Today is National Milk Day.

By the way, straight from the cow, the temperature of cow’s milk is about 97 degrees Fahrenheit.

Farmers who called their cows by name reported 258 liters higher milk yield than those who did not.



2,500 gallons of blood must flow through a cow's udder each day to maintain a production of about 6 gallons of milk per day. That's 10 tons of blood to produce 50 pounds of milk.

Enjoy your day.


January 11, 1940 -
The classic newspaper comedy, His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, premiered in New York on this date.



During the 1930s, Howard Hawks was hosting a dinner party when the topic of dialogue was brought up. He pulled out a copy of  The Front Page to demonstrate the snappy exchanges between characters, taking the role of Burns. A female guest took the role of Hildy. While reading, Hawks realized the dialogue sounded much better with a woman reading, and quickly secured the rights for the film from Howard Hughes. Ben Hecht (the author of The Front Page) approved the gender change and the screenplay was put into production.


January 11, 1966 -
The children's adventure-series Daktari, debuted on CBS-TV on this date.



When Cheryl Miller first rode Clarence for the opening scene she was little nervous about riding him. So Cheryl very cautiously got aboard the lion trying to look like she rode him everyday while making adjustments to Clarence's very strange, sliding motion. Luckily they got the scene the first time.


January 11, 1972 -
The TV movie, Kolchak, The Night Stalker, starring Darren McGavin premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



The original script by Richard Matheson called for Carl Kolchak to be dressed in Bermuda shorts and wearing an Aloha shirt. Actor Darren McGavin said, "That doesn't sound like anyone I know," and elected to use a different wardrobe. While reading up on the character, McGavin noted that Kolchak had been fired from a New York newspaper years before, and thought, "That's it! He hasn't bought a new suit since!" So, Kolchak appeared in a circa 1950s suit.

Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today


Today in History -
Harry Gordon Selfridge was born on January 11, 1864. Though American-born, he is best known as the founder of the British store Selfridge and Co., Ltd (think Macy's, for those of you unfamiliar with the store). He receives little or no attention here in the United States. His name does not appear in any textbooks, he is not honored with any holidays, his image does not appear on any currency, and his biography has never aired on A&E (although on did air on Biography). And yet Mr. Selfridge's philosophy has had more impact on western civilization than a dozen Aristotles.

His great maxim is uttered carelessly by a million voices every day, is enshrined in the halls of commerce and government alike, and has permeated our culture to the point where it has become a cliche. Like most successful ideas, we can hardly imagine that his concept was ever new or controversial; we must strain our imaginations to conceive a world unilluminated by his wisdom.



It was Mr. Selfridge's philosophy that "the customer is always right."


January 11, 1878 -
Milk was first delivered in bottles by milkman Alexander Campbell, in New York on this date.

Previously, one had to keep a cow in a spare room of their apartment, making taking out the trash a mandatory daily occurrence.


January 11, 1922 -
The first insulin injection was given to Leonard Thompson, a teenager in Canada, on this date. He weighed only 65 pounds and was about to slip into a coma and die. Drs. Frederick Banting and Charles Best worked on the insulin, then called Isletin. Unfortunately, the injection was so impure that Thompson had a severe allergic reaction.



Researchers worked around-the-clock for the next 12 days to refine the process, and with the help of Dr. James Collip, the next injection went off without a hitch. The availability of insulin turned diabetes from a fatal condition into a treatable one.


January 11, 1928 -
Thomas Hardy, English novelist and all around curmudgeon, died near Dorchester, England on this date. In his will, Mr. Hardy specifically requested to be buried with his beloved first wife. His friends, however, didn’t think this was good enough for the author and lobbied to have him buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey instead.



An ugly fight between Hardy fans and family ensued, until they reached a compromise. The author’s heart was removed and buried with his wife; his ashes were preserved in a bronze urn inside the Abbey. There’s also a long-running (but unsubstantiated) rumor that Hardy’s sister’s cat snatched the heart, somehow left on a table, and that a pig’s heart had to be substituted for the burial ceremony.


January 11, 1935 -
Amelia Earhart took off from Honolulu on this date, to become the first person to fly solo between Hawaii and California.



She landed in Oakland the next day. Three years earlier, Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.


January 11, 1943 -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt flew to Morocco for a top-secret meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He had not flown since 1932, when he traveled from Albany, New York, to Chicago to accept his nomination at the Democratic national convention.



No U.S. president had previously flown while in office because the Secret Service regarded flying as a dangerous mode of transport.


January 11, 1971 -
Music makes us want to live. You don't know how many times people have told me that they'd been down and depressed and just wanted to die. But then a special song caught their ear and that helped give them renewed strength. That's the power music has.

Mary Jane Blige, eight-time Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American R&B singer-songwriter rapper, record producer, and actress, was born on this date.



Billboard ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years.



And so it goes


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