~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 31, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote:  What you call dog with no legs? Don’t matter what you call him, he ain’t gonna come. (anonymous–I wonder why….?)

★~ Rabbit Rabbit: 

Today is the last day of the month and you know what that means don’t you?  It’s time to prepare for the first of the month and all that can be yours by simple saying  ”rabbit, rabbit!” The first words out of your mouth on the first day of April must be “rabbit, rabbit”.

★~ Earth Hour:

Earth Hour, the annual event that turns off lights as a statement for cleaner energy, marks its fifth year this Saturday.  But a free-market think tank is trying to get some traction with its alternative: the Human Achievement Hour, when people are encouraged to leave lights on to show their appreciation for inventions “and the recognition that future solutions require individual freedom not government coercion.”

In one corner is the conservation group WWF, which helped start Earth Hour in 2007 and expects that landmarks that will participate this year will include the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

In the other corner is the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The Human Achievement Hour (HAH) is a celebration of individual freedom and appreciation of the achievements and innovations that people have used to improve their lives throughout history. To celebrate Human Achievement Hour, participants need only to spend the hour from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on March 31 enjoying the benefits of capitalism and human innovation.

Michelle Minton, the Competitive Enterprise Institute fellow who came up with HAH in 2009, believes that “a lot of people celebrating Earth Hour truly just want a clean and healthy environment for themselves and their families — a completely reasonable opinion, which I share — I felt their support was beinged by the environmentalist movement to spread a message that is much less positive. Many environmentalists see humans as fundamentally destructive and want to force individuals to conserve,” she adds. “Earth Hour is an attempt to convince lawmakers that the majority of the population wants them to clamp down on progress.”

Earth Hour or Achievement Hour? Which one will you celebrate? I’m just going to turn off a couple of lights and toast both groups with a little bottle of cold Coke. I’m a stronger supporter of the middle ground these days.

★~ She’s Funny That Way Day:

How do the women in your life make you laugh? Pay tribute to the female funny bone today, and laugh with the funny ladies in your life.

★~ National Clams on the Half Shell Day:

Are you feeling bold today? In a “why not?” sort of mood? Well then, eat clams the way sharks and squid do — raw and in their shell. Not feeling that bold? Well, feel free to have your clams fried, baked, or boiled. You can also add them to chowder or pasta! us

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1889 – The Eiffel Tower opened in Gay Paree. A beautiful sight, no? Well, not so to writers, Guy deMaupassant and Alexandre Dumas who condemned the Eiffel Tower as a “horrid nightmare.” The Eiffel Tower was named after its designer, architect, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel who built the structure for the Paris Exhibition of 1889.

♥~ 1951- There’s an old joke that goes like this: A bunch of scientists created a huge machine capable of complex calculations and called it UNIVAC. Eager to test their invention, they asked it, “Is there a God?” The vacuum tubes hummed and the tape spools spun for several minutes. Finally, the machine spit out a little card, on which was written, “THERE IS NOW.” On this day in 1951, the Remington Rand Corporation signed a contract to deliver the first UNIVAC computer to the U.S. Census Bureau. UNIVAC I (which stands for Universal Automatic Computer) took up 350 square feet of floor space — about the size of a one-car garage — and was the first American commercial computer.

♥~ 1954-Leica introduced a revolutionary new 35-millimeter camera with dialed shutter speeds, interchangeable lenses, and a film-winding lever.

♥~ 1985 –“The Love Boat” celebrated its 200th TV episode by honoring its 1,000th guest star, Lana Turner.

♥~ 1984 – Kenny Loggins started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Footloose’, the theme from the film with the same name, a No.6 hit in the UK.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1811-  Robert Bunsen, German Scientist who helped develop the Bunsen burner. You know, that thing that sat on the shelf in your chemistry class that you always wanted to use in cool experiments requiring fire, and, at its hottest setting, produces an impressive roaring blue flame but instead you spent all your time learning about the periodic table.

♥~ 1928 – Gordie Howe, Hockey Hall of Famer, turns 84

♥~ 1934 – Richard Chamberlain, Actor, Dr. Kildare, The Thorn Birds; Centennial, Shogun, The Towering Inferno, Julius Caesar  turns 78

♥~ 1934 –Shirley Jones, Actress (“The Partridge Family”), turns 78

♥~ 1943 – Christopher Walken, Actor, turns 69

♥~ 1945 – Gabe (Gabriel) Kaplan, Actor, comedian (“Welcome Back Kotter”), turns 67

♥~ 1948 – Rhea Perlman, Actress (“Cheers”), turns 64

♥~ 1950 –Ed Marinaro, Actor (“Hill Street Blues”), turns 62

♥~ 1955 – Angus Young musician: guitar: group: AC/DC: turns 57

♥~ 1985 – Jessica Szohr, Actress (“Gossip Girl”), turns 27

★~ Did You Know:

♥~ A clam has only two goals in life: to eat and to have sex, hence the phrase “happy as a clam”.

♥~ Unfortunately, as the clam has no brain, it derives no real pleasure from either food or sex.

♥~ The clam is a chemically driven shell full of salty flesh that exists to procreate. The clam’s remarkable fruitfulness serves not only to reproduce itself, bit also to feed countless organisms in the seaside food chain.

♥~ A 405 year old clam dredged from icy Arctic waters is being hailed as the world’s longest-lived animal.

♥~ Clams are usually thought of as one soft mass but they actually have body parts.That’s right, clams have a head, foot, and radula. (I was afraid to google radula but I did because I am brave–I guess it is kind of like a tongue.)

♥~ The geoduck or gooyduck is the largest species of clams on the face of the earth. The clam itself  can be as long as 7 inches, which is pretty big but the really impressive part is its long siphon that often reaches 3 1/2  feet in length. it weighs between 1 and three pounds, but there have been stories about 16 pound gooyducks.

#

The car.  If all goes well, we should have a deal on Monday. Unless, of course, I decide Cole should look at elephants. If only I could figure out the parking. I wonder if the police would give and elephant a parking ticket . . .towing would be tough.

I posted this last night (Friday), and if you did not read it, you really must. Especially if you have or know a kid who will be going through the College essay process. It’s fun. Hugh Gallagher’s ‘College Essay’

Odd is having a picture melt down, so if you see empty picture boxes on posts, we are working on getting it fixed. Damn! These blogs are like owning real estate sometimes —something always needs a quick fix.

Hope you have a wonderful Saturday!

♥