~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
January 19th

★~ Today’s Quote: Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. Edgar Allan Poe

★~Popcorn Day:

I love popcorn, and as far as I’m concerned there is no better way to eat it than with a lot of butter, enough salt, and paired with an ice-cold Coke. I pop the corn in my designated popcorn pan on the stove. While I don’t understand why anyone would want to mess with popcorn’s natural goodness, I do have some friends that like to make pizza popcorn. If you are so inclined, here is the recipe—although I would encourage you not to mess with a good thing. Just order pizza if you want pizza, and leave the popcorn alone.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and ½ to 1 clove of garlic just until the butter is melted, stir, and add freshly ground black pepper to taste, then toss in ½ teaspoon of dried oregano and 1 cup of diced pepperoni. When you pour the popcorn into a bowl, add the garlic butter mixture and grate a generous amount of fresh Parmesan cheese over the top. Toss to coat.

If you would like to make popcorn dance (and who doesn’t), here is a cool experiment.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1915 – George Claude of Paris, France patented the neon tube advertising sign.

♥~ 1937 –  Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

♥~ 1953 – Sixty-eight percent of all TV sets in the U.S. were tuned to CBS-TV this day, as Lucy Ricardo of I Love Lucy gave birth to a baby boy —  Lucy’s real life son was born the same day as her TV son.  The program had more television viewers than the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower the following day.

♥~ 1991 – Janet Jackson went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Love Will Never Do’, her 5th US No.1

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1736 – James Watt inventor: condensing steam engine; the watt, a unit of power, was named after him; died Aug 19, 1819

♥~ 1807 – Robert E. (Edward) Lee Civil War: Confederate General surrendered to the North’s General Ulysses S. Grant; died Oct 12, 1870

♥~ 1809 – Edgar Allan Poe poet: The Raven; author of suspense tales: The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Fall of the House of Usher; died Oct 7, 1849

♥~ 1923 – Jean Stapleton (Murray) Emmy Award-winning actress: All in the Family

♥~ 1935 – Johnny O’Keefe, singer known as “Australia’s King of rock ‘n’ roll”. He co-wrote and had the 1958 Australian hit with, ‘Real Wild Child’, which was covered by Iggy Pop in 1986. Other hits included ‘Shout!’, ‘Don’t You Know Pretty Baby’ and ‘She’s My Baby.’

♥~ 1943 – Janis Joplin singer: with Big Brother and The Holding Company: Piece of My Heart, How Hard It Is; formed Kozmic Blues Band, then Full Tilt Boogie Band:Pearl, Me and Bobby McGee; died Oct 4, 1970

♥~ 1946 – Dolly Parton songwriter, singer: ACM Entertainer of the Year [1977], CMA Entertainer of the year [1978]: Jolene, Coat of Many Colors, Here You Come Again,9-to-5, You’re the Only One, [w/Kenny Rogers]: Islands in the Stream; Grand Ol’ Opry member; actress: 9-to-5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,Steel Magnolias; owns Dollywood amusement park in Tennessee

♥~ 1947 – Paula Deen, TV chef

♥~ 1953 – Desi Arnaz Jr. entertainer, singer: group: Dino, Desi and Billy: Through Spray Colored Glasses;

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ Popcorn is one of six main varieties of corn. (The others are pod, sweet, flour, dent, and flint.) Popcorn originated in Mexico, but eventually made its way north. In 1948, archaeologists in the state of New Mexico discovered ancient popcorn ears that were at least 5,600 years old!

♥~ Americans eat about 16 billion quarts of popcorn each year (about 51 quarts per person), which makes it one of the most popular snacks in the country.

♥~ Compared to most snack foods, popcorn is low in calories. Air-popped popcorn has only 31 calories per cup. Oil-popped is only 55 per cup.

♥~ Most U.S. popcorn is grown in the Midwest, primarily in Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri.

♥~ Most popcorn comes in two basic shapes when it’s popped: snowflake and mushroom. Snowflake is used in movie theaters and ballparks because it looks and pops bigger. Mushroom is used for candy confections because it doesn’t crumble.

♥ ~ Popping popcorn is one of the number one uses for microwave ovens.

♥ ~ “Popability” is popcorn lingo that refers to the percentage of kernels that pop. There is no such thing as “hull-less” popcorn. All popcorn needs a hull in order to pop. Some varieties of popcorn have been bred so the hull shatters upon popping, making it appear to be hull-less.

♥~ Popcorn kernels can pop as high as 3 feet in the air.

♥~ World’s largest popcorn ball was created by volunteers in Sac City, Iowa in February, 2009.  It weighed 5,000 lbs., stood over 8 ft. tall, and measured 28.8 ft. in circumference.

♥~ If you made a trail of popcorn from New York City to Los Angeles, you would need more than 352,028,160 popped kernels!

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How do you fix your popcorn, and do you enjoy it the traditional way or dressed up? Can you enjoy a movie without popcorn and a Coke? (I cannot.) Please do share! Odd Loves Company

I love this video that came out of yesterday’s SOPA  black out.

One day is not enough—we need to pay attention to how our world is changing and being governed every day. All the hoopla of yesterday’s blackout had me thinking about all the important issues that are struggling for our attention but are often ignored at our own peril. For example, Dawn King works persistently, with too little attention, to reduce the hours of truck drivers on the road. Just taking the time to read and be informed can make a difference—a big difference. More on this soon.

Hope everyone has a terrific Thursday!

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