~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
January 20, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote: “Cheese is milk’s leap toward immortality.” Clifton Fadiman

★~ Penguin Day:  Put on your Happy Feet (shouldn’t be too hard since today is Friday) and MOVE IT for Penguins everywhere.

Speaking of Happy Feet…Today is also….

★~ International Fetish Day: 

Sticking to the facts—just the facts, and “Did You Know” will be about penguins. The word “fetish” comes from the Portuguese feitico, meaning “charm” or “sorcery.”

This may explain why Ugg boots are so put upon… A pair of high heels is world’s favorite fetish, according to the largest-ever study of sexual kinks. In the study, people were asked to name their favorite body parts; sexually speaking, 47 percent of those asked named feet and toes, and where objects related to the body were concerned, footwear polled at 64 percent. However, not everyone is turned on by feet. Just in case you are feeling left out, hearing aids and pacemakers were also listed, and the Australian neurologist and existential therapist Viktor Frankl once noted a case of a man whose sexual fetish involved frogs and glue (at the same time).

Marquis de Sade, whose licentious writings in the 18th and 19th centuries gave birth to the term “sadism,” was only 5 feet 2 inches tall and known as the “philosopher of vice.” He also spent more than 30 years in prisons and lunatic asylums.

This information came in just the nick of time…How awful would it have been if I had allowed our saucy Aussie, high-heel-wearing El Morno friend, who is traveling to Paris in March, to miss out on the Paris Museum of Eroticism? Now, being in the know, she will be able to plan her visit and view more than 2,000 erotic objects, from sacred Indonesian phalluses to watercolors of the Kama Sutra.

How you celebrate this day is completely up too you. Thank you for not sharing.

Say cheese! Today is the celebration of glorious cheese and those who love it—those people who proudly enjoy their mac and cheese or their grilled cheese sandwich, even as they face ridicule from those who claim their passion is too fattening or mucus producing. Cheese lovers know the truth. Without cheese, there would be no pizza, no quesadillas, no nachos… Without cheese, there would be no reason to eat.

Today, enjoy soft cheeses and hard cheeses; mild cheese and pungent cheeses, cow’s milk cheese, or fresh warm mozzarella cheese.

♥~ Jan 20-Feb 19. Aquarius, the Water Carrier.  In the astronomical/astrological zodiac, which divides the sun’s apparent orbit into 12 segments, the period Jan 20–Feb 19 is traditionally identified as the sun sign of Aquarius, the Water Carrier. The ruling planet is Uranus or Saturn.

♥~ 1801 – John Marshall was appointed Chief Justice. He led the Supreme Court for 34 years, serving under six presidents.

♥~ 1885 – The first Coney Island roller coaster was patented by La Marcus Thompson.It was called the Gravity Switchback Railway, it cost a nickel to ride, and it was an immediate success, drawing huge crowds and bringing in $600 a day. It’s considered the first commercially successful roller coaster, and it was the first roller coaster specifically built as an amusement park ride

♥~ 1937 –  January 20th became Inauguration Day in the U.S., the traditional day for the Chief Justice to swear in the newly-elected president. Before that year, presidents had to wait until March 4th to begin their terms. Roosevelt was the first president sworn in on the new date.

♥~ 1964 – This was a big day in U.S. record stores  the first album by The Beatles was released. The LP, Meet the Beatles, became a huge success and was #1 on the charts by February 15, 1964.

 

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1896 – George Burns  (Nathan Birnbaum , Actor: With cigar in hand,  and young and beautiful woman on his arm, George Burns, made millions of us laugh with his quick wit and easy style. Burns’ show biz career got started with his straight man act for zany Gracie Allen back in 1922. On January 7, 1926 the two were wed and the Burns and Allen team made history from vaudeville to radio (1932) to films and then, TV beginning in 1950. Remember  Burns’ trademark close, “Say goodnight, Gracie?

♥~ 1920 – Federico Fellini director, screenwriter: Oscar-winning Best foreign-language [Italian] films: La Strada [1956], The Nights of Cabiria [1957], 8 1/2 [1963], Amarcord[1974]; died Oct 31, 1993

♥~ 1930 – Buzz (Edwin) Aldrin Jr. astronaut: Gemini 12 [Nov 11, 1966]: made then-record 5.5 hour space walk; Apollo 11: one of first trio of American men to land on the moon [July 16, 1969]

♥~ 1956 – Bill Maher TV host: commentator: Politically Incorrect, Real Time with Bill Maher

♥~ 1963 – James Denton actor: Desperate Housewives, The Pretender, Jumbo Girl, Primary Colors, Face/Off, That Old Feeling, Hunter’s Moon, Theives Quartet, Ally McBeal,The West Wing, Threat Matrix

♥~ 1966 Rainn Wilson, Actor (“The Office”),

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~  There are 18 species of penguin in the world. While some species are thriving, 13 of them have declining populations.

♥~ Penguins lost the ability to fly millions of years ago, but their powerful flipper-like wings and streamlined bodies make them very accomplished swimmers. They are the fastest swimming and deepest diving species of any birds.

♥~ While swimming, penguins will leap above the surface of the water, a practice called porpoising. This coats their plumage with tiny bubbles that reduce friction, allowing them to swim as fast as 20 miles per hour (32 kph).

♥~ The emperor penguin is the largest of the penguin species and can weigh up to 90 pounds. The fairy penguin is the smallest and weighs only 2 pounds.

♥~ Penguins are social birds that form breeding colonies numbering in the tens of thousands. They may use the same nesting grounds for thousands of years, and colonies can number in the millions.

♥~ Emperor penguins and king penguins do not make nests. Instead, a single egg for each mated pair is incubated on a parent’s feet and kept warm by a flap of skin called a brood pouch.

♥~ Penguins are not natural tap dancers.

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I am now buttoning up my overcoat and taking my kid too school…Baby it is cold out there!

TGIF!