Here's one event that you can participate in without it costing you a dime or even one red cent. It's easy, and it's good for everyone. What could possibly be so wonderful? World Hello Day, that's what.

This friendly annual event began on this day in 1972 and has grown enormously since. People in 179 countries have participated and the heads of state of 114 countries have given their approval.

Now here's what you do to participate: you just say, "hello" to ten people on this day. Greet them warmly and with a smile. And you can say, "hello" in any language.

The reason: World Hello Day will put us all one step further ahead in the attempt to advance world peace through personal communication.
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1783 - Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis Francois Laurant d'Arlandes made the first flight in a balloon, thus becoming the first men to fly - period. The pair flew nearly six miles around Paris in 25 minutes reaching an altitude of around 300 feet. Ben Franklin was one of the spectators at the big event. The flight came less than six months after the first (unmanned) public balloon demonstration.

1789 - The 12th of the 13 original colonies to become the United States of America, did so on this day. North Carolina or the Tar Heel State, boasts the brilliant red cardinal as its state bird, the graceful dogwood as its state flower, and lays claim to being the nation's largest producer of tobacco and textiles. Raleigh is the state capital.

1877 - Thomas A. Edison, who really dug the jazz he heard coming from his newest invention, told those gathered that he just invented the 'talking machine' (phonograph). On February 19, 1878, Edison received a patent for the device and was enrolled as a charter member of the Columbia House Record Club where he received his first 10 selections free -- with only six selections purchased at regular prices over the next three years...

1906 - (Nov. 22) Delegates attending the Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference in Germany voted to use SOS (...---...) as the letters for the new international signal. The international use of "SOS" was ratified in 1908. Its meaning? No, not "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls" as many believe. Its only meaning was as a distress signal, quick to transmit by Morse code and not easily misread. It is not an acronym. Incidentally, how did SOS pads come to use the same initials? They're named after a patented process, Soap on Steel.

***

The best proof of love is trust.
-- Joyce Brothers

There are few things that are as readily available and instantly gratifying as food.
-- Keith Ayoob (dietician)

A kiss that speaks volumes is seldom a first edition.
-- Clare Whiting

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.
-- Henry James

***

What led to the invention of the coffee filter?

In 1908, Melitta Bentz, a 35-year-old housewife from Germany, had the idea to use paper to filter out unwanted residues. She punctured the bottom of a brass pot and lined it with blotting paper taken from the notebook of her oldest son. Perfectly filtered coffee--without bitterness and grounds-- dripped out of the bottom. Melitta realized the value of her invention and registered it with the Patent Office in Berlin. On July 8, 1908, Melitta Bentz received a patent registration for her "Filter Top Device lined with Filter Paper".

***

Thanksgiving Table

Washington (AP) - The menu items for America's traditional Thanksgiving feast come from all over, even abroad. In addition to Wisconsin-grown cranberries and rolls from Kansas wheat, many turkeys are imported from Canada and some sweet potatoes come from the Dominican Republic. Meantime, turkey burgers, smoked turkey and other gobbler products have made the bird a year-round favorite. Turkey consumption has been soaring, doubling what it was 30 years ago. But the National Turkey Federation says only 17 percent of turkey is now eaten at Thanksgiving.

***

The Marrying Kind

Virginia Beach, VA (AP) - The state motto may be that Virginia is for lovers, but it's also for married couples too. A Census survey finds that Virginia Beach has the highest marriage rate among big cities. The figure is 61 percent. Close behind is Colorado Springs, Colorado with 58 percent. The rate is 57 percent in Mesa, Arizona and Arlington and El Paso, Texas.

***

When did the Macy's parade make its television debut?

In 1948, the parade was presented on nationwide television for the first time with Milton Berle as Grand Marshall.

***

Food Conversation with Yo Yo Ma
(excerpted from Bon Appetit Magazine)

BA: Will any special dishes make it onto your Thanksgiving table this year?
YYM: Just the normal holiday foods -- roast turkey and gravy, stuffing, potatoes and all the other traditional American things.

BA: Sounds nice, but when you travel, you must have some pretty exotic meals.
YYM: Well, I've had fried scorpion in Xi'an, China, and angulas [baby eels] in Spain.

