Today is September 2nd. That means that it's the feast of Saint Nonnosus, Saint Agricola of Avignon, Saint Castor of Apt, and Saint Antoninus of Pamiers.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency vetoed plans by the Army Corps of Engineers to build the world's largest water pump on the Mississippi River Delta raising concerns about the impact on wetlands.

2005: A National Guard convoy packed with food, water and medicine rolled into New Orleans four days after Hurricane Katrina.

1993: The U.S. and Russia formally ended decades of competition in space by agreeing to a joint venture to build a space station.

1969: The first automated teller machine in the U.S. was installed in Rockville Centre, New York.

1963: CBS Evening News became U.S. network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show was lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.

1960: The first election of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration, in the history of Tibet occurred. The Tibetan community observes this date as the Democracy Day.

1945: Vietnam declared its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

1944: Navy pilot George H.W. Bush was shot down by Japanese forces as he completed a bombing run over the Bonin Islands. A U.S. submarine rescued the future president.

1901: Vice President of the U.S. Theodore Roosevelt uttered the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.

1870: At the Battle of Sedan, Prussian forces took French Emperor Napoleon III and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner, during the Franco-Prussian War.

1864: Union forces entered Atlanta, Georgia a day after the Confederate defenders fled the city.

1752: Today was the last day of the Julian calendar in Great Britain and the British colonies; the Gregorian Calendar designed to correct the extra leap year day problem went into effect the next day with tomorrow being September 14, hence 11 days were dropped. Most other countries made the adjustment in 1582.

1666: The Great Fire of London broke out. When it was extinguished three days later, nearly 400 acres in the city had been destroyed, including some 13,000 houses and the old St. Paul's Cathedral.

44 BCE: Cicero made the first of his Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He would make 14 of them over the next several months.

Births:
1838: Liliuokalani of Hawaii [Lydia Lili'u Loloku Walania Wewehi Kamaka'eha, Lydia Kamaka'eha Paki, Kaolupoloni K. Dominis] (Queen of Hawaii)

1946: Billy Preston (American musician) ["Will It Go Round in Circles", "Nothing from Nothing", "With You I'm Born Again"]

1964: Keanu Reeves (Lebanese-born Canadian actor) [Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, The Matrix]

Deaths:
490 BCE: Pheidippides (Athenian herald/Greek hero) He ran 150 miles in two days, then ran the 25 miles from the battlefield near Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia. He collapsed and died on the spot because of exhaustion.

1031: Saint Emeric [Henricus, Emeric, Emerick, Emmerich, Emericus, Americus] of Hungary (Prince of Hungary)

1910: Henri Rousseau (French painter)

1973: J. R. R. [John Ronald Reuel] Tolkien (English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor) [The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion]


Word of the Day: frogmarch \FROG-march\
Etymology: Earlier the term meant to carry someone, such as an uncooperative prisoner or a drunk, with arms and legs spread out, each limb held by a person, just like a frog pinned down on a tray. Today the term applies to someone walking upright, but arms held behind the back.
(transitive verb)
1. To force a person to walk with arms pinned behind the back.
Usage: "Indeed many of the spectators even allowed their camera flashes to go off during the golfers' back-swings, a crime usually punished by a frogmarch off the course during a more routine tournament."


Mistfox - who is getting this out late because the dh isn't home, so I didn't have to get up this morning

Today is September 3rd. That means that it's the feast of Saint Pope Gregory I, Saint Marinus, and Saint Remaclus.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Hurricane Ike became the fifth hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, later strengthening to Category 3.

2006: Tennis player Andre Agassi announced his retirement.

2004: The Beslan hostage crisis ended with the deaths of over 300 people, over half of which were children.

1997: Arizona Gov. Fife Symington was convicted of lying to get millions in loans to shore up his collapsing real estate empire. (The conviction was overturned in 1999.)

1976: The unmanned spacecraft Viking II landed on Mars and took the first pictures of the surface of Mars.

1971: Qatar became an independent state

1951: The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, aired its first episode on the CBS network.

1944: Diarist Anne Frank and her family were placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz, arriving three days later.

1939: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia declared war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allies.

1874: The congress of the state of México elevated Naucalpan to the category of Villa, with the title of "Villa de Juárez".

