A glass of wine a day keeps the cardiologist away, or so they say. That may be the reason there is such a thing as Drink Wine Day, but who’s to say we needed a reason to gurgle down a glass of our favourite zesty Bordeaux, anyway?
Well, whosoever thought of proclaiming a Drink Wine Day certainly pleased the gods and one in particular, Dionysus, or Bacchus to the Romans, god of merry making, wine, thereat and ecstasy. Whatever the vintage of the one you’re sipping as we speak, make sure you share it, because today is a ‘wine and dine’ day. In fact, you can leave out the ‘dine’ part because wine is said to be such a strong aphrodisiac, and red wine in particular, that your beloved will surely forgive you. In fact, let’s raise a glass to the French for the hard work they’ve put into making us more lovable. Santé!
Word of the Day
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| Definition: | (adverb) With disapproval, suspicion, or distrust. | ||
| Synonyms: | sidelong | ||
| Usage: | I glanced askance at this strange creature, and found him watching me with his queer, restless eyes. | ||
Quick Quiz:
Jamie looked at his brother and yelled "No way!" after his brother had told him to
Jamie looked at his brother and yelled "No way!" after his brother had told him to
History
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 | Pluto was discovered by the astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona while he was searching for "Planet X," a hypothetical planet that was believed to exist beyond Neptune. Pluto was long regarded as a planet, but following the discovery of other, larger Kuiper belt objects, astronomers recognized the need to reclassify Pluto. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union ended official recognition of Pluto as a planet. | ||
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 | Morrison is an African-American writer and former editor for Random House whose work helped bring African-American literature into the mainstream. In 1988, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved, which is now included in the canon of American literature, and she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Her fiction is noted for its poetic language, lush detail, and emotional intensity. | ||
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 | Facebook users can now name a friend or family member as the executor of their profile page after they die. This person is known as a "legacy contact" and can post information to the deceased's page, as well as change the profile picture and accept friend requests. Once chosen, legacy contacts are notified via auto-message from Facebook. If a user does not wish to name a legacy contact, Facebook can be configured to delete his or her profile after death. Previously, it was only possible to "memorialize" pages of users who had passed away. | ||
1564 - The artist Michelanglelo died in Rome.
1735 - The first opera performed in America. The work was "Flora" (or "Hob in the Well") was presented in Charleston, SC.
1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S.for the first time.
1930 - Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane
1970 - The Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.
1972 - The California Supreme Court struck down the state's death penalty.
2006 - American Shani Davis won the men's 1,000-meter speedskating in Turin. He was the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.
If You Were Born Today, February 18
You have a true love of beauty and harmony, as well as exceptional appeal. While comfort and pleasure are important to you, you are no stranger to hard work. Work hard and play hard could be your motto. You go over the top for those you love. You are generous and well-liked. The spiritual and idealistic side to you is well-developed. Famous people born today: Cybill Shepherd, Yoko Ono, Vanna White, Matt Dillon, John Travolta, Dr. Dre, Molly Ringwald.
House of Sand
Photograph by Romain Veillon, National Geographic
In the abandoned diamond-mining town of Pomona on the Namibian coast, sand devours buildings like this one, a house on a hill outside the main village. “I was amazed by what I saw inside, the purity of the sand that was untouched for years, maybe decades,” writes Romain Veillon, who was shooting Pomona and nearby Kolmanskop for a photography project. “This picture always makes me wonder about the story of the people who used to live there—and what they were thinking when they were looking at this incredible view.”
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Non-Felted Slippers Biscotte's version pattern by Louise...
This pattern is inspired from the original design « Non-felted slippers » by Yuko Nakamura. I love this pattern : the original model is knitted back and forth a...
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Horseshoe Cable Muffler pattern by Gretchen Tracy
This fun muffler can be styled as either a cowl or a scarf, and uses size US 6 needles and roughly 260 yards of dk weight yarn (if you plan to wear it mostly as...
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Easy Hexagon Pattern pattern by Elizabeth Trantham
Great pattern for those left over small balls of yarn
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The Left Side of Crochet: Flower Pot Bookmark
Flowerpot Bookmark Materials: (US) size 7 steel hook, size 10 cotton thread: light brown or terra cotta color; pastel variegated, tapestry needle (for weavin...
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Beyond the Doily pattern by Arlene Bernhardt
Sizes available One size - Approx. 6 inches in diameter
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crockpot recipe!
CrockPot Fish Chowder Recipe
Friday fresh fish, all you hungry bloggers come and eat it up ... although the fish I used wasn't fresh, it was frozen. The kids went through a phase where they ate a can of Progresso Clam Chowder every day for lunch. It was a very easy time for me. This tastes remarkably similar without chemicals, a tin-can taste, or boatloads of sodium.
And it was easy.
The Ingredients:
--1 lb of white fish (I used frozen Orange Roughy from Trader Joe's)
--9 baby potatoes (or 10. but not 11.)
--1 cup frozen roasted corn
--1/2 white onion
--handful baby carrots
--heart of celery
--3-4 cloves of garlic
--1/2 t black pepper
--salt (to taste, especially if using homemade broth)
--2 cups frozen shrimp (to add later)
--1 cup heavy whipping cream (to add later)
The Directions:
--chop up all the vegetables. I used my handy-dandy Pampered Chef chopper because I like it and it reminds me of when I used to be invited to those kinds of parties. How come people don't have those any more?
