~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 21, 2013
★~ Today’s Quote: It was a woman who drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her for it. W. C. Fields
★~ Common Courtesy Day:
I often find it amusing that the people who often whine loudest about other people’s lack of manners are the worst offenders. Doesn’t common courtesy boil down to simple being aware of others, acknowledging their right to inhibit this planet with you, and giving others the benefit of the doubt when possible? Most of the people I know work hard at being courteous, and I hope I return the favor. I know I always say “Excuse me” when I burp, and while I may crunch my ice, I do it with my mouth closed. I don’t smack—ever. Joe was fond of saying “Move” when someone was in his way, and Cole seems to have inherited this trait when he is on the way to the fridge—but we are working on it. I do not understand people who refuse to say “Bless you” the first time you sneeze. I just don’t.
The best rule of common courtesy, in my book, is be nice and treat others like you would like to be treated—and don’t forget to wave if I let you cut in front of me in traffic. Thank you.
★~ Fragrance Day:
My sweet mother has worn the same fragrance for years, and whenever I smell it on anyone else, I tell them it smells better on my Mom. Not really, that wouldn’t be courtesy, but it is true.
Joe loved Old Spice, and Cole still associates the Old Spice smell with his dad. I tried to update Joe’s cologne choice, but he was just an Old Spice guy. We did once find a bottle of Hai Karate during an archeology dig around our house; it must have belonged to Joe’s dad. It had never been opened and still had its small self-defense instruction booklet that was sold with each bottle (to help wearers fend off women). It was about 20 years old. Joe opened the bottle and used it to the last drop, always being careful “how he wore it.” He would put it on and walk out the door practicing his karate chops. I did not have the heart to tell him he had little to worry about, and was very happy when the fragrance was gone and only the bottle remained. I may have helped the bottle evaporate a little, out of self-defense. Chop. Chop.
A few Fragrant Facts:
The word “perfume” comes from the Latin “per fumum”, which means “through smoke”?e.
“Hungary Water” is the name of the first modern, alcohol-based perfume made in Hungary in 1370. Legends say that Queen Elisabeth of Hungary requested this type of product, and Hungarian monks created this perfume specially for her.
Chanel No. 5 is the first perfume launched by Parisian couturier Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. The French government reports that a bottle of Chanel No. 5 is sold every thirty seconds, generating sales of $100 million dollars a year.
Chanel was the first fragrance designer to put her own name on a scent.
Clive Christian No. 1 was awarded the Guinness World Record for being the most expensive perfume. Composed of the rarest ingredients in the world with no regard to their cost, No. 1, which has been produced by Clive Christian for the past six years, retails for $2,350 for 30ml of the pure perfume. Only 1000 bottles each of the men’s and women’s perfumes are released each year.
★~ French Bread Day!
French bread, also known as a baguette, is a crusty loaf baked in a long, thin shape. The French have been making long sticks of bread since at least the mid-eighteenth century, but the baguette didn’t become an iconic symbol of French cuisine until the twentieth century. A law passed in 1920 banned workers from beginning their shift before 4 a.m., which made it difficult for French bakers to have fresh bread ready for their customers in the morning. They turned to the fast-baking baguette for a solution, and soon it became a part of daily life.
To celebrate French Bread Day, slather REAL butter on a crusty piece of French bread. Très bon!
★~ Today in History:
♥~ Aries, the ram: In the astronomical/astrological zodiac, which divides the sun’s apparent orbit into 12 segments, the period Mar 21–Apr 19 is traditionally identified as the sun sign of Aries, the Ram. The ruling planet is Mars.
♥~ 1952 – The Moondog Coronation Ball was held at the Cleveland Arena. Promoted by Alan Freed and two partners, it was later cited as the first rock concert. Due to the overwhelming response, a second show was added, but the second batch of tickets were not marked as such. So, by the time openers Paul Williams and The Hucklebuckers got the show on the road, an estimated 25,000 kids had showed up — at the venue that could only hold about 10,000 folks. Windows were smashed, doors were crashed and the fire marshall ordered a quick end to the ‘show’.
♥~ 1963 – Alcatraz, the infamous federal penitentiary in the middle of San Francisco Bay, was closed. Currently it’s a part of the National Park Service. Many of the gardens maintained by prisoners were preserved, including 15 species of roses. About 500 people visit the gardens every day.
♥~ 1977 – Mrs. James Duck of Memphis became history’s fastest mother. Her triplets were born naturally in under two minutes.
