~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
April 7, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote:  “Beer: the cause of – and solution to – all of life’s problems.” – Homer J. Simpson

★~ National Beer Day:

You foam within our glasses, you lusty golden brew,
Whoever imbibes takes fire from you.
The young and the old sing your praises,
Here’s to beer,
Here’s to cheer,
Here’s to beer!

People have been brewing beer ever since they began cultivating domesticated grains 8,000 years ago and beer has been an important part of human culture ever since. For example, over 4,000 years ago an anonymous poet wrote an ode to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer and brewing! Today, beer is the third most popular beverage in the world behind water and tea.

In 1933 on this date President Franklin Roosevelt took the first step toward ending Prohibition and signed a law that allowed people to brew and sell beer as long as it remained below 4% alcohol by volume (ABV). Despite the low ABV, Americans were thrilled to be able to purchase beer for the first time in thirteen years!

★~ World Health Day

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World Health Day commemorates the founding of the World Health Organization in 1948. The theme for 2014 is “small bite, big threat.”

★~ No Housework Day:

Do you feel like your mother’s house was so much cleaner and more organized than yours?  In the 70’s women still spent about 30 hours a week maintaining their homes by the year 2000 they were cleaning 13.5 hours a week. Working outside the home has certainly contributed to the decrease in cleaning time; women are also doing things faster with the help of household gadgets AND probably more to the point we have given up on a lot of tasks.

Today we can give up all those household tasks and just let the dog hairs fall where they may.

★~ Coffee Cake Day:

You were probably just thinking: “Man, coffee cake gets no respect!” And you’re almost right. In a city that worships the cupcake, the red velvet pancake, and those steel cut oats your trainer insists you start the day with, it’s easy to over look the good old fashioned coffee cake.   The groovy thing about coffee cake is that it’s pretty versatile when it comes to what goes in it and when you can eat it. There are probably always some slices staring up at you from the pastry case at your morning coffee stop spot, and it’s fun to get a piece on the side to share when you’re out for breakfast or brunch. Plus, it has a long history; we can thank the Danish for popularizing the pastry, since the custom of having a sweet bread with coffee originated with them and spread through Europe in the seventeenth century. Easy Coffee Cake Recipe

★~ Today in History: 

♥~ 1864 – The first camel race in America was held. Nope — not in the Mojave Desert; but in Sacramento, California.

♥~ 1969 – The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material (Stanley v. Georgia).

♥~ 1970 – John Wayne, a movie veteran of over 200 films, won his first and only Oscar. The Duke earned an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in True Grit, also starring Kim Darby and Glen Campbell

♥~ 1973 – Vicki Lawrence got her number one single as The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia made it to the top of the pop charts on this day. Lawrence had become well known as the comedienne who played Eunice’s mother on The Carol Burnett Show and Mama’s Family.

♥~ 1979 – Ken Forsch of Houston pitched a no-hitter over the Atlanta Braves, 6-0. Forsch walked only two batters. It was the earliest no-hitter ever pitched in a baseball season. He and his brother, Bob, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, were the only brothers to ever pitch no-hitters in the big leagues. Bob threw a no-hitter on April 16, 1978.

★~Born Today:

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♥~ 1915 – Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan)‘Lady’: jazz singer: Lover Man, They Can’t Take that Away from Me, Fine and Mellow, Don’t Explain, Strange Fruit, God Bless the Child; died July 17, 1959

♥~ 1928 – James Garner (James Scott Bumgarner) actor: Rockford Files, Maverick, The Americanization of Emily, Victor/Victoria, Tank, A Man Called Sledge, Duel at Diablo, The Distinguished Gentleman, My Fellow Americans, Space Cowboys

♥~ 1933 – Wayne Rogers actor: M*A*S*H, Cool Hand Luke, Passion in Paradise, Pocket Money, The Killing Time, Chiefs, The Gig

♥~ 1939 – David Frost TV host: That Was the Week that Was, The David Frost Show

♥~ 1939 – Charlie Thomas singer: group: The Drifters: There Goes My Baby, When My Little Girl is Smiling, Save the Last Dance for Me, Up on the Roof, This Magic Moment, Under the Boardwalk, Sweets for My Sweet, Saturday Night at the Movies, On Broadway, Dance With Me

♥~ 1954 – Jackie Chan martial arts performer, actor: Rush Hour series, The Big Brawl, The Cannonball Run, The Protector, Ninja Thunderbolt, Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Knights

★~ Good to Know:

♥~  Bathe In It: The next time someone says you smell like a brewery, tell them you just got back from the spa. All over Eastern Europe, people are literally bathing in warm beer as a physical and mental therapeutic treatment. Not only are the yeast and vitamins great for the skin and hair, but the natural aromatics of the hops, a key ingredient in beer, offer a dip more relaxing than a regular hot tub. Enjoy a beer bath by pouring a couple bottles in your tub and popping one open to sip while you guzzle. (Kind of sounds like a redneck spa day,  just sayin’). Bonus: Beer Shampoo recipes. 