--cube the fish, it's okay if it's still frozen.
--dump everything except the cream and the shrimp into your stoneware insert
cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until the potatoes are tender. If your veggies are too big for your taste, use an immersion blender to smooth it out.
30 minutes before serving, stir in your cup of cream and the frozen shrimp. Turn your crockpot to high for the last 30 minutes.
Serve with a bit of fresh parmesan cheese.
The Verdict:
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Oleander and Palm: DIY Metallic Dipped Taper Candles
Can I just coat, dip and cover everything in metallics? Is that acceptable? I'm thinking with the holidays, I can make everything just a little shiny and metal...
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puzzle!
'coffee' in Finnish: kahvi
clever!
EYE OPENER!
Amusing Irrelevant Facts
The oldest known goldfish lived to 41 years of age. Its name was Fred. In 1987, a 1,400-year-old lump of still-edible cheese was unearthed in Ireland.There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada called Dildo. In Kentucky, 50% of the people who get married for the first time are teenagers. Kotex was first manufactured as bandages, during WWI. Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be 'retarded.' In Los Angeles, there are fewer people than there are automobiles. About a third of all Americans flush the toilet while they're still sitting on it.
In 1984, a New Jersey man opened a summer camp for Cabbage Patch dolls. You're more likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day that in any other weather.How can you tell when a gorilla is angry? It sticks its tongue out. According to one poll, nearly 3/4 of all American women wear a bra that is the wrong size. In 1976, a Los Angeles secretary formally married her 50-pound pet rock. The first sperm banks opened in 1964; they were located in Tokyo and Iowa City. In 1980, the Yellow Pages accidentally listed a Texas funeral home under frozen foods. Cold showers actually increase sexual arousal.
200 college students streaked at the same time in Boulder, CO in 1974. In 1977, a 13-year-old boy discovered a tooth growing on his left foot. In 1983, a Japanese artist made a copy of the Mona Lisa completely out of toast. In the early '80s, a toad was discovered that meows instead of croaking.
In 1984, a Canadian farmer began renting ad space on his cows. About 96% of all American children can recognize Ronald McDonald. An average person laughs about 15 times a day. Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas.
Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air. The average human has seven sex fantasies in a day. The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million. The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night.
A sneeze zooms out of your mouth at over 600 m.p.h.The condom - made originally of linen - was invented in the early 1500s. The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C. Watch out for flying hockey pucks - they travel at up to 100 mph. America's first nudist organization was founded in 1929, by 3 men. When he's feeling amorous, the male sea otter grabs the female's nose with his teeth.
In 1681, the last dodo bird died. A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her coffee. The Neanderthal's brain was bigger than yours is.
An Indian woman can legally wed a goat. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants. The average bank teller loses about $250 every year. Howdy Doody had 48 freckles. What color was Christopher Columbus's hair? Blonde. In 1980, there was only one country in the world with no telephones - Bhutan.
The most extras ever used in a movie was 300,000, for the film Gandhi in 1981. Every person has a unique tongue print. Your right lung takes in more air than your left one does. Women's hearts beat faster than men's.
When Bugs Bunny first appeared in 1935, he was called Happy Rabbit. Pollsters say that 40% of dog and cat owners carry pictures of the pets in their wallets. Bubble gum contains rubber. You can only smell 1/20th as well as a dog. In high school, Robin Williams was voted "Least Likely to Succeed." Only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star. The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in Jello. The sex organ on a male spider is located at the end of one of its legs. Even if you cut off a cockroach's head, it can live for several weeks. Chicken soup was considered an aphrodisiac in the Middle Ages. Most American car horns honk in the key of F. The world population of chickens is about equal to the number of people. Women are 37% more likely to go to a psychiatrist than men are. [Well, duh, why do you think they go? The men drive them crazy!] Every time Beethoven sat down to write music, he poured ice water over his head. In 75% of American households, women manage the money and pay the bills.
A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana. About 70% of Americans who go to college do it just to make more money. [The rest of us are avoiding reality for four more years.] It's against the law to catch fish with your bare hands in Kansas. An estimated 6,000 American teenagers lose their virginity every day.
Someone paid $14,000 for the bra Marilyn Monroe wore in Some Like It Hot. Some toothpastes contain antifreeze. Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.
Millie the White House dog earned more than 4 times as much as Pres. Bush in 1991. Elvis's nickname for his sexual organ was "Little Elvis." Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the western Pacific.
There are more plastic flamingos in America than real ones. [And most of them are in Parma!] Most lipstick contains fish scales. Lee Harvey Oswald's cadaver tag sold at an auction for $6,600 in 1992. Mosquitoes have teeth.
Spotted skunks do handstands before they spray. Hypnotism is banned by public schools in San Diego. The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.
When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food. Most cows give more milk when they listen to music.
Captain Kangaroo won five Emmy awards. In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die. An estimated one in five Americans - some 38 million - don't like sex.
Aztec emperor Montezuma had a nephew, Cuitlahac, whose name meant "plenty of excrement." Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark. "Kemo Sabe" means "soggy shrub" in Navajo.
Oh no! That house of sand reminds me of our house...but of snow. Brrrr.....Obviously I need to make some fish chowder!
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