marshall actress: Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, The Bob Newhart Show; director: Renaissance Man, Big, A League of Their Own, Awakenings,Jumpin’ Jack Flash; sister of director, producer Garry Marshall

♥~ 1946 – Richard Carpenter musician, composer, singer: Grammy Award-winning group: Carpenters.

♥~ 1959 – Emeril Lagasse celebrity chef, TV host: Emeril Live, Essence of Emeril; actor: Emeril; restaurateur: owns restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Orlando

★~ Did You Know:  Children Who Make A Difference

Samantha Reed Smith was an American schoolgirl from Manchester, Maine. In 1982, Smith was worried about nuclear war and decided to write a letter to Russia’s newly appointed CPSU General Secretary, Yuri Andropov. Here is the text of her letter:

My name is Samantha Smith. I am ten years old. Congratulations on your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote to have a war or not? If you aren’t, please tell me how you are going to help to not have a war. You do not have to answer this question, but I would like to know why you want to conquer the world or at least our country. God made the world for us to live together in peace and not to fight.

Sincerely,

Samantha received a personal reply that included an invitation to visit the Soviet Union, which she accepted. Smith became known as “America’s Youngest Ambassador.” She wrote a book about her visit to the Soviet Union and co-starred in the television series Lime Street, before her death at the age of 13 in the Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 plane crash.

Om Prakash Gurjar (born 1992). At the age of five, he was taken away from his parents, and for three years, he worked in the fields. After he was rescued by the activists of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Om campaigned for free education in his native Rajasthan. He then helped to set up “child friendly villages,” (places where children’s rights are respected and child labor is not allowed). He was awarded the International Children’s Peace Prize by former South African President FW de Klerk, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Thandiwe Chama.  In 1999, when she was only eight years old, her school was closed because there weren’t any teachers. Thandiwe refused to accept this and led 60 other children on a walk to find another school. As a result, all the children were taken into the Jack Cecup School. Strengthened by this achievement, Thandiwe has been fighting ever since for the right to education for all children, and in 2007, won the International Children’s Peace Prize.

Iqbal Masih was a Pakistani boy who was sold to a carpet factory as a child slave at the age of 4 for the equivalent of $12. At the age of 10, he escaped the brutal slavery and later joined the Bonded Labor Liberation Front of Pakistan to help stop child labor around the world. Iqbal helped over 3,000 Pakistani children that were in bonded labor escape to freedom and gave talks about child labor all around the world.

In 1994, Iqbal was awarded the Reebok Human Rights Award. He was murdered on Easter Sunday, 1995, and in 2000, when The World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child was formed, he was posthumously awarded this prize as one of the first laureates.

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This Saturday: Don’t just rake leaves-Jump into piles of leaves. Don’t just do laundry- Turn on music and dance with the socks left mateless, Don’t just run errands- offer a sweet smile to someone who looks a little harried by Saturday chores, Don’t just changes the sheets on the bed–lie down and rest or read for an hour. . .Don’t just have another Saturday filled with chores–take a spoon full of sugar and fill your Saturday with sweetness and simple pleasures.

♥
Kb