BA: Everyone has a secret culinary indulgence. What's yours?
YYM: I have a near addiction to Starbucks' Caramel Macchiatos.

***

Charles Dickens on Eating:
"There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour."

On eating in America:
"At dinner there is nothing to drink upon the table but great jugs full of cold water. Nobody says anything, at any meal, to anybody.... There is no sociality, except in spitting."

***

You know you are over 50 when:

All the things you threw out the 1st time you moved now seem to be collector's items and worth a fortune!

***

Food Conversation with Quincy Jones
(excerpted from Bon Appetit Magazine)

BA: Do you like to cook?
QJ: I love everything about the process of cooking. It's so natural to me. It reminds me of orchestration-- dealing with lots of elements that have to work collectively. Besides, my favorite smell comes when I sauté onion garlic and celery in butter with white wine.

BA: Do you enjoy giving dinner parties?
QJ: Yes-- Lots of them. I think a sit-down dinner for eight to ten is best. It's warm and it takes us back to our most primal instincts-- we're just like cavemen sitting around a fire.

BA: If you could invite three people in all of history to dinner, who would they be?
QJ: How about four? Pushkin, Einstein, Bach, and Count Basie. What a wild group! I think they would all be sensual people who would like food and interact well together.

BA: What's your favorite just-for-fun food?
QJ: Häagen-Dazs vanilla and milk-chocolate ice cream bars and big Mr. Goodbars.

***

Pooches Also Receive WTC Donations

Tons of dog food are being sent to New York to help pets affected by the World Trade Center attacks. The donations come from across the US.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars has been donated earmarked for pets affected by the terror attacks.

The American Kennel Club and the Ralston Purina Co. is funding a $68,000, three-year study to assess the physical and psychological problems suffered by search dogs at the attack site also.

Many of the dogs had been trained to find survivors, rather than cadavers, and are accustomed to a playful reward when they succeed. But there wasn't much playing at the scene.

Make haste slowly.
-- Caesar Augustus

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
-- John Wooden

Speak when you are angry -- and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret.
-- Laurence J. Peter

As long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.
-- Aaron Copland

"The problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there meaning in music? My answer would be, 'Yes.' And , 'Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be, 'No.'"
-- Aaron Copland

The world cares very little about what a person knows; it is what the person is able to do that counts.
-- Booker T. Washington

***

Today, a Pizza is just a phone call away. How did the Pizza get its start?

answer: Our modern pizza can be traced to around the year 1000 in the city of Naples. At that time pizzas were prepared with lard, cheese and herbs, but no tomatoes until MUCH later.

It is believed that tomatoes were first used to prepare pizza around 1850.

Then came true fame for the humble pizza. In 1889 King Umberto I and Queen Margherita spent the summer near Naples. The had heard about this dish called pizza, so they asked to try it. Pizza chef Don Raffaele Esposito was called to prepare it. He created one especially for the Royal Couple, with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, reproducing the colors of the Italian flag. Queen Margherita especially liked this pizza, so from then on, it was called, "Margherita."

The Mozzarella cheese was originally made from the milk of water buffalo that were imported to Italy from India.

***

Real life translations:

- "I'm not lost. I know exactly where we are," REALLY means: "No one will ever see us alive again."
- "You know how bad my memory is," REALLY means: "I remember the words to the theme song of "F Troop," the address of the first girl I kissed, the Vehicle Identification Number of every car I've ever owned, but I forgot your birthday.
- "I do help around the house," REALLY means: "I once threw a dirty towel near the laundry basket."
- "What did I do this time?" Really means: "What did you catch me doing?"

***

Consumer Complaints

Washington (AP) - Consumers complain the most about problems with auto sales and household goods. But Internet scams are quickly moving up the charts. That's the upshot of an annual list of the most common complaints reported to consumer watchdog groups and agencies. They say many of the gripes with auto sales involve fishy financing deals. Often, consumers are duped into accepting much higher auto loan rates than they thought they had agreed to.

Those scams are tied for first on the list with complaints about household goods, which can involve defective products, worthless warranties, refunds or deceptive advertising. The consumer advocates say Internet problems have cracked the top ten for the first time and are up 62 percent from the previous year. The most common Internet complaint concerns items ordered online that never arrive.

