~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
November 22, 2013

★~  Today’s Quote: I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous – everyone hasn’t met me yet. Rodney Dangerfield

★~ Start Your Own Country Day:

Today’s holiday originated at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York as a way to honor free-spirited people who believed they could start a country of their own.

Before you pack your belongings and head for green pastures, here are a few things to consider: How would any one person or collective group go about declaring independence from his or her native country and branch out to start a new one? If a group of people really disliked a country and wanted to secede, would the country let them? How resistant would our country be if someone wanted to separate on his or her private property?

The second issue that comes to my mind when considering starting a new country is how to obtain government services like public utilities, Internet, cell service, and cable. Better make sure existing companies will accept your country’s currency!

What would your flag look like? National anthem sound like? Who would you invite to live in your country? And, of course, you are going to want a constitution, right?

This is fun to think about…rather mind boggling, really. Here are a few websites I found to provide food for thought.Seasteading institute, NationStates, How to Start Your Own Country 

★~ Go For A Ride Day:

Don’t worry too much about where you’re going, just enjoy the ride! You might also want to join Alex Chacon on his motorcycle trip from Alaska to Argentina. . .

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85VErvTqgWc#t=78[/youtube]

★~ Cashew Day:

Did you read about the nut named Hazel? He robbed a bank! Walked right up to the teller and said, “Give me all the cashew have.”

Cashews are native to Brazil and have been widely cultivated in India and Africa ever since the Portuguese exported them during the 16th century. In addition to eating, parts of the cashew tree can be used for medicinal and manufacturing purposes. Acid from the cashew nutshells is effective in healing tooth abscesses and the tree’s seeds can be ground up into a powder and used as an antivenom for snake bites. The oil from the nutshells is used in brake linings as well as in rubber and plastic materials.

In a nutshell, whether you like them plain, salted, roasted, or covered in sugar, cashews are very tasty – so celebrate National Cashew Day by snacking on some or cooking them into your favorite recipes!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1950 – This was a slow night in the NBA. The lowest score recorded in the National Basketball Association was posted. The Fort Wayne Pistons (later Detroit Pistons) beat the Minneapolis Lakers (later Los Angeles Lakers) the score of 19-18.

♥~ 1955 – RCA paid the unheard of sum of $25,000 to Sam Phillips of Memphis, TN for the rights to the music of a truck driver from Tupelo, Mississippi: Elvis Presley. Thanks to negotiations with Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, RCA tossed in a $5,000 bonus as well — for a pink Cadillac for Elvis’ mother.

♥~ 1963 –  President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. Today, on the 50th anniversary of the assassination, CBS News will be streaming the original news broadcasts minute-by-minute in real time, just as the broadcasts were originally delivered, this time on CBSNews.com. The streaming will start at 1:40 p.m. ET , the same time the first CBS breaking news bulletins hit airwaves in 1963. The coverage of historic newscasts will continue through the weekend, marking those famous “four days in November” that comprised the assassination through President Kennedy’s funeral.

♥~ 1984 –  Fred Rogers of PBS’ Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood presented a sweater, knitted by his mother, to the Smithsonian Institution as “a symbol of warmth, closeness and caring,” according to museum officials.

♥~ 1991- Alice Cooper came to the rescue of two fans; Patrick and Dee Ann Kelly, whose California home was about to be re-possessed. Patrick had painted Coopers face on the house to help sell the property. Mr Cooper signed autographs to help raise money for the couple.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1921 – Rodney Dangerfield (Jacob Cohen) “I Don’t Get No Respect”: comedian, actor: Caddyshack, Easy Money, Back to School, Natural Born Killers, Ladybugs, The Dean Martin Show;died Oct 5, 2004

♥~ 1950 – Steve ‘Miami’ Van Zandt singer, songwriter, musician: guitar: groups: E Street Band, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul

♥~ 1956 – Richard Kind actor: Mad About You, Spin City

♥~ 1958 – Jamie Lee Curtis actress: A Fish Called Wanda, Forever Young, Halloween ’78, Halloween 2: The The Nightmare Isn’t Over!, Trading Places, True Lies, My Girl,Mother’s Boys, Love Letters, Anything But Love, Dominick & Eugene, Operation Petticoat; daughter of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh

♥~ 1961 – Mariel Hemingway actress: Delirious, Falling from Grace, Lipstick, Personal Best, The Suicide Club, Superman 4: The Quest for Peace, Manhattan, Civil Wars, Star 80

♥~ 1967 – Boris Becker tennis: youngest Wimbledon Men’s Champion [17 years old]

★~Good to Know: 

~ Wal-Mart averages a profit of $1.8 million every hour.

~ 35 million people shop at Wal-Mart every day, as much as the population of Canada.

~ Wal-Mart’s $316 billion U.S. retail sales exceed those of Kroger (KR +0.84%), Target (TGT -3.46%), Costco (COST +0.92%) and Walgreens (WAG +1.43%) combined.

~ The average Wal-Mart supercenter sells 140,000 individual items.

~ One of every four dollars Americans spend on groceries is spent at Walmart.

~ Wal-Mart opened between four and five new stores every week in 2012.

~ Walmart parking lots alone take up an area roughly the size of Tampa, Florida.

~ The Walton family is worth $150 billion, about as much as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg combined.

~ The Walton family has given away about 2 percent of its net worth to charity. Bill Gates is giving away 48 percent of his net worth and Warren Buffet 78 percent of his net worth.

~ In 2010, CEO Michael Duke’s annual salary of $35 million earned him more in an hour than a full-time employee makes in an entire year.

~ Wal-mart sales associates earn $8.87 per hour.

~ Between Wal-Mart’s opening in 1962 and 2002, the number of single-store retailers in the U.S. declined 55%.

~ Wal-Mart accounts for 25% of Clorox’s (CLX +1.51%) total sales.

~ Wal-Mart’s top-selling item in 2012 was the banana.

~ 90% of Americans live within 15 minutes of a Wal-Mart.

~ Wal-Mart’s net sales were $466 billion in 2012. That’s more than Argentina’s GDP.

~ Wal-Mart has 2.2 million employees, more than the population of Houston

~ If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be the 26th largest economy in the world.

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I don’t shop at Wal-mart; it’s not convenient, the smiley face makes me nervous, the store greeters are crabby (who can blame them) and I worry about prices falling on me. The Chicago stores are chaotic and smell like a mixture of old food and B.O.

Despite my personal aversion to Walmart, until now I ‘ve never made it a point to criticize people who shop Wal-mart. Live and let shop has been my motto. Sort of. This, however, changed when they ran an ad calling Thanksgiving, Black Thursday.  Now, I would like to drop frozen Turkeys on the heads of shoppers as they trample each other racing through the Wal-mart doors next Thursday. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Got one, Got another one!

Plain and simple: Wal-mart sucks.

And now on a more positive note. These stores will be closed on Thanksgiving. Keep up to date on the Facebook page. Our numbers may be few, but our voices are mighty!

Have a fabulous Friday.