~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
July 13, 2012

★~  Today’s Quote: “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” – HAL, 2001: A Space Odyssey

★~ International Puzzle Day:

International Puzzle Day is celebrated on Architect Erno Rubik’s birthday (he was the  inventor of the famous Rubik’s Cube). Rubik’s Cube became a worldwide craze in the 1980s. Over 100 million Rubik’s Cubes were sold between 1980 and 1982 and, interestingly, the toy is not protected from unauthorized copies under patent law; instead,  the Rubik’s Cube is protected from reproductions as a work of art. When Erno Rubik invented the toy in 1974, he created one hand-made cube, and part of his goal was to create a challenging three-dimensional puzzle with aesthetic value. The cube is protected by copyright law until 70 years after the death of its creator. Fittingly, the Rubik’s Cube was placed on exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1981.

★~  Embrace Your Geekness Day:

The term geek means different things to different people, but basically, it’s an endearing term describing a really smart individual who lacks social skills or “coolness.” However, these days, with superstar geeks like Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook; Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc.; Bill Gates, co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation; and Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, being a geek has turned the corner and become a lot cooler!  Click to find out more about famous geeks who changed the world 

Embrace your geekness by trying out some of the Google tips and tricks listed below in “Did You Know.”

May The Force Be With You.

★~ Fool’s Paradise Day:

Traditionally, a fool’s paradise is “a state of happiness based on false hope.” The phrase dates back centuries to when the first recorded example was found in the Paston Letters of 1462: “I wold not be in a folis paradyce.” Shakespeare later used it in Romeo and Juliet in 1592. Perhaps another way to look at a fool’s paradise is to think of it as a world outside the box; a world filled with dreams, imagination, and possibilities; a place where we can go and gather the courage to march forward to the beat of our own bells. A fool’s paradise is not a final destination, but it may be a very good starting place to consider where we want to go next.

★~ Bean ‘n’ Franks Day :

Can I be Frank?  There isn’t much to say about Bean ‘n’ Franks Day. So I will just share a couple of recipes and wish you a very happy Beanie-Weenie Day. Happy Beanie Weenie Day.

Beanie Wienies For Grown-Ups

Bean ‘n’ Franks

★~ French Fry Day:

This day just gets better and better, doesn’t it? French fries to eat with your beans ‘n’ franks. Sweet, curly, spicy, cheesy, crinkled French fries are loved by everyone . . . everyone! Do you know one single person who does not love French fries?  That is why it’s so important to keep your eyes on fries; otherwise, they will disappear off your plate in the blink of an eye

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1812 – The first pawnbroking ordinance was passed in New York City on this day. Pawnbroking can be traced back at least 3,000 years to ancient China, and has been found in the earliest written histories of Greek and Roman civilizations.

♥~ 1939 – Frank Sinatra recorded “From the Bottom of My Heart” and “Melancholy Mood” with the Harry James Orchestra. It was Sinatra’s first record.

♥~ 1991 – Timothy Badyana set a Guinness World Record by running 10 kilometers in 45 minutes 37 seconds in Dayton, Ohio. He ran backwards.

♥~ 1969 – Over 100 US radio stations banned The Beatles new single ‘The Balled Of John and Yoko’ due to the line ‘Christ, you know it ain’t easy’, calling it offensive

♥~ 1995 – The temperature in Chicago, Illinois reached its all-time high — 106 degrees (Fahrenheit) — recorded at Midway Airport.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 100 B.C. – Julius Caesar Roman writer, orator, politician, emperor, dictator: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”; month of July named for him; assassinated Mar 15, 44 B.C.

♥~ 1942 – Harrison Ford actor: The Fugitive, Clear and Present Danger, Presumed Innocent, Indiana Jones series, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, American Graffiti, Sabrina, The Devil’s Own, Air Force One, Six Days Seven Nights, Random Hearts

♥~ 1944 – Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube.

♥~ 1946 – (Richard) Cheech Marin Cheech of Cheech and Chong; comedic actor: Desperado, Far Out Man, Born in East L.A., Rude Awakening, Nash Bridges, Judging Amy

★~ Did You Know:

Google Tips and Tricks:  Just type any of the following information into your search bar and prepare to be amazed

♥~ Get the local time anywhere : Type “time Melbourne, Australia time right now” in your search bar and the current time for Melbourne will pop up. You can also use the zip code of the location: “time 60634”

♥~ Weather: To see weather conditions and a four-day forecast for any U.S. location, type “weather” and a city or zip code. For example: “weather 79912” or “weather  El Paso, Texas”

♥~ Movies: Find movie info by typing “movies,” or the name of a current film, into the Google search box along with your location (city and state or zip code).

♥~ Package tracking: Enter the tracking number of a package from FedEx, UPS, DHL, or USPS into the search box to find out when your package will arrive

♥~ Flight status: Check the status of a U.S. flight by typing the name of the airline followed by the flight number. For example, to see the status for United Airlines flight 134, search for “United 134.”

♥~ Measurement conversions: You can get height, weight, and cooking measurement conversions. For instance, type “2 liters to cups” to see how many cups are in two liters.

♥~ Currency conversions:  Simply enter the currency conversion into the search box. For example, “80 pounds to dollars.”

♥~ Definitions: Type “define” followed by a word in the Google search box to get the definition, like “define perspicacity.”

♥~ Q&A: Ask a fact-based question or query (“population of Japan”) by typing it into the Google search box. You’ll see the answer at the top of your search results as well as a link to the source to find out more.

♥~ You can use Google to do math for you. Just type the equation, like 23*7+15/3=, and hit Enter. On the computer, * means “times” and / means “divided by.”

♥~ When you’re searching for something on the Web using,, put quotes around phrases that must be searched together. For example, if you put quotes around “dog toys,” Google won’t waste your time finding one set of Web pages containing the word “dog” and another set containing the word “toys.”

♥~ You don’t have to type “http://www” into your Web browser. Just type the remainder: “myoddfamily.com” or “deerantlersforpups.com,” for example. (In the Safari browser, you can even leave off the “.com” part.)

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I found out late that today is also Cow Appreciation Day, but frankly, I was just going to move happily along pretending Cow Appreciation Day never happened. But then El Morno friend Nancy showed up on Facebook and started to talk about the cows in her neighborhood. It’s not what you think! By way of a little background, Nancy lives out where god lost his sandals, on a hill, where the deer roam, and as Nancy shared, “The cattle will not stop mooing! For the love of God, can’t the farmer give them something to shut them up? When it turns dark, the coyotes start their yapping! I feel like I’m a part of the TV series Rawhide! Hit’em up and move’em out!” A little later she must have been feeling a little sorry for the cows because she shared, “Poor cows have nothing to graze on and the corn in the fields is just about lost too.” But her sympathy didn’t last long. As the evening wore on, she was back with, “Sweet Jesus, the cows won’t stop!”

I’m not sure how I’m going to break the news to poor, dear Nancy that today is Cow Appreciation Day, but all of a sudden, I’m very excited about properly appreciating them. And a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo . . .

 Odd Loves Company, so please feel free to moo along with me!