~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 11, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote:  Even if there is nothing to laugh about, laugh on credit.  ~Author Unknown

★~ Presidential Joke Day:

Presidential Joke Day is a holiday to commemorate the fact that presidents sometimes have a sense of humor.

The holiday began in 1984, when Ronald Reagan made a joke during a sound check for a radio broadcast. “My fellow Americans,” he said, “I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

Reagan was not aware, however, that his feed was live. And unfortunately, not everyone got the joke. Soviet officials got word of the broadcast and put the military on high alert.

Once the threat of nuclear war had abated, Americans found the situation hilarious, and decided to memorialize Reagan’s famous quip by instituting National Presidential Joke Day on August 11th. Here are a few presidential knee slappers to start the day with….

Ronald Reagan: “I hope you’re all Republicans.” —Speaking to surgeons as he entered the operating room following a 1981 assassination attempt

George W Bush: “We’re studying safe levels for arsenic in drinking water. To base our decision on sound science, the scientists told us we needed to test the water glasses of about 3,000 people. Thank you for participating.” —At the 2001 Radio-Television Correspondents’ Association dinner

Barack Obama: ”There are few things in life harder to find and more important to keep than love. Well, love and a birth certificate.”

John F. Kennedy: “I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy: Dear Jack, Don’t buy a single vote more than is necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide. Addressing complaints that his father’s money was buying the primary for him.

Teddy Roosevelt: When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‘present’ or ‘not guilty.’”

 ★~Last Day Of The Dog Days Of Summer:

The “dog days of summer” fall between July 3 through August 11. Those days are the 20 days before and 20 days after the “Dog” star Sirius rises and falls in conjunction with the sun. Sirius is the brightest star in the constellations Canis Major (Great Dog) The ancient Romans believed heat from the star Sirius added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot and sultry weather and coined the term-Dog Days of Summer.

★~ National Raspberry Tart Day:

Ah, the tart—Today we are celebrating the perfect combination of crispy crust, creamy filling, and Raspberries. Tarts were first introduced during the Middle Ages. Though fruit-topped tarts are sweet and decadent, many salty varieties also exist. For example, in France, many of these open-faced pies are made with eggs, cheeses, meats and vegetables. These savory tarts are similar to quiches. Whether filled with Raspberry, chocolate or goat cheese—tarts are delicious! To celebrate National Raspberry Tart Day, head to your local bakery to pick up one or if you are in the mood…make your own raspberry tart! But what every you do don’t steal one of the Queens!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1874 – Harry S. Parmelee of New Haven, CT  received a patent for the sprinkler head.

♥~ 1896 – Harvey Hubbell of Bridgeport, CT received a patent for the pull-chain, electric-light socket! Pull the chain, the light goes on. Pull it again, the light goes off. Pull it again and the chain comes off…

♥~ 1973 – The movie “American Graffiti” opened.   George Lucas’s film takes place during a single night near the end of summer in a small California town.

♥~ 1994 – The Iowa State Fair, opening in Des Moines, unveiled a life-size statue of singer Garth Brooks, sculpted from 250 pounds of butter.

♥~ 2006 – Jamie Gold, 36-year-old former Hollywood talent agent, won the $12-million grand prize in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, NV.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1921 – Alex Haley Pulitzer Prize-winning author: Roots [1977]; The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Queen; died Feb 10, 1992

♥~ 1925 – Mike Douglas (Dowd) TV host: The Mike Douglas Show; singer: The Men in My Little Girl’s Life; The Music Show, Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge; died Aug 11, 2006

♥~ 1949 – Eric Carmen musician: bass, keyboards, songwriter, singer: group: The Raspberries: Go All the Way; solo: All By Myself, Never Gonna Fall in Love, Almost Paradise, Again, Hungry Eyes,Make Me Lose Control.

♥~ 1953 – Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea) wrestler, actor: Mr. Nanny, Suburban Commando, Thunder in Paradise

★~  Good to Know: .The Real Song of Summer; It’s the song that make kids come running….

[youtube]http://youtu.be/CZB6WXDuM1g[/youtube]

♥~ Some ice cream trucks use a modified car stereo, but the classic ice cream truck sound comes from a unit called a chime box.

♥~ The chime box is not a flashy piece of equipment. It costs about $200, it’s has two knobs and only plays eight songs. For the same price, you can buy an iPod that holds about 3,500 songs,  But why would you want to play 3,500 songs? A vehicle blasting bass-heavy Top 40 hits is just obnoxious; inside a vehicle blasting a chime box version of “Little Brown Jug” is an ice cream angel  ready to grant your ice cream wishes. Any other music sends the wrong message. And the other alternative — no music at all — would be so odd. How would  kids  know when to run out of their houses?

♥~ According to ethnomusicologist Daniel Tannehill Neely, 19th century ice cream parlours had music boxes, mechanical cylinders with pins sticking out to pluck the tines of a steel comb as they rotated. Early foot-powered ice cream carts used racks of bells and shouting salesmen to attract customers, but when trucks came along, vendors needed something louder to be heard over the engine.

♥~ In 1927, the first known chime box was custom built, and it played a traditional Polish song called “Stodola Pumpa.” It became its vendor’s trademark. Ice cream trucks didn’t become ubiquitous until after the Second World War, and that’s when the Nelson Company began manufacturing chime boxes, though they weren’t terribly energy-efficient. In 1957, Nichols Electronics improved the electronics of the design, and introduced the digital version in 1985.

♥~ When you hear an ice cream truck playing “Little Brown Jug,” you’re hearing an updated version of a 30-year-old digital unit that replicated the sound of a 55-year-old electronic unit, based on a 65-year-old mechanical unit, which was based on the music box, which was invented more than 200 years ago. And they’ve been using the same song for 70 years, and that song was written 75 years before that. A lot of technology went into making it sound so archaic.

We still have ice cream trucks in our neighborhood…a blog post for another day.

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A little dog was playing catch me if you can, and I did! Except, as I went in for the swoop, I did something to my back and end up holding my capture, while  howling in pain. Great. Camp is in full swing and Cole  is house sitting, so I popped a couple of Aleve and managed the first rounds of outs and breakfast. With luck Cole will rescue me for the second round. If he doesn’t, I will manage, and feel very sorry for myself.

Hope your day started off better than mine!

Odd Loves Company!

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