Joke Day - July 1, 2020

DIANE'S CORNER ... Celebrate Joke Day

Do you think you’re funny? The best way to get a feel for a country is to try to understand the humor. Laughter is a universally recognized expression of amusement, and joke-telling can become a professional gig for those that truly have a humorous touch.

Joke Day is the perfect day to let out all of the guffaw producing, or groan-inducing jokes you’ve collected over the years, sharing them with friends or any passerby you can get to listen to you.

Learn about Joke Day

Joke Day is not just a day for you to prove to everyone how funny you are. It is the perfect day for you to share laughs and to put a smile on people’s faces, including your own. Whether you prefer to share jokes or you like to listen to them, this is a day that is all about smiling, laughing, and having fun, and who wouldn’t want to be a part of a day like this?

They say that laughter is the best medicine, and a lot of people would agree with this! After all, there are actually a lot of health benefits that are associated with laughing. Laughter draws people together in a manner that triggers healthy emotional and physical changes in the body.

Laughter can help to protect you from the damaging impact of stress, diminish pain, boost mood, and strengthen your immune system. Nothing workers more dependably or quicker to bring your body and mind back into balance than a good old laugh.

Humor keeps you alert, focused, and grounded, as well as connecting you to others, inspiring hope, and lightening your burden. It also helps you to forgive sooner and release anger too. 

You may have also heard that laughter is a good way to burn calories, and this is true too! Of course, this does not mean that you should replace going to the gym with laying on the sofa and watching your favorite comedian.

However, one study concluded that you can burn around 40 calories if you laugh for between 10 and 15 minutes each day. Over the year, this could be enough to lose around four pounds!

History of Joke Day

Joke Day seems to have officially begun in the United States but whatever the origins of Joke Day, it is clear that jokes themselves pre-date by hundreds and hundreds of years. The first joke is often attributed to the Greeks, specifically Palamedes, who is also credited with the invention of many other things. An example of an ancient Greek joke-telling reads thus:

“A barber, a bald man and an absent-minded professor take a journey together. They have to camp overnight, and so decide to take turns watching the luggage. When it’s the barber’s turn, he gets bored, so amuses himself by shaving the head of the professor. When the professor is woken up for his shift, he feels his head, and says “How stupid is that barber? He’s woken up the bald man instead of me.”

Greece also boasts the first comedy club, though its purpose was sharing jokes among friends rather than stand up performances as we have now. Jokes have likely been told since man first looked at himself in a pool of water and passed judgment on his own complexion, so it’s a safe bet that people have been celebrating jokes for a long time.

Joke of the Day

Word of the Day

zig

MEANING:

noun: A sharp turn or angle in a zigzag course.
verb intr.: To make a sharp turn.

ETYMOLOGY:

Back-formation from zigzag, from French zigzag, from ziczac, from German Zickzack (zigzag), perhaps a reduplication of Zacke (peak, tooth, or nail). Earliest documented use: 1969. Zigzag is from 1712.

USAGE:

“The state senator ... zigged to the right in order to appeal to primary voters, pledging to abolish the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Ben Jacobs; Sarah Palin’s Hog Castrating Clone May Cost GOP Iowa’s Senate Seat if She Wins Primary; The Daily Beast (New York); Jun 3, 2014.

Idiom of the Day

A light purse is a heavy curse

Life is difficult when you don't have much money.

This Day in History

1845 - Uniform postal rates went into effect throughout the United States. The Act of Congress was passed on March 3, 1845.

1867 - Canada became an independent dominion.

1874 - The Philadelphia Zoological Society zoo opened as the first zoo in the United States.

1905 - The USDA Forest Service was created within the Department of Agriculture. The agency was given the mission to sustain healthy, diverse, and productive forests and grasslands for present and future generations.

1916 - The massive Allied offensive known as the Battle of the Somme began in France. The battle was the first to use tanks.

1940 - In Washington, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was opened to traffic. The bridge collapsed during a wind storm on November 7, 1940.

1941 - Bulova Watch Company sponsored the first TV commercial in New York City, NY.


