Rubik’s Cube, May Ray Day, Devil’s Food Cake Day

~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
May 19, 2014

The King

★~ Today’s Quote: “ If you are curious, you’ll find the puzzles around you. If you are determined, you will solve them. ~Erno Rubik

★~Rubik’s Cube Day:

Rubik Cube

Expect workplace productivity to plummet today as everyone who ends up on the Google homepage — basically, everyone — starts playing with a digital Rubik’s Cube. Google has created the doodle to honor  the 40th anniversary of the Rubik’s Cube

Last month, USA Today spoke to Enio Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube, about its enduring legacy.

“The Cube is full of contradictions,” Rubik said. “Humans like contradictions, because that makes life interesting and enjoyable. The Cube is very simple and very complex at the same time.”

Rubik noted that when it first came out, it was much tougher to solve.

“Nowadays it’s different,” he said. “You can learn it, you can find lots of things on the Internet. The combined power of the mind is much stronger than individual ones.”

★~ May Ray Day:

Rubik Cube, May Ray Day, Devil's Food Cake Day

Celebrating today is easy peesey…just take a moment to celebrate the beginning of warmer outdoor days due to the sun’s longer rays. If it is not warm and the sun is not shining wherever you may be…I prepared a plan B: Just find someone named Ray and say, “Happy May Ray Day, Ray.”

★~Devil’s Food Cake Day:

Rubik Cube, May Ray Day, Devil's Food Cake Day

Definition of deviled – A term describing food that is dark, rich, chocolate, spicily piquant or stimulating it is “deviled.” The term “deviled” for spicy foods dates back to the 18th century. Deviled dishes were popular throughout the 19th and into the 20th centuries, especially for seafood dishes.

Devil’s food cake was the favorite dessert of the early 1900s. In 1902, the recipe first appeared in an American cookbook called Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book by Sarah Tyson Rorer. By 1913, recipes began appearing in cookbooks across America.Devil’s Food Cake is also know as Red Velvet Cake, Red Devil’s Cake, Waldorf Astoria Cake, and $100 Dollar Cake. A beautiful mild chocolate flavor cake that is startlingly red. The cake is traditionally complemented with a thick white frosting with different regions of the country using different types of frosting. The cake gets this bright red color from the large amount of red food dye used in the preparation. A light-textured chocolate layer-type cake with a deep reddish brown color. Devils food cake is usually thought of in terms of dark chocolate, but originally it was red. Today cooks, using modern processed cocoa, sometimes add a touch of red food coloring to bring back the authentic color. This cake is particularly popular in New Orleans.

Devil’s Food Cake

Devil’s Food Muffins

Devil’s Food Cupcakes

Devil’s Food Fudge Cookies

Double-Chocolate Devil’s Food Pancakes

★~ Today in History:

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♥~ 1884 – Ringling Brothers Circus performed for the first time

♥~ 1886 –Eliza Donnithorne died in Sydney, Australia, 30 years after her fiancé left her waiting at the altar. In 30 years she never left her home and was still wearing her wedding dress when she died.

♥~ 1962- Marilyn Monroe serenaded President John F. Kennedy at his 45th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York City (Kennedy’s actual birthday was May 29). Her sheer, sparkling dress (which she had to be sewn into) and her breathily seductive version of “Happy Birthday to You” (which Kennedy joked was “sweet and wholesome” ) became a pop culture legend. The dress was auctioned in 1999 and sold for 1.26 million dollars.

♥~ 1965 –Roger Miller received a gold record for the hit, King of the Road. The song was Miller’s biggest hit record. It hit number four (3/20/65) on the pop charts and stayed there for 12 weeks. It was a number one country music hit (3/27/65) as well.

♥~ 1973 – Stevie Wonder moved to the number one position on the Billboard pop music chart with You are the Sunshine of My Life

♥~ 1991 – Jill Shields,  a 31-year-old Cleveland skydiver survived a two-mile fall after her parachute failed to open. Jill suffered spine and pelvic injuries when she landed in a swamp.

♥~ 1995 – Balamurali Ambati was graduated from Mount Sinai Medical School to become the world’s youngest doctor at age 17.

♥~ 1997- In Rostock, Germany, Oskar the Stork took flight just one day after being fitted with an artificial leg. Five weeks earlier Oskar had landed in Rostock with one leg missing. The town adopted him, and the local prosthesis shop constructed a bright orange stork leg.

♥~ 1999 – Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace opened in theaters across the U.S. The film stars Liam Neeson, Ewan Mcgregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian Mcdiarmid, Ahmed Best, Frank Oz, Samuel L. Jackson and Ray Park.

★~Born Today:
Nora Ephron - Rubik Cube, May Ray Day, Devil's Food Cake Day

♥~ 1941- Nora Ephron~ screenwriter and director. Nora wrote When Harry Met Sally … (1989), and is the writer and director of Sleepless in Seattle (1993), You’ve Got Mail (1998), and last year’s Julie & Julia (2009).

♥~ 1945 – Peter Townshend musician: group: The Who [Rock and Roll Hall of Famers (1990)]

♥~1966 ~ Jodi Picoult best-selling author- When she was pregnant with her first daughter, she wrote her first novel Songs of the Humpback Whale (1992). She has published 15 novels since then, averaging almost one a year, including Mercy (1996), My Sister’s Keeper (2004), Nineteen Minutes (2007),  Handle with Care (2009). Two of her novels debuted at #1 on the New York Times bet-seller list.

Good to Know:Rubik’s Cube 

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♥~ The Rubik’s Cube was invented in 1974 by Erno Rubik; he wanted a working model to help explain three dimensional geometry. It took him one month before he was able to solve the cube for himself.

♥~ The Rubik’s cube was first called the Magic cube. The name was changed in 1980 for it’s global release.

