~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno ♥~★~★~♥ ~
January 31st, 2013

 

★~ Today’s Quote:  Anyone who cares and acts on it is performing a work of art. ~ Seth Godin

★~ Backward Day:

Life Backwards from Ryan Jay on Vimeo.

Watch a movie’s last scene first and you’ll save yourself the time of sorting through all the messy plot details. Walk backwards down the street and you’re sure to have more than a few surprise encounters. Pay in backwards and let the person in back of you move ahead of you. Have a little FUN on Backwards day and shake up the day-to-day hum-drums.

★~ Inspire Your Heart With Art Day: 

“Art is a leap into the void, a chance to give birth to your genius and to make magic where there was no magic before. You are capable of this. You’ve done it before and you’re going to do it again. The very fact that it might not work is precisely why you should and must do this. What a gift that there isn’t a sure thing, a guarantee, and a net. It’s entirely possible that there won’t be a standing ovation at the end of your journey. That’s okay. At least you lived. ” Seth Godin, The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?

If your looking for a great book about inspiration and art buy, Kindle, borrow Seth Godin’s new book The Icarus Deception

★~ Brandy Alexander Day:

The Brandy Alexander is a tasty chocolate cocktail that became popular in the 1920s. Its predecessor was the gin-based Alexander cocktail, which was all but abandoned once the “Alexander #2” arrived on the scene.

According to legend, the first Brandy Alexander cocktail appeared at the wedding of Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles in London in 1922. It wasn’t long before the cocktail became a pop culture icon. You can find references to Brandy Alexander in countless movies, television shows, and songs. It was also John Lennon’s drink of choice, but he liked to refer to it as his “milkshake.”

To make a Brandy Alexander, combine 1½ oz. brandy, 1½ oz. crème de cacao, and 2 oz. heavy cream or soy creamer. Shake vigorously in a shaker half-filled with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with some nutmeg and enjoy! Cheers!

★~ Today In History: 

♥~ 1846 – Two Wisconsin towns called Kilbourntown and Juneautown merged  after years of disputes. They were on opposite sides of a river, and Kilbourntown on the west side often attempted to isolate Juneautown to the east. When the two towns finally became a single city, they named the new community after the river between them: the Milwaukee River.

♥~ 1930 – The 3M Company turned a slur against a nationality into a successful brand name when it started selling Scotch Tape on January 31st, 1930. The name “Scotch” came from a customer complaint that 3M put too little adhesive on the tape, in order to save money.

♥~ 1940 – The very first monthly retirement check was issued by the U.S. Government — to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont. Ida May’s check, numbered 00-000-001, was in the amount of $22.54. Fuller, a Legal Secretary, retired in November 1939 and lived to be 100 years old (she died in 1975).

♥~ 1949 – The first TV daytime soap opera, “These Are My Children,” was broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.

♥~ 1971 – Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14  on the third successful manned mission to the moon.

♥~ 1987 – Madonna’s tune, Open Your Heart, moved to the #2 spot on the pop charts (right behind At This Moment by Billy Vera and The Beaters). A week later, Open Your Heart became Madonna’s fifth #1 hit since 1983. She had 11 consecutive singles in the Top 10 — the most for any female artist of the rock era.

♥~ 1992 –  Keith Witt of Amarillo cleaned three standard 42½ by 47-inch office windows with an 11.8-inch squeegee in 10.13 seconds at the International Window Cleaning Association convention in San Antonio. That was a Guinness World Record.

♥~ 2000 – Former Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig, now the commissioner of baseball, suspended outspoken player John Rocker , a star relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, after he had angered many fans with an interview in Sports Illustrated where he made racist and anti-gay remarks, and said unflattering things about New York City.

★~ Trends Today:

♥~ RIM unveils new BlackBerry 10 smartphones

♥~ Porn Star Ron Jeremy in LA Hospital After Aneurysm

♥~ “The Americans”: What critics are saying about new FX spy series

★~ Born Today: 

♥~ 1937 – Suzanne Pleshette actress: The Bob Newhart Show, Oh God Book 2, The Birds, If It’s Tuesday This Must be Belgium; died Jan 19, 2008

♥~ 1951 – Harry Wayne Casey musician: keyboard, singer: group: KC and the Sunshine Band: Do It Good, Queen of Hearts, Rock Your Baby, Get Down Tonight, That’s the Way [I Like It], [Shake, Shake, Shake] Shake Your Booty, I’m Your Boogie Man, Keep It Comin’ Love, Please Don’t Go

♥~ 1973 – Portia De Rossi actress: Better Off Ted, Cursed, Dead and Breakfast, The Night We Called It a Day, America’s Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story, Who Is Cletis Tout?

★~ Odd News: Curious stolen goods

♥~ Grass: In New Mexico’s isolated Guadalupe County, local sheriffs have seen an uptick in grass theft because of last year’s drought. With grazing ground dried up, the price of hay has gone up, and so some cash-strapped farmers have reportedly gone as far as to cut competitors fences and let their own livestock enjoy the unlimited buffet.

♥~ Beehives: Honeybee populations all over the world are declining, making the little hard-working insects a hot-ticket item. (Bees are used for pollination and honey production, among other things.) Things got particularly bad in Germany in 2009 after a long and harsh winter decimated some 30 percent of the country’s bee colonies — leaving the rest attractive to thieves. A Hamburg-based insurer reported 300 hive thefts in 2009, an 85 percent increase from the prior year. German beekeepers upped the ante, outfitting their hives with GPS tracking devices and installing hidden cameras to catch bee burglars in the act. And Germany isn’t alone. In March 2012, a restaurant in southwest Houston had a $1,000 bee hive stolen and beekeepers have begun branding their equipment to help protect against the bee hustlers.

♥~ Manhole lids: In New York City, industrious thieves are reportedly pilfering Con Edison’s manhole covers. It’s not an easy feat, either. The covers can way as much as 300 pounds and sometimes require automotive jacks to be released from the ground’s grip. Previously, no more that two or three of the company’s covers had gone missing in any given year, but in March 2012, more than 30 manhole covers disappeared. The company officials said they assumed the heavy objects were being sold for scrap metal. “I can’t imagine people are decorating their living rooms with them,” a Con Ed spokesman told The New York Times.

♥~ The third row of seats in SUVs: This may seem wildly specific, but it’s a problem in southern California. Last September, Los Angeles police said they had seen so many third-row seats stolen out of drivers’ SUVs that they now recommend people engrave the excess seating with identifying information. Once plucked from the car, a third-row seat may sell online or in salvage yards for about $1,000, but they can cost more than $4,000 to replace because manufacturers limit the number produced. Police recommend purchasing an engraving tool and writing the vehicle’s VIN number on the bottom or just securing the seats with a cable lock.

♥~ Detergent: Tide may soon be one of those items you have to request from behind the register. A rash of thefts across the country suggests that detergent, particularly Tide, has become a go-to for black-market sellers. The household item doesn’t spoil, can garner relatively high prices for larger bottles, is low risk, and is something everyone needs. Unlike other household items that can be used to make methamphetamine, laundry detergent is pretty much used just to wash clothes. And thieves are reportedly selling the goods on the street at cut-rate prices, sometimes just outside laundry stores.

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Don’t forget!

It is January 31st and you know what that means… It’s time to prepare for the first of the month and all that can be yours by simple saying  ”rabbit, rabbit!” The first words out of your mouth on the first day of  February must be “rabbit, rabbit”.

And finally we are sending January home…We’ve had it.

Odd Loves Company,

♥