Showing posts with label Geek-Out. Show all posts

Saturday, April 6, 2013 @ Automotive World

marmoreal \mahr-MAWR-ee-uhl, -MOHR-\, adjective:

of or like marble: skin of marmoreal smoothness.

First appearing in English in the late 1700s, marmoreal comes from the Latin term marmoreus, which literally means "of marble."

window eating

The act of standing in front of a refrigerator with the door open for an over-excessive amount of time and then closing the door without taking anything. Usually done by picky eaters or one who is bored out of his/her mind.

If your so hungry stop window eating and just grab something!

Trivia
When it comes to showbiz slang, what’s a chopsocky? How about a zitcom?

A chopsocky is a martial arts film; a zitcom is a TV sitcom that targets a teen audience.

History

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Mormon church was founded by Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York (1830)
Olympics: the first modern games opened in Athens (1896)
North Pole: Robert Peary and his assistant, Matthew Henson, along with four Inuit men, became the first visitors to the site; their claim has been disputed (1909)
WWI: US declared war on Germany and entered the Great War (1917)
Twinkie: golden sponge cake snack food with creamy filling was invented (1930)
Teflon: nonstick coating was accidentally invented by Roy J. Plunkett (1938)

Birthdays

Raphael Sanit 1483 - Artist
Rose Schneiderman 1882 - U.S. women’s rights activist
Walter Huston (Houghston) 1884 - Actor (Treasure of the Sierra Madre [1948])
Lowell Thomas 1892 - Broadcaster, journalist
"Pappy" Wade Ray 1913 - Country musician, entertainer ("Grand Ol' Opry")
Herb Thomas 1923 - NASCAR auto racer
Mimi Benzell 1924 - Opera singer
Dorothy Donegan 1924 - Jazz pianist
Gerry Mulligan 1927 - Jazz musician, composer
Joi Lansing (Joyce Wassmansdoff) 1928 - Actress ("Easter Parade", "Singin’ in the Rain")
André (Ludwig) Previn 1929 - Pianist, composer of film scores ("Gigi", "Porgy and Bess"), conductor
Ivan Dixon 1931 - Actor ("Hogan's Heroes"), director, producer
Merle Haggard 1937 - Country musician, songwriter
Billy Dee (December) Williams 1937 - Actor ("Brian's Song", "The Return of the Jedi", "Batman")
Roy Thinnes 1938 - Actor ("The Invaders", "Outer Limits")
Philip Austin 1941 - Comedian and writer
Barry Levinson 1942 - Director, producer
Marty (Martin William) Pattin 1943 - Baseball pitcher
John Stax 1944 - Musician (The Pretty Things)
John Huarte 1944 - Football player
John Ratzenberger 1947 - Actor ("Cheers")
Bert (Rik Aalbert) Blyleven 1951 - Baseball pitcher
Marilu Henner 1952 - Actress ("Taxi", "Evening Shade", "Cannonball Run 2")
Janet Lynn (Nowicki) 1953 - Figure skater, Olympic bronze medalist
Michelle Rooker 1955 - Actor
Warren Haynes 1960 - Musician (Gov't Mule, The Allman Brothers)
Stan Cullimore 1962 - Musician, songwriter (The Housemartins)
Frank Black 1965 - Singer, musician (The Pixies)
Vince Flynn 1966 - Author
Paul Rudd 1969 - Actor ("Friends")
Ari Meyers 1970 - Actress ("Author! Author!", "Kate & Allie")
Jason Hervey 1972 - Actor ("The Wonder Years", "Back to the Future")
Markku Lappalainen 1973 - Musician (Hoobastank)
Zach Braff 1975 - Actor ("Scrubs")
Candace Cameron Bure 1976 - Actress ("Full House")
Bret Harrison 1982 - Actor ("Grounded for Life")

Friday, April 5, 2013 @ Automotive World

daven \DAH-vuhn\, verb:

to pray.

Daven entered English in the mid-nineteenth century from Yiddish.

