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COFFEE COUNTER
for week of
May 13th 2012
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Today In History
On this day in 1972, a fire breaks out at the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan, that kills 118 people. Only 48 people at the trendy nightclub survived the horrific blaze because safety equipment was faulty and safety procedures were not followed.
The top floor of Osaka's Sennichi department store was the home of the hip, if slightly seedy, Playtown Cabaret. A favorite of the city's young people, a large crowd was there on May 13 while an electrician toiled in the department store, three floors below. Inadvertently, the worker set off a fire that reached some oil-soaked rags in a nearby storage room.
The fire quickly spread, climbing both the elevator shafts and the outside walls of the building. The only remaining means of egress for the young people upstairs were the fire exits and emergency chute. The fire exits were hidden by drapes and almost no one in the club found them. Twenty people did locate the emergency chute, but it collapsed as they made their way to the ground and all of them were killed.
Other people sought to escape the smoke and flames by jumping to the roof of a nearby building, but it was too far and all who tried were killed.
more~Quote Of The Day
"Dream lofty dreams and as you dream, so shall you become."
George Noel Gordon "Lord Byron"
Today's Trivia
Anna M. Jarvis and Mother's DayIn 1907, Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948), a Philadelphia schoolteacher, began a movement to set up a national Mother's Day in honor of her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. She solicited the help of hundreds of legislators and prominent businessmen to create a special day to honor mothers. The first Mother's Day observance was a church service honoring Anna's mother. Anna handed out her mother's favorite flowers, the white incarnations, on the occasion as they represent sweetness, purity, and patience. Anna's hard work finally paid off in the year 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honor of mothers.
Earliest Mother's Day CelebrationThe earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring
celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods.
From Our Forums
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CLIFF'S FOTOFUN #91,
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Welcome to our Mini Challenge #56
here at the Photography Cafe
"ON TOP OF THE WORLD" This is our latest
mini challenge here at the
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WELCOME TO OUR Close-Up/Macro Challenge #12
here at the
"RED"
"Red - We see it everywhere. It brightens our lives and always looks good in photos. Full colour, selective colour, anything goes as long as we get to see the colour red in your photos. !! "
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Welcome to our HDR Challenge #11
here at the Photography Cafe
"LETS COMGRATULATE THE WINNERS"
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Welcome to our Cafe Book Nook
here at the Photography Cafe
Photo Locations, Tutorials on Digital Techniques, Photo Techniques and Equipment.
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See who is appearing on Centre Stage this week
Philipo
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PHOTO OF THE MONTH
APRIL 2012 Time to reflect
by hmoran4 
From hmoran4
"This image was captured at Busch Wildlife Area in St. Charles, MO on an early morning in March of this year. In order to capture some of the foreground detail, I utilized HDR. I exposed at normal and +/- 1 2/3 stops. I post processed in Photomatix to get as close to what my eye saw that morning.
hmoran4".
CONGRATULATIONS hmoran4!Click on the photo to go to hmoran4's album and leave a comment.
And leave a post below and let him know what you thought of his photo.
We all love comments!
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The Judges of the Cafe Choice Award are pleased to announce the presentation of this highly rated award:
is awarded to memberTINAfor her image"White on White"
"Tina’s shot of a cat waiting to come in is very simple in appearance at first glance. Look closer and you’ll notice how the quality of the exposure which gives us so much detail in the white tones, is amazing. The faint reflection of the cat in the glass gives the image some depth and there’s a wealth of detail in the fur, the window blind and the masonry.
We have a perfect high key image with the blacks in the cat’s eyes and the framing of the window providing the contrast.
The judges, although not unanimous in their love for cats are unanimous that this is a top quality image and should be awarded Photography Café’s highest award.
Congratulations Tina!"* * * * * * *
Today's Chuckles
A Job Description For Mother's DayJOB DESCRIPTION: Long-term team players needed for challenging permanent work in an often-chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work various hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24-hour shifts "on call." Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in faraway cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.
Things Mothers Would Never Say"How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?"
"Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too"
"Just leave all the lights on ... it makes the house look more cheery"
"Let me smell that shirt -- Yeah, it's good for another week"
"Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I'll be glad to feed and walk him every day"
"Well, if Timmy's mom says it's OK, that's good enough for me."
"The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It's not like I'm running a prison around here."
"I don't have a tissue with me ... just use your sleeve"
"Don't bother wearing a jacket - the wind-chill is bound to improve"
Quick Quotes
"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother. "
~Abraham Lincoln
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" Youth fades; love droops, the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all. "
~Oliver Wendall Holmes
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"Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. "
~Marion C. Garretty
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More Chuckles
My Mother Taught Me...Logic: "Because I said so, that's why."
To Appreciate A Job Well Done: "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning!"
Religion: "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
Time Travel: "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
Foresight: "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."
Irony: "Keep crying and I'll *give* you something to cry about."
The Science Of Osmosis: "Shut your mouth and eat your supper!"
Contortionism: "Will you look at the dirt on the back of your neck!"
Stamina: "You'll sit there 'til all that spinach is finished."
Weather: "It looks as if a tornado swept through your room."
How To Solve Physics Problems: "If I yelled because I saw a meteor coming toward you; would you listen then?"
Hypocrisy : "If I've told you once, I've told you a million times - Don't Exaggerate!!!"
A VERY BIG WELCOME TO ALL OUR NEW MEMBERS 
