Every Day Is Special: November 3, 2009

November 3, 2009

Celebrate National Double Talk Week-Week

Make a Double-Cheese treat!

Anything you love that's cheesy could be double-cheesy. How about a cheese sandwich with thin slices of pepperjack and cheddar? A pizza with mozzarella and Parmesan? Scrambled eggs with cream cheese inside and jack cheese on top? Or try these recipes:

Auntie Noreen's Double Cheese Ball

cream cheese, softened
pepperjack cheese, grated
green onions, sliced
black olives, sliced
pecans, chopped

This is one of those old family recipes that doesn't come with measurements. We use an entire large (16 oz.) package of cream cheese, but everything else is just guesswork—-a pile of grated cheese, maybe two green onions, only part of a can of sliced olives. Stir everything but the nuts together until well mixed; then form into a cheese ball on a plate. Cover the ball with the chopped nuts. Wait several hours for the flavors to blend, and serve with crackers. Yum-yum!

Double-Stuffed Double Cheese Potatoes

Bake some potatoes. Then carefully scoop out the baked potato from the skins, placing the interior into a bowl. Mix in your two favorite grated cheeses; stir well. Put the empty skins onto a cookie sheet and scoop the cheesy potato mixture into them. Put back into the oven until the cheese has melted. Super-super good!

Double Cheese Mac-and-Cheese
http://www.grouprecipes.com/84766/double-cheese-macaroni-and-cheese.html

Double Cheese and Mashed Potato Pie
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/1742/Double-Cheese-And-Mashed-Potat129839.shtml

Double a Favorite Recipe

Anything you cook, you can cook double! Double the soup, double the cookies, or double the homemade bread. Mmm-mmm, good-good.

Double Presidential Birthday

James K. Polk, the 11th U.S. president, was born on this day in 1795, and Warren G. Harding, the 29th U.S. President , was born on this day in 1865.

There have only been 44 different presidents of the United States, and there are 365 days of the year (most years). What are the odds that two of the presidents would have the same birthday?
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I'll wait while you think about the odds of this coincidence happening.
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Okay, here it is: The odds of two of 44 people having the same birthday are huge—more than 90%!

This is surprising to many, but it's a well-known statistical problem known as the birthday paradox. According to Wikipedia, the birthday problem asks whether any of the 44 people has a birthday matching any of the others — not one in particular. For more about this, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem ...

Double Planetary Mission

On this day in 1971, Mariner 10 launched the first mission to visit two planets, Venus and Mercury. This was also the first space mission to use the “slingshot effect” to change the spacecraft orbit so that it would repeatedly fly by Mercury. The slingshot is also called “gravity assist,” and using the gravity of a planet or moon to change a spacecraft's path and speed saves fuel, time, and expense.

In honor of the double space mission, here is a puzzle-puzzle:

Can you fill in the blanks with consonants to spell out 12 solar system words? Each consonant in the box will be used only once.

(Hint-Hint: The names of the two planets visited by Mariner 10 are in the puzzle.)

1. ___ A ___ ___

2. ___ E ___ ___ U ___ Y

3. ___ A ___ U ___ ___

4. ___ O O ___

5. ___ E ___ ___ U ___ E

6. ___ E ___ U ___

7. U ___ A ___ U ___

8. A ___ ___ E ___ O I ___

9. ___ U ___ I ___ E ___

10. ___ O ___ E ___

11. ___ U ___

12. ___ ___ U ___ O