Whatever you are, be a good one. – Abraham Lincoln
FOR TODAY -AUGUST 23rd – TUESDAY
235th day of 2011 with 130 to follow.
Holidays for Today:
*National Sponge Cake Day
*Ride the Wind Day
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TODAY IN BIRTHDAYS:
- 1486 Sigismund von Herberstein, Vipava , Slovenia, Austrian diplomat and historian. (Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii)
- 1524 François Hotman, Paris French lawyer and writer.( French law)
- 1769 Georges Cuvier, Montbéliard, France, French biologist and statesman. ( establishing the fields of stratigraphy and comparative anatomy )
- 1785 Oliver Hazard Perry, South Kingston, Rhode Island, naval hero (Battle of Lake Erie, “We have met the enemy and they are ours…”)
- 1829 Moritz Cantor, Mannheim, Germany, German mathematician. (Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik)
- 1836 Marie Henriette, Budapest, Hungary, Queen of the Belgians.
- 1849 William Ernest Henley, Gloucester, England, British poet, critic, and editor. (Invictus)
- 1903 William Primrose, Glasgow, Scotland, Scottish violist (Walk on the north side: Memoirs of a violist)
- 1912 Gene Kelly, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, dancer/actor (An American in Paris, Going My Way)
- 1917 Tex Williams, Ramsey, Illinois, singer (helped move acoustic country music to dance-oriented mainstream pop Western swing)
- 1922 George Kell, Swifton, Arkansas, U.S, American baseball player. ( Baltimore Orioles 1956–1957)
- 1923 Edgar F. Codd, Isle of Portland, England, computer scientist. (OLAP / relational model for database management)
- 1931 Hamilton O. Smith, New York City, New York microbiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. (Restriction enzymes)
- 1932 Mark Russell, Buffalo, New York, political satirist/pianist (Real People)
- 1933 Robert Curl, Alex, Texas, chemist (Nobel / discovery of fullerene)
- 1934 Barbara Eden, Tucson, Arizona, actress & singer (I Dream of Jeannie, Amazing Dobermans)
- 1943 Nelson DeMille, NYC, thriller author (The Gold Coast, Night Fall, The General’s Daughter)
- 1945 Rayfield Wright, Griffin, Georgia, football player (Dallas Cowboys 1979)
- 1946 Keith Moon, Wembley, London, England, musician. (The Who)
- 1963 Kenny Wallace, St. Louis, Missouri, race car driver ( currently drives the #09 Family Farmers/University of Northwestern Ohio/Federated Auto Parts/American Ethanol/Iowa Corn/G-Oil/Marquis Energy Toyota Camry for RAB Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Also an on-air personality for SPEED on NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane)
- 1976 Scott Caan, Los Angeles, California, actor (Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve & Thirteen; Into the Blue, Enemy of the State)
- 1979 Edgar Sosa, Mexico City, Mexico, Mexican boxer.
- 1987 Nikki Gil, Manila, Philippines, Filipina actress and host. (Seussical The Musical)
- 1988 Jeremy Lin, Palo Alto, California, American basketball player. (2010 NBA)
- 2001 Zaijian Jaranilla, Manila , Philippines, Filipino child actor. (NOAH 2010)
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Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself. – Mahatma Gandhi
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HAPPENED THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
- 1305 William Wallace, Scottish patriot, is executed for high treason by Edward I of England.
- 1708 Meidingnu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.
- 1775 King George III declares that the American colonies exist in a state of open and avowed rebellion.
- 1784 Eastern Tennessee (western NC at the time) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; the step is rejected by Congress.
- 1896 First Cry of the Philippine Revolution is made in Pugad Lawin (Quezon City), in the province of Manila.
- 1904 Automobile tire chain patented.
- 1929 Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65-68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.
- 1938 English cricketer Len Hutton sets a world record for the highest individual Test innings of 364, during a Test match against Australia.
- 1939 World War II: Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations.
- 1942 World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.
- 1944 Freckleton Air Disaster – A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people.
- 1946 Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Land (state) of Schleswig-Holstein.
- 1948 World Council of Churches is formed.
- 1966 Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
- 1990 Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western “guests” (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.
- 1990 West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on October 3.
- 1996 Osama bin Laden issues message entitled ‘A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.’
- 2000 Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143.
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A Texan farmer goes to Australia for a vacation. There he meets an Aussie farmer and gets talking. The Aussie shows off his big wheat field and the Texan says, ”Oh! We have wheat fields that are at least twice as large.”
Then they walk around the ranch a little, and the Aussie shows off his herd of cattle.
The Texan immediately says, ”We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as your cows.”
The conversation has, meanwhile, almost died when the Texan sees a herd of kangaroos hopping through the field. He asks, ”And what are those?”
The Aussie replies with an incredulous look, ”Don’t you have any grasshoppers in Texas?”
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A Texan was visiting a Maine farmer (“fahmah”). The Texas rancher was boasting to his host about the size of his ranch: “I can get into my pickup truck and drive all day and still not reach the boundary of my ranch”, he bragged.
The Mainer shook his head knowingly, and replied, “Aayuhh, I had a truck like that once”
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ONE-LINERS : 10 Reasons not to chew chewing gums in class
10.You’ll get a false sense of security that you have more spit than the instructor.
9. You might choke on it.
8. The instructor doesn’t know the difference between CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver. He’ll use CPR to ‘cop a feel.’
