Monday, January 4, 2021

World Braille Day - January 4, 2021

 DIANE'S CORNER ..

Celebrate World Braille Day


World Braille Day celebrates the birth of Louis Braille, inventor of the reading and writing system used by millions of blind and partially sighted people all over the globe.

Though not a public holiday in any country, World Braille Day provides an opportunity for teachers, charities and non-government organizations to raise awareness about issues facing the blind and the importance of continuing to produce works in Braille, providing the blind with access to the same reading and learning opportunities as the sighted.

History of World Braille Day

Louis Braille, the inventor of braille, was born in France on January 4th, 1809. Blinded in both eyes in an accident as a child, Braille nevertheless managed to master his disability while still a child. Despite not being able to see at all, he excelled in his education and received scholarship to France’s Royal Institute for Blind Youth.

During his studies, inspired by the military cryptography of Charles Barbier of the French Army, he developed a system of tactile code that could allow the blind to read and write quickly and efficiently. Braille presented the results of his hard work to his peers for the first time in 1824 when he was just fifteen years of age. In 1829, he published his first book about the system he had created, called “Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them”.

The braille system works by representing the alphabet letters (and numbers) in a series of 6 dots paired up in 3 rows. The simplicity of his idea allowed books to start being produced on a large scale in a format that thousands of blind people can read by running their fingertips over the dots. Thanks to this, blind students have the opportunity to be educated alongside their peers as well as read for pleasure just as easily as any seeing person can.


Joke of the Day
SHOPPING NEEDS
At the end of my factory shift, I was asked to purchase some supplies. The machines' conveyor belts needed talcum powder to prevent them from sticking, and we had run out of aspirin for workers with noise-induced tension headaches.

I drove to the nearest store and loaded a shopping cart with four cases of baby powder and several boxes of aspirin. As the man behind me in the checkout line peered at my purchases, he laughed and exclaimed, "Must be one heck of a baby!"

Word of the Day

approbation

MEANING:
noun: Approval, praise, commendation, or official sanction.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin approbation, from ad- (toward) + probatus, from probare (to test the goodness of). Earliest documented use: 1393.


USAGE:
“Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools.”
Richard Steele; The Art of Conversation; The Spectator; 1711.


Idiom of the Day


What does 'An old flame' mean?

An old flame is a person that somebody has had an emotional, usually passionate, relationship with, who is still looked on fondly and with affection.

This Day in History

1896 - Utah became the 45th U.S. state.

1936 - The first pop music chart based on national sales was published by "Billboard" magazine.

1957 - "Collier’s" magazine was published for the last time. The periodical was published for 69 years.

1965 - The Fender Guitar Company was sold to CBS for $13 million.

1972 - Rose Heilbron became the first woman judge in Britain at the Old Bailey, London.

1982 - Bryant Gumbel moved from NBC Sports to the anchor desk where he joined Jane Pauley as co-host of the "Today" show on NBC.

1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota's 37th governor.


2007 - Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first woman to hold the position.


2010 - In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) opened as the world's tallest tower at 2,625 feet.

thanks, Sofia



DAILY SQU-EEK



If You Were Born Today, January 4:

You are highly ambitious and responsible, working hard at what you do and rarely letting small setbacks steer you from your course. Goal-oriented, your biggest weakness is a tendency to take on far too much! You are responsible, a fabulous partner, direct and honest, and quite likable as well. You are a practical person who has much sound advice to give for those smart enough to ask you for it. Famous people born today:

1785 Jacob Grimm, German philologist, folklorist and editor of "Grimm's Fairy Tales", born in Hanau, Hesse-Cassel, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1863)

1809 Louis Braille, French educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for the blind, born in Coupvray, France (d. 1852)

1813 Isaac Pitman, English teacher and inventor of Pitman shorthand (Stenographic Soundhand), born in Trowbridge, England (d. 1897)

1935 Floyd Patterson, American boxer (world heavyweight champion 1956-59, 1960-62, Olympic gold 1952), born in Waco, North Carolina (d. 2006)

1943 Doris Kearns Goodwin, American historian and writer (Team of Rivals, No Ordinary Time), born in Brooklyn, New York

thanks, Lesley


READERS INFO
1.
(Not So) Totally Useless Facts of The Day:

How can you tell when a cranberry is ripe? Just bounce it! While soft cranberries have no bounce in their game, firm and ripe cranberries can bounce up to 4 inches. That is how you can tell when they are ready for consumption.