***

Don't ever be afraid to try to make things better. You might be surprised at the results.

Don't ever feel guilty about the past; what's done is done. Learn from any mistakes you might have made.

***

"Harry Potter" - Robbie Coltrane

New York (AP) - Robbie Coltrane jokes that it wasn't his size that won him the role of Hagrid in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"-- It was his good looks. Coltrane was author J. K. Rowling's first choice to play Hagrid the giant. Coltrane's a pretty big guy, too. But he jokes that he was picked because Rowling "always thought that Hagrid was a devastatingly handsome man, in a young Brando sort of way."

***

Never try to keep up with the Jones.' Drag them down to your level. It's cheaper.

***

Why do we call someone who provocatively criticizes, a "gadfly?"

The Old English word, gadde, meant to sting or goad. The flies that hung around livestock, annoying and biting them, were called gadflies. Eventually the word stuck to individuals whose constant criticism, well meant though it might be, was equally appreciated.

***

Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio, replied: "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."

***

Being over 50 has its benefits:

- You can eat dinner at 3pm.
- Your eyes won't get much worse.
- Things you buy now won't wear out.
- People call at 9pm and ask, "Did I wake you?"
- Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
- You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.

Monday, November 19, 2001
GETTYSBURG ADDRESS DAY

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address on this day in 1863. The speech was considered so insignificant at the time that coverage was limited to the inside pages of the newspapers (page one coverage went to a speech by Edward Everett).

In July of 1863, the fields outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania erupted into one of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War between the states. The Union forces held their positions against Confederate advances. The Confederates, under Robert E. Lee, retreated to Virginia, ending their attempt to invade the North. The battle was the turning point of the war; the Confederates were never again able to mount a campaign into the North and were on the run.

President Lincoln traveled to the site of the battle to designate it as a national cemetery. While on the train, he wrote his speech on a small piece of paper. Three minutes after he had begun to speak, Lincoln had finished what is now considered to be one of the greatest speeches in American history.

***

The ingredients of health and long life, are great temperance, open air, easy labor, and little care.
-- Sir Philip Sidney

Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
- Joseph Heller

Go within every day and find the inner strength so that the world will not blow your candle out.
-- Katherine Dunham

It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.
-- Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month's study of books.
(Chinese proverb)

I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got.
-- Walter Cronkite

Stolen kisses require an accomplice.
-- Texas Bix Bender & Gladiola Montana, from Just One Fool Thing After Another: a Cowfolks' Guide to Romance

***

Weber- Birthday Celebration (18 November, 1786))

Carl Maria von Weber, a cousin of Mozart's wife Constanze, was trained as a musician from his childhood, the son of a versatile musician who had founded his own travelling theatre company. He made a favourable impression as a pianist and then as a music director, notably in the opera-houses of Prague and Dresden. Here he introduced various reforms and was a pioneer of the craft of conducting without the use of violin or keyboard instrument. As a composer he won a lasting reputation with the first important Romantic German opera, Der Freischütz.

***

If all your problems are behind you, you must be a school bus driver.

***

What is the origin of the phrase "dead as a doornail"?

"Dead as a doornail" first appeared in English Around 1350 A.D. Shakespeare used the phrase in several of his plays. The best theory about "doornail" notes that until the nineteenth century, metal nails were both expensive and rarely used. Metal nails were used in the construction of doors, but were usually driven straight through the door and then bent over on the other side, which made them impossible to remove. Such nails were called "dead" in carpentry jargon, at the time, because they could not loosen and work themselves free.

***

79 percent of Americans give their dogs gifts to celebrate their birthdays and holidays.

***

Lord of the Rings - Ian McKellen

New York (AP) - Ian McKellen has this message for "Lord of the Rings" fans who are worried that the movie won't be as good as the book: stay home. Stick with the book. He says everyone else who's intrigued to see Middle Earth come to life should see the film. McKellen thinks they'll be pleased. McKellen plays Gandalf the wizard. He says he's not worried that the role will ruin him for other parts because you can hardly see him under the long white beard. "Lord of the Rings" opens next month.

