Wednesday, March 6, 2013 @ Automotive World

xeric \ZEER-ik\, adjective:

• of, pertaining to, or adapted to a dry environment.

Xeric, a relatively young word, was coined by ecologists W.S. Cooper and A.O. Weese in 1926 to replace the word xerophytic for a lack of moisture in both plants and animals.

opprescedent

• An unlawful and/or oppressive precedent set by a person or persons claiming authority.

The embedding of biometric chips in or on the general population sets a dangerous opprescedent which undermines both privacy and safety.

Trivia
How many amendments to the U.S. Constitution were proposed in the Bill of Rights passed by Congress in 1789?

• 12. The first two proposed—dealing with the number and apportionment of the House of Representatives, and Congressional pay raises—failed to be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. The remaining 10 were ratified and became the Bill of Rights.

History

• Toronto: Canada's largest city, and one of the most livable cities in the world, was incorporated (1834)
• the Alamo: fort was overrun by Mexican troops during the Texas revolution; all inside were killed (1836)
• La Traviata: Verdi's opera premiered in Venice (1853)
• Dred Scott case (1857): US Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens; the decision was overturned a decade later by the 14th amendment

Birthdays

• Michelangelo Buonarroti 1475
• Cyrano De Bergerac 1619
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806
• Furry Lewis 1893
• Bob Wills 1905
• Lou Costello 1906
• Ed McMahon 1923
• Alan Greenspan 1926 - Federal Reserve chairman
• Wes Montgomery 1927
• Leroy Gordon ‘Gordo’ Cooper 1927
• Gabriel Garcia-Marquez 1928 - Author ("Love in the Time of Cholera")
• Lorin Maazel 1930
• Marion Barry 1936
• Sylvia Robinson 1936
• Doug Dillard 1937
• Valentina Tereshkova-Nikolaeva 1937
• Joanna Miles 1940
• Willie Stargell 1941
• Ben Murphy 1942
• Mary Wilson 1944 - Singer (Supremes)
• Dame Kiri Te Kanawa 1944
• Rob Reiner 1945
• Hugh Grundy 1945 - Musician (The Zombies)
• Kiki Dee 1947
• Dick Fosbury 1947
• David Gimour 1947 - Musician (Pink Floyd)
• Tom Arnold 1959 - Actor
• Skip Ewing 1964
• D.L. Hughley 1964 - Actor ("The Hughleys")
• Connie Britton 1968 - Actress
• Moira Kelly 1968 - Actress ("Caroline in the City")
• Amy Pietz 1969
• Shaquille O'Neal 1972 - Basketball player
• Chris Tomson 1984 - Musician (Vampire Weekend)