Link Diving

The act of clicking further and further from your original subject of research. Commonly related to the popular website Wikipedia.com

I started out reading about Big Foot on Wikipedia, but two hours later of link diving later and I knew all about The Spring Heeled Jack of London.

Trivia

Which element is the best conductor of both electricity and heat?

Silver.

History

Pocahontas: Algonquian princess married English colonist John Rolfe, a tobacco planter (1614)
veto: was used by a US president for 1st time — by George Washington; it was another half century before Congress first overrode a presidential veto (1792)
manual alphabet: Anne Sullivan breaks through to Helen Keller when she spells "water" into her hand (1887)
Akashi Kaikyō Bridge: Japanese "Pearl Bridge" opened; it links Kobe to Awaji Island and, at 1,991 meters or 6,532 feet, is the world's longest suspension bridge (1998)

Birthdays

Thomas Hobbes 1588
Elihu Yale 1649
Joseph Lister 1827 - British surgeon, inventor (Listerine mouthwash)
Robert Smalls 1839
Booker T. Washington 1856 - Educator, author (Up From Slavery)
Spencer (Bonaventure) Tracy 1900 - Actor ("Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1941]")
Melvyn Douglas (Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg) 1901 - Actor ("Ghost Story", "Being There")
Bette (Ruth Elizabeth) Davis 1908 - Actress ("Dangerous", "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?")
Jagjivan Ram 1908 - Political leader in India
Gregory Peck 1916 - Actor ("To Kill a Mockingbird [1962]", "The Guns of Navarone", "Captain Horatio Hornblower")
Arthur Hailey 1920 - Author (Airport, The Final Diagnosis)
Robert Q. Lewis 1921 - Comedian, TV quiz show panelist ("What's My Line", "To Tell the Truth")
Gale Storm (Josephine Cottle) 1922 - Singer ("Ivory Tower"), actress ("My Little Margie")
Stan Levey 1925 - Drummer (in band with Charlie Parker), composer
Roger Corman 1926 - Director
Tony Williams 1928 - Singer (Platters)
Nigel Hawthorne 1929 - Actor ("Richard III", "Demolition")
Cowboy Jack Clement 1931
Billy Bland 1932 - Singer
Frank Gorshin 1934 - Impressionist, actor ("Batman", "The Great Imposter")
Stanley Turrentine 1934 - Saxophone player
Colin Powell 1937 - U.S. Secretary of State, four-star general, Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff
Ronnie White - Singer (The Miracles)
Tommy Cash 1940 - Songwriter, country singer, brother of Johnny Cash
David LaFlamme 1941
Michael Moriarty 1941 - Actor ("Windmills of the Gods")
Peter Greenaway 1942 - Director, writer
Allan Clark 1942 - Singer (The Hollies)
Maxwell Gail 1943 - Actor ("Barney Miller")
Crispin St. Peters 1944
Dave Holland 1944 - Musician (Judas Priest)
Doug Favell 1945 - Hockey player
Jane Asher 1946 - Actress
Dr. Judith A. Resnik 1949 - Electric engineer, astronaut
Agnetha Faltskog 1950 - Singer (ABBA)
Marv Bateman 1950 - Football player
Rennie (Renaldo Antonio Porte) Stennett 1951 - Baseball player
Brad Van Pelt 1951 - Football player
Mitch Pileggi 1952 - actor, The X-Files
Peter Greenway 1952
Peter Case 1954 - Musician (Plimsouls)
Stan Ridgeway 1954 - Musician (Wall of Voodoo)
Mike McCready 1966 - Musician (Pearl Jam)
Troy Gentry 1967 - Country singer
Paula Cole 1968 - Singer
Krista Allen 1971 - hottie
Pharrel Williams 1973 - Rapper

Thursday, April 4, 2013 @ Automotive World

04-04

preterition \pret-uh-RISH-uhn\, noun:

the act of passing by or over; omission; disregard.
Law. the passing over by a testator of an heir otherwise entitled to a portion.
Calvinistic Theology. the passing over by God of those not elected to salvation or eternal life.
Rhetoric. paralipsis.

