~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
October 18, 2013

Updated: October 18, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: When you look at a cupcake, you just have to smile. ~  Anonymous.

★~ Chocolate Cupcake Day:

Cupcakes! Chocolate Cupcakes! My Oh My What a beautiful day!

Cupcakes first emerged during the 19th century in the United States. There are two theories about how they got their name. One claims that the miniature cakes were originally baked in cups. The other suggests that the name comes from the recipe, which was measured out by the cup—one cup butter, two cups sugar, three cups flour, four eggs, one cup milk, one spoonful baking soda. Here are a few cupcake recipes followed by a few cupcake baking tips.

Decadent Warm Chocolate Cupcakes With Molten Centers 

Guinness and Baileys Irish cupcakes 

Chocolate Marshmallow Madness Cupcakes 

★~ No Beard Day:

Today men are  encouraged to grab their razors and liberate their long-suffering physiognomies from their tonsorial oppressors (in a word, shave). Strike that stubble, butcher that beard, hack off those handlebars and say “so long” to that soul patch. Sorry, ZZ Top, but today is a day for smooth, kissable faces.

★~ Today in History:

 ♥~ 1851 –   The tale of a big whale was introduced on this date in 1851, when Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” was published in England.

♥~ 1867 –  The U.S. made a big purchase from Russia .  The Alaska territory was more than half a million acres, about twice as large as Texas. The acquisition arranged by Secretary of State William Seward was derided with nicknames like “Seward’s Folly” and “Seward’s Icebox.”

♥~ 1904 –  A.J. Liebling. American journalist and author who said, “Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one.”

♥~ 1924 – The term ‘The Four Horsemen’ was used in a New York Herald Tribune article by columnist Grantland Rice. The referenced Four Horsemen were the backfield of the University of Notre Dame which had beaten Army, 13-7.

♥~ 1929 – Today is ‘Persons Day’ in Canada. The On this day the Judicial Committee of England’s Privy Council ruled that women were to be considered as persons in Canada. Previously, under English common law, women were persons in matters of pains and penalties, but were not persons in matters of rights and privileges.

♥~1954 – The comic strip Hi and Lois appeared in newspapers for the first time. Created by Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker (and Dik Browne). The strip appears in more than 1,100 newspapers around the world in 37 countries and is translated into ten languages.

♥~ 1961 – Le Bateau, by French painter Henri Matisse, went on display in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The painting attracted large numbers (over 100,000) of viewers. For 47 days, nobody realized that Le Bateau was hanging upside down.

♥~1983 – Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton received some gold to add to their collections — for their smash, Islands in the Stream.

♥~ 1985 –  Nicknamed after something big and cold, Chicago Bears rookie William “The Refrigerator” Perry became an overnight star during a Monday Night Football game against Green Bay in October 1985.  The two head coaches in that contest both celebrated their birthdays that game week, on October 18th:  Mike Ditka of the Bears (1939), and Forrest Gregg of the Packers (1933).

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1928  – Keith Jackson, American former sportscaster, was the distinctive voice, for the play-by play of “Monday Night Football”  during it’s first season, in 1970. He shares a birthday with  Forrest Gregg (Packers Coach)  and Ditka (Chicago Bears Head Coach) who were still active players in the NFL during the 1970 season.

♥~ 1927 –  George C. (Campbell) Scott Academy Award-winning actor: Patton

♥~ 1935 – Peter Boyle Emmy Award-winning actor: The X-Files

♥~ 1938 – Dawn Wells Miss Nevada [1959]; actress: Gilligan’s Island [and reunion movies: Rescue from Gilligan’s Island, The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island], 77 Sunset Strip, The Cheyenne Show, Maverick, Bonanza

♥~ 1939 –  Mike Ditka Pro & College Football Hall of Famer: Chicago Bears Rookie of the Year [1961]; Philadelphia Eagles; Dallas Cowboys tight end: Super Bowl V, VI; Chicago Bears head coach: Super Bowl XX; TV sports analyst: NBC Sports

♥~ 1951 –  Pam Dawber actress: Mork & Mindy,

♥~ 1989 – Joy Lauren, actress: Desperate Housewives

★~ Good to Know: 

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♥~Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) appeared 50 million years ago (the oldest known whale being Pakicetus), having (as revealed by DNA) a common origin with the hippopotamus.