1961 - The first community air-raid shelter was built. The shelter in Boise, ID had a capacity of 1,000 people and family memberships sold for $100.


1963 - The U.S. postmaster introduced the five-digit ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) code.


1966 - The Medicare federal insurance program went into effect.


1979 - Susan B. Anthony was commemorated on a U.S. coin, the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

1979 - Sony introduced the Walkman.

1980 - "O Canada" was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.

1997 - The sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from Great Britain to China. Britain had controlled Hong Kong as a colony for 156 years.

2003 - In Hong Kong, thousands of protesters marched to show their opposition to anti-subversion legislation.



DAILY SQU-EEK

If You Were Born Today, July 1

You are an intriguing person who attracts attention whether you want to or not because of this quality. You're a very determined person, sometimes quite stubborn, who is also hard-working. At the same time, you have a soft, giving, and perceptive side to you. Love relationships can be up and down because of a tendency to swing between being too soft and too hard. Famous people born today:

1646 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German mathematician and philosopher (differential and integral calculus), born in Leipzig, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1716)

1899 Charles Laughton, English actor (Mutiny on Bounty, Spartacus), born in Scarborough, England (d. 1962)

1903 Amy Johnson, British pilot, first female pilot to fly alone Britain to Australia, born in Kingston upon Hull, England (d. 1941)

1906 Estée Lauder, CEO (Estée Lauder cosmetics) (d. 2004), born in NYC, New York

1916 Olivia de Havilland, American actress (All the King's Men, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Gone with the Wind), born in Tokyo, Japan

1934 Sydney Pollack, American director, actor and producer (Tootsie, Out of Africa), born in Lafayette, Indiana (d. 2008)

1952 Daniel "Dan" Aykroyd, Canadian-American comedian and actor (SNL, Dragnet), born in Ottawa, Canada


1961 Diana Spencer, English Princess of Wales, born in Sandringham, England (d. 1997)


1961 Carl Lewis, American sprinter and long jumper (9 Olympic gold 1984, 88, 92, 96), born in Birmingham, Alabama


1971 Missy Elliott, American rapper (Supa Dupa Fly, Under Construction), born in Portsmouth, Virginia

1977 Liv Tyler, American actress and daughter of Aerosmith's frontman, Steven Tyler (Stealing Beauty, Lord of the Rings), born in NYC, New York

READERS INFO

1.

(Not So) Totally Useless Facts of The Day:

After his death, Albert Einstein's brain was stolen by a pathologist and cut up into 240 pieces.

Thomas Harvey was the pathologist on call at Princeton Hospital when Einstein died there in April 1955. Einstein wanted all of his remains to be cremated and scattered, but Harvey had other ideas. He took the brain without permission, and eventually it was carved up into 240 pieces, preserved, and stored in Harvey's basement.

Bees can sense a flower’s electric field and use it to find pollen.

Yup, flowers have electric fields around them. And bees, which become positively charged as they flap their wings, use those electric fields as cues to work out where the nectar is.

In March 1989 the northern lights were visible as far south as Florida and Cuba during a powerful solar storm.

The storm also knocked out the entire electrical grid in the Canadian province of Quebec, causing a nine-hour outage.

2.

1963 -

The U.S. Postal Service launched ZIP codes or the "Zone Improvement Plan." A large increase in the volume of mailed items necessitated a more efficient mail-delivery system. The cartoon Mr. ZIP appeared on posters, public-service announcements, stamp-book covers, mail-delivery vehicles and postal-clerk buttons to remind people to use ZIP codes for a faster mail delivery. The post office's marketing campaign was successful and soon the use of ZIP codes became commonplace.

3.

Coronavirus Style by Sylvia, CAN DO Correspondent

I am trying very hard to stick with a Keto food plan, and it is not so easy as I do love a sweet after dinner. This little recipe is how I have been surviving, and it is very quick to make. 

But be warned – you will have to lick your fingers because it does melt at body temperature. It does satisfy! 