♥~ 1980 – The popular CBS series “Dallas” ended its season by showing J.R. Ewing (played by Larry Hagman) being shot and wounded by someone offscreen. When the shooter’s identity was revealed the following November, a record TV audience in the U.S. tuned in for the answer. Hagman was starring in a cable TV revival of “Dallas” when he died in 2012…and the writers killed off J.R. by shooting him, again.
♥~ 2003 – A 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles, visiting Las Vegas, hit pay dirt: a world record $39 million jackpot on a slot machine.
♥~2006 – Happy 6th Birthday Twitter!
★~ Born Today:
♥~ 1910 – Julio Gallo vintner: Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery, Modesto, CA; died May 2, 1993
1945 – Rosie Stone
musician: piano: group: Sly & the Family Stone; Sly’s sister: Everyday People, Dance to the Music
♥~ 1958 – Sabrina LeBeauf, Actress (“The Cosby Show”)
♥~ 1962 – Rosie O’Donnell, Actress, comedian
♥~ 1970 – The Beatles established a new record. Let It Be entered the Billboard chart at number six. This was the highest debuting position ever for a record. Let It Be reached number two a week later and made it to the top spot on April 11, overshadowing Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Water.
★~ Did You Know:
♥~ Twitter turns seven-years-old today.
♥~ Twitter almost never came to be. In 2006, there was a company called Odeo, which helped individuals publish audio. With a lack of growth and investors souring, the company pivoted and decided to conduct a hackathon one day. This brain-storming competition led to the birth of Twitter.
♥~ Twitter was created on a playground. Founding team member Dom Sagolla says the group went on the top of a slide at a playground in South Park, a small neighborhood in San Francisco, and Jack Dorsey discussed an “idea so simple that you don’t even think about it—you just write.”
♥~ The user with the most followers is Justin Bieber; the pop musician has 36 million followers. Who has tweeted the most? That honor belongs to @Yougakduan_00, a girl from Japan, who posted a mind-boggling 36,402,262 tweets before Twitter suspended her account. The most followed brand is YouTube with nearly 25 million followers.
♥~ The official name of Twitter’s bird is Larry. Yes, his name is Larry Bird.The iconic little fellow—seen in Twitter’s logo shown in TV commercials, print ads and practically every web site—was named after Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird. Why choose to name it after a basketball player from Boston? It may have to do with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone growing up in Massachusetts.
Here are a few ways you can use twitter.
Follow the people who interest you; a community of people that you have handpicked and would like to know.
Twitter’s search engine is a portal for up-to-the-second information on your industry and your interests. There is no better tool for getting data on what people are thinking and saying.
Have a bad experience with customer service? Tweet it. The top level of management hates bad tweets and offers dissatisfied customers attention fast. I have solved serval customer service problems using twitter–no hold time.
When you have a good experience tweet the owner and say Thank you.
Twitter can tell you quickly what’s new, what’s fun, and what you don’t want to miss. I don’t watch the news, I do tune into twitter.
Why limit hearing about the latest great book, movie or food trend from your In-Real-Life friends or Facebook friends when you can access the world on Twitter.
Tell people what you had for lunch. Inquiring minds want to know.
No doubt there is a learning curve with twitter, but it’s worth it. Really. Follow me if you want too Odd Loves Company
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Last night, I was doing my own thing and my 17 year old walked into the room and said:
“My Aunt says, Slow and steady wins the race. . . . . . She died in a fire.”
I’ve got to stop laughing, I’m just encouraging him. On the other hand, I am just so grateful he is not yelling, BINGO in crowded Bingo halls,
It was 18 degrees for most of yesterday in Chicago, but the sun was shinning! Today it suppose to be a balmy 33 degrees. We’ll take it.
Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!
Morno,
Not on Twitter or Facebook. I’m just an Odd sort of guy. French bread is good and I try to mind my manners. My daughter bought me the after shave I wear on special occasions but I can’t remember the name.
In the 70’s today. Looks like I might be out on the course by the weekend. 18F in March? Looking forward to 33F? Not exactly Spring weather, hope the temps get warmer for you soon.
Have a good one.
We like Odd. It is sunny and warmer today. Warm French bread! Lots of butter! Almost as good as golf!
Common courtesy is the ticket. I have never tweeted. TMI too fast – trying to get back to slowing down and reading more. However, customer service tweets could be quite useful.
Wonderful Wednesday to you friend!
