American Aviation Alphabet

How many do you already know?
(COMPLETE LIST HERE)

Mom Awareness Day

You know how important moms are? Everybody has at least one. Some of us get more than one in a lifetime. Some of us share one with a spouse. Some of us keep one in our house. Some of us are mothers. Some of us wish we were. All of us have appreciated the care of a mother at one time or another. All of us have at least one fond memory of a mom. I know I do!

Here's mine:
My mom plays the piano beautifully. As children, we would often fall asleep to the sound of our mother playing hymns or classical pieces as a way to wind down from a busy day with five (!) children. I loved to hear her play. And when I was older, I would stand behind her as she played and sing songs with her, sometimes for hours. She filled my childhood with music and beauty and for that I thank my wonderful Mother! Happy Mother's Day!

In order to build a little awareness in myself, I investigated motherhood in other countries. What's it like to be a mother in other places in the world? Did you know that Ethiopia is one of the hardest places to be a mother? The incredibly high orphan rate is partly owing to the fact that only 6% of all births are under the care of skilled medical practitioners. Young children have it hard there, too, and even though the numbers are improving, the mortality rate is still one of the highest in the world.

I would just like to honor another mother whose twin girls will hopefully be coming home to the US from Ethiopia next month! Congrats, El Fid, and Happy Mother's Day!

Smile Awhile

My boyfriend sent me a card about smiling yesterday and it prompted me to a) smile and b) blog about it.

Here are the top ten things to learn about smiles today:

A smile is a universal expression of happiness and recognised as such by all cultures

A smile is the most frequently used facial expression. It takes as few as five pairs of facial muscles and as many as all 53 to smile

Smiling releases endorphins and makes us feel better

Even 'faking' a smile can lead to feeling happier

People are born with the ability to smile (even blind babies smile)

Babies reserve special smiles (Duchennes smiles of joy and happiness) for their loved ones

A newborn shows a preference for a smiling face over a non-smiling face

There are 18 different kinds of smile used in a variety of social situations

Human beings can differentiate between the 'felt' smile and the social smile – 'it's in the eyes' (literally)

A person who studies laughter is called a 'gelotologist'

Friday Fun Day (List)

Since you still haven't figured out last week's word puzzle, I'll do something different today. Please answer the following questions as honestly as you can:



1. What is the saddest movie you ever watched and why?
2. What is the one thing your heart most desires at this moment?
3. If love is a rose, and hope is a dove, what is loyalty?
4. Complete the sentence, "I have always wanted to learn how to___."
5. Would you rather be unloved and respected or disrespected but loved?
6. Who was your favorite childhood friend? Why?
7. Why haven't you sent me any word puzzles for this week?

This Day in History - February 22nd

Hello, History lovers and welcome to another addition of This Day in History! (Little known fact: the study of history is called history!)

Today, February 22nd, has a long and colorful history in the events of our planet. Let us begin.

First of all, it was on February 22, 300009BC that fish completely evolved into flying turnips. And that is why we have land vegetation.

February 22nd also gave us the births of George Washington in 1732, first President of the United States and the bain of cherry trees everywhere; Jean-Bédel Bokassa in 1921, military leader and later self-proclaimed king of Central Africa (reputed to be a canibal, but never proven); Jeri Ryan in 1968, American Actress who would haunt the reveries of lonely nerds for years to come, thanks to her tightly-clad portrayal of Seven of Nine on the popular space-age series Star Trek: Voyager.

Oh, and Drew Barrymore in '75.

Moving on to the deaths of February 22nd. Since someone has to die on this day, we are selecting a handful of eventful deaths to show that February 22nd is even-handed when it comes to mortality. Dead as a doornail on this day in 1799 Heshen, imperial brown-noser and eventual destroyer of the Qing dynasty, allowed to commit suicide at home rather than suffer the "death by a thousand cuts" promised him by the judge. Other notable dead leaders include a sheik, a Sicilian king, a Count named Flanders, and this guy who apparently helped keep things chilly during the cold war only to end up full of hot lead in 2002.

In other dead news, lots of artists went down on this day in history. Among them were Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot in 1875, father of the Impressionist movement, and Andy Warhol in 1987, father of the weird, albino, fruitcakes movement (aka Pop Art).