From the Latin stem praeterit- meaning "to go past," preterition first entered English at the turn of the sixteenth century. While the rhetorical and theological senses were present from the beginning, it took another 100 years for the legal sense to arise in the English language.

MeDD

People who have trouble talking about anyone but themselves for any length of time. The "enough about me, what do you think of me" syndrome.

I like hanging out with Andrea, but her MeDD (Me-D-D) is so annoying. She'll ask me a question, but then jumps in with something about her.

Trivia
What presidential wannabe formed a rock band called Capitol Offense while serving as governor?

Mike Huckabee, who was governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.

History

William Henry Harrison: went on record as the US president with the shortest tenure, dying one month after inauguration (1841)
NATO: was established with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty by 12 Western nations (1949)
The Beatles: held all of the top 5 places on the Billboard Hot 100 (1964)
Martin Luther King, Jr.: was assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was supporting striking sanitation workers (1968)
World Trade Center: a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to mark the opening of the Twin Towers (1973)
Microsoft: software behemoth was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico (1975)

Birthdays

Dorothea Dix 1802
Linus Yale 1821 - Inventor (Yale Infallible Bank Lock and cylinder lock)
Isoroku Yamamoto 1884
Arthur Murray (Moses Teichman) 1895 - Dancer
John Cameron Swayze 1906 - Newsman
Frances Langford (Frances Newbern) 1914 - Radio singer, actress ("Born to Dance", "Yankee Doodle Dandy")
Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) 1913 - Blues singer, guitarist ("Closet to You", "Honey Bee")
Elizabeth W. Wilson 1921 - Actress (TV: "The Addams Family", Movie: "The Graduate")
Elmer Bernstein 1922 - Composer of film scores
William Manchester 1922
Gil (Gilbert Raymond) Hodges 1924 - Baseball player
Maya Angelou 1928 - Author, poet
Clive Davis 1932 - Record company executive
Anthony Perkins 1932 - Actor (Movies: "Psyco" series)
Norro Wilson 1938 - Singer, composer, producer
Michael Parks 1938
Angelo Giamatti 1938
JoAnne Carner 1939 - Golfer
Hugh Masekela 1939 - Musician, band leader
Ernie Terrell 1939 - Boxer
Major Lance 1941
Jim (James Louis) Fregosi 1942 - Baseball player
Kris Jensen 1942 - Singer
Kitty Kelley 1942 - Author
Mike (Michael Peter) Epstein 1943 - baseball player
Craig T. Nelson 1944 - Actor (Movies: "Poltergeist")
Walter Charles 1945 - Actor
Caroline McWilliams 1945 - Actress
Ray (Raymond Earl) Fosse 1947 - Baseball catcher
Ed White 1947 - Football player
Barry Oakley 1948 - Musician, bass player (Allman Brothers)
Christine Lahti 1950 - Actress
Steve Gatlin 1951 - Singer (The Gatlin Brothers)
Dave Hill 1952 - Musician, guitar player (Slade)
Jerry Shirley 1952 - Musician (Humble Pie)
Peter Haycock 1952 - Musician (Climax Blues Band)
David E. Kelley 1956 - Writer, producer ("Ally McBeal", "The Practice")
Graeme Kelling 1957 - Musician (Deacon Blue)
Phil Morris 1959 - Actor
Lorraine Toussaint 1960 - Actress ("Crossing Jordan," "Any Day Now")
Ava Fabian 1962 - Playmate 08/1986, model, actress
Craig Adams 1962 - Musician (The Cult)
David Gavurin 1963 - Musician (Sundays)
Robert Downey, Jr. 1965 - Actor (Iron Man)
Frank Black 1965 - Musician (Pixies)
Nancy McKeon 1966 - Actress (TV: "The Facts of Life")
Mike Starr (Michael Christopher Starr) 1966 - Musician (Alice in Chains)
Barry Pepper 1970 - Actor
Clay Davidson 1971 - Country Singer
Jill Scott 1972 - Singer
Magnus Sveningsson 1972 - Musician (The Cardigans)
Kelly Price 1973 - Singer
David Blaine 1973 - Magician
Andre Dalyrimple 1974 - Singer (Soul for Real)
Scott Rolen 1975 - Baseball player
Natasha Lyonne 1979 - Actress
Heath Ledger 1979 - Actor

Tuesday, April 2, 2013 @ Automotive World

ha-ha \HAH-hah\, noun:

sunk fence.

