~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 14, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote: “Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” ~  Albert Einstein

★~ National Pi Day:

Pi (π) is the mathematical constant that has been known for almost 4000 years. Its value is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter in Euclidean space or the ratio of a circle’s area to the square of its radius. The value of pi is approximately equal to 3.14159265, but it is an irrational number and its decimal representation never ends or repeats.

The lower case Greek letter π is used because it is the first letter of the Greek work περίμετρος (perimeter), which probably refers to its use in the formula perimeter divided by diameter equals the constant for all circles. The concept of π has become the most common ground between mathematicians and non-mathematicians. (I don’t really get it, but I appreciate the fact other people are excited by the concept and I thing the wheel graphic at the top of the page is cool–math has never been my thing.)

Coincidentally, today is also  the birthday of Albert Einstein, a man who was not unfamiliar with theories and mathematical concepts.

★~Potato Chip Day:

An Irish chef named George Crum invented potato chips in Saratoga Springs in 1853. One day, a picky customer kept sending his fried potatoes back to the kitchen, complaining that they were too thick and soggy. Crum responded by slicing the potatoes so thin that they couldn’t be eaten with a fork. The customer was so pleased with Crum’s crispy creation that they became a regular item on the restaurant’s menu

Americans consume 1.2 billion pounds of potato chips each year. It’s the nation’s favorite snack food! We love them as companions to sandwiches, dunked in dip, or as a midday snack. I just love them to pieces.

The best potato chip in the whole entire universe is Classic Lay’s.  Just in case you were wondering.  I don’t buy them all that often any more but I will buy a bag today and I’ll eat more than one!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1950 – The F.B.I. released its first Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The first person to make the list was Thomas James Holden.

♥~ 1959 – Elvis Presley made the album charts, but no one would have known by the title of the disk. For LP Fans Only was the first LP ever issued without the artist’s name to be found anywhere on the cover — front or back.

♥~ 1968 – After two seasons on television, ABC-TV showed the last episode of Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Robin. The first Batman episode was Hi Diddle Riddle, shown on January 12, 1966. The pilot program for Batman cost $300,000 — quite expensive by 1966 standards.

♥~ 1990 – Church officials in Belgium discovered that eight nuns had sold their convent in Bruges for $1.4 million, moved to France, and bought a castle.

♥~ 2005 – Thieves broke into an storage hall in Steinfurt, Germany, and stole 200 fully loaded gumball machines.

★~Born Today: 

[youtube]http://youtu.be/gl4Y4FWWkn0[/youtube]

♥~ 1879 – Albert Einstein Nobel Prize-winning physicist [1921]: developed the Theory of Relativity; died Apr 18, 1955

♥~ 1911 – Akira Yoshizawa was considered to be the grandmaster of origami. He is credited with raising origami from a craft to a living art.

♥~ 1933 – Michael Caine (Maurice Micklewhite) Academy Award-winning actor: Hannah and Her Sisters [1986], The Cider House Rules [1999]

♥~ 1945 – Michael Martin Murphey song writer, singer: Wildfire, Carolina in the Pines, What’s Forever For, Geronimo’s Cadillac, Renegade, A Long Line of Love.

♥~ 1948 – Billy Crystal, City Slickers, Throw Mama from the Train, Soap, When Harry Met Sally

★~ Good to Know: 

Albert Einstein. He was one of the greatest scientists of all time. He came up with the theory of relativity. He was born in Germany but moved to America, where he died in 1955. And yes, he rocked a wild hairdo. But what else to we know about him…

♥~ Einstein wasn’t a beautiful baby. When Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, the back of his head was reportedly so huge that his family worried something was wrong with him. But within the first few weeks, the shape of his head became more normal-looking.

♥~ Einstein was slow to talk. Some say he didn’t start speaking until age four. Stanford economist Dr. Thomas Sowell even coined the controversial term “Einstein Syndrome” to describe exceptionally bright people whose speech is delayed.

♥~  Einstein did NOT flunk math. It’s long been rumored that Einstein was a bad student — and these rumors have been fueled in part by headlines like one in a “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!” newspaper: “Greatest living mathematician failed in mathematics.” In fact, Einstein was not a poor student. He was conversant in college physics before he was 11 years old, was a ”brilliant” violin player, and received high marks in Latin and Greek. Before age 15 he had already mastered calculus.

♥~  Einstein had an illegitimate child. Before Einstein and his first wife, Mileva Marić, married, she secretly gave birth to their daughter at her parents’ home in Serbia, Time magazine reported. But the fate of the baby, who was named Lieserl, is unclear. She essentially disappeared from historical records shortly after birth. There is no evidence that Einstein ever saw his daughter.

♥~ Einstein set weird rules for his wife. Einstein demanded a lot from Mileva. In fact, he gave her a set of rules to follow. Included on the list was that she had to serve three meals day, to stop talking if he asked her to, and to expect no intimacy from him.

♥~ Einstein got along really well with his cousin. So well, in fact, that she — Elsa Einstein — became his wife in 1919. The two reportedly were romantically involved during Einstein’s first marriage, according to Bio.com.

♥~  Einstein was popular with the ladies. In letters that he wrote to Elsa, Einstein readily acknowledged many extramarital affairs. He wrote that his girlfriends showered him with “unwanted” affection, The Telegraph reported.

♥~ Wearing socks wasn’t Einstein’s thing. In another letter to Elsa, Einstein wrote that he “got away without wearing socks” at the University of Oxford. Eventually he became known for his unkempt appearance — though more attention was focused on his hair than on his feet.

♥~ Einstein was a member of the NAACP. Specifically, the chapter in Princeton, N.J., where he lived and worked. But even before Einstein moved permanently to America in 1933, he corresponded with civil rights activist and scholar W.E.B. Dubois, a founder of the NAACP. And during a 1946 speech at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, Einstein called racism “a disease,” the Harvard Gazette reported.

♥~  Einstein may have hastened his death. Einstein died on April 18, 1955 after suffering a burst blood vessel. According to the website of the American Museum of Natural History, doctors suggested surgery, but Einstein declined, saying, “It is tasteless to prolong life artificially.”

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It’s spring break all month at camp. Here are a couple of links to videos. You don’t need a Facebook account to view them. On days when the slush is unbearable I move the furniture and we play inside.

Chomper and Eloise 

Play Ball

Hopefully we can play outside today. It looks promising when we start the day with 44 degree weather, sunshine and potato chips!

Odd Loves Company!

PI!