~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 12, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote: “We all shine on…like the moon and the stars and the sun…we all shine on…come on and on and on…”  ― John Lennon

★~ Middle Child Day:

The oldest kid gets to do everything first, the youngest gets to be babied. But the middle child just gets lost somewhere in between, or at least that’s the thinking of “middle child syndrome.” So for all the middle children out there, lost in a sea of hand-me-downs, shared bedrooms, and babysitting duties, today you get to be the star. Because, come on, you know you were always Mom’s favorite. A few famous Middle Children are: John f. Kennedy, Princess Diane, David Letterman, Glenn Close, Lisa Simpson, Bill Gates, Julia Roberts,

★~ Vinyl Record Day:

The day is fast approaching when we’ll have to explain to younger generations that before music existed solely within cyber space and mp3 players half the size of a saltine, it lived on big vinyl records. And no you couldn’t make copies for your friends or take them with you on a jog, but they did the trick. So we honor this old school music format on the day Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. Dig out your old vinyl records and give them a spin.

★~ Julienne Fries Day:

Julienne refers to the cut of most vegetables, but usually potatoes, into a fry-like shape.The term was brought to the forefront of American pop culture by Ron Popeil’s commercials for the Veg-O-Matic, “It slices! It dices! It makes Julienne fries!” Urban legend indicates the word is derived from Julia Child. Click for more about French Fries.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1851 – Isaac Singer of New York City patented the double-treadle sewing machine on this day. Although a sewing machine had already been patented, Singer’s sewing machine was revolutionary, having a double treadle.

♥~ 1865 – Joseph Lister became the first doctor to use disinfectant during surgery. Hmm. Joseph Lister. That name rings a bell. Yep. Same Joseph Lister as the one whose name is on those bottles of Listerine mouthwash.

♥~ 1877 – Thomas A. Edison finished figuring out his first phonograph. Edison handed the model of his invention to John Kreusi with instructions on how to build it. Kreusi, a confident man, bet the inventor $2 and said that there was no way that the machine would ever work. He lost the bet.

♥~ 1964 – For the 10th time in his major-league baseball career, Mickey Mantle hit home runs from both the left and ride sides of the plate in the same game — setting a new baseball record. Would this be called  ‘am-bat-extrous’?

♥~ 1966 – The last tour for The Beatles began at the International Amphitheater in Chicago; and John Lennon apologized for boasting that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. London’s Catholic Herald said Lennon’s comment was “arrogant … but probably true.”

♥~ 2007 – A 35-year-old Canadian woman gave birth to rare identical quadruplets. Karen Jepp of Calgary, Alberta, delivered Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia by Caesarian section at Benefis Healthcare in Great Falls, Montana.

♥~ 2010 – 10,276 people in Inner Mongolia (China) set a new world record for the longest chain of human dominoes. The previous human domino record was set by 9,234 students in Singapore in 2000.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1910 – Jane Wyatt Emmy Award-winning actress: Father Knows Best [1957, 1958-59, 1959-60]; Gentleman’s Agreement, Lost Horizon, Amityville 4; died Oct 20, 2006

♥~ 1939 – George Hamilton actor: Love at First Bite, Act One, The Survivors, Zorro, the Gay Blade, Where the Boys Are, Evel Knievel, The Dead Don’t Die, Doc Hollywood

♥~ 1949 – Mark Knopfler musician: guitar, songwriter, singer: group: Dire Straits: Money for Nothing

♥~ 1963 – Anthony Ray aka Sir Mix-a-Lot Grammy Award-winning rapper: Baby Got Back [1993]; Let’s G, I’m a Trip, Square Dance Rap, Rippin’, Posse on Broadway, Ironman, My Hooptie

★~ Did You Know:

Have you noticed the massive thighs on the Olympic indoor track cyclists? Thunder doesn’t even begin to describe them. The largest ones, which at last count belonged to German cyclist Robert Forstemann (above), aptly nicknamed “Mr. Thigh,” are as wide as the average man’s waist (34 inches around). This photo features Andre Greipel and Robert Forstemann as they stood in the middle of the German camp in their underwear, displaying their bulging legs for the camera. Forstemann’s taut, veiny thighs, which hardly compare to the svelt-looking cyclist to his left, look like stuffed turkeys on Thanksgiving Day

Track cyclists have to whip around the velodrome at lightning-fast speeds, often vaulting past their opponents to take the lead. For that kind of power, athletes need explosive leg strength, which comes from the butt and quads, while keeping the rest of their bodies slim and aerodynamic. Cyclists will endure all sorts of leg-pounding exercises including squat jumps, leg presses, and hamstring curls. But British cyclist Chris “Golden Thighs” Hoy, whose meaty quads have inspired not one but two Twitter feeds, didn’t become Britain’s most decorated Olympian with just a few leg lifts. While training, the 36-year-old spends three hours a day on the cycle track and another two hours at the gym testing the bounds of his muscles by doing exercises like using his feet to lift two-and-a-half times his own body weight.

While thigh size doesn’t necessarily translate to Olympic medals, it’s still a serious bragging right. Curently, the Germans, i.e. Mr. Thigh, still reign supreme.

“Those German track sprinters are pretty much legendary,” Beth Newell, a U.S. cycling champion told the New York Times. “I don’t think any of them have names, even. They just get referred to by their quad size.”

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We took our Florida vistors out to watch a little of the Perseids meteor shower last night. Blankets, hot chocolate, and a bench by the beach was all we needed to watch the show. Abby saw her first falling star followed by 7 more while the rest of us saw at least as many. It was fun!

What are your plans for today? Odd Loves Company!

♥