♥~ There are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 (43 Quintillion) Rubik’s cube combinations.

♥~ If there was one cube scrambled for every combination and they were laid end to end they they would would stretch approximately 261 light years. Or they could cover the earth in 273 layers of Rubik’s cubes.

♥~ Over 350 million Rubik’s Cube have been sold worldwide. Approximately one in seven people have played with a Rubik’s Cube.

♥~ The best speed for solving the cube is under 6 second.

♥~ Every legal combination of the Rubik’s cube can be solved in 20 moves or fewer.

♥~ The beauty of the Rubik’s Cube is that when you look at a scrambled one, you know exactly what you need to do without instruction. Yet without instruction it is almost impossible to solve, making it one of the most infuriating and engaging inventions ever conceived.

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The Rubik’s cube is a mystery to me, but Cole learned to solve it and loved the idea of all the different combinations.

It’s a big week for us. The senior play, Charlie And The Charlie Factory, opens on Thursday with a 4 performance run. Closing Saturday night. Keep in mind, that these plays are not part of drama club or extra circular, but part of the school day curriculum.The seniors have been working on the play, set and costumes for the past 8 weeks. At the end of last week they were all begging to be allowed to go back to math class and english class. Waldorf schools show no mercy when it comes to school productions. Cole is lead set designer, as well as Mr. Beauregard. Suffice to say he is burning the candle at both ends.

HOWEVER, next week he’ll leave, with his senior class, for his two week service learning trip in Hawaii where he will observe sea turtles and swim with dolphins. And I suspect, that won’t be all he is observing since they are staying on the beach. At the Mayfair, the kids sold candy and raffle tickets for their “service learning trip,” and most people asked, the inevitable question, where are your going?  Good thing, they donated first or their service trip to Hawaii might have been a harder sell. However, I can attest that you won’t find a more compassionate, generous, unspoiled group of kids when it comes to doing for other people. They have shown, on each of their trips, that they’re more than willing to dig in, help out, and learn about the communities they are serving.

I’m busy working on the candy factory concession stand. Thirteen families will provide food for and staff a concession over the 4 performances.  Which means we need one heck of a lot of candy, cupcakes and cookies.  The show is free; the concession stand is a continuing fund raiser for the senior trip.  Today, I’m off to find inexpensive candy table clothes and to buy more smarties. You just can’t go wrong with $1.00 bags of candy.

No trip to Hawaii for the parents. Two teacher chaperones will travel with them. However, most of us are happy to stay behind, pick up the candy wrappers, work on the graduation slide show and figure out what we will wear to graduation which will be held the weekend after the senior class returns.  My sweet Mom and dear Dad will also be arriving which will motivate me to clean up and organize, so I can enjoy every minute of their visit.

Life is invigorating. I haven’t had time to think about when it’s, “all over.”  As I am fond of telling people with younger kids, sure it goes by fast, but my experience is that is also just gets better and better….I don’t think better will end with graduation.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the play:

“Mr. Wonka: “Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted.”
Charlie Bucket: “What happened?”
Mr. Wonka: “He lived happily ever after.”
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Merry Monday!

Odd Loves Company,

8 thoughts on “Rubik’s Cube, May Ray Day, Devil’s Food Cake Day

  1. I remember the craziness and I sympathize. Enjoy it ALL and don’t forget — This, too, shall pass — so tuck it all away for review later.

    The chocolate cake looks delicious! That poor Aussie woman probably grieved herself to death — sad. Never could solve the Rubik’s Cube; in fact, I found it easier to peel the colored portions off and rearrange them, ha!

    Was supposed to be sunny and warm today, but it’s cloudy, cool, and windy. We just can’t get a stretch of decent weather days, can we??

    “Better and better.” YES, oh, definitely yes!!

    • Ha–Clever you. I wish I had thought of that!
      Sure they are cute when they are little and mothering is a great gig but I’m having a pretty good time watching my kid taken some new steps and car seats were beastly.

  2. Oh how well I remember the last days of senior year for both of the boys and what a great time that was for all of us. Looking back it all was kind of a blur and I am sure you will do better than I did at taking it all in and enjoying. The trip sounds wonderful and mission fields are everywhere–even in Hawaii so good for the class to go someplace fun!
    I saw the Doodle this morning so I suspected it was Rubik’s Cube day. Could never figure it out—I just don’t have the patience I guess.

    • I’m having fun. Lots of it. The pictures will help to recreate the blur.
      Hawaii is a wonderful place and Cole has never been so I am looking forward to having him experience such a beautiful place.
      Who has time to doodle! We are much to busy!

  3. I could never figure out the Rubic’s Cube but I do have a friend named Ray.
    Graduation is a busy time. I enjoyed it with both my kids. Despite a messy divorce my ex and I managed my son’s graduation without incident and my daughters graduation was a pleasure since we were both well on the way to recovering from the divorce. It also helped that both our families remained close to the kids and were nice to each other. My sister and ex had never liked one another so things actually improved and she hosted my daughters graduation party. It does get better and it’s rewarding to see your kids making it out in the world on their own. Although my son hit me up for the proverbial 20 this past weekend. You know, just until he hits the cash machine.
    Have a good one.

    • Well I hope you wished Ray a happy day.
      Sounds like you found the right balance with your kids. I think graduation will be fun…it’s just a roller coaster of emotions.
      Well, a boy needs cash!

  4. I left the Rubik’s Cube to others to figure out.
    That cake does look very good….
    Graduations are normally blurred. Fun & fast times. When is graduation?
    Here I am snapping my fingers to King of the Road again!
    Good evening!

    • Me too! We can solve all the puzzles! Graduation is June 15th!
      King of the Road is a snappy tune.

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