1838: Dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a Free Black seaman, future abolitionist Frederick Douglass boarded a train in Maryland on his way to freedom from slavery.

1783: The American Revolutionary War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the U.S. and the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1752: The day of the 3rd of September never happened - nor the next 10 in England and the American Colonies. They dropped the Roman era Julian Calendar, which had become 10 days out of synchrony with the solar cycle, and adopted the Gregorian Calendar. People rioted in the streets thinking the government stole 11 days of their lives.

1189: Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") was crowned at Westminster.

0301: Saint Marinus founded San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world’s oldest republic still in existence.

Births:
1851: Olga Konstantinovna of Russia (Queen of Greece)

1914: "Dixy Lee" [Marguerite] Ray (American marine biologist/author/governor) [Trashing the Planet]

1931: Albert DeSalvo [The Boston Strangler] (American criminal)

Deaths:
1658: Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector of England)

1970: Vince Lombardi (American football coach)

2005: William Rehnquist (Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court)


Word of the Day: gasconade \gas-kuh-NEYD\
Etymology: From French gasconnade, derivative of gasconner "to boast, chatter", from Gascon, a native of Gascony, France, the inhabitants of which were reputedly very boastful.
(noun)
1. Extravagant boasting; boastful talk.
(intransitive verb)
2. To boast extravagantly; bluster.
Usage: "That appeared to all a mere gasconade, and was much laughed at."


Mistfox - who didn't want to get out of bed this morning

Today is September 4th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Rosalia, Saint Rose of Viterbo, and Saint Ultan of Ardbraccan.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Former U.S. political lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the Jack Abramoff scandals.

2002: Singer Kelly Clarkson was voted the first "American Idol" on the Fox TV series.

1998: Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University, founded Google.

1984: Brian Mulroney led the Canadian Progressive Conservative Party to power in the 1984 federal election, ending 20 years of nearly uninterrupted Liberal rule.

1882: The first central electric station to supply light and power was the Edison Electric Illuminating Company in New York City. Thomas Edison inaugurated its operation by operating a switch in the Wall Street office of his primary financial backer.

1957: Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, called out the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.

1951: President Harry Truman inaugurated transcontinental television service in the U.S. when AT&T carried his address to the opening session of the Japanese Peace Convention in San Francisco.

1950: Darlington Raceway was the site of the inaugural Southern 500, the first 500-mile NASCAR race.

1948: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicated for health reasons.

1923: The first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah, had its maiden flight.

1886: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo surrendered with his remaining warriors to General Nelson Miles in Arizona.

1862: General Robert E. Lee took the Army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North during the Maryland Campaign of the U.S. Civil War.

1781: Los Angeles, California, was founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (the Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola) by 44 Spanish settlers.

0476: Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed when Odoacer proclaimed himself King of Italy.

Births:
1905: Mary Renault [Mary Challans] (English novelist) [The Charioteer, The Bull from the Sea, Fire from Heaven, The Praise Singer]

1949: Tom Watson (American golfer)

Deaths:
1063: Toghrül (Turkish conqueror of Persia and Baghdad)

1588: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (English politician/favorite of Elizabeth I)

1965: Albert Schweitzer (Alsatian physician/missionary)

2006: Steve Irwin (Australian naturalist/television personality)


Word of the Day: shrew \shroo\
Etymology: From the belief that a shrew (an animal of the Soricidae family having a long, sharp snout) had a venomous bite, in the beginning the term was used metaphorically for anyone of a spiteful nature, male or female. Eventually the word came to be applied exclusively to women.
(noun)
1. A bad-tempered, nagging woman.
Usage: "She has to be bold and loud to compete with men in her male-dominated society. She may appear to be a shrew but she is not dishonest."


Mistfox - who is actually using a lap blanket this morning because it's so chilly

Today is September 5th. That means that it's the feast of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Saint Bertin, and Saint Genebald.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The unemployment rate in the United States rose to its highest level since December 2003 after the U.S. economy lost 84,000 jobs in August 2008.

1980: The St. Gotthard Tunnel opened in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.224 km), stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.

1978: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat began the peace process at Camp David, Maryland.

1972: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacked and took hostage 11 Israel athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two died in the attack and 9 died the following day.