♥~ 40 million years ago whales were divided into baleen whales and toothed whales. The oldest known baleen whale is Mamalodon (that lived 25 million years ago in Australia). The first gigantic baleen whales appeared 5 million years ago.

♥~ There are 15 species of baleen whales and 74 toothed whales (42 are dolphins).

♥~ The largest whale  is the blue whale: up to 100 ft in length and 181 tons, but the average size is 81-84 ft in length and 150 tons (of which 50 tons are blubber, as the fatty layer can be 16 inch) wide. The smallest baleen whale is the Pygmy Right Whale, 20 ft long and 3 tons heavy. The largest toothed whale is the sperm whale, which can reach 60 ft in length and 50 tons in weight.

♥~ Blue whale is solitary or lives in small groups of 2-3.

♥~ The large size of the whale is due to the food abundance in the sea and it is also a method of fighting the cold water of the sea

♥~ The heart of a medium sized baleen whale weighs 1,750 pounds, the tongue about 3 tons, the fatty liver one ton and the 9 ft long stomach around 1,250 pounds, requiring  3,000 pounds to be filled! The gut can be 833 ft long and a blue whale eats 5 tons of food daily!

♥~  The head represents 40% of the length of a right whale.

♥~ Whales have minute eyes: those of a blue whale’s are no larger than a small plate.

♥~ The whales’ lungs can store at each inspiration 5,000 liters of air. They usually breathe at every 15 minutes but they can hold their breath up to over an hour in the case of the sperm whale.

♥~ Whales give birth every 2-3 years. They need waters with temperatures of 72- 75F  in order to give birth, that’s why offspring are born in shallow tropical waters (Carribean, Hawaii, Australia and others). After a 10-12 months gestation, whales have just one calf.

♥~ The offspring measures at birth about a quarter of the mother’s length. During the birth, the mother is accompanied by several midwives, which will help the newborn to stay at the surface for breathing. The newborn whale is sustained by the mother by the tail and back till it learns how to swim.

♥~ The calf of the blue whale has the fastest growth rhythm in the animal world: more 250 pounds per day, 11 pounds per hour, one ton at each 9 days! At 3 years old, the blue whale is 50 ft in length. The calf of the humpback whale doubles its weight at 6 months, and at 11 months is 30 ft long.

♥~ The blue whale also possesses the largest penis in the world: 8 ft long!  Testicles have 0.5 tons and whales produce enormous sperm amounts.

♥~ Whales are the most long-living warm-blooded animals and only some reptiles (giant turtles) live longer. Male sperm whales attain their full size at 50 years.

♥~ The so-called killer whales can be 32 ft long, 6 tons heavy and have 50 dagger-like teeth.

♥~ Whales are famous for their singing, especially the blue and humpback whales. Their song can have different reasons: getting a mate, social interaction, alarm, keeping inter-individual distance, feeding, prey location and so on.

♥~ Scientists have discovered that each whale population has its own “language” which is understood only by whales of the same population.

♥~ The blue whale’s song has 155 and 188 decibels, thus this is the loudest animal in the world (by comparison, a pneumatic drill is about 100 dB). But blue whales sing at frequencies, between 10 and 40 Hz and infra sounds under 20 Hz cannot be heard by humans. Infrasound travels further than audible sounds, so whales can communicate at distances of 115 mi. The song of the blue whales is 10 seconds to 2 minutes long, while humpback whales sing for 5 to 30 minutes. The songs of the humpback whales have frequencies of 20-450 Hz and can be clearly heard by humans.

♥~ Breaching (lunging) is an amazing whale behavior, when they leap out of water. Humpback, right and sperm whales do it more often than other species. Breaching is thought to have a role in communication. It is the most powerful animal action and has the role of intimidating adversaries or impress females. A 33 tones humpback whales, it raises the biomass of 485 humans, each one weighing 190 pounds.

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Yesterday, our Saucy Aussie visitor helped improve the Chicago economy when we went shopping at the Fashion Outlet mall. Chicago appreciated it! Shopping was followed by a Greek dinner with another group of friends that wanted to wine and dine her! Can you be too popular.

Today, our Aussie will visit the Chicago Art Institute and then meet up with another El Morno friend in front of Chicago Picasso and head to lunch. Tonight, the girls in Cole’s 12th grade class are competing in their “last ever” Volleyball game, so I think we might head over to cheer them on this evening. It’s such fun having a visitor that is game for anything!

Wishing everyone a Fabulous Friday!

♥