If you were to drive your car vertically into the sky at 60 MPH, it would only take an hour to reach outer space.

The world’s first speed limit was established in the United Kingdom in 1861. The Locomotive Act of 1861 set the speed limit on open roads at 10 mph (miles per hour). By 1903 the legal speed limit had gone up to 20 mph.

2.
1905 -
Sterling Price Holloway Jr. was born in Cedartown, Georgia. 
(January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) 

Holloway was a actor and voice actor who appeared in over 
100 films and 40 television shows. He was also a voice actor 
for The Walt Disney Company, well known for his distinctive 
tenor voice and is perhaps best remembered as the original 
voice of Mr. Stork in Dumbo, Adult Flower in Bambi, the 
Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, the title character in 
Winnie the Pooh, Kaa in The Jungle Book, and Roquefort 
in The Aristocats.

3.
Coronavirus Style by Sylvia, CAN DO Correspondent
Tiny Skillet Brownies.
Lately I have been seeing the wee cast iron skillets in a gift package for making a brownie for one. I wanted one because I have had a long-standing love affair with cast iron for many decades and the smallest I had was too big for melting butter. So I bought the kit and now I am working on making gluten-free and low-carb gluten-free brownies.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and oil or butter your little skillet. In a 1/2 cup measure put:
2 T. sugar or the sugar substitute mix (see Dec 18th issue)
2 T. cocoa powder
1/2 t. baking powder
pinch of salt
enough GF flour to bring the dry ingredients up to 1/2 cup.

Put this in a bowl and mix. Then add:
2 T. butter, soft
2 T. milk
few drops vanilla, almond, or rum flavouring
A few pecans and chocolate chips for decadence.

Pour into the pan, put it on the centre rack, and bake for 15 minutes.

Pictures of the Day

The Moscow Metro is the world's most heavily used metro system. Kievskaya station is one of the oldest stations on the network and lies on the Kol'tsevaya line (the central ring line) which was completed in 1937. Several of the central stations are remarkable for their ornate architecture, with marble columns, granite floors and chandeliers. Kievskaya station is particularly noted for its wall mosaics which depict socialist realist scenes from the history of the Ukraine.

A Map of the USA Drawn with Just 3 Lines
When you realize 2 of the 3 lines are for Alaska and Hawaii


Crochet Patterns of the Day: 
thanks, Valerie, Canadian Correspondent


crochet
thanks, Tara
Square Flap Shoulder Bag

crochet
thanks, Helen
Bravo the Bear Cub

crochet, vintage
RECIPE
thanks, Shelley, New York Food Correspondent

Quarantine Cooking Recipes
thanks, Debbie

CROCKPOT RECIPE
thanks, Beth

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

COPYCAT RECIPE 
thanks, Jenny

SWEETS
thanks, Valerie, Canadian Correspondent


ADULT COLORING


FUN



Answer: rad-ish

CRAFTS
thanks, Stella
PUZZLE

Small Fishing Boat Jigsaw Puzzle

WORD SEARCH



about
above
annoy
application

battle
boldly
bond
bother
break		cancel
cargo
cavern
coal
common

defeat
discover

expanding		faith
favor

habitation

know

limit
listen		plush
power
problem

real
refuse

sent
steer
subtract		those

under

victim

wicked
wire


SUDOKU .. hard



solution:




ICE BREAKER ...
thanks, Kris
You can use 'ice breaker questions' to build a rapport, enabling strangers to engage in back and forth conversion. With a little practice and possibly a beer or two, you’ll be breaking more ice than the Titanic. 

What Was The Coolest Gift You Ever Received?

QUOTE
thanks, Helen



thanks for the funnies, Heide

CLEVER 

thanks, Judy
Work-From-Home Soundscapes

Ah, working remotely from a tranquil corner of your home. Is there anything better? Until the noises start, that is. A parody of quality ambient noise generators:



EYE OPENER 
thanks, Ella


thanks for the funnies, Shelley, New York Food Correspondent

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo. -Max Eastman, journalist and poet (4 Jan 1883-1969)


OPTICAL ILLUSION

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