1957: "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac, the defining novel of the Beat Generation, was published.

1945: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defected to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signaling the beginning of the Cold War.

1942: During World War II, the Japanese high command ordered a withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first Japanese defeat in the Pacific War.

1927: Universal Pictures released the first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney.

1914: The First Battle of the Marne began when, northeast of Paris, the French attacked and defeated German forces that were advancing on the capital.

1836: Sam Houston was elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne, during the War of 1812, began when Chief Winamac's forces attacked two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses.

1698: In an effort to move his people away from archaic customs, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposed a tax on beards.

1666: The Great Fire of London ended. 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral were destroyed, but only 16 people are known to have died.

1590: Alexander Farnese's army forced Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris.

Births:
1187: Louis VIII (King of France)

1850: "Jack" [Jasper Newton] Daniel (American distiller) Founder of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distillery.

1945: Al [Alastair Ian] Stewart (Scottish singer/songwriter) ["Year of the Cat", "Time Passages"]

1946: Freddie Mercury [Farrokh Bulsara,] (Zanzibar-born British singer/songwriter) [Queen]

1950: Cathy Guisewite (American cartoonist) [Cathy]

1969: Dweezil [Ian Donald Calvin Euclid] Zappa (American musician)

Deaths:
1992: Fritz Leiber (American author) [Conjure Wife, Ill Met in Lankhmar, Swords Against Wizardry]

1997: Mother Teresa of Calcutta [Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu] (Albanian-born missionary/humanitarian)


Word of the Day: pullulate \ PUHL-yuh-leyt \
Etymology: From Latin pullulatus, past participle of pullulare "grow, sprout," from pullulus, diminutive of pullus "young animal."
(intransitive verb)
1. To send forth sprouts, buds, etc.; germinate; sprout.
2. To breed, produce, or create rapidly.
3. To increase rapidly; multiply.
4. To exist abundantly; swarm; teem.
5. To be produced as offspring.
Usage: "Sheila has reached that dangerous stage in her development when her opinions are just beginning to pullulate."


Mistfox - who will have to play all my Queen albums today to mourn Freddie

Today is September 6th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Begga of Cumbria and Saint Gondulphus.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The Electoral College of Pakistan elected Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party as the next President of Pakistan.

2005: The California Legislature became the first legislative body in the nation to approve same-sex marriages. (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger later vetoed the bill.)

1997: Diana, Princess of Wales was laid to rest in front of a television audience of more than 2.5 billion.

1991: The name Saint Petersburg was restored to Russia's second largest city, which had been renamed Leningrad in 1924.

1972: Nine Israel athletes taken hostage at the Munich Olympic Games by the Palestinian "Black September" terrorist group died (as did a German policeman) at the hands of the kidnappers during a failed rescue attempt. Two other Israeli athletes were slain in the initial attack the previous day.

1966: In Cape Town, South Africa, the architect of Apartheid, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, was stabbed to death during a parliamentary meeting.

1952: Canada's first television station, CBFT-TV, opened in Montreal.

1948: Juliana became Queen of the Netherlands.

1943: The Monterrey Institute of Technology, one of the largest and most influential private universities in Latin America, was founded in Monterrey, Mexico.

1941: Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas were ordered to wear yellow Stars of David.

1916: Clarence Saunders opened the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, in Memphis, Tenn.

1901: Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot and fatally wounded U.S. President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

1861: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant bloodlessly captured Paducah, Kentucky, which gave the Union control of the mouth of the Tennessee River.

1628: Puritans settled Salem, which would later become part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1522: The Victoria, one of the surviving ships of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, returned to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world.

0394: At the Battle of the Frigidus, the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I defeated and killed the pagan usurper Eugenius and his Frankish magister militum Arbogast.

Births:
1757: Marquis de Lafayette [Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette ] (French soldier/statesman)

1860: Jane Addams (American social worker)

1947: Jane Curtin (American actress) [Saturday Night Live, Kate & Allie, 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Coneheads]

1963: Alice Sebold (American novelist) [Lucky, The Lovely Bones, The Almost Moon]

Deaths:
1939: Arthur Rackman (English book illustrator)

1966: Margaret Sanger (American birth control activist) Founded the first U.S. birth-control clinic in Brooklyn, New York in 1916.

