★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 31, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: The secret to living the life of your dreams is to start living the life of your dreams today, in every little way you possible can.” ~ Mike Dooley

★~Rabbit! Rabbit! 

Today is the last day of the March and you know what that means don’t you?  It’s time to prepare for the first of the month and all that can be yours by simple saying  ”rabbit, rabbit!” The first words out of your mouth on the first day of April must be “rabbit, rabbit.”

★~  Baseball Opening Day:

Today is Baseball Opening Day! Often hailed as the true beginning of spring, Opening Day is the most important day of the year for baseball lovers across the country. For the next six months, over 750 players on thirty Major League teams will compete in 2,430 games.

Baseball has been revered as America’s National Pastime for over a century. Opening Day is a national event that brings fans together to celebrate the beginning of a new season. In recent years it has also provided an arena for “political pitchers.” Since 1910, every President except Jimmy Carter has thrown a ceremonial first pitch for Opening Day, the All-Star Game, or the World Series.

Opening Day Live: A Real-Time Guide to the 2014 Baseball Season

★~ Bunsen Burner Day: 

In 1852, a man named Robert Bunsen began working at the University of Heidelberg. He was trying to isolate chemical substances and soon became frustrated with the inefficient and smoky heat sources that were available in the laboratory. To solve the problem, he drew up plans for a burner that would mix gas and air prior to ignition. The result was the Bunsen burner, which is now used in laboratories all over the world.

Bunsen burners (along with Teclu burners and Meker burners) produce a smokeless blue flame at very high temperatures. Scientists use these types of burners for heating, combustion, and sterilization.

Do you have a Bunsen Burner memory from a high school chemistry class to share?

★~ National Clams on the Half Shell Day:

Are you feeling bold today? In a “why not?” sort of mood? Well then, eat clams the way sharks and squid do — raw and in their shell. Not feeling that bold? Well, feel free to have your clams fried, baked, or boiled. You can also add them to chowder or pasta!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1889 – The Eiffel Tower opened in Gay Paree. A beautiful sight, no? Well, not so to writers, Guy deMaupassant and Alexandre Dumas who condemned the Eiffel Tower as a “horrid nightmare.” The Eiffel Tower was named after its designer, architect, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel who built the structure for the Paris Exhibition of 1889.

♥~ 1951- There’s an old joke that goes like this: A bunch of scientists created a huge machine capable of complex calculations and called it UNIVAC. Eager to test their invention, they asked it, “Is there a God?” The vacuum tubes hummed and the tape spools spun for several minutes. Finally, the machine spit out a little card, on which was written, “THERE IS NOW.” On this day in 1951, the Remington Rand Corporation signed a contract to deliver the first UNIVAC computer to the U.S. Census Bureau. UNIVAC I (which stands for Universal Automatic Computer) took up 350 square feet of floor space — about the size of a one-car garage — and was the first American commercial computer.

♥~ 1985 –“The Love Boat” celebrated its 200th TV episode by honoring its 1,000th guest star, Lana Turner.

♥~ 1984 – Kenny Loggins started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Footloose’, the theme from the film with the same name, a No.6 hit in the UK.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1811-  Robert Bunsen, German Scientist who helped develop the Bunsen burner. You know, that thing that sat on the shelf in your chemistry class that you always wanted to use in cool experiments requiring fire, and, at its hottest setting, produces an impressive roaring blue flame but instead you spent all your time learning about the periodic table.

♥~ 1928 – Gordie Howe, Hockey Hall of Famer

♥~ 1934 – Richard Chamberlain, Actor, Dr. Kildare, The Thorn Birds; Centennial, Shogun, The Towering Inferno, Julius Caesar

♥~ 1934 –Shirley Jones, Actress (“The Partridge Family”),

♥~ 1943 – Christopher Walken, Actor

♥~ 1945 – Gabe (Gabriel) Kaplan, Actor, comedian (“Welcome Back Kotter”)

♥~ 1948 – Rhea Perlman, Actress (“Cheers”)

♥~ 1950 –Ed Marinaro, Actor (“Hill Street Blues”)

♥~ 1955 – Angus Young musician: guitar: group: AC/DC:

♥~ 1985 – Jessica Szohr, Actress (“Gossip Girl”)

★~ Good to Know: 

♥~ When Jimmy Pearsall hit his 100th home run in 1963, he ran the bases in the correct order but facing backward to celebrate.

♥~ Babe Ruth’s top salary was $80,000 (in 1930 and 1931). Adjusted for inflation, that’s the equivalent of a little more than $1.1 million today (a little less than middle reliever Antonio Bastardo made last year).

♥~ During World War II, the U.S. military designed a grenade to be the size and weight of a baseball, since “any young American man should be able to properly throw it.”

♥~ Pitcher Jim Abbott was born without a right hand and had a 10-season baseball career, including throwing a no-hitter for the New York Yankees vs. Cleveland in 1993.

♥~ Bobby Richardson won the World Series MVP in 1960 after hitting .367 with 12 RBIs — he played for the losing team.

♥~ Bank robber John Dillinger was once a professional second baseman, although he never made it to the major leages.

♥~ There is an actual minor league baseball team named after the Springfield Isotopes of The Simpsons episode “Hungry, Hungry Homer.” They are the Albuquerque Isotopes.

♥~ Every single MLB baseball is rubbed in Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud, a unique “very fine” mud only found in a secret location near Palmyra, New Jersey.

♥~ Herman “Germany” Schaefer stole first base on Aug. 4, 1911. he first stole second base, then ran back to first, then got caught in a rundown while trying to steal second again, his original intention so that his teammate on third could run for home.

♥~ In his very first at bat as a 28-year-old rookie pitcher, Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm hit a home run. His career lasted for 21 more years and 493 plate appearances, but he never hit another home run.

♥~  At a 1978 Texas Rangers–Baltimore Orioles game, George “Doc” Medich (who had been a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh before becoming a professional baseball player) saved the life of a fan in the stands who was suffering from a heart attack.

♥~ Johnny Bench could hold seven baseballs in one hand.

♥~ The world’s largest publicly available collection of baseball cards is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It has over 31,000.

♥~ According to Bill James, “Sunny Jim” Bottomley requested a cow when his fans wanted to give him a retirement present. They obliged and he named the cow Fielder’s Choice and took it to his farm.

♥~ Joe Sewell only struck out three times during the entire 1930 season (353 at bats). Two of them were in the same game.

♥~ Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old female pitcher for the AA Chattanooga Lookouts, once played the New York Yankees in an exhibition game and struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession.

♥~ In 1999, New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine was ejected from the game. In the clubhouse, he put on regular clothes and a fake mustache and returned to the dugout. The commissioner’s office fined him $5,000 for returning after an being enjected.

♥~ Joel Zumaya once missed three games in 2006 after injuring himself playing Guitar Hero.

♥~ In 1904, James E. Bennett patented a new proposal for catcher’s apparatus that would replace the glove and helmet altogether with big wire cage through which the pitched ball would pass through, hitting a padded mattress on the chest. It didn’t catch on.

♥~ A curveball thrown on Mars would become a screwball, and hitters would have the advantage since balls would also travel almost three times as far.

(BF, Mental Floss, Baseball facts)

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Oh what a beautiful Morno…Plenty of sunshine coming our way….makes me think of the song Oklahoma….

[youtube]http://youtu.be/9LdIL5WCso8[/youtube]

Someone informed me today that it might be warm but we still had plenty of cold days left. I stuck out my tongue out at her. Holy Wonderful Sunny day, who cares, about tomorrow. WHO CARES. Not me.

Have a very Merry Monday!

Odd Loves Company!