October 23

Smurfs, Having a Smurfy Day Source

Spotlight: In German, they're called "Schlümpfe"; In Hebrew, they're known as "Dardassim"; the Spanish call them "Pitufos"; and Italians call them "Puffi." In English, they're called Smurfs, and they're celebrating their fiftieth birthday. Smurfs first appeared on Oct. 23, 1958, as guest stars of the Belgian cartoon Johan and Peewit, drawn by Pierre Culliford (aka Peyo). The little blue creatures lived in a forest somewhere in Europe, and no non-Smurf could find them without a Smurf guide. The first — and for a long while, only — female in the group, Smurfette, was created by their archenemy, Gargamel, who hoped she would cause jealousy and dissension in the group.

Quote: "No casting spells on your own." — Papa Smurf, stating the first rule of Smurfdom

Question of the Day: Is there such a thing as a green smurf?
In the original comics, green Smurfs are considered to be wild and mad, and many of the regular Smurfs are afraid of them. More

Word of the day: coddle
A cooking method most often used with eggs, though other foods can be coddled as well. There are special containers with tight-fitting lids called "egg coddlers" made specifically for this purpose. Coddling is usually done by placing the food in an individual-size container that is covered, set in a larger pan of simmering water and placed either on stovetop or in the oven at very low heat. The gentle warmth of this water bath slowly cooks the food. Coddling can also be done by gently lowering the food into water that's come to a boil and removed from the heat.
(© Barron's Educational Series, Inc.)

What's for dinner? And how do I make it? This week we'll sample some cooking terminology.

Previous words: clarify, caramelize, braise

Today's History:

• Brutus: committed suicide after losing to Mark Anthony and Octavian in the Second Battle of Philippi, a war fought to avenge the assassination of Julius Caesar (42 BCE)
• War of Jenkins' Ear: British PM Robert Walpole reluctantly declared war on Spain after a ship's captain brought in his ear, pickled, and told the House of Commons it had been severed by the Spanish coast guard (1739)
• Hungarian Revolution: spontaneous protest began, marking the first anti-Soviet revolt; many thousands were killed or fled; the Hungarian Republic was declared exactly 33 years later(1956)
• Moscow Theater Crisis: Chechen terrorists took 700 hostages; many died during a Russian raid the next day (2002)

Today's Birthdays:

• Johnny Carson (1925-2005): host of The Tonight Show
• Jim Bunning (77): pitcher-turned-politician; also, pitchers Al Leiter (43) and John Lackey (30)
• Pelé (68): Brazil's most famous soccer star
• Michael Crichton (66): author of Jurassic Park
• Ang Lee (54): Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain; filmmakers Philip Kaufman (72) and Sam Raimi (49) share this birth date
• 'Weird Al' Yankovic (49): pop parodist; country star Dwight Yoakam (52) also has a birthday today
• Ryan Reynolds (32): actor, Definitely, Maybe; actors Michael Rupert (57) and Masiela Lusha (23) also celebrate birthdays today

Thia post has been brought to you today by www.answers.com

~Ellentia

funny quotes

A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.

For NASA, space is still a high priority.

Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here.

I deserve respect for the things I did not do.

I have made good judgements in the past. I have made good judgements in the future.

I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.

I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.

If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure.

It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.

It's wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.

Republicans have been accused of abandoning the poor. It's the other way around. They never vote for us.

The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle may or may not make.

The global importance of the Middle East is that it keeps the Far East and the Near East from encroaching on each other.

The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century.

Votes are like trees, if you are trying to build a forest. If you have more trees than you have forests, then at that point the pollsters will probably say you will win.

We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not happen.

What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is.

I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.

When you make as many speeches and you talk as much as I do and you get away from the text, it's always a possibility to get a few words tangled here and there.

Every once in a while, you let a word or phrase out and you want to catch it and bring it back. You can't do that. It's gone, gone forever.

All of the above - Dan Quayle, former Vice President


I think those last 2 quotes sum up all the other quotes! I think part of the problem is that he tries to be clever and gets his words mixed up so it comes out really funny.

~Ellentia

Portable Tripod

So, I have been looking for something interesting to post and I have found it. I don't know if it works but I will be trying it sometime since it will cost practically nothing!

DIY: The Super-Small Bottle-Cap Tripod

Wed, 2007-01-17 21:16 — udijw
When you are going on a field trip, you want your tripod to be small. Small and light. It would be best if it can fit in your pocket. When Ron Uriel saw the post about the wrap-able tripod, he had an idea. Why not use the 1/4" bolts in other ways. He told me about an idea to make a small tripod from a coke bottle.
This sounded like an interesting idea so I got to work. First I got several coke bottles (you can learn allot about a person by the bottle caps he uses. In my case, the gray-silver cap suggests I drink the diet version of the bubbly beverage). I also needed a 1/4" hex bolt, a 1/4" hex nut, and two of those round thingies called washers. For the finishing touch I used some sand paper. (If you are not into coke or diet coke you can use the beverage to perform the Mentose and Diet Coke experiment - just make sure you retrieve the bottle)

The first thing I did was to drill a hole in the middle of the bottle cap (note - after this step you can no longer use the cap to seal the bottle :) I drilled using a small drill to mark the middle and enlarged the hole using a 1/4" drill. See the picture for the drilled caps. You can use the sandpaper to even up the top of the cap (not a must). You can also see how the diet cap ended up smoother then the regular one.

Now you make cap sandwich: you take the bold and you slide one washer in; then you screw the bottle cap onto the bolt and slide another washer.

Lastly you tighten the nut on the outer side of the cap. Make sure you tighten the nut pretty well, other wise, you will have trouble removing the camera from the tripod.

This is it. Very easy.
The next step is to find a coke bottle. Fill the bottle with water or sand to make it heavy and stable. Now place the bolted cap on bottle and plug your camera in.
Now a word of caution here: this tripod will work great for point and shoots like canon A620 or A75, I would not try my D70 with SB800 and 100-400 lens mounted on this fixture.

www.diyphotography.net/the-super-small-bottle-cap-tripod

~Ellentia