Nothing is quite as elegant as a black cat—like a miniature Amazonian jaguar, they doze atop the highest point in the area, waking for several hours daily to prowl around hunting for a tasty morsel. But black cats and kittens are often overlooked when animal shelters are looking for new homes, and can be at the shelter much longer than they should be. So why is this?
Interestingly, cats in ancient Egypt were revered highly, partly due to their ability to combat vermin such as mice, rats. Cats of royalty were known to be dressed in golden jewelry and were allowed to eat right off their owners’ plates. The goddess of warfare was a woman with the head of a cat named Bastet.
These days, however, black cats are often are seen as unlucky or mischievous, but not everyone knows why that is. In Celtic mythology, it was believed that fairies could take the form of black cats, and therefore their arrival to a home or village was seen as sign of good luck. Unfortunately, the Pilgrims that came after them were devoutly religious and fearful of anything remotely related to the pagan beliefs of their ancestors, and it was because of that fear that black cats went from being seen as the vessels of fairies to the vessels of witches and demons. At that time it became common practice to severely punish those who kept black cats as pets, and even kill the animals themselves.
Although these days nobody really believes black cats are witches or demons in disguise anymore, they are still often seen as signs of bad luck by many people in the West.
How you decide to celebrate this will depend on how you answer the following questions: firstly, do you have a cat? Secondly, if you don’t have a cat, would you like to and are you ready to have one? And thirdly, if you answered no to the previous two questions, what can you do to celebrate this special animal?
If you have a cat, especially a black one, today is the day to make it feel extra special. We are all so busy with their lives nowadays that we often forget to show give our pets back a some of the love they give us on a daily basis. So buy your cat a new toy or a tasty treat and spend the afternoon playing tug-of-war or rubbing its belly—nobody knows how to enjoy the little things in life like animals do.
If you’ve been thinking about getting a cat of your own and have the time to take proper care of it, maybe today should be the day you welcome a furry feline into your life? Animals shelters are always bursting at the seams with both kittens and older cats who need a human of their own and a warm cozy bed and black cats are less likely to get adopted than other cats, so what are you waiting for? If you are willing to spend a bit of money, you can also buy a black kitten—breeds such as the Bombay are solid black and known to be playful and affectionate.
And even if you can’t have a cat due to allergies or other reasons, that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate this day! Making a small donation to your local animal shelter can help countless felines and get you in good with the cats of this world…you know, just in case they really do have magic powers.
Word of the Day
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| Definition: | (noun) A person devoted to pleasure and luxury; a voluptuary. | ||
| Synonyms: | voluptuary | ||
| Usage: | This official sybarite dressed, dined, and visited a dozen or fifteen salons between eight at night and three in the morning. | ||
History
Sylvia Plath (1932)
American poet Sylvia Plath excelled as a writer from an early age and published her first poem at eight. She attempted suicide while in college but underwent electroshock treatment and seemingly recovered from her breakdown. In 1956, she wed poet Ted Hughes, whom she met while attending Cambridge on a Fulbright grant. Shortly after they separated in 1962, Plath committed suicide.
Artificial Skin Could Give Prosthetics a Sense of Touch
| In a step toward giving prosthetic limbs a sense of touch, scientists have developed an artificial skin that can "feel" pressure and send those signals to brain cells. |
1787 - The first of the Federalist Papers were published in the New York Independent. The series of 85 essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, were published under the pen name "Publius."
1858 - Roland Macy opened Macy's Department Store in New York City. It was Macy's eighth business adventure, the other seven failed.
1904 - The New York subway system officially opened. It was the first rapid-transit subway system in America.
1925 - Fred Waller received a patent for water skis.
1954 - The first Walt Disney television show "Disneyland" premiered on ABC.
1975 - Bruce Springsteen was simultaneously on the cover of "Time" and "Newsweek." This was the first time this happened for a rock star.
1978 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.