And last but not least, February 22nd was a good day for the Catholic Church. Not only is today the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter (they eat chairs? What?), but it also marks the auspicious day to celebrate the celebate St. Isabel of France (and for a Frenchwoman, that's a pretty impressive feat). They also saw two popes bepoped in the years 1281 and 1288.

Happy February 22, 2007! What's going on today in your history?

Crunchy Critters = Entomophagy

The study of bugs as lunch is called entomophagy. The study covers all human and non-human aspects of insects gettin' et up. I am directing you to a wikipedia page, but if you are fragile, do not read the section entitled "unintentional entomophagy." You have been warned.

You learned something new today I bet! : )

North Dakota

Did you know...

...the capital is Bismarck
...it's the birthplace of Angie Dickinson, Phil Jackson and Lawrence Welk
...17th largest state
...milk is the official state beverage
...the town of Rugby is the geographical center of North America (a 15 foot obelisk marks the spot)
...the town of Rutland cooked the World's Largest Hamburger weighing 3,591 lbs, feeding 10,000 (now been surpassed by an 8,000 lb burger, I believe...gross!)
...grows more sunflowers than any other state, but the state flower is the wild prairie rose
...the all time high was 121º F at Steele on July 6, 1936
...the all time low was -60ºF at Parshall on Febraury 15, 1936

Las Vegas Elopement 411

This is terribly romantic...

But then, I'm a sucker for poor decisions. : )

Happy Valentine's, everybody!

Ga$ FYI

If you are like me, you may have been tempted to sock in a few extra dollars for higher octane gasoline ready for the added benefits higher mpg it promises. Read the facts from the Federal Trade Commission.

*sigh* Now I have to wean my Volvo off the stuff. *grumble*

ScreenSaver History

Did you know that ScreenSavers are purely decorational now? It's a fact! But what would we do without our scrolling pictures of cars, flowers and celebrities? I personally miss the old screen savers, like the pictured flying toasters. Remember the flying toasters? So shiny and happy! Were they in outer space? Were they winging their way to breakfasts all over the world? Or departing for Pluto? Nobody knew. You can still have them, if your little heart so desires.

Squirrel Nests

Are called Dreys and I think they might be about the coolest things ever! The squirrels around where I work will hover just outside their dreys and chatter at you as you walk by. Because obviously you are about to try to steal all their nuts. They sound like really squeaky, bad car engines.

The Longest Day

Now that we are in winter here in Cleveland, I begin wondering when I'll see the sun again and this gets me thinking about how even though these days have been some of the most hellishly long days of my life (for personal reasons) according to the sun, they are also the shortest days of the year. So, when's the longest and shortest days again for dear, old Cleveland? They change annually, but we'll go with most recent. Here they are:

Longest ~ June 21, 2006
Shortest ~ December 22, 2006

Technically these are called Summer and Winter Solstice (and I can't help noting the latter falls on my Mother's Birthday!).

I think countries up at the poles have the longest recorded spans of sunlight and darkness, but I have no idea what they are and frankly I don't care. But someone (I'm not going to guess who, but) someone will find these crucial pieces of information for me so I don't have to lift a mouse finger. I know it!

JEOPARDY!

Made its Television debut on this day in 1964.

How old is Trebek anyways?

Questions to ponder

What percent of a library's stock is visible on the shelves at any given time?

What does "Gratin" in "au Gratin Potatoes" mean?

Zoological Fact of the Day

The average adult porcupine has 30,000 quills.

Immigration Filing

Perhaps you didn't know that when it comes to filing paperwork for immigration, depending on the office you work for,the letters "X", "Y", and "Z" are sometimes larger than all the other files.

I'm temping.

: )

Everything's Coming Up Roses

So, what if you were a big, squishy, earthworm and you just wanted to be as weird as you possibly could. You could be three feet long. You could spit food at predators. You could be ghastly white. You could even smell like a flower.

Or you could do all four and get yourself on the endangered species list for weirdest worm.

(link courtesy of Jeff Gober)

Test Your Blowhole Knowledge

Of the Sperm Whale and the Blue Whale, which has one blowhole and which has two?

That's Not Egypt...

Can you name ten films shot in Tunisia?

Now you can.

Philately of the Day

A cinderella is the philatelist name for stamp-like seals or stickers (like those issued by charities or government) that have no postal validity. Kind of like Easter Seals. But don't be fooled by their lack of postal value. These mini posters can be worth just as much as a stamp. And yes, I know I'm repeating the audioblog, but these were too darn cool to pass up. Take a peek.