~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
November 3, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote: “Is “tired old cliche” one?”  Rod Schmidt

★~ Clichés Day:

Some say clichés are the old coins of language: phrases that once made a striking impression but have since been rubbed smooth by repeated handling. On the other hand, some clichés are as familiar as old shoes, and as luck would have it, most people can come up with a good cliché at the drop of a hat. Sometimes, at the end of a long day when you are at the end of the rope and you are ready to abandon ship, you just want to communicate using a cliché that can quickly fill out a sentence. And really, when it comes right down to it, there is nothing to get all bent out of shape about because actions in the long run will always speak louder than words.

Use clichés as much as possible today. Hey, why not? Give it a shot! Win some, lose some. You’ll never know ’til you give it a go!.

★~ Domestic Goddess Day: (formally known as Housewives Day)

Today we recognize the modern Domestic Goddess — and Domestic God — who has a sense of humor, keeps the house reasonable tidy, knows making dinner can include take-out and reservations, takes good care of themselves, loves hearth and home, values intuition over the facts and opinions of other people, and most importantly, has a few good friends to help keep them from throwing the baby out with the bath water.

★~ Sandwich Day:

We are celebrating Sandwiches today because it is the birthday of John Montague, England’s first lord of the admiralty, secretary of state for the northern department, postmaster general, and the man after whom Captain James Cook named the Sandwich Islands in 1778, after he invented the sandwich as a time-saving meal while engaged in a 24-hour gambling session in 1762. Click here for more fascinating sammie facts.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1914 – New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob patented the backless brassiere. She developed the device from two handkerchiefs, a strand of ribbon, and a length of cord.

♥~ 1930 – The Detroit-Windsor tunnel opened to traffic. It is “the only vehicular international sub aqueous border crossing in the world.” It is also the second busiest crossing between the United States and Canada.

♥~ 1956 – The classic MGM film, The Wizard of Oz, was first seen on television. The film cost CBS $250,000 to show. The movie was shown 18 times between 1956 and 1976, and you can probably catch it again no matter what year it is.

♥~ 1979 – The Eagles started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘The Long Run’, the group’s fourth US No.1 album.

♥~ 1980 – The teenage “E” gang that had been stealing the letter “E” from signs all over Winnipeg, Manitoba, sent a lawyer to police with a car-trunk full of “E’s” and promised not to do it anymore.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1718 – John Montague 4th Earl of Sandwich; inventor: the sandwich; England’s 1st Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State of the Northern Dept., Postmaster General; Sandwich Islands [Hawaii] named after him; died Apr 30, 1792

♥~ 1948 – Marie Lawrie, (Lulu), UK singer, (1964 UK No.7 single ‘Shout’ plus over 10 other UK Top 40 singles including 1993 UK No.1 ‘Relight My Fire’ with Take That, 1967 US No.1 single ‘To Sir With Love’).

♥~ 1952 – Roseanne (Roseanne Cherrie Barr) Emmy Award-winning actress: Roseanne [1992-93]; Funny, She-Devil; coproducer: The Jackie Thomas Show; author: My Life as a Woman,My Lives

★~ Did You Know: The scientific-type debunking of  few common film and television tropes and clichés.

♥~ The Chloroform Nap:  A common scene in older movies (mostly) is the old “knock out an unsuspecting victim by holding a rag full of chloroform over their face” trick. Would this tactic work in real life? Probably not. First of all, chloroform begins to lose its effectiveness as soon as it mixes with oxygen (and some of those villains spend a long time lurking in the shadows with their rags poised). Secondly, chloroform doesn’t instantly knock a person unconscious; depending upon the victim’s size and weight, the chemical could take up to 10 minutes to subdue someone.

♥~ Falling Through Glass: No action film is complete without at least one person falling through a plate glass window and then walking away without a scratch. Broken glass has razor-sharp edges that can cut right through clothing and human flesh like a hot knife through butter. After taking this kind of fall you wouldn’t step away looking sharp. Or something like that.

♥~  Exploding Cars: Whether it’s on TV or the big screen, it seems like every high-speed car chase ends with at least one auto crashing and exploding into flames. Sometimes the vehicle drives over a cliff and spontaneously combusts into flames without any provocation. Gasoline actually has a very narrow flammable range, and the mixture of gas vapor to outside air must be very specific (between 1.4 and 7.6%) before anything close to an explosion will occur. Gas may cause a car to burn after a bad wreck, but it very rarely detonates.

♥~ The Silencer: James Bond makes it look like you can shoot someone in a room full of people and then make a clean getaway as long as your handgun is fitted with a silencer.  Don’t try it. A silenced gun sounds about as loud as a car door being slammed. It’s much quieter than the usual “bang!” but it’s certainly not the subtle little “whoosh” heard in those espionage films.

♥~Headstones in One Hour or Less: Don’t count on it. Showing a completed, personalized headstone at the gravesite during the burial certainly adds poignancy to any funeral scene (and often acts as shorthand to indicate “character didn’t survive”), but in real life it usually takes a minimum of four weeks after the order has been placed to have a grave marker put in place. And that’s for one from inventory stock; if you prefer custom artwork or other special touches, it could take 90 days or more. Good to know, right?

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On my way downtown yesterday, I was chatting with a friend about the election when I saw the dreaded blue lights flashing in my rearview mirror. I pulled over and the cop greeted me with the usual, “May I see your drivers’ license and insurance card please?” He then told me he had stopped me for using my phone without a headset.

I said, “Yes, I know, (insert sigh), I was arguing with a friend about the election.”

The policeman asked me what exactly we were arguing about.

I told him the economy, women’s issues and Libya.

He then asked me who was going to win the election.

I smiled. “President Obama!”

The officer smiled, said, “Good answer,” and handed me back my drivers’ license.

Later, I called my mother and asked if she thought it was a “sign.” She said absolutely! A sign I need to wear my headset.

Cloudy in the big city. What are your plans for today? What is your favorite kind of sandwich?

Odd Loves Company!