1966: Hendrik Verwoerd (Prime Minister of South Africa)

1970: Arthur William Sidney Herrington (American engineer/manufacturer) He developed a series of military vehicles, the best known of which was the World War II jeep.


Word of the Day: acquiesce \ak-wee-ES\
Etymology: From Latin acquiescere, "to give oneself to rest", hence "to find one's rest or peace (in something)," from ad, "to" + quiescere, "to rest, to be or keep quiet."
(intransitive verb)
1. To accept or consent passively or without objection -- usually used with 'in' or 'to'.
Usage: "France would probably express regret that a military strike had become necessary, but would acquiesce in it."


Mistfox - who will probably be turning the a/c back on today, sigh

Today is September 7th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Regina, Saint Evurtius (Heortius), Saint Cloud (Clodoald), Saint Gratus of Aosta, and Saint Anastasius the Fuller.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The U.S. Government took control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the U.S., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

2006: Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage confirmed he was the source of a leak that had disclosed the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame, saying he didn't realize Plame's job was covert.

2005: The first presidential election was held in Egypt.

1979: The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) made its debut.

1977: The Torrijos-Carter Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal were signed. The United States agreed to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

1970: An anti-war rally was held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda, and Donald Sutherland.

1953: Nikita Khrushchev was elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1940: Nazi Germany began to rain bombs on London. This would be the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing (the Blitz).

1927: Philo Taylor Farnsworth achieved the first fully electronic television system.

1911: French poet Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested and put in jail on suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum.

1901: The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ended with the signing of the Boxer Protocol.

1895: The first game of what would become known as rugby league football was played in England, starting the 1895-96 Northern Rugby Football Union season.

1888: A baby incubator was first used in the U.S. to care for an infant at State Emigrant Hospital on Ward's Island, New York.

1864: Atlanta, Georgia, was evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.

1822: Dom Pedro I declared Brazil independent from Portugal on the shores of the Ipiranga creek in São Paulo.

1818: Carl III of Sweden-Norway was crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.

1776: In the world's first submarine attack, the American submersible craft Turtle attempted to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.

Births:
1533: Elizabeth I (Queen of England)

1912: David Packard (American electrical engineer/businessman) [Hewlett-Packard Company]

1934: Omar Karami (Prime Minister of Lebanon)

1936: Buddy [Charles Hardin] Holly (American singer) ["That'll Be The Day", "Peggy Sue"]

Deaths:
1708: Tekle Haymanot I (Emperor of Ethiopia)

1809: Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (King of Thailand)

1978: Keith Moon (English drummer) [The Who]

1994: James Clavell [Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell] (Australian-born American author) [King Rat, Noble House, Shogun]


Word of the Day: odious \O-dee-uhs\
Etymology: From Latin odium "hatred", from odisse "to hate".
(adjective)
1. Highly offensive; inspiring and deserving hatred.
Usage: "All over the US there are people whose lives are being destroyed for lack of proper health care provision, and there is no sight more odious than the rich, powerful, and arrogant trying to keep it that way."


Mistfox - who has nothing planned to do today except get a "mess" of ribs ready for grilling

Today is September 8th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Adrian and Saint Natalia of Nicomedia, and Saint Pope Sergius I.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray to win the U.S. Tennis Open for a record-breaking fifth consecutive time.

2003: The Recording Industry Association of America filed 261 copyright lawsuits against Internet users for trading songs online.

1999: U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno named former Senator John Danforth to head an independent investigation of the 1993 fire at the Branch Davidian church near Waco, Texas in response to revelations in the film Waco: The Rules of Engagement contradicting the official government stories.

1975: Boston's public schools began a court-ordered citywide busing program amid scattered incidents of violence.

1974: U.S. President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.

1971: In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.

1960: In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicated the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).

1945: U.S. troops arrived to partition the southern part of Korea in response to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula a month earlier.

1930: 3M began marketing Scotch transparent tape.

1921: 16-year-old Margaret Gorman won the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.

1900: A powerful hurricane hit Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.

1888: In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, was found.

1831: William IV and Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1810: The Tonquin set sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men establish the fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.

1664: The Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to the British, who renamed it New York.

1565: A Spanish expedition established the first permanent European settlement in North America at present-day St. Augustine, Fla.

