~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
January 28, 2014
★~ Today’s Quote: “Serendipity is looking in a haystack for a needle and discovering a farmer’s daughter.” Julius Comroe
★~ Blueberry Pancake Day:
Whip up a delicious batch of Blueberry pancakes, top them with a little maple syrup, and celebrate Blueberry Pancake Day! If you missed Blueberry pancakes for breakfast…enjoy them for dinner. YUM.
★~ Kazoo Day:
Alabama Vest and Thaddeus Von Clegg invented the kazoo in the 1840s. They presented the new instrument at the 1852 Georgia State Fair, and it soon became a staple in the popular music of the era. The kazoo, the banjo, and the glass harmonica are the only instruments invented in America.
★~ Today in History:
♥~ 1887 – 125 Anniversary of the largest recorded snowflake — a stone-cold behemoth said to be 15 inches in diameter. The freakishly massive flake reportedly drifted — or perhaps plummeted — to earth at Montana’s Fort Keogh in 1887.(The snowflakes in that Jan. 28 storm, according to a New York Times piece a few years back, were described by a rancher as “larger than milk pans.”)
♥~ 1934 – Robert Royce’s ski tow rope invention was used for the first time in Woodstock, Vermont.
♥~1959 – Vince Lombardi was hired to coach the Green Bay Packers. Under Lombardi, the Packers won five NFL championships, including the first two Super Bowls. The championship trophy for the Super Bowl eventually was named after him.
♥~ 1978 – “De plane, de plane.” The weekly, hour-long Aaron Spelling production of Fantasy Island began on ABC-TV.
♥~ 1995 –TLC’s Creep hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The smash held down the top spot for four weeks : “So I creep yeah; Just keep it on the down low; Said nobody is supposed 2 know; So I creep yeah; ’Cause he doesn’t know; What I do and no attention; Goes to show oh so I creep.
♥~ 1996 – Super Bowl XXX, the Dallas Cowboys became the first team to win three Lombardi Trophies in four years. Dallas defeated Pittsburgh, 27-17.
★~Born Today:
♥~ 1855 – William Burroughs inventor of adding machines and practical calculators
♥~1887 –Artur Rubinstein American pianist: played solo for the Berlin Symphony at the age of 12;
♥~ 1912 –Jackson Pollock abstract expressionist artist: Male and Female, The She-Wolf, The Tea Cup, Painting, Easter and the Totem, Ocean Greyness, Full Fathom Five; killed in car crash Aug 11, 1956
♥~ 1936 –Alan Alda (Alphonso D’Abruzzo) Emmy Award-winning actor: M*A*S*H. During his years as Hawkeye, Alan Alda also starred in a TV movie about Death Row prisoner Caryl Chessman. Other people associated with prison stories share a January 28th birthday with Alda. They include the real-life “Birdman of Alcatraz,” prisoner Robert Stroud (born 1890); actor John Banner, who played Sgt. Schultz on “Hogan’s Heroes” (1910); and director Frank Darabont (1959), who made the prison movies “The Green Mile” and “The Shawshank.
★~ Serendipity Gallimaufry:
It was on this day in 1754 that the word “serendipity” was first coined. It’s defined by Merriam-Webster as “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” It was recently listed by a U.K. translation company as one of the English language’s 10 most difficult words to translate. Other words to make their list include plenipotentiary, gobbledegook, poppycock, whimsy, spam, and kitsch.
“Serendipity” was first used by parliament member and writer Horace Walpole in a letter that he wrote to an English friend who was spending time in Italy. In the letter to his friend written on this day in 1754, Walpole wrote that he came up with the word after a fairy tale he once read, called “The Three Princes of Serendip,” explaining, “as their Highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of.” The three princes of Serendip hail from modern-day Sri Lanka. “Serendip” is the Persian word for the island nation off the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka.
The invention of many wonderful things have been attributed to “serendipity,” including Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Charles Goodyear’s vulcanization of rubber, inkjet printers, Silly Putty, the Slinky, and chocolate chip cookies.
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin after he left for vacation without disinfecting some of his petri dishes filled with bacteria cultures; when he got back to his lab, he found that the penicillium mold had killed the bacteria.
Viagra had been developed to treat hypertension and angina pectoris; it didn’t do such a good job at these things, researchers found during the first phase of clinical trials, but it was good for something else.
The principles of radioactivity, X-rays, and infrared radiation were all found when researchers were looking for something else.
Wiktionary lists serendipity’s antonyms as “Murphy’s law” and “perfect storm.”
#
Serendipity is on the list of words I love. It seems to show up a lot in my life.
Did I tell you that I’m going to Albuquerque, New Mexico next week? My teen gave me a surprise ticket for Christmas so I am heading out to visit my sweet Mom and dear Dad. Cole promises to run camp like I am here which I have no doubt he can do along with Vickie’s (our friend and camp helpers) help. I am almost too excited to be excited.
Well I better get this day started. Have an wonderful Wednesday.
Odd Loves Company!
Morno,
I’m off on vacation. When we stop for breakfast, I can see myself ordering blueberry pancakes. They sure look and sound good.
Darn, forgot to pack my Kazoo. Oh well I guess I’ll just have to hum and plan better next year.
Have a good one. I’ll check in when I have internet. It’s always on again off again.
OhMyGosh Katybeth… love the first picture!
CH made pancakes yesterday morning! Oh well.
I am so tired of those Viagra type commercials showing up on TV while we are eating dinner. I guess we should turn the TV off.. (!) I should have ranted about that yesterday!
I probably should have read Odd before breakfast — blueberry pancakes should be enjoyed in the morning, not for dinner (just my opinion!)
So, you’re trading the cold and snow for sunny New Mexico, huh? What a GOOD son you have, Kb! Nothing like letting mom and dad spoil you a bit — you’ll have to bring back some of that warmth!
Now we’re talking…..blueberry pancakes!
Yes, what a great way to begin a new month! I know your mom & dad are pretty excited, too. Good for you!
Good morning!