♥~ Eat It: While drinking may be the preferred method, eating beer is not out of the question. Everyone’s had beer-battered fish or chicken, but Mark Zable brings a whole new twist with fried beer recipe. Zable’s secret is a ravioli-shaped pocket of dough that protects the beer inside while the outside gets fried to a crisp after 20 seconds in hot oil. The invention earned him a top award at the 2010 Texas State Fair’s Big Tex Awards, a competition filled with odd, deep fried concoctions like Pop Tarts, a club salad, and another alcoholic entry, Deep Fried Frozen Margarita. Deep Fried Beer

♥~ Control Pests With It: If you have mice pour about an inch of beer in the bottom of a five-gallon bucket, then lean a 2×4 on the outside to create a ramp. The mouse will climb up and in to get his fill, but not be able to get out. With the mouse trapped inside, you can carry the bucket to a nearby field and pour him out. Of-course, as soon as he recovers he will be back for more and a mouse is bad but a mouse that is a lush not good.

♥~ Political Platform–Beer for my friends: In the mid-1990s, The Beer Lovers Party had candidates in Belarus (their mascot was a drunken hedgehog) and Russia (they raised nearly 700 million rubles for the 1995 elections). In Norway’s 2005 parliamentary election, the Beer Unity Party received 65 votes. The Lower Excise Fuel and Beer Party has had candidates in the 2001 and 2005 Australian elections. Even Canada’s Draft Beer Party had a candidate in a 1979 provincial election. Normally these beer parties are used as a joke to make a satirical comment on the political process. Their point made, they collect an insignificant number of votes, then disappear forever. However, that wasn’t the case with the Polish Beer Lovers Party, which started as a farce, but wound up becoming a serious political platform. For the 1991 parliament elections, voters were looking for a different perspective in government. Many found that difference in the pubs where the Beer Lovers Party would gather to have serious discussions about the direction of the country. With the help of this grassroots movement, the party wound up capturing 16 parliament seats. Upon seeing the opportunity to create real change, some members dropped their satirical ways and renamed their faction the Polish Economic Program. They went on to become a legitimate force in the 1992 election of Hanna Suchocka as Prime Minister.

♥~ Play With It: Beer pong is all the rage today, especially in fraternity houses, even though it was invented nearly 60 years ago by the Maune brothers of St. Louis. The game has been simplified over time (the original version required paddles and a net) to the point it is now little more than beer cups on both sides of the table that are targets for a thrown or bounced ping pong ball. While rules and gameplay differ from party to party, there has been some effort to legitimize the sport with the establishment of the World Series of Beer Pong, held annually since 2006. The World Series’ governing body of bros have set up rules that are used at official regional tournaments, leading up to the big finale in Las Vegas, where the champion two-man team takes home $50,000.

♥~  Start a War With It: Between 1937 and 1941, Japan and China fought what has become known as The Second Sino-Japanese War. An estimated 1.5 million Chinese and 396,000 Japanese soldiers were killed, not including countless civilians on both sides. The hostilities began in earnest on the night of July 7, 1937, at what has now been dubbed The Marco Polo Bridge Incident. That evening, Japanese forces stationed in a neutral area near Beijing conducted unannounced military maneuvers by the bridge. China’s National Revolutionary Army mistakenly thought they were being attacked, so a few shots were exchanged. There were no reported deaths or injuries, but when a member of the Japanese army did not return to his post, it was thought that he had been captured by the Chinese. Throughout the night and early morning, shots were fired, troops and artillery were amassed on both sides, and everything appeared headed for all-out war. A cease-fire was eventually called, but hostilities remained in the region. A month later, after more skirmishes, Japan launched a full-scale invasion. Where does beer fit into all this? The missing Japanese soldier was eventually found alive and well. According to legend, he ducked out during the military maneuvers and went to a nearby bar to get a bottle of Five Star Beer, a popular brand in Beijing.

♥~ Build With It:  In the deserts of the American Southwest, there aren’t many natural resources for constructing buildings. So when small mining settlements started cropping up in the early part of the 20th century, people had to use whatever they could to build. Because a saloon was usually one of the first things raised in these small towns, there was always an ample supply of empty beer bottles. By using bottles as bricks and adobe or concrete for mortar, many homes and stores were constructed with tens of thousands of empty beer bottles. The glass is said to be perfectly good for insulation and creates a strong exterior, able to withstand just about any weather Mother Nature can throw at it. The trend caught on and bottle buildings can now be found throughout the country. While these houses are impressive, they’re nothing compared to Thailand’s Buddhist temple Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew, known as “The Temple of a Million Bottles.” Since 1984, the monks living there have used approximately 1.5 million discarded beer bottles from nearby towns to create a 20-building complex complete with a main temple, living quarters, and prayer room. The monks even use old bottle caps to create mosaics and other decorative touches.

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Once again, I find my Southwest history lacking. . .I was born in Roswell, New Mexico and never heard anything about the UFO’s growing up and I had no idea southwest houses were being constructed out old salon beer bottles and adobe. Learn something everyday.

The first song that play on my computer this morning was Beer For My Horse by Toby Keith. I think, it was a sign. It’s going to be a good week.

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Wishing ya’ll a most Merry Monday!

Odd Loves Company