November 30: Kaley Cuoco of "The Big Bang Theory" is 26-years-old today.

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Kaley Christine Cuoco is best known for her roles as Bridget Hennessy on the sitcom 8 Simple Rules, Billie Jenkins on the supernatural drama Charmed, and presently as Penny on the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

As part of a running gag on Big Bang, "Penny" and "Sheldon," played by Emmy winner Jim Parsons, sing the song, "Soft Kittee" to each other when they're sick. (See video below.)

Kaley was born in Camarillo, California. She began modeling and acting at age 6. Her first major role was in the 1992 TV movie Quicksand: No Escape. Her role as Maureen McCormick in the 2000 TV movie Growing Up Brady brought her much attention, as well as a role on the CBS sitcom Ladies Man.

In 2004, in addition to her role on 8 Simple Rules where she played a teenager, she had starring roles on the NBC miniseries 10.5, on the ABC Family original movie Crimes of Fashion, and in the independent film Debating Robert Lee. In 2000 she starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Alley Cats Strike. In 2004, she began voicing the character of Brandy Harrington on the Disney Channel's cartoon, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers.

Kaley was named #77 on FHM-Us' 100 Sexiest Women in 2005 and #21 in 2008. Cuoco played Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules. Bridget was the eldest child, despite Cuoco being six years younger than her on-screen little sister played by Amy Davidson, and was portrayed as "the most beautiful girl in the school." She had several boyfriends throughout the series and used her feminine wiles to exert significant control over the boys she encountered.

In the eighth season of the hit cult TV show Charmed Cuoco appeared as Billie Jenkins. Executive producer Brad Kern stated Kaley's character was initially brought in as a possible spin-off. In 2004, Cuoco co-starred in the movie The Hollow with stars Nick Carter and Kevin Zegers.

In September 2007, Cuoco began starring in The Big Bang Theory. She plays Penny, a beautiful, down-to-earth aspiring actress and employee at The Cheesecake Factory who moves in next door to two geeks, Sheldon (and Leonard (Johnny Galecki). In the show, she moved to California from Omaha, Nebraska to pursue a career in acting.

In 2007 Cuoco also starred in the Lifetime film To Be Fat Like Me. She also played a minor role in two Prison Break episodes  as well as taking the leading female role in the horror movie Killer Movie in 2008.

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Cuoco will star in Hop and as Wanda in The Last Ride which will be released in the near future. She has also been cast alongside Cam Gigandet, Penn Badgley and Crystal Lowe in Darkness Falls, expected to be released in 2011.

Cuoco currently lives in San Fernando Valley, California, with her German Shepherd, Duke, and her Chihuahua-Dachshund mix, Petey. She enjoys horseback riding, kickboxing, bowling, and playing the drums; and one of her favorite hobbies is table tennis. She was a nationally ranked amateur tennis player, which she began playing when she was three years old.

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Nov. 24: Today is Thanksgiving Day (USA) "Cherokee Morning Song"

Before the establishment of formal religions, many ancient farmers believed that their crops contained spirits which caused the crops to grow and die. Many believed that these spirits would be released when the crops were harvested and they had to be destroyed or they would take revenge on the farmers who harvested them.

Harvest festivals and Thanksgiving celebrations were held by the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Hebrews, the Chinese, and the Egyptians. 


The initial "Thanksgiving" feast in the English colonies - a traditional English harvest celebration - was celebrated in 1621.  The Pilgrims shared it with the Native Americans because they had taught the colonists to plants crops and hunt wild game. Without the Native Americans, the Pilgrims may not have survived the harsh winter and been able to celebrate their first harvest of plentiful crops in the New World.

The colonists' first harvest feast lasted for three days. Food was served all at once, instead of in courses, so people ate whatever they pleased in the order that they desired. The more important members at the feast were given the best pieces of meat, while the rest of the diners ate whatever was closest to them.

The history of Thanksgiving demonstrates that feasts like the one at Plymouth were held throughout the colonies after fall harvests. However, all thirteen colonies did not celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time. In 1789, George Washington became the first president to declare Thanksgiving a holiday.



By the mid-1800s, many states observed the Thanksgiving holiday.

Meanwhile, the poet and editor, Sarah J. Hale, had begun lobbying for a national Thanksgiving holiday. During the Civil War President Abraham Lincoln looking for ways to unite the nation, discussed the subject with Hale. In 1863 he gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation declaring the last Thursday in November a day of  Thanksgiving.

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Reflecting on Heavy D

The overweight lover gave hip hop’s edge a heart.

From BET.com

With the death of rap icon, Heavy D, hip hop lost a trailblazer who defied what folks expected of the genre and its superstars.  Being hip hop’s first corpulent solo rap superstar, Heavy (born Dwight Myer) had talent that equally matched the novelty of his size, enough to help launch Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records in 1986 with the release of Heavy D & The Boyz’s debut hit single “Mr. Big Stuff.”

But also driving Heavy’s success was his ability to maintain a fun, clean-cut respectability that garnered respect from both hardcore hip hop fans and grandmothers alike. It was that universality in his music and image that allowed him to cross his talents over to film and television. After writing (and performing) the theme song for the ground-breaking sketch comedy series In Living Color, Heavy—like many rappers in the early ‘90s—parlayed his hip hop stardom into acting roles on the small and big screen. His first major role coming when he was cast as a regular on the hit TV series Roc.

Yet, most notably, for those paying attention in 1993, Heavy would also play a pivotal role in the continuum of overweight rap superstars changing the face of hip hop when his LP Blue Funk debuted an up-and-coming Notorious B.I.G. (the song “A Buncha N***as”).

Which of Heavy D’s hip hop contributions do you remember most?

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