Pictures of the day

Florence Van Leer Earle Coates (July 1, 1850 – April 6, 1927)  was an American poet. She became well known, both at home  and abroad, for her works of poetry, nearly three hundred of  which were published in literary magazines such as the Atlantic  Monthly, Scribner's Magazine, The Literary Digest, Lippincott's,  The Century Magazine, and Harper's Magazine. She was  encouraged by Matthew Arnold with whom she maintained a  correspondence until his death in 1888. Many of her nature  poems were inspired by the flora and fauna of the Adirondacks,  where the Coates family spent their summer months at "Camp  Elsinore" beside Upper St. Regis Lake; here they entertained  many friends such as Otis Skinner, Violet Oakley, Henry Mills  Alden, and Agnes Repplier.

END OF THE WORLD

This photo, taken at the ‘end of the world’ swing in Banos, Ecuador, captures a man on the swing overlooking an erupting Mt. Tungurahua. The eruption took place on February 1st, 2014. Minutes after the photo was taken, we had to evacuate the area because of an incoming ash cloud. 

knit ... Independence Day
thanks, Cindy

Patriotic Celebration
knit
thanks, Ivy

Colour Pop Rainbow Cushion

knit

Cabled Sunburst Washcloth

knit

Em Dash Socks

knit

Magic Hour Sweater

Crochet Pattern of the Day: 

thanks, Valerie, Canadian Correspondent

Crochet Spa Set

Hilo Swell Tank

crochet
thanks, Laura

Lucky Star

crochet
thanks, Sharon

Teddy Feeding Bottle Cover

crochet

The Hearts Of Hope Coasters pattern by Ira Rott

crochet

Wheelchair Wrap pattern by Susan A. Coes

crochet

Mug for your Hook pattern by Thata Pang

Quarantine Cooking Recipes

thanks, Debbie

Sheet-Pan Italian Pork Chops Make the Easiest Keto Weeknight Dinner

RECIPE

thanks, Heide

Shepherd’s Pie Twice-Baked Potatoes

CROCKPOT RECIPE

thanks, Shelley, New York Food Correspondent

Fettuccine Alfredo

VEGAN/ VEGETARIAN RECIPE

Both vegetarian and vegan diets may provide health benefits, including reduced body weight, lower cholesterol levels, and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, it is important for vegetarians and vegans to ensure that they are meeting all of their nutritional requirements.

thanks, Alice

BAKED LIMA BEANS

(Serves 8)

This sweet side dish is absolutely delicious!

One 6-ounce package vegan "bacon"
2 teaspoons oil
One 24-ounce package frozen lima beans
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
One 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 cup molasses
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

Fry vegan "bacon" in oil in a non-stick frying pan until crisp on both sides (about 10 minutes). Chop into very small pieces.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, cook lima beans in boiling water for 10 minutes and drain.

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a medium-size oven-proof baking dish. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Serve warm.

SWEETS ... bygone classic recipe

thanks, Patsy

Old-Fashioned Boiled Raisin Cake Recipe

ADULT COLORING

FUN

Strain your brain with these superfun, mind-bending, totally awesome trivia questions about animals, food, and more!

Excellent

me: 6 out of 9

you  ?

CRAFTS

How to Make Your Own Coronavirus Piñata (and Then Smash It)

CHILDREN'S CORNER

thanks, Kitty

Mosaic Bird Bath

PUZZLE

Working Horses Jigsaw Puzzle

WORD SEARCH

absent Canada capital country empire equal

felt free leaf mane maple nation north

office Ottawa pandemic parliament party pore

power proclamation provinces Quebec queen role royal

shows street together transfer union

SUDOKU ... medium

solution:

QUOTE

CLEVER 

EYE OPENER 

thanks, Amy

Nothing But Knit

To promote awareness, engagement and participation in anticipation of the 2021 NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis throughout our community, we are asking for fans to help us create 6,000 Nothing But Knit beanies to be worn by volunteers and frontline hospitality employees during the 2021 NBA All-Star Weekend and given as gifts to All-Star players, coaches and other NBA VIPs.

Nothing But Knit 2021

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The American who first discovered Columbus made a bad discovery. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1 Jul 1742-1799)

OPTICAL ILLUSION

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