Ha-ha comes from the French ha!, a common exclamation of surprise. Because ha-has are designed to be difficult to see, people would shout in surprise upon stumbling into them.

Jesus

Man who was nailed to a plank for saying how nice it would be if everyone was nice to each other. Had his message misinterpreted by millions (Christians) who now think it is their job to persecute certain groups of people.

Jesus: Yo! Be nice to others, aight?

Trivia
What band beat out the Beatles when the two groups auditioned for a contract at the London studios of Decca Records?

Brian Poole & the Tremeloes, in 1962. Decca’s decision reportedly was based on location—the Tremeloes were from the London area, making them more accessible than the Liverpool-based Beatles.

History

Florida: Juan Ponce de León discovered this state's flowery coast, naming it for Pascua florida ("flowery Easter"); he was searching for the Fountain of Youth; the event is commemorated as Pascua Florida Day (1513)
Turin: the first Italian Parliament convened in the first capital of the new Kingdom of Italy (1860)
"The world must be made safe for democracy": with these words, US President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to enter WWI (1917)
Falkland Islands War: Argentina invaded British-occupied Falkland Islands; Argentina's defeat within a few months discredited its military government, and civilian rule was restored the following year (1982)

Birthdays

Giovanni Casanova 1725 - Writer, philanderer
Hans Christian Andersen 1805 - Author ("The Ugly Duckling")
Frederic Bartholdi 1834
Emile Zola 1840 - Novelist
Walter Chrysler 1875 - Auto manufacturer (Chrysler Corporation)
Max Ernst 1891 - Sculptor and painter
Buddy Ebsen 1908 - Actor ("The Beverly Hillbillies", "Barnaby Jones")
Herbert Mills 1912 - Singer (The Mills Brothers)
Sir Alec Guinness (Alec Guinness de Cuffe) 1914 - Actor ("Bridge Over River Kwai", "A Passage to India", "The Empire Strikes Back", "Star Wars")
Lou Monte 1917 - Singer
Dabbs Greer 1917
Charles White 1918 - Artist
Jack Webb (John Randolf) 1920 - Director, actor
Sir Jack Brabham - Auto racer
Bobby (Roberto Francisco Gonzales) Avila 1924 - Baseball player
Carmen Basilio 1927 - Boxer
Rita Gam 1928 - Actress ("The Thief", "Midnight")
Sharon Acker 1935
Warner Mack 1938 - Country singer
Marvin Gaye, Jr. 1939 - Singer ("I Heard It Through The Grapevine")
Leon Russel 1942 - Singer, songwriter
Larry Coryell 1943
Glen Dale 1943 - Musician (The Fortunes)
Marlene Floyd 1944 - Golfer, golf commentator
Linda Hunt 1945 - Actress ("Kindergarten Cop")
Reggie (Carl Reginald) Smith 1945 - Baseball player
Don Sutton 1945 - Baseball pitcher
Emmylou Harris 1947 - Singer
Leon Wilkerson 1952 - Musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Pamela Reed 1953 - Actress
Debralee Scott 1953 - Actress ("Police Academy")
Ron "Horshack" Palillo 1954
Christopher Meloni 1961 - Actor ("Law and Order: Special Victims Unit")
Keren Woodward 1961 - Singer (Bananarama)
Clark Gregg 1962 - Actor
Billy Dean 1962
Bill Romanowski 1966 - Football player
Roselyn Sanchez 1973 - Actress ("Without a Trace")
Jeremy Garrett 1976
Michael Fassbender 1977
Jesse Plemons 1988 - Actor ("Friday Night Lights")

Easter Egg Hunt @ Automotive World

I don't think I want to find THESE eggs..

