Thursday, January 31, 2013

Today is...Inspire Your Heart with the Arts Day


Today is Inspire Your Heart with the Arts Day. How will you inspire your heart with the arts today?

"The Arts" are usually the visual arts, but also can include the literally arts like poetry, novels, and short stories, and the performing arts like music, dance, magic, theatre, opera, and film.

The highest price for a painting sold at auction is $259 million dollars, for The Card Players by Paul Cezanne. The buyer was the Royal Family of Qatar.

The most expensive sculpture sold at auction is L'Homme qui marche I by Alberto Giacometti in 2010.

The first opera is Dafne by Jacopo Peri in 1598. It was performed in Florence and the music is now lost. The earliest opera with music that survived is Euridice by Peri in 1600.

The first textbook about conjuring is Reginal Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft in 1584.

The Paris Opera Ballet was the first professional theatrical ballet company. It was created out of the Paris Opera, founded by Louis XIV.


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Today is...the Anniversary of the Beatles' Last concert

Today is the anniversary of the Beatles’ last concert in 1969—on the roof of their Apple Studios in London, England. What is your favorite Beatles’ song?

The Beatles wrote and/or recorded 304 songs.

Eight Days a Week was released as a single only in the US.

The Beatles had 22 songs that hit #1 in the US charts. They had 25 hit #1 in the UK charts. There are 13 songs that hit #1 in both:
A Hard Day's Night
All You Need Is Love
Can't Buy Me Love
Get Back
Hello, Goodbye
Help!
Hey Jude
I Feel Find
I Want to Hold Your Hand
Paperback Writer
She Loves You
Ticket to Ride
We Can Work It Out


Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Today is...Oprah Winfrey's Birthday

Today is Oprah Winfrey’s birthday! Who is your favorite talk show host?

Oprah Winfrey was form on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi.

Oprah's name was supposed to be Orpah, based on a biblical character in the Book of Ruth, but was misspelled on her birth cerficiate.

Winfrey started working as a part-time news ancor to a radio station in Nashville Tennessee her senior year in high school.

Winfrey started in Chicago in 1983, taking a low-rated morning talk show into the highest rated talk show in Chicago.

After being persuaded by Roger Ebert to go into syndication, the show was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show, expanded to an hour, and went national. The first show was September 8, 1986.

Winfrey was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in The Color Purple.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Today is the birth anniversary of Mozart and Lewis Carroll

Today is the birth anniversaries of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) and Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll, 1832-98). Who are your favorite composer and/or author?

Mozart was employed as a court musician by Prince-Archbisoph Hieronymus Colloredo, the ruler of Salzburg.

Colloredo, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from being elected in 1771 (an unpopular choice) until 1803 when the Archbishopric of Salzburg was secularized, studied philosophy at the University of Vienna.

The University of Vienna is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and the largest university in Austria. One of the most well-known alumni and former-instructor is Sigmund Freud.

Freud was closely linked with Princess Marie Bonaparte, who paid his ransom to Nazi Germany.

Marie Bonaparte was the great-grandniece of Napolean I, Emperor of France from 1804-1815.

After the Napoleonic wars, Bonaparte was exiled to the Island of Saint Helena.

Saint Helena was governed by the British Government during the time of Napoleon's exile, from 1815-1821, before going back to the previous ownership of the East India Company.

The East India Company was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600.

One of Queen Elizabeth's first moves was creating the English Protestant church of which she was Supreme Governor. The Elizabethan Religious Settlement later evolved into the Church of England.

The Church of England is Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which is the third largest Christian communion in the world after Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox.

One of the most famous deacons of the Anglican Church is Charles Dodgson, whose pen name was Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

Today is...Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

Today is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. What do you think is the most reliable way to pack a fragile item?

Bubble wrap was invented sort of by accident in 1957. Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes were trying to create a 3D plastic wallpaper. It failed, but they found that the material worked well for packing.

Fielding co-founded Sealed Air Corp, which produces a variety of packing material.

Bubble wrap is most often formed from polyethylene film. The bubbles can be as small as 6 millimeters in diameter to as large as 26 millimeters.

Bubble Wrap's first client was IBM to ship their IBM 1401 computer.

Fielding and Chavannes were inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 1993.

Sealed Air's corporate offices have "stress relief boxes" that are filled with Bubble Wrap.

The best part of any shipment is the bubble wrap.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Today is...Celebration of Life Day

January 22 is Celebration of Life Day. How are you celebrating?

The word "celebrate", meaning performed with due rites, observed with due formality, solemnly held, was first used in 1471 in Compound of Alchymy by George Ripley.

The objective of alchemy varies depending on where, when, and who was practicing the tradition. The most well-known objective is the creation of the philosopher's stone, which would possess the power of turning base metals into gold or silver and create an elixir of life.

Western alchemy is a protoscience which, though related more closely with mythology, religion, and spirituality, contributed to modern chemistry and medicine.

Numerous noted scientists were alchemists including one of the founders of modern chemistry Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, Pop Innocent VIII, Nicolas Flamel (yes he was a real person, not just a character in Harry Potter), and pneumatic chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont.

The idea of a philosopher's stone can be found as far back as 300 A.D, though some claim the history of the stone goes back to Adam in the Garden of Eden.

Legend has it that Albertus Magnus discovered the philosopher's stone in the 13th century. Magnus never claimed to have found the stone, though he did claim that he witnessed the transmutation of a base metal into gold. Magnus was canonized and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1931 and was made the patron saint of natural scientist in 1941.

Nicholas Flamel lived in the 14th and 15th centuries and made his living as a scrivener, manuscript-seller, and shop owner. His wife was quite wealthy from two previous marriages. At his death, in his 80s, he was wealthy and was thought to maybe have dabbled in alchemy, but his reputation was more for being an author and philanthropist.

Flamel became a legend in the first part of the 17th century when alchemical books were published claiming that he made the Philospher's Stone and achieved immortality for himself and his wife. His legendary status gained him mentions in a wide variety of pop culture from Harry Potter to Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.


Saturday, January 19, 2013

Today is...the Birth Anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Poe released his first book, a collection of poetry called Tamerlane and Other Poems, in 1827. It was credited to "a Bostonian".

Poe married his first cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm in 1835. He was 27, she was 13.

Virginia died from tuberculosis in 1847 at the age of 24. Her illness and death are believed to have influenced Poe's poetry and pose, including Annabel Lee and The Raven.


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Today is...the Anniversary of the first NFL-AFL Championship Game

January 15 is the Anniversary of the first NFL-AFL championship game in 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. Victorious Packers Quarterback Bart Starr was the game’s MVP. This game wasn’t known as the Super Bowl until later years.

The Super Bowl was created as part of the merger between the NFL and the AFL, which officially began in 1970.

The National Football Conference leads the American Football Conference in 25 wins to 21.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have won 6 Super Bowls, the most of any team. The Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans have never made it to the Super Bowl.

No team has played the Super Bowl in its home stadium.

The Louisiana Superdome has hosted the greatest number of Super Bowls at 7.

Tom Brady and John Elway have the most starts in the Super Bowl for all Quarterbacks, with 5 each. Brady has a records of 3-2 and Elway had 2-3.

Super Bowl XLVII is the first that will pit two head coaching brothers against one another.

Each 30-second advertisement this year will cost $4,000,000.