***

If you've travelled the New Jersey Turnpike, you may have noticed that the service plazas are named for people, for example the poets Walt Whitman and Joyce Kilmer. There is one plaza named for a woman, Molly Pitcher. Who was that, and why is she so honored by New Jersey?

answer: Molly Pitcher is the "nickname" of a true heroine of the American Revolution, Mary Hays. She was called Molly Pitcher because of the pitchers of water she carried out for the men engaged in the battle of Monmouth on June 28th, 1778, a very hot day. Her husband William*, an artilleryman, collapsed during the battle and Molly immediately replaced him, keeping his cannon in action through the rest of the battle.

There is a monument to Molly Pitcher in her hometown of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, near her grave.

***

"West Wing" -- Washington P-S-A

Washington (AP) - It's a new role for the "The West Wing" cast. The stars of NBC's White House drama are doing a 30-second public service announcement encouraging tourism in the nation's capital. Bradley Whitford and other cast members will join Washington Mayor Tony Williams, to shoot the spot today in downtown DC. Martin Sheen and Rob Lowe do their parts from the show's Hollywood set. Tourism has been down in DC since the September 11 attacks.

***

Box Office - "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"

Los Angeles (AP) - The kids are wild about Harry. The new Harry Potter movie is breaking all box office records. According to studio estimates, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" raked in $93.5 million in its weekend debut. That tops the mark set by "Jurassic Park: The Lost World" during Memorial Day weekend in 1997. Harry is also breaking single-day box office records. By the end of the day today, Harry could be the fastest movie to sell $100 million worth of tickets. Production begins today for the first sequel: "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

***

Box Office -- The Other movies:

Los Angeles (AP) - And, oh, yeah, some people did see movies other than "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" over the weekend. "Monsters, Inc." -- the number-one film for the last two weekends -- falls to second, with $23 million in ticket sales.

***

"Harry Potter.." - Richard Harris

London (AP) - Richard Harris originally turned down the part that will probably be the most famous of his career. Harris didn't want to play Headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the first "Harry Potter" movie because he didn't want to commit to all the inevitable sequels. His granddaughter heard about that and told him she'd never speak to him again if he didn't take the role. He's kind of glad he did. But he still knows he could be in his 80s by the time they finish the last sequel.

***

Why do we call someone who is obnoxiously good, "goody two-shoes?"

The expression originated with an 18th century English children's story, possibly written by Oliver Goldsmith, called "The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes." It's about a girl who starts with one shoe, finds its mate, and then repulsively runs about town bragging about the silly accomplishment.

And then there's Mae West's take on goodness. The actress said, "When I'm good, I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better."

***

Afghanistan - Crazy for Movies

Kabul, Afghanistan (AP) - After being starved for entertainment under years of Taliban rule, Afghans are now flocking to movies and video stores. At a small shop in the capital city of Kabul, a hundred people squeezed inside to watch a movie.

One Afghan teenager says "We've been sad for six years." The Taliban had banned most entertainment, saying it was against Islam. But since the militia abandoned Kabul last Tuesday, music can now be heard pouring out of tinny radios on busy streets.

Afghans his their TVs under the Taliban. Now they're dusting them off and heading to a newly opened video rental store. The store's owner says, "Business is good."

***

Votomatic Sale

West Palm Beach, FL (AP) - Internet shoppers have scooped up 519 of the infamous voting machines that were at the heart of the 2000 presidential election debacle. That brought in nearly $178,000 for Palm Beach County, Florida.

The county then put more than 3,500 Votomatics up for sale in a ten-day Internet auction. For a $300 minimum bid, buyers received the notorious butterfly ballot, sample punch cards, a plaque and certificate of authenticity.

For $600, they also got a genuine ballot box.

The money raised will help pay for new touch-screen voting machines. County officials haven't decided what to do with the leftover punchcard machines. They might auction them again or sell them to governments that still use them.

***

Designer Firewood

Little Falls, MN (AP) - If you drive an up-scale import and wear designer clothes -- ordinary firewood just won't do. Yuppies with money to burn are buying designer wood from Paul's Fireplace Wood in Little Falls, Minnesota. The luxury wood comes from birch, cherry, apple, maple or mesquite trees. The wood gives off colorful flames and a delightful fragrance as it burns. Despite the economic slowdown, the people at Paul's tell the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that this is their busiest season ever. Burning designer wood doesn't come cheap. A half-dozen logs costs about $50, shipping not included.