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 @ Automotive World

furl \furl\, verb:

to gather into a compact roll and bind securely, as a sail against a spar or a flag against its staff.
to become furled.

noun:

the act of furling.
something furled, as a roll.

The origins of furl are unknown, though it is believed to come either from the Middle English ferler meaning "to fold," or from the Old French ferliier meaning "chain," "tie up," or "lock away." While furl entered the English lexicon in the late 1500s, nearly 100 years before unfurl, it is now the more rare of the two terms.

Pepperazzi

Foodie who obsessively insists on snapping photos of everything they eat and of every other dish at the table.

The pepperazzi are stalking each other's dishes at that table over there.

Trivia
What city is home to the oldest Torah in the United States?

Savannah, Georgia. The deerskin Torah was brought there from England in 1733 by Jews who were originally from Portugal, Spain, and Germany. The sacred scroll is now kept on display by Congregation Mickve Israel, the synagogue they founded.

History

Popeye: a statue of the spinach-loving cartoon character was erected in Crystal City, Texas (1937)
Bangladesh: declared independence from Pakistan (1971)
Camp David Accords: Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement was signed at the White House (1979)
Mercosur: the Southern Common Market, which joins Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, was established with the Treaty of Asunción (1991)

Birthdays

Nathaniel Bowditch 1773
Louise Otto 1819
Edward Bellamy 1850
A.E. Housman 1859
Robert Frost 1874
Duncan Hines 1880
Al Jolson 1886
Clarence Stroud 1907 - Actor, father of actor Don Stroud
Chips Rafferty 1909
Tennessee Williams 1911
William C. Westmoreland 1914 - U.S. Army general
Sterling Hayden 1916
Rufus Thomas 1917
Strother Martin 1919
Joe Loco 1921
Bob Elliott 1923
James Clifton Williams 1923
James Moody 1925 - Jazz saxophonist
Pierre Boulez 1925 - Conductor, composer
Maurice Simon 1929
Sandra Day O'Connor 1930 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Leonard Nimoy 1931 - Actor ("Star Trek")
Alan Arkin 1934 - Actor
James Caan 1939 - Actor
Rod Lauren 1940
Braulio Baeza 1940
Nancy Pelosi 1940 - U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives
Erica Jong 1942 - Author
Bob Woodard 1943 - Journalist
Diana Ross 1944 - Singer
Johnny Crawford 1946 - Actor
Fred Paris 1946 - Musician (Five Satins)
Steven Tyler 1948 - Singer (Aerosmith)
Richard Tandy 1948 - Musician (Electric Light Orchestra)
Vicki Lawrence 1949 - Singer, actress
Fran Sheehan 1949 - Musician (Boston)
Martin Short 1950 - Actor, comedian
Ronnie McDowell 1950 - Country singer
Teddy Pendergrass 1950 - Singer
Curtis Sliwa 1954
Dean Dillon 1955 - Country singer
Charly McClain 1956 - Country singer
Leeza Gibbons 1957 - TV personality
Marcus Allen 1960 - Football player
Jennifer Grey 1960 - Actress ("Dirty Dancing")
Gabriele "Nena" Kerner 1960
John Stockton 1962 - Basketball player
Michael Imperioli 1966 - Actor ("The Sopranos")
Kenny Chesney 1968 - Country singer
James Iha 1968 - Musician (Smashing Pumpkins)
Juvenile 1975 - Rapper
Amy Smart 1976 - Actress
Keira Knightley 1985 - Actress ("Pirates of the Caribbean")
Nina Agdal - 1992

Don't mess with her @ Automotive World

TGIF! Friday March 22, 2013 @ Automotive World

shilly-shally \SHIL-ee-shal-ee\, verb:

to show indecision or hesitation; be irresolute; vacillate.
to waste time; dawdle.

noun:

irresolution; indecision; vacillation: It was sheer shilly-shally on his part.

adjective:

irresolute; undecided; vacillating.