1504: Michelangelo's David was unveiled in Florence.

1331: Stefan Dušan declared himself king of Serbia

0070: Roman forces under Titus sacked Jerusalem.

Births:
0801: Saint Ansgar (German Catholic archbishop)

1157: Richard I (King of England)

1380: Saint Bernardino of Siena (Italian Franciscan missionary)

1841: Antonín Dvorák (Czech composer)

1932: Patsy Cline [Virginia Patterson Hensley] (American singer) ["Walkin' After Midnight," "I Fall to Pieces," "She's Got You," "Crazy," "Sweet Dreams"]

1947: Halldor Asgrimsson (Prime Minister of Iceland)

Deaths:
1888: Annie Chapman [Eliza Ann Smith] (British prostitute/second victim of Jack the Ripper)

1970: Percy Spencer (American engineer/inventor) Inventor of the microwave oven.


Word of the Day: asinine \ASS-uh-nyn\
Etymology: From Latin asininus "stupid," literally "like an ass," from asinus "ass".
(adjective)
1. Extremely stupid; ridiculous.
Usage: "With banks crashing and unemployment soaring, Prohibition felt like what it was -- an asinine waste of time and money."


Mistfox - who has to get used to getting up on time and moving in the morning again

Today is September 9th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Apple Inc. unveiled the revamped iPod line-up including the redesigned, fourth-generation iPod Nano.

1999: The Dreamcast, the last video game console to be produced by SEGA, was released.

1971: The four-day Attica Prison riot began, which eventually resulted in 39 dead, most killed by state troopers retaking the prison.

1963: The first ever live birth in captivity of a giant panda in the world took place at Beijing Zoo, China.

1956: Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.

1942: A Japanese floatplane dropped an incendiary bomb on Oregon.

1926: The Radio Corporation of America (RCA), created the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) shortly after the acquisition (May 1926) of the radio network operations of AT&T, which had decided to withdraw from radio.

1914: The Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade was created, the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army.

1893: President Grover Cleveland's wife, Frances, gave birth to a daughter, Esther, in the White House.

1850: California was admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state.

1776: The Continental Congress officially named their new union of sovereign states the United States.

1753: The first steam engine imported into the American colonies landed at New York City on the S.S. Irene, from London.

1513: James IV of Scotland was defeated and died in the Battle of Flodden Field, ending Scotland's involvement in the War of the League of Cambrai.

0009: Arminius' alliance of six Germanic tribes ambushed and annihilated three Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.

Births:
1585: Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu (French statesman)

1828: Leo Tolstoy (Russian novelist) [War and Peace, Anna Karenina]

1900: James Hilton (English novelist) [Lost Horizon, Goodbye Mr. Chips]

1903: Phyllis Whitney (American writer) [Mystery on the Isle of Skye, Seven Tears for Apollo, Spindrift, Amethyst Dreams, The Mystery of the Haunted Pool]

1949: Joe Theismann (American football player/commentator)

1952: Angela Cartwright (American actress) [The Sound of Music, Make Room For Daddy, Lost in Space]

1960: Hugh Grant (English actor) [Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary]

Deaths:
1087: William I (King of England)

1398: James I (King of Cyprus)

1513: James IV (King of Scotland)

1976: Mao Zedong (Chinese communist leader)


Word of the Day: thenar \THEE-nahr\
Etymology: From New Latin, from Greek thénar "palm of hand or sole of foot"
(noun)
1.The fleshy mass of the outer side of the palm of the hand.
2. The fleshy prominence or ball of muscle at the base of the thumb.
(adjective)
3. Of or pertaining to the thenar.
Usage: "The Mount of Venus in palmistry could also be called the thenar."


Mistfox - who was surprised when Phyllis Whitney died last year at 104 – I’d thought she’d been long gone

Today is September 10th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino and Saint Aubert.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, was powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.

2000: NBC's "The West Wing" won a record nine Emmy awards, including best drama series.

1989: Hungary stopped enforcing East German visa restrictions and opened its borders, beginning a flood of emigration that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall two months later.

1977: Hamida Djandoubi, convicted for torture and murder, was the last person to be executed by guillotine in France.

