★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
February 21, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote:  “There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, ‘Yes, I’ve got dreams, of course I’ve got dreams.’ Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it, and yep, they’re still there. These are great dreams, but they never even get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, ‘How good or how bad am I?’ That’s where courage comes in.”  ― Erma Bombeck

★~ International Mother Language Day:

The United Nations’ (UN) International Mother Language Day is annually  to celebrate languages spoken worldwide. It also observes the human right to use these languages. It also remembers events such as the killing of four students on February 21, 1952, because they campaigned to officially use their mother language, Bengali, in Bangladesh.

★~ Sticky Bun Day:

Sticky buns, also known as cinnamon rolls, are a delicious breakfast pastry made with leavened dough. Traditional recipes call for a glazed topping with pecans, maple syrup or honey, cinnamon, and butter.

The first people to add honey and nuts to their bread were the Ancient Egyptians. Glazed pastries have been popular ever since! German settlers in Pennsylvania created our modern-day sticky buns. The pastries were originally called “Schnecken” and are still considered a Philadelphia specialty. Easy Sticky Bun Recipe (but a little harder than just cracking a can open on the counter)

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1878 – The first telephone directories issued in the U.S. were distributed to residents of New Haven, CT. George Williard Coy and a group of investors in the New Haven District Telephone Company created the ‘books’.

♥~ 1885 – The Washington Monument was the world’s tallest structure when it was dedicated on February 21st, 1885, one day before George Washington’s birthday.  The monument is about 40 feet taller than the previous record-holder, the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.

♥~ 1953 – James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of a DNA molecule.

♥~ 1972- Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit China. Nixon’s historic week-long visit included a stop at the Great Wall of China.

♥~ 1977 – Fleetwood Mac released ‘Rumours’. The album went on to sell more than 15 million copies world-wide and spent 31 weeks at No.1 on the US chart.

♥~ 1998 – Celine Dion went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘My Heart Will Go On’. The song was the theme from the movie Titanic. The world’s best selling single of 1998.

♥~ 2003 – Michael Jordan became the first 40-year-old in NBA history to score 40 or more points, getting 43 in the Washington Wizards’ win over the New Jersey Nets.

♥~ 2009 – A South Korean housewife broke the world record in marathon singing after crooning for more than 76 hours without stopping. Kim Sun-Ok, 54, broke the 75-hour Guinness World Record held by Marcus Lapratt of the U.S.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1927 – Erma Bombeck (Fiste) humorist, columnist, writer: The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank; died Apr 22, 1996

♥~  1955 – Kelsey Grammer Emmy Award-winning actor: Frasier [1994, 1995]; Cheers, Another World, Back to You

♥~  1958 – Mary Chapin Carpenter Grammy Award-winning singer: LP: Stones in the Road [1994], Shut Up and Kiss Me [1994], Passionate Kisses [1993], I Feel Lucky [1992], Down at the Twist and Shout [1991]; He Thinks He’ll Keep Her, LP: Hometown Girl; musician: guitar, songwriter: Girls with Guitars, co-wrote: Sally’s Pigeon; daughter of Life magazine executive Chapin Carpenter

★~ Did You Know:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/JYL8vBetZKU[/youtube]

♥~ The first telephone book ever issued contained only fifty names. It was a short walk for your fingers.

♥~ The most expensive number sold was cell phone number 666-6666, auctioned off for charity in Qatar. It sold for a dizzy $2.7 million, far and away surpassing the previous record holder. The Chinese number 8888-8888 sold for $280,000.

♥~ The Guinness world record for the most telephone books ripped in half from the spine in two minutes is 33, set by Cosimo Ferrucci in 2010. (Not sure why we have this two-minute rule here…)

♥~ According to a 1954 edition of The Saturday Evening Post, the larger phone books, maybe 2000 pages, cost AT&T $1.50 to produce. And remember, millions were printed and delivered, they were in almost every home, and no one directly paid for a copy

♥~ The City of Raleigh states that “even though the paper in telephone books has been recycled many times already and it no longer can be made into a paper product, they will be separated out at our contractor’s sorting facility to be recycled into other products such as animal bedding or insulation.”

♥~ Phone books are associated with political filibusters, primarily due to Strom Thurmond using one in his historic Senate filibuster (24 hours, 18 minutes). He was attempting to stop passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, BTW.

♥~ A painting contractor whose name was Bill Holland, hoping to be easily found, listed his name in the1960s Los Angeles Yellow Pages as Zachary Zzzra.

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I never liked the phone book and back in the days (when it was free and almost free) I used 411 like an early google. Those operators could find a number for a person, a business and answer cooking questions. The phone book was alphabetical (I am abc handicapped), heavy, and you had to know how to spell the name. I keep a yellow pages around for when my sweet parents visit, but the rest of the directories are sent the way of recycling. I have tried to opt-out but have been unsuccessful. Do you find the phone book useful for more than a door stop?

Last night I had four martinis at dinner at the same time! It was my brother-in-laws idea. My sister-in-law sacrificed and ordered the kind of martini she was sure Joe would have ordered.  The good pictures of our drinks are on Cole’s phone and he is sleeping, so you will have to wait for the rest of the story until later.

Good Thursday!

Odd Loves Company!