~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 22, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote:  “Doing what you were born to do … That’s the way to be happy.” Agnes Martin

★~ Goof Off Day: 

Embrace the Ferris Bueller approach to life! Check in with your inner adolescent, and reconnect to a wonderful, carefree, and thrilling spirit that nourishes your soul. It’s a beautiful thing to throw a little caution to the wind, goof off, act young at heart, and play hooky from life every now and then. The school-skipping, life-living character in the film put it best when he observed, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”  Make the most of Goof Off Day! (Or someday very soon.)

★~ World Water Day: 

[youtube]http://youtu.be/FWwii1dX4v8[/youtube]

The purpose of this day is to raise awareness about the state of sustainable freshwater resources around the world. More than 880 million people on the planet do not have access to safe drinking water, and the amount of water we need to drink and to produce food, goods, and services continues to grow. The United Nations General Assembly announced the first World Water Day in 1993.

The United States is one of the world’s biggest users of water – a single American can use as much water as 900 Kenyans. As a result, water resources in the United States are shrinking. In the last five years, there have been water shortages in almost every part of the country, including the worst drought in at least 25 years, which hit 80 percent of the country’s farmland in 2012. This year, at least 36 states are expecting local, regional, or statewide water shortages, even if the drought doesn’t persist.

One of the Chicago Waldorf senior project presented this year was by a young women who wanted to throughly research water. Her report was fascinating. One of the questions she was searching for an answer to, “Should water rights be bought and sold?” And by the way, bottle water may be more convenient, but its not one drop better for you than ordinary tap water.

The Video above will show innovation and advertising at its finest: UTECH designed a billboard that can convert atmospheric humidity into drinking water through reverse osmosis in Lima, Peru where water shortage is one of the biggest problems. Peru only gets 2 inches of rainfall every year but has an extraordinarily high humidity, which is how this technological trick led to happy faces filling buckets of water and showering under the water dispenser below the billboard!!

★~ Coq Au Vin Day: (also on May 29)

Coq au vin is a French dish that literally means “rooster in wine.” The meal is made of braised chicken, red wine, mushrooms, and garlic; and it boasts a long history, with legends tracing it back to Julius Caesar and, later, Napoleon. In spite of its early beginnings, Coq au vin did not become popular until the early twentieth century. It’s not a dish easy did to whip together, so I suggest making reservations and going out. However, if you would like to give it a try, why not try it with Julia Childs’ recipe. If at first you do not succeed, don’t worry—this dish is celebrated again on May 29.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1767 – Joseph Priestly invented carbonated soda water, in Leeds, England.

♥~ 1914 – The world’s first airline began operations in St. Petersburg, Florida: The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line.

♥~ 1948 – The Voice of Firestone was the first commercial radio program to be carried simultaneously on both AM and FM radio stations.

♥~ 1972 – The U.S. Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (a.k.a. the Shafer Commission) urged an end to criminal penalties for the private possession and use of marijuana.

♥~ 2007 – Dorie-Ann Kahale and her five daughters moved from a homeless shelter to a mansion, courtesy of billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto. The Japanese real estate mogul handed over eight of his multimillion-dollar homes in Hawaii to low-income Native Hawaiian families.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1908 – Louis L’Amour novelist (Westerns): The Iron Marshal, The Quick and the Dead, Down the Long Hills, The Shadow Riders, The Daybreakers, Sackett, The Broken Gun, Utah Blaine, Kilkenny.

♥~ 1912 – Agnes Martin,  Canadian-American abstract painter, often referred to as a minimalist; Martin considered herself an abstract expressionist. She won a National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1998. Check out Googles Doodle honoring her today.

♥~ 1931 – William Shatner Emmy Award-winning actor: The Practice [2004], Boston Legal [2005]; Star Trek, Rescue 9-1-1, T.J. Hooker

♥~ 1947 – James Patterson mystery author: Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Women’s Murder Club, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard series; many stand-alone thrillers, nonfiction and romance novels

♥~ 1948 – Andrew Lloyd Webber composer: Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Cats, Phantom of the Opera

♥~ 1976 – Reese Witherspoon Academy Award-winning actress: Walk the Line [2005]; Freeway, Pleasantville, Cruel Intentions, American Psycho, Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, The Importance of Being Earnest

★~ Good to Know: Odds and Ends

♥~ All editors write headlines they dare not use. Put them here instead.

♥~ KTLA St Patricks Day Earthquake 3/17/2014

♥~  This List Proves You’re Never Too Old To Do Something Amazing

♥~  The Greatest Books of All Time, As Voted by 125 Famous Authors

♥~ “So, next time someone asks you what Twitter has done for you, you can say, “Nothing really, but let me tell you about a couple of birds in Minnesota…” Click to read more 

♥~ Keep headphone wires from getting tangled

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY9LIFKlDaU[/youtube]

♥~ A vending machine that can make pizza. What will they think of next!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrBg0lObjro[/youtube]

♥~ Kakapo egg was saved with tape and glue:  A kakapo is an extremely endangered, heavy, flightless parrot. There are only around 125 of these birds left in New Zealand. So when Lisa the Mom to be Kakapo accidentally stepped on her own egg. Ranger Jo Ledington repaired the egg as best she could, with masking tape and glue. Lisa was given a dummy egg, and the taped egg was placed in an incubator for safety. On February 28th, the egg hatched and a new kakapo named Lisa One was introduced to the world. By surviving this long, the chick may look forward to a long life—kakapos live to an average of 95 years. Click for pictures 

♥~  Surgery Saves Snake: A gray rat snake was found in a chicken coop in north Georgia. The snake had two large round objects in its stomach, one might image they would be chicken eggs. However the snake mistook golf balls for chicken eggs, Now for the odd part:  the chicken coop owner took the snake to get help for its problem! A team of veterinarians at the Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island performed surgery and removed the golf balls from the snake. The reptile is recovering, and will be returned to the wild as soon as it makes a full recovery.  I wonder how the Chicken coop owner gathered up the snake for the ride to the vet and who held the box shut. And what was the motivation for saving the snake that wanted to eat his chicken eggs? Clearly more research is needed.

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This morno, my teen is taking the June Bug for do-over autograph with the President of Fox Valley Volkswagen. The last time he attempted this run, the Bugs starter died. Let’s hope June-Bug is in the mood for a ride today. I may follow along in the van. The Bug has been running really well, but she is not exactly a road warrior and the dealership is about 20 miles from home. The good news is warmer temps!

How will you goof off today?

Odd Loves Company!

♥