• July 21, 2012 •

I got to sit down, relax, & enjoy Sims 3 last night. I have games that start out in the cheapest housing with a starter job, no car, no furniture, nothing. Then I have the houses that I build that I play, then there are the rare ones like this one where I downloaded a mansion & play that. This house is beautiful inside & out. Le Chateau Contreau. You can get lost in this thing! The house came with 3 vehicles, but I bought the motorcycle because it was one of my sim's wishes (rebellious trait). She's an inventor & met her husband at the junk yard while digging through scrap that's needed to make more inventions. She's now pregnant & the happy couple are expecting their 1st (& only) child. She has a cat & hubby came with a kitten & a puppy when he moved in. He was also rich & had a nice house, but mine was bigger & nicer. :) Andrew's birthday Tuesday!

3 Coins in the Fountain:

3 American working women pin their hopes for love on wishes they make as they toss coins into the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome. Their wishes come true ... but only after a series of dramatic misunderstandings on their quest for true romance.

Bring a teakettle when camping, rather than an open pan, to heat water for washing dishes or drinks. Water will boil faster & you'll have fewer spills.

Due to faulty logic in the insurance industry, having a low FICO score can mean higher premiums. Insurance companies have fallen prey to the idea that there is 1 number that explains everything. They don't realize that a 0 credit score indicates huge levels of financial health. A 0 score means a person doesn't have debt & hasn't had any.

Final Harry Potter book released (2007):

On this day in 2007, the seventh and final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released, with an initial print run of 12 million copies in the United States alone. Like each of the previous Harry Potter novels, Deathly Hallows was slated to be made into a major Hollywood film.

The bespectacled boy wizard Harry Potter is the brainchild of the British author J.K. Rowling, who was born July 31, 1965. Rowling’s first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, debuted in Britain in 1997 (it was retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when it was released in America the next year) and went on to become an international bestseller. Children and adults alike were captivated by Harry, his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and their adventures at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The books, which chronicled Harry’s struggles against his enemy, the evil Lord Voldemort, have sold over 400 million copies and been translated into more than 60 languages. The series is also credited with boosting childhood literacy around the globe.

Spawning a series of blockbuster films, video games and other merchandise, the Harry Potter series transformed J.K. Rowling, a broke single mother when she penned the first book, into the highest-earning author in history. The first movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, opened in America on November 16, 2001. Directed by Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire), the film starred British actor Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Rupert Grint as Ron and Emma Watson in the role of Hermione. Columbus also directed the second film in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which premiered in the United States on November 14, 2002.

The Mexican director Alfonso Cuaran (Y tu mama tambien) helmed the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which opened in America on June 4, 2004. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was directed by Mike Newell, the first Brit to helm the series, and released in the United States on November 18, 2005. The fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was directed by David Yates and opened in America on July 11, 2007. Yates also directed the next film in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2008) and is scheduled to helm the adaptation of the final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is planned as two separate films.

In general, don't order the most expensive items on the menu. Even if your host says "Please order whatever you want," it's best to stick to the medium-priced range. You can also take your cue from what others at the table are ordering then order something that's about the same price. On the other hand, you don't have to pick the least expensive foods being offered; that could imply that you think that is all the host can afford.

In the refrigerator, consider designating a shelf in the door for each member of the family. This is the idea height for small children to store their 'sippy cup' when not in use. Also, a great place to put a child's afternoon snack!

Lanuginous:

Covered with down or fine soft hair.

The old botany text described the furry underside of the plant's leaves as "lanuginous."

You're likely to come across today's word in only a few contexts, such as botany books & spelling bees. The more common term is "downy." "Lanuginous" has an unsurprising pedigree. It's from the Latin word lanuginosus, which is in turn from lanugo, the Latin word for "down." (Lanugo is also an English word used especially to refer to the soft woolly hair that covers the fetus of some mammals.

NASA App:

Introducing the all-new NASA App 2.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch. This is the first major redesign since the initial launch in 2009.
Come explore with NASA in the palm of your hand.
Features:
• Current NASA mission information
• Over 155,000 images (and growing everyday)
• Latest news & feature stories (new)
• On demand NASA Videos from around the agency
• Live streaming of the NASA TV
• Third Rock internet streaming radio
• Launch information & countdown clocks
• Sighting opportunities (visible passes for the ISS)- Now with weather forecasts
• ISS and Earth orbiting satellite trackers
• Featured content section (new)
• Latest tweets from around the agency
• Programs section (new)
• Facebook® Connect and Integrated Twitter™ client for easy sharing
• Map, information and links to all of the NASA visitor centers (new)
• Favorites & image bookmarks (new)
• Printing support (new)
Requirements:
• iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 5 or later
• WiFi or cellular network connection

Snacking makes life worthwhile.

What golfing great helped design the first golf clubs to be given numbers instead of Scottish names like mashie, baffie, and niblick?

Bobby Jones, in 1932. The numbered clubs, made by A. G. Spaulding & Bros., bore Jones’s name. Manufactured until 1973, they were the world’s first mass-produced sets of matching clubs.

What product was advertised in the very first infomercial aired on American television?

Which country has the largest, 2nd largest, & 3rd largest army?

A. China

B. N. Korea

C. India

ACB. China is believed to have a standing army of 1.7 million men, 500,000 more than India.

You throw away the outside & cook the inside. Then you eat the outside & throw away the inside. What did you eat?