~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 30, 2014

★~  Today’s Quote:  A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere. ~ Joyce Meyer

★~ Pencil Day:

On  March 30, 1858,  Hymen Lipman received a patent for a pencil with an attached eraser. The  pencil was praised for its precision during writing and drawing.

In Middle English the word, spelled pencel, meant “artist’s brush.” It was borrowed from Old French pincel or peincel, related to Modern French peinture “painting.” The French inherited the word from the Latin penicillus, for “little tail.”

My teen is constantly surprised by people who don’t have a pencil and sharpener handy. Apparently life without plenty of pencils and a quality sharpening is simple not much of a life. And don’t get him started on the value of a wooden ruler.

Awesome Pencils…..

More than 14 billion pencils are produced in the world every year – enough to circle the globe 62 times.

A single wooden pencil can write 45,000 words or draw a line that is 35 miles long. A pencil can also write underwater, upside down, or in zero gravity.

One pencil will draw a line 70 miles long.

Pencils don’t really contain lead. That gray matter is graphite and clay.

Two billion pencils are made in the United States each year.

Famous novelists Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck used pencils to write their books..

One million pencils are used annually on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

The average pencil can be sharpened 17 times,write 45,000 words or draw a line 35 miles long.

A good-size tree will make about 300,000 pencils.

Pencils were first painted gold because it is a color often associated with royalty and honor. During this time, a yellow pencil became known as the best type of pencil you could buy!

★~ National Doctors Day: 

The first Doctors’ Day observance was March 30, 1933, in Winder, Ga. The idea came from Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond, and the date was the anniversary of the first use of general anesthesia in surgery.

Chocolates and flowers won’t skyrocket as the nation celebrates Doctors’ Day, but nonetheless it is a day that deserves our attention. Since its inception in 1933, commemorating the March 30, 1842 discovery of anesthesia by Crawford Long, the medical profession has undergone astounding transformations. In 1933, the Nobel Prize in Medicine went to Thomas Morgan for a revolutionary concept now taught in grade school–that is, chromosomes play a role in heredity. These days we are able to map our genomes for a thousand dollars as a result of DNA sequencing and personalized medicine.

The red carnation is the official flower for Doctors’ Day.

★~ Take a Walk In the Park Day:

The sun is shining and a light coat should handle the chill, so my plan is to lace up my snickers, snap a leach on a pup and head out to encourage the spring fairies to keep up the good work!  Hope your weather is mild too and you can join me!

★~ Turkey Soup Day: 

Nothing – with the possible exception of bread baking – makes a house smell more like a home than a pot of homemade soup simmering on the stove. May I suggest a pot of Mom’s Turkey Soup?

★~ Today in History:

♥~1964 – “This … is … ‘Jeopardy’!” One of television’s best known game shows, Jeopardy, developed by Merv Griffin, aired on NBC-TV for the first time on this day. Art Fleming never missed one show in 2,500 programs. The infamous Final Jeopardy song has a name “Think!”, originally composed by Merv Griffin as “A Time for Tony” as a lullaby for his son Tony, it has served as the Final Jeopardy! round countdown music since the show’s debut in 1964.  Over the years, Griffin estimated that royalties from the theme song earned him roughly $70 million. And of-course Jeopardy has been big in the news with this controversial winner.

♥~1970 – Secretariat, the great race horse that went on to win the Triple Crown of horse racing in 1973, was foaled.

♥~ 1974 – John Denver reached the top spot on the music charts with his hit, Sunshine on My Shoulders

♥~ 1990 – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” opened in movie theaters throughout the U.S.

♥~ 1993 – In “Peanuts,” Charlie Brown hit his first home run.

♥~ 2001- New research showed British women had the most hair-free armpits and legs in Europe. The Austrian study shows 80% of British women regularly shave their legs and armpits. Italy, Spain and France were within 5% of the British total. Austria had Europe’s hairiest women with only 38% of women shaving.

★~Born Today:

♥~1853 – Vincent van Gogh – post-impressionist artist: The Potato Eaters, Sunflowers, The Night Cafe; died July 29, 1890

♥~1930 – Rolf Harris Australian entertainer, singer: Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport, Two Little Boys; actor: Web of Suspicion, The Rolf Harris Show, Rolf’s Cartoon Club

♥~1937 –Warren Beatty (Henry Warren Beaty) actor: Splendor in the Grass, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, Bonnie and Clyde, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Parallax View, Shampoo, Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Dick Tracy, Bulworth, Town and Country; Academy Award-winning director: Reds [1981]; Heaven Can Wait, Dick Tracy, Bulworth; Irving G. Thalberg Memorial [Academy] Award [2000]

♥~1945 – Eric Clapton (Eric Patrick Clapp) rock guitarist: group: Yardbirds: For Your Love; song writer: Layla, score for The Hit; Grammy Award-winning singer: Bad Love [1990], LPs: Tears from Heaven and Unplugged [1993], I Shot the Sheriff, Lay Down Sally, Promises, I Can’t Stand It, Wonderful Tonight

♥~1968 – Céline Dion Academy/Grammy Award-winning singer: Beauty and the Beast; LPs: Celine, Celine Dion, The Colour of My Love, D’eux, Falling Into You, Let’s Talk About Love, S’il Suffisait D’aimer, These Are Special Times, All the Way…A Decade of Song

★~ Good to Know: Why do College Basketball teams tear down the net

North Carolina State coach Everett Case didn’t realize he was starting a trend in 1947 he was just so excited with the Wolfpack’s Southern Conference title win that he decided to cut down the nets as souvenirs. His players gave him a boast and a tradition was born.

During the 1964-65 season  Case was diagnosed with cancer and resigned in midseason. When N.C. State advanced to the ACC tournament final and upset Duke, the players hoisted Case on their shoulders to cut the nets one final time. He died April 30, 1966.

“He said it was one of the happiest days of his life,” Weedon says.

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I woke up to 40 degree weather and sunshine. The only cloud in my day is not having having butter or milk, so after a trip to the store I plan to head outside with my campers and enjoy the day. Cole suggested starting up the fire pit with some Pinon wood. Sounds like a fine idea to me! Hope your Sunday is sunny too!

Odd Loves Company