~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
July 30, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote: Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. ~ Mark Twain

★~ Comedy Day:

How synchronistic that I wrote an Odd blog post about laughter on Comedy Day without even knowing it was Comedy Day! I guess it’s true: Laugh, and the whole world laughs with you!

★~Father-In-Law Day:

I love my father in-law! We spent a lot of time together when he worked with Joe on our bathroom that took two years to complete. In fact, he might have been the reason I did not kill Joe during the bathroom remodel. He taught me how to check pasta to see if it was “al dente” and entertained me with stories from when he was a fireman. One afternoon, he stopped by to visit while he smoked a cigar on the patio and I was horrified when I saw him. He looked like he had been in a terrible fight—his face was scraped, his nose was swollen and he had a black eye. Before I could ask what in the world had happened, he looked at my horrified face and said…“Katybeth, this is bad…but you should see the other guy.”

Hope you enjoy your father-in-law as much as I enjoyed mine. I sure do miss him, but I take pleasure in the fact that I enjoyed so much of his company during our time together.

★~Paperback Book Day:

Don’t let all those Kindles, iPads and Nooks fool you—we still love a good steamy paperback book, as proven by E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey, which has sold over a million copies in just 11 weeks. These unprecedented sales broke the previous record set by Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, which took 36 weeks to break the million mark.

If you are over 40 and not my sweet mom, celebrate Paperback Book Day by picking up your copy of Fifty Shades of Grey. Just pretend the only reason you are reading it is to write your report for the Legion of Decency. (By the way, I’ve heard the writing is much improved by book 3, just sayin’…)

★~Cheesecake Day:

Say cheese…cake!

Celebrate Cheesecake Day with a piece of cheesecake served up any way you like it! Cheesecake often dresses up to fit the region it is from. New York-style cheesecake uses heavy cream and cream cheese in its recipe, while Pennsylvania Dutch-style cheesecake uses a tangy, curdy cheese called farmer’s cheese. Chicago cheesecake is another cream cheese version that has been made popular by Eli’s Cheesecake Company. This style of cream cheese cake is firm on the outside and creamy inside. People from Chicago claim there is none better.

Let them eat cheesecake any way they like it: served plain or dressed up with fruit or chocolate.

★~ Today in History:

♥ ~ 1835 – Paperback books introduced. Although books bound in soft covers were first introduced in 1841 at Leipzig, Germany, by Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz, the modern paperback revolution dates to the publication of the first Penguin paperback by Sir Allen Lane at London, England, in 1935. Penguin Number 1 was Ariel, a life of Shelley by Andre Maurois. Click for more fascinating facts about paperbacks!

♥~ 1898 – Scientific American carried the first magazine automobile ad. The Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH invited readers to “Dispense with a Horse.”

♥~ 1956 – The phrase “In God We Trust” was adopted as the U.S. national motto.

♥~ 1998 – A world-record Power-ball jackpot of $295.7 million was won by a group of 13 machinists who worked together in Westerville, Ohio. The group chose the cash option, and received a lump-sum payment of $161.5 million dollars.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1818 – Emily Bronte author: Wuthering Heights; died Dec 19, 1848

♥~ 1863 – Henry Ford auto manufacturer: first assembly line production: the Tin Lizzie; died Apr 7, 1947

♥~ 1946 – Jeffrey Hammond musician: bass guitar: group: Jethro Tull: Locomotive Breath, Minstrel in the Gallery, Steel Monkey, Living in the Past, Sweet Dream, The Witch’s Promise

♥~ 1947 – Arnold Schwarzenegger actor: Eraser, The Terminator, Predator, Twins, Conan the Barbarian, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, True Lies, Last Action Hero; married to Maria Shriver; 5-time Mr. Universe; part owner of Planet Hollywood restaurants; governor of California [2003-2011]

♥~ 1950 – Frank Stallone actor: Rocky series, Staying Alive, Ten Little Indians, Hudson Hawk, Tombstone, Doublecross On Costa’s Island; brother of actor Sylvester Stallone

♥~ 1956 – Delta Burke actress: Delta, Designing Women, Filthy Rich, Chisholm; Miss Florida

♥ ~ 1958 – Kate Bush singer: Experimental IV, Running Up That Hill, The Man with the Child in His Eyes, Wow, Wuthering Heights

♥~ 1963 – Lisa Kudrow actress: Friends, Mad About You, The Opposite of Sex, Analyze This, Dr. Dolittle 2

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ The average adult laughs 17 times a day

♥~ When you laugh, fifteen facial muscles contract and stimulation of the zygomatic major muscle (the main lifting mechanism of your upper lip) occurs.

♥~The physiological study of laughter has its own name — gelotology

♥~ People are 30 times more likely to laugh in social settings than when they are alone (and without pseudo-social stimuli like television).

♥~ Many researchers believe that the purpose of laughter is related to making and strengthening human connections. “Laughter occurs when people are comfortable with one another, when they feel open and free. And the more laughter [there is], the more bonding [occurs] within the group,” says cultural anthropologist Mahadev Apte.

♥~ Some scientists believe that laughing caused by tickling is a built-in reflex. If this is true, then, theoretically, you should be able to tickle yourself. But you can’t — not even in the same area and the same way someone else tickles you into hysteria! The information sent to your spinal cord and brain should be exactly the same. But apparently, for tickling to work, the brain needs tension and surprise — something that’s obviously missing when you tickle yourself. How the brain uses this information about tension and surprise is still a mystery.

♥~ Researchers estimate that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike. Laughing can be a total body workout! Blood pressure is lowered, and there is an increase in vascular blood flow and in oxygenation of the blood, which further assists healing. Laughter also gives your diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg and back muscles a workout. That’s why you often feel exhausted after a long bout of laughter — you’ve just had an aerobic workout!

♥~ The psychological benefits of humor are quite amazing, according to doctors and nurses who are members of the American Association for Therapeutic Humor. People often store negative emotions, such as anger, sadness and fear, rather than expressing them. Laughter provides a way for these emotions to be harmlessly released. Laughter is cathartic.

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Remember If it makes you smile, giggle or laugh…Do it again!

Odd Love’s Company!