DAILY SQU-EEK
READER'S INFO
Texas Renaissance Festival
Oct 29-30, 2016 | Todd Mission, TX
About This Festival
Die-hard renaissance lovers list the Texas Renaissance Festival as among their nationwide favorites. With a rich history of over 40 years as an interactive theme park highlighting different eras from the 16th century and beyond, it now attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to its event location in Todd Mission, Texas, just south of Plantersville. The Texas Renaissance Festival brings together food and fun along with live entertainment where actors play the part, true to form, of the era they represent. While staying true to their characters throughout the event, fans enjoy unique interactions with jugglers and fortune tellers that span over 8 theme filled weekends in October and November. Covering over 60 acres, guests create their own experience whether it is window shopping through the village of hand crafted items, mingling with the characters, participating in games or attending performances at any of the 25 stages or entertainment. Theme filled weekends cover a wide range of fantasies for the whole family to enjoy. Past or present themes cover the Roman era, Barbarian quests and pirate adventures among others. Each theme features games, costumes, food, and activities associated with the period and presented as authentically as possible. Guests can enjoy the fun from a distance or participate in the many contests designed to welcome families into the fantasy. At each event, you can participate in the worst or best dressed contest for the period, enjoy an eating contest or be part of a scavenger hunt. The Texas Renaissance Festival is currently the largest Renaissance theme park in the United States with attendance in excess of half a million people per season.
Pictures of the day
The Family Computer Disk System is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer home video game console released in Japan in 1986. It allows users to play one of more than 200 games using proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards". Through the Disk System's entire production span, 1986–2003, 4.44 million units were sold.
knit, halloween
knit
knit, halloween
knit
thanks, sally
knit, halloween
crochet, halloween
crochet, cancer awareness month
crochet, halloween
crochet
crochet, halloween
RECIPE
BACON AND KALE BREAKFAST HASH
CROCKPOT RECIPE
SWEETS
Chocolate Potato Chips
allrecipes
1 pound high quality chocolate, chopped
8 cups ridged potato chips
Directions
- Prep30 m
- Ready In30 m
- Place about 3/4 of the chocolate into a heat safe bowl, and place over the top of a pan of simmering water. If you have a double boiler, use that. Heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolate has melted, then continue to heat the chocolate to 110 degrees F (43 degrees C), stirring occasionally. You may use a meat thermometer if your candy thermometer does not go that low.
- As soon as the melted chocolate reaches temperature, remove it from the heat, and stir in the remaining chopped chocolate until melted. Continue stirring until the chocolate has cooled to 90 degrees F (32 degrees C). Touching a dab of chocolate to your lip will feel cool.
- Use tongs to dip potato chips one at a time into the chocolate. Place on waxed paper starting at the point farthest from you and working your way in so as not to drip on your finished chips. Cool until set. You may refrigerate if you like.
ADULT COLORING
black and white vintage horror halloween creepy
CRAFTS
AUTUMN LEAVES
curbly
Grab an armful of gorgeous fallen leaves and stick 'em on your blank walls for an instant
autumnal accent wall.
CHILDREN'S CORNER ... halloween
Monster Marshmallow Pops
multiplesandmore
What you will need:
- Large marshmallows
- Lollipop sticks
- Candy eyes
- Sprinkles
- Candy melts (in assorted colors)
- Black food writer pen
Melt the candy melts according to the package directions.
Place a marshmallow on a lollipop stick and dip it into the melted candy. Before the candy hardens dip the end into the sprinkles (for hair), and then attach an eye or three. Use the food writer pen to draw on a funny mouth.
Set aside until the candy is hard.
PUZZLE
QUOTE
CLEVER
NEW PRODUCTS
Orbital Washing Machine
Washing clothes has never been so easy. With the incorporated basket you can load and unload the clothes in the washing machine as easy as 1, 2, 3. This isn’t the only innovative feature. The spherical drum is moving on two axes washing your clothes better than the old washing machines that use only one axe.
EYE OPENER
thanks, helen
Unraveled
tanisknit
A Mass of Tangled Red Yarn Unravels from a Loom to Overtake a Brazilian Chapel
Tatiana Blass, “Penelope” (2011), carpet loom, wool yarn, chenille at the Chapel of Morumbi. Photos by Everton Ballardin
In 2011, Brazilian artist Tatiana Blass pierced the walls of a Sao Paulo chapel with large masses of red yarn, letting the bright material trail into the surrounding grasses, landscape, and trees. The installation, titled Penelope, was named after Odysseus’s wife in Homer’s Odyssey, a character who kept herself away from suitors while he was at war by weaving a burial shroud by day, and secretly taking pieces of it apart at night.
Inside the chapel the work continued with a 45-foot-long carpet leading to a loom into which it was stuck. Immaculate on one side of the loom and in pieces on the other, strings of the dismantled rug traveled outside of the chapel through preexisting holes that made their way into the yard. The piece, just like the epic poem, leaves us to wonder whether the work is in a state of construction or unraveling, if the carpet is being built, or slowly torn apart.
Celebrating our nearly all black cat NYA--who has a small white bib and a strikingly attractive white bikini on her underbelly!
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