7. It’ll lose it’s flavour before the class ends.
6. Bubbles are distracting.
5. Everyone will want some.
4. There are no places to put it when it becomes stale.
3. Blowing bubbles is distracting to the instructor.
2. Everyone will complain that you’re not popping your gum in time to the music.
1. The instructor will make you stick it on the end of your nose and stand in front of the class.
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A large group of Taliban soldiers are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a sand dune….
“One Texas soldier is better than ten Taliban”
The Taliban commander quickly sends 10 of his best soldiers over the dune, whereupon a gun-battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes then silence.
The voice then calls out….. “One Texan is better than one hundred Taliban”
Furious, the Taliban commander sends his next best 100 troops over the dune and instantly a huge gunfight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again silence.
The Texan’s voice calls out again…. “One Texan is better than one thousand Taliban”
The enraged Taliban commander musters one thousand fighters and sends them across the dune. Cannons, rockets and machine gun fire ring out as a huge battle is fought. Then silence.
Eventually one wounded Taliban fighter crawls back over the dune and with his dying words tells his commander…..
“Don’t send any more men….it’s a trap….there’s two of them.”
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pic of the day: Turkey Trot
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Hold on to your Texas quarters. They may become collector’s items.
The United States Treasury has announced they are recalling the new Texas quarters. “We are recalling all of the new Texas quarters that were recently issued,” Treasury Undersecretary Russell Shackelford said in a press conference Monday.
“This comes in the wake of numerous reports to this agency that the quarters will not work in parking meters, toll booths, vending machines, pay phones, or other coin-operated devices. We believe the problem lies in a design flaw,” said Skackelford.
The winning design for the Texas quarter was submitted by Texas A&M student William Doutrieux.
Apparently, the duct tape holding the two dimes and nickel together keeps jamming the coin-operated devices.
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A game warden noticed how a particular fellow named Sam consistently caught more fish than anyone else, whereas the other guys would only catch three or four a day. Sam would come in off the lake with a boat full. Stringer after stringer was always packed with freshly caught trout. The warden, curious, asked Sam his secret.
The successful fisherman invited the game warden to accompany him and observe. So the next morning the two met at the dock and took off in Sam’s boat. When they got to the middle of the lake, Sam stopped the boat, and the warden sat back to see how it was done.
Sam’s approach was simple. He took out a stick of dynamite, lit it, and threw it in the air. The explosion rocked the lake with such a force that dead fish immediately began to surface.
Sam took out a net and started scooping them up. Well, you can imagine the reaction of the game warden. When he recovered from the shock of it all, he began yelling at Sam.
“You can’t do this! I’ll put you in jail, buddy! You will be paying every fine there is in the book!”
Sam, meanwhile, set his net down and took out another stick of dynamite. He lit it and tossed it in the lap of the game warden with these words, “Are you going to sit there all day complaining, or are you going to fish?”
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WARNING! ENTERING THE PUN ZONE!
An Indian chief had three wives, each of whom was pregnant. The first gave birth to a boy. The chief was so elated he built her a teepee made of deer hide.
A few days later, the second gave birth, also to a boy. The chief was very happy. He built her a teepee made of antelope hide.
The third wife gave birth a few days later, but the chief kept the details a secret. He built this one a two story teepee, made out of a hippopotamus hide.
The chief then challenged the tribe to guess what had occurred. Many tried, unsuccessfully. Finally, one young brave declared that the third wife had given birth to twin boys.
“Correct,” said the chief. “How did you figure it out?”
The warrior answered, “It’s elementary. The value of the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.”
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A man in Jacksonville calls his son in San Diego the day before Thanksgiving and says, ‘I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough. ‘
Pop, what are you talking about?’ the son screams.
‘We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,’ the father says. ‘We’re sick of each other, and I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Denver and tell her.’
Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. ‘Like heck they’re getting divorced,’ she shouts, ‘I’ll take care of this,’ She calls Jacksonville immediately, and screams at her father, ‘You are NOT getting divorced. Do not do a single thing until I get there. I am calling my brother back, and we will both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?’ and hangs up.
The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. ‘Okay,’ he says, ‘they’re coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way. You get to figure out how to get them here for Christmas.”
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A woman gets on a bus holding a baby.
The bus driver says, ”That’s the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen.”
In a huff, the woman slammed her fare into the fare box and took an aisle seat near the rear of the bus. The man seated next to her sensed that she was agitated and asked her what was wrong. ”The bus driver insulted me,” she fumed.
The man sympathized and said: ”Why, he’s a public servant and shouldn’t say things to insult passengers.”
”You’re right” she said. ”I think I’ll go back up there and give him a piece of my mind.”
”That’s a good idea” the man said. ”Here, let me hold your monkey.”
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TODAY IN TRIVIA: SPONGE CAKE
~Sponge Cakes are akin to angel cakes that they use many eggs and no shortening or leavening.
~ The difference? Sponge cakes use the whole eggs, while angel cakes use only the whites.
~In the year 1420 to1520 – when Italian cooks became famous for their baking skills and were hired by households in both England and France. The new items that they introduced were called “biscuits,” though they were the forerunner of what we now consider to be sponge cake. A renaissance period is a sponge cake period as well.
~Gervase Markham (1568-1637), English poet and author, recorded the earliest sponge cake recipe in English in 1615.
~18th Century when yeast had fallen into disuse as a raising agent for cakes in favor of beaten eggs.
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LIFE LESSON: Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. – Marie Curie
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QUIP OF THE DAY: The best things in life are not free but priceless. – Benjamin Lichtenberg
THAT’S (ALMOST) ALL FOLKS!
THE LAST WORD: Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, ‘Here is an opportunity for me to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary. – Martin Luther King
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