Never tweeted? I guess, I shouldn’t encourage you–it is a time eater but not in the same way FB is…you don’t have the same “friendships” or at least I don’t, and you can pretty much stick to what interests you. Nobody expects a reply and there are no likes. The deeper you go, of-course, the more community you grow….but I tend to stay towards the top….As you know, Facebook is my first love.
I think if you consider that Cole is a teenage boy on his way to the fridge, his “move” is courteous. At least he’s not just bowling you over.
Saying “Bless you” to someone after they sneeze is decidedly not a Canadian thing. If anyone says anything it might be “gesundheit,” but is more likely to be “get any on ya?” (for sloppy sneezes). When I moved to Chicago and heard people blessing me, my initial reaction was to wonder how so many people could be authorized to bless me. I thought only priests and the like had the power to bless. I know better now, but don’t feel comfortable myself blessing people. So I don’t know if I’m being discourteous. I don’t mean to be, that’s for sure.
Wow…who knew…Different customs. I do say gesundheit from time to time…Of-course I bless everyone, even my pups…for me it’s just a momentary moment in time to notice the other person—after all when you sneeze it’s considered a near death experience since your heart misses a beat (I have been told this, I have no idea if it is true)–Canadians don’t bless….still trying to wrap my mind around that one….tho. Such a polite country. 😀 Do make sure Ben’s future wife knows this if she is an American….could save a lot of grief.
More sneeze information I checked out online. I had no idea. I also verified its accuracy on the Library of Congress website (Tell me trivia like this is not funded with our tax dollars).
Many people have become accustomed to saying “bless you” or “gesundheit” when someone sneezes. No one says anything when someone coughs, blows their nose or burps, so why do sneezes get special treatment? What do those phrases actually mean, anyway?
Wishing someone well after they sneeze probably originated thousands of years ago. The Romans would say “Jupiter preserve you” or “Salve,” which meant “good health to you,” and the Greeks would wish each other “long life.” The phrase “God bless you” is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who uttered it in the sixth century during a bubonic plague epidemic (sneezing is an obvious symptom of one form of the plague).
The exchangeable term “gesundheit” comes from Germany, and it literally means “health.” The idea is that a sneeze typically precedes illness. It entered the English language in the early part of the 20th century, brought to the United States by German-speaking immigrants.
Virtually every country around the globe has its own way of wishing sneezers well. People in Arabic countries say, “Alhamdulillah,” which means, “praise be to God.” Hindus say, “Live!” or “Live well!” Some countries have special sneezing responses for children. In Russia, after children are given the traditional response, “bud zdorov” (“be healthy”), they are also told “rosti bolshoi” (“grow big”). When a child sneezes in China, he or she will hear “bai sui,” which means, “may you live 100 years.”
For the most part, the various sneeze responses originated from ancient superstitions. Some people believed that a sneeze causes the soul to escape the body through the nose. Saying “bless you” would stop the devil from claiming the person’s freed soul. Others believed the opposite: that evil spirits use the sneeze as an opportunity to enter a person’s body. There was also the misconception that the heart momentarily stops during a sneeze (it doesn’t), and that saying “bless you” was a way of welcoming the person back to life.
We now know that sneezing is a reflex action and is most often the sign of something relatively benign, such as a cold or allergy. A sneeze also can be provoked by being outside in the sunlight or from smelling a strong odor. Still, we persist in the custom of saying “bless you” or “gesundheit,” mainly out of habit and common courtesy.
Welcome to the EL Morno research team. We don’t pay anything, but you can have a corner office and a title. When we have an office, and print business cards. Good Work! Uhm, does this mean Canada isn’t the only country that does not bless after a sneeze? BTW–My bless you’s are very intentional! Just for the record.
French bread day, Charlotte beer week and the start of the NCAA tournament. Why am I at work?
Why, indeed! Tell the bad guys to mind there manners, grab a sammich on French Bread, a beer and Go Home to get ready for the madness.
I have a really hard time with people who aren’t polite. I believe most of the Worlds woes could be solved if everyone was courteous. I mean, how long does it take to say, God Bless, thank you, excuse me, I’m sorry.
French bread, Yum.
I don’t tweet.
MJ
But you are very sweet..sometimes.
mark me as another who doesn’t believe common courtesy is all that difficult or time consuming. i like that acknowledgement of a small wave when i let someone in while on the road, too.
twitter, facebook…..no. color me old school. i just don’t know enough to make me comfortable with it. wonder how the real larry bird feels about his namesake.
march madness is in full swing!
A wave is such a nice thing! I would imagine Larry is pleased with his namesake. The twitter bird is successful and seems to keep his beak clean!