DIANE'S CORNER ... Celebrate Doll Day
Image result for Doll Day gif

They look like miniature people. They have names, personalities, families, houses, cars, whole life stories. They provided hours upon hours of entertainment for years on end. They let us express our own feelings long before we ever really understood them. They helped us learn important lessons about friendship and sharing. They helped us get through long, sad, lonely days. They played an important role is us becoming who we are.

What are we talking about? Dolls, of course! And we challenge you to think of a toy that deserves its own day as much as dolls do!

Dolls have been a part of human civilization for thousands of years, with archaeological evidence indicating that dolls are the oldest known toy. The earliest dolls were made clay, stone, wood, bone, ivory, leather, wax, and other available materials. Wooden dolls have been found in Egyptian tombs dating to as early as 21st century BC. Clay dolls have been found in the graves of Ancient Greek and Roman children as well. Like children today, Roman, Greek and Egyptian children dressed their dolls according to the latest fashions. Rag dolls are traditionally home-made from spare scraps of cloth material. Rag dolls dating back to the 5th century AD have been found in the part of the Roman Empire now known as great Britain.

In modern times, Mattel’s Barbie has become one of the world’s most popular dolls. First created in 1959, the Barbie doll has continuously strived to adapt to the ever-changing markets of numerous world countries by coming out in a wide variety of shapes, colors and sizes, each carefully adapted to the inhabitants of a certain region.

Doll Day was created to celebrate the enormous contributions dolls have made to the development of children the world over as well as humanity as a whole.

Word of the Day

biennial

Definition:

(adjective) Happening every second year.

Synonyms:

biyearly

Usage:

They met at the biennial convention and lamented the fact that they would not see each other until the next meeting two years later.

Idiom of the Day

keep in step with the times

— To be, strive to be, or appear to be contemporary, fashionable, and/or relevant in modern times.

History

Gertrude Ederle Becomes First Woman to Swim across the English Channel (1926)

Only five men had managed to swim across the 35-mile (56-km) English Channel by the time Ederle became the first woman to make the trip. On her second attempt, the 19-year-old Olympic medalist from America made the swim from France to England in 14 hours and 31 minutes—beating the male record-holder by two hours. Hours before Ederle reached England, the weather deteriorated. A supporter following her by boat called out and urged her to get out of the water.

Lucille Désirée Ball (1911)

Ball was the star of the tremendously popular 1950s television show I Love Lucy. Prior to her super stardom, Ball appeared in many B-movies, earning the nickname "Queen of the B's." With her rasping voice and a comic persona alternately brassy and feminine, she became the preeminent female star of the early decades of television. She and costar Desi Arnaz, married in real life and on I Love Lucy, divorced after the show ended.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony

This ceremony has been held each year since 1947 at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, in memory of the victims of the atomic bomb that devastated the city in 1945. On August 15, Japan surrendered, ending World War II. The peace ceremony is held in the evening, when the city's citizens set thousands of lanterns adrift on the Ota River and prayers are offered for world peace. Memorial services are also held throughout the world.

Language Origins

Rocky, an orangutan, demonstrated an ability to mimic human vocal sounds
READ MORE:

An Orangutan’s Mimicry Offers Clues to Language’s Origins

Image result for 1890 - Cy Young achieved his first major league victory. He would accumulate 511 in his career.

Image result for 1890 - Cy Young achieved his first major league victory. He would accumulate 511 in his career.

1890 - Cy Young achieved his first major league victory. He would accumulate 511 in his career.

Image result for 1926 - Warner Brothers premiered its Vitaphone system in New York. The movie was "Don Juan," starring John Barrymore.

Image result for 1926 - Warner Brothers premiered its Vitaphone system in New York. The movie was "Don Juan," starring John Barrymore.

1926 - Warner Brothers premiered its Vitaphone system in New York. The movie was "Don Juan," starring John Barrymore.

Image result for 1960 - Chubby Checker performed "The Twist" on American TV for the first time on "American Bandstand."

Image result for 1960 - Chubby Checker performed "The Twist" on American TV for the first time on "American Bandstand."

1960 - Chubby Checker performed "The Twist" on American TV for the first time on "American Bandstand."

Image result for 1962 - Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.

Image result for 1962 - Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.

1962 - Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.

Image result for 1969 - The first fair ball to be hit completely out of Dodger Stadium occurred. Willie "Pops" Stargell, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit the ball 506 feet from home plate.

Image result for 1969 - The first fair ball to be hit completely out of Dodger Stadium occurred. Willie "Pops" Stargell, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit the ball 506 feet from home plate.

1969 - The first fair ball to be hit completely out of Dodger Stadium occurred. Willie "Pops" Stargell, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit the ball 506 feet from home plate.

Image result for 1986 - Timothy Dalton became the fourth actor to be named "James Bond."