In the great tradition of reduplicating a phrase to infuse it with a dose of levity, shilly-shally comes from the phrase “shall I, shall I.” When shilly-shally first entered English at the turn of the eighteenth century, it was spelled "shill I, shall I."

ermahgerd

used for internet memes. An obnoxious way to say "Oh, My God" with strong emphasis on the R sounds. Typically followed by other words with emphasis on the R sounds.

ERMAHGERD, ERNSTAGERM (Oh, my god, Instagram)

ERMAHGERD, MER FERCE HERTS (Oh, my god, my face hurts)

Trivia
What served as the trophy in 1876 when dancers Nelly Saunders and Rose Harland competed in the first women’s boxing match in the U.S.?

A silver-plated butter dish. Saunders, a boxer’s wife, also won $200. The match was held in New York City.

History

Stamp Act: tax was imposed by Britain on the American colonies; it raised intense opposition (1765)
hockey: the first Stanley Cup championship game was played; Montreal's Amateur Athletic Association beat the Ottawa Capitals, 3-1 (1894)
motion pictures: August and Louis Lumière demonstrated the first movies using celluloid film in Paris (1895)
Equal Rights Amendment: was approved by US Congress; it was never ratified by requisite majority of states (1972)
Flying Wallendas: patriarch Karl Wallenda fell to his death from a tightrope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico (1978)
Hale-Bopp: comet passed the closest to Earth till the year 4397 at a distance of 1.315 AU (1997)

Birthdays

Sir Anthony Van Dyke 1599
Johnny Evers 1883 - Baseball player
Chico Marx 1887
Louis L'Amour 1908 - Author
Wilfrid Brambell 1912
Karl Malden 1913 - Actor
Virginia Grey 1917
Ross Martin 1920
Werner Klemperer 1920
Marcel Marceau 1923 - Pantomimist
Bill Wendell 1924
Allen H. Neuharth 1924 - Founder of USA Today
Easy Ed Macauley 1928
Pat Robertson 1930
Stephen Sondheim 1930 - Composer, lyricist
William Shatner 1931 - Actor
May Britt 1933
J.P. McCarthy 1933
M. Emmett Walsh 1935 - Actor
Glen Campbell 1936
Tom Flores 1937 - Football player
Johnny Ferguson 1937
Dave Keon 1940 - Hockey player
Bruno Ganz 1941
Barbara Parkins 1942
George Benson 1943 - Singer, musician
Keith Relf 1943 - Musician (Yardbirds)
Jeremy Clyde 1944 - Actor, singer (Chad & Jeremy)
Harry Vanda 1947 - Musician (The Easybeats)
James Patterson 1947 - Author
Wolf Blitzer 1948 - liberal mouthpiece
Andrew Lloyd Webber 1948 - Composer
Randy Hobbs 1948 - Musician (The McCoys)
Fanny Ardent 1949 - Actress
Bob Costas 1952 - Sportscaster
James House 1955 - Country singer
Lena Olin 1955 - Actress ("Alias")
Stephani Mills 1957 - Actress, singer
Matthew Modine 1959 - Actor
Marcus Camby 1974 - Basketball player
Cole Hauser 1975 - Actor
Kellie Williams 1976 - Actress
Reese Witherspoon 1976 - Actress ("American Psycho")
John Otto 1977 - Musician (Limp Bizkit)

Thursday, March 21, 2013 @ Automotive World

haberdashery \HAB-er-dash-uh-ree\, noun:

a retail shop dealing in men's furnishings, as shirts, ties, gloves, socks, and hats.
the goods sold there.

This delightful-sounding word possibly comes to English from the Anglo-Norman hapertas meaning "small ware," though the origin is unknown. Haberdashery first entered English in the early 1400s, though the term for the proprietor of this kind of shop or these kinds of goods, a haberdasher predates haberdashery by 100 years.

platonic humping

platonic humping is simply the act of dancing or moving in a sexual way that resembles the act of sex, without any feelings of sexual enticement.