Image result for 1986 - Timothy Dalton became the fourth actor to be named "James Bond."

1986 - Timothy Dalton became the fourth actor to be named "James Bond."

Image result for 1996 - NASA announced the discovery of evidence of primitive life on Mars. The evidence came in the form of a meteorite that was found in Antarctica. The meteorite was believed to have come from Mars and contained a fossil.

Image result for 1996 - NASA announced the discovery of evidence of primitive life on Mars. The evidence came in the form of a meteorite that was found in Antarctica. The meteorite was believed to have come from Mars and contained a fossil.

1996 - NASA announced the discovery of evidence of primitive life on Mars. The evidence came in the form of a meteorite that was found in Antarctica. The meteorite was believed to have come from Mars and contained a fossil.

DAILY SQU-EEK

If You Were Born Today, August 6

You are gifted creatively, possessing a powerful imagination and a distinct spiritual side, but also make an excellent business person. Security conscious and savvy with practical matters, you have a knack for sales and promotion as well as the more factual side of business. You can be exceptionally gracious, diplomatic, and peace-loving. Others easily find the warmth and beauty in you. You love a good debate and solid conversation. Family means the world to you. In love, you easily make sacrifices and you are often drawn to people who are youthful in spirit (sometimes there can be a big age difference), playful, and creative. Famous people born today: Alfred Lord Tennyson, Lucille Ball, Andy Warhol, Robert Mitchum, Catherine Hicks, Vera Farmiga.

READERS INFO

Image result for Gay Pride Parade - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Gay Pride Parade - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Aug. 6, 2017

The festival attracts several hundred-thousand visitors each year and thus one of the largest publicly held annual events in the Netherlands. The peak of the festival is during the canal parade, a parade of boats of large variety on the first Saturday of August can be seen swarming the waters with activists and and people from around the world.

Facts

Ever wonder why Mr. T is called that? He first acquired the moniker (a shortening of his real name Lawrence Tureaud) in backlash for the once common practice of calling a black man “boy.” Said Mr. T, “I think about my father being called ‘boy’, my uncle being called ‘boy’, my brother, coming back from Vietnam and being called ‘boy’… So when I was 18 years old, when I was old enough to fight and die for my country, old enough to drink, old enough to vote, I said I was old enough to be called a man. I self-ordained myself Mr. T so the first word out of everybody’s mouth is Mr.”

A few years after dropping out of community college in 1974, James Cameron found himself working as a truck driver. That all changed when he first watched Star Wars in 1977. After seeing it, he decided to quit his day job and see if he couldn’t make it in the film industry. A few Oscars and several blockbusters later, we can safely assume he doesn’t regret his decision.

According to the BBC, a Swedish woman named Lena Paahlsson lost her engagement ring while doing some Christmas baking with her daughters back in 1995. Sixteen years later (2011) and after Mrs. Paahlsson had lost any hope of finding the ring, she was pulling up carrots in her garden when she amazingly found her ring with a carrot growing through it. Her theory on how it got out there was that it must have fallen in the sink when she’d been peeling vegetables. She then would have used the peelings to either feed her sheep or as compost. Either way, it ultimately ended up in her garden and, sixteen years later, on a carrot.

The character of Guinan on Star Trek the Next Generation (played by Whoopi Goldberg) was named after famed early 20th century performer and nightclub owner Texas Guinan who died of dysentery in 1933 at the age of 49. The character Guinan is of the race El-Aurians. “El-Aurians” derives from the Latin “Auris,” meaning “ear.” This is in reference to Guinan’s character being a good listener and why Soran from Star Trek Generations, who was also of that race, said they were a “race of listeners.”

While most cheetahs have spots, very rarely one will be born with stripes as well. A cheetah with this characteristic was first documented in 1926 by Major A. Cooper who spotted and killed said cheetah in the region of modern day Zimbabwe. Since then, these so called “king cheetahs” (they were originally thought to be a separate species) have been spotted in the wild just five times, though some have also been born in captivity. In 2012, it was discovered that king cheetahs have a recessive mutation in their transmembrane aminopeptidase Q (Taqpep) gene causing the distinctive fur patterns.

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MAGAZINE

Knitting Issue 103 2012-tsgtxkr

Pictures of the day

Jeju Island is the largest island off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, and the main island of Jeju Province of South Korea. The island lies in the Korea Strait, south of South Jeolla Province. It contains the natural World Heritage Site Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes. Jeju has a moderate climate; even in winter, the temperature rarely falls below 0 °C (32 °F).

THE TIME RICHARD BRANSON FLEW A UFO OVER LONDON IN AN E.T. COSTUME

It was the early morning of April 1, 1089. Under the cover of darkness, Richard Branson took off in a custom hot air balloon shaped like a UDO. It was 4am and the strobe lights on board were blinking every ten second.