My Aunt and her brother, my Uncle, made the entire room a bit uncomfortable when they began gyrating in the dance room. I had to explain to many outside the family that their dance required such platonic humping for effect.

Trivia
What large migrating shorebird returns to Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon at the same time every March?

The long-billed curlew, the largest shorebird in North America.

History

Archbishop of Canterbury: Thomas Cranmer, who helped move England towards Protestantism, was burned at the stake (1556)
Code Napoléon: the first modern legal code of France took effect; it was divided into laws of personal status, laws of property, and laws of acquiring property (1804)
Henry Stanley: journalist began his trek in Africa to locate missing Scottish missionary/explorer David Livingstone; his quest ended with the famous and possibly fictitious words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" (1871)
"Who shot JR?": J.R. Ewing, the character played by Larry Hagman on Dallas, was shot by an unidentified attacker; a summer of intense curiosity ensued and an advertising catchphrase was born (1980)
Rick Hansen: set off on his Man in Motion tour to circumnavigate the world in his wheelchair (1985); he returned to Vancouver 2 years and 2 months later, having raised millions for spinal cord research

Birthdays

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685
Benito Juarez 1806
James Jesse Strang 1813
Modest Mussorgsky 1839
Florenz Ziegfeld 1869
Bascom Lunsford 1882
Phyllis McGinley 1905
Julio Gallo 1910
Fonty Flock (Truman Fontello) 1921
Mort Lindsey 1923
James Coco 1929
Joseph Silverstein 1932 - Violinist, conductor
Al Freeman, Jr. 1934 - Actor
Kathleen Widdoes 1939 - Actress ("As the World Turns")
Timothy Dalton 1944 - Actor
Marie-Christine Barrault 1944 - Actress
Rose Stone 1945 - Musician (Sly & the Family Stone)
Bill Plummer 1947
Eddie Money 1949 - Singer
Roger Hodgson 1950 - Musician (Supertramp)
Conrad Lozano 1951 - Musician (Los Lobos)
Russell Thompkins, Jr. 1951 - Singer (The Stylistics)
Gary Oldman 1958 - Actor
Sabrina LeBeauf 1958 - Actress ("The Cosby Show")
Robert Sweet 1960 - Musician (Stryper)
Rosie O'Donnell 1962 - Comedian
Matthew Broderick 1962 - Actor ("Ferris Bueller's Day Off")
Cynthia Geary 1966
Maxim 1967 - MC (Prodigy)
Jonas "Joker" Berggren 1967 - Musican (Ace of Base)
Andrew Copeland 1968 - Musician (Sister Hazel)
Albert Khan 1969
DJ Premier 1969 - DJ (Gang Starr)
Ronaldinho 1980 - Soccer player
Adrian Peterson 1985 - Football player

Thursday, March 14, 2013 @ Automotive World

hent \hent\, verb:

to seize.

Hent, an ancient word, entered Old English before the year 1000 as a relative of the verbs hentan "to pursue" and huntian "to hunt."

deaf breath

When someone breaths or chews loudly while they are wearing headphones.

Phillis over there has such a bad case of deaf breath, she pretty much turns into Darth Vader once she puts in her earbuds.

Trivia
What unusual breed was Hooch, the drooling, house-wrecking yard dog in the 1989 Tom Hanks film comedy Turner & Hooch?

He was a Dogue de Bourdeau, aka French Mastiff.

Holiday

Pi Day: today's date is 3:14!

History

The Cradle of Liberty: Boston's Faneuil Hall hosted its first town meeting; the building hosted speeches by Revolutionary War figures who urged independence from Great Britain (1748)
cotton gin: machine designed to extract seeds from cotton was patented by Eli Whitney, contributing greatly to the economic development of the South (1794)
Ten Most Wanted: the FBI announced its top fugitives list for the first time (1950)
Birmingham Six: Irishmen convicted in Birmingham pub bombings were freed after years in jail for pub bombings; the appeals court said police had fabricated evidence (1991)

Birthdays