1967: The people of Gibraltar voted to remain a British dependency rather than becoming part of Spain.

1955: "Gunsmoke" premiered on CBS. (It ran for 20 years, longer than any other network prime-time series.)

1939: Canada declared war on Nazi Germany, joining the Allies - France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

1919: New York City welcomed home Gen. John J. Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who had served in the United States 1st Division during World War I.

1919: Austria and the Allies signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain recognizing the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

1846: Elias Howe was granted a patent for the sewing machine.

1815: The keel was laid for the first double decker steamboat, the Washington, in Wheeling, Virginia, built for Capt. Henry Miller Shreve.

1813: The United States defeated the British Fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.

1547: The last full-scale military confrontation between England and Scotland, the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, was fought resulting in a decisive victory for the forces of Edward VI.

1509: An earthquake known as "The Lesser Judgment Day" hit Istanbul.

Births:
1638: Maria Theresa of Spain (Queen of Louis XIV of France)

1887: Giovanni Gronchi (President of the Italian Republic)

1918: Rin Tin Tin (German shepherd dog)

1929: Arnold Palmer (American golfer)

Deaths:
0954: Louis IV (King of France)

1382: Louis I of Hungary (King of Hungary, Croatia, Dalmatia, Jerusalem, Sicily, and Poland)

1669: Henrietta Maria of France (Queen of Charles I of England)

1797: Mary Wollstonecraft (English author) [A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]


Word of the Day: arcadian \ahr-KAY-dee-uhn\
Etymology: After Arcadia, a region of ancient Greece whose residents were believed to have led quiet, unsophisticated lives of peace and happiness.
(adjective)
1. Idyllically pastoral: simple, peaceful.
(noun)
2. One leading a simple rural life.
Usage: "Farms, fields, cottages, what he calls 'the Arcadian view', are blended with industrial images -- mostly nuclear cooling towers -- to create new landscapes that plop the environmentally hazardous engine of contemporary society into our nostalgically folksy lap."


Mistfox - who expects the cold water at aqua fit to wake her up

Today is September 11th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Deiniol, Saint Protus, and Saint Hyacinth.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: A fire occurred in the Channel Tunnel and the tunnel was closed until further notice.

2002: The Pentagon was rededicated after repairs were completed, exactly one year after the attack on the building.

2001: Airplane hijackings resulted in the collapse of the World Trade Center in New York City, destruction of the western portion of The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a passenger airliner crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

1997: Scots voted to create their own Parliament after 290 years of union with England.

1992: Hurricane Iniki, one of the most damaging hurricanes in U.S. history, devastated Hawaii, especially the islands of Kauai and Oahu.

1982: The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon left Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees were massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

1973: A CIA backed coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet toppled the democratically elected President Salvador Allende. Pinochet remained in power for almost 17 years.

1970: The Ford Pinto was introduced.

1941: Ground was broken for the construction of The Pentagon.

1928: General Electric made the first simulcast in Schenectady, New York, broadcasting a play over radio and TV at same time, The Queen's Messenger.

1926: An assassination attempt on Benito Mussolini failed.

1915: The Pennsylvania Railroad begins electrified commuter rail service between Paoli and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, using overhead AC trolley wires for power.

1850: Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," gave her first concert in the United States, at Castle Garden in New York.

1847: Stephen Foster's well-known song, “Oh! Susanna”, was first performed at a saloon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1813: British troops arrived in Mount Vernon and prepared to march to Washington D.C. to invade it during the War of 1812.

1708: Charles XII of Sweden stopped his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the Great Northern War. His army was defeated nine months later in the Battle of Poltava, and the Swedish empire was no longer a major power.

1683: John III Sobieski of Poland arrived on Kahlen Hill, leading to the Battle of Vienna the next day.

1297: Scots jointly-led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

Births:
1862: O. Henry [William Sydney Porter] (American writer) [Cabbages and Kings, "The Ransom of Red Chief", "The Gift of the Magi"]

1885: D. H. Lawrence (English novelist/poet/playwright/essayist/literary critic) [ Sons and Lovers, The Plumed Serpent, Lady Chatterley's Lover]

1965: Bashar al-Assad (President of Syria)

1967: Harry Connick, Jr. [Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr.] (American singer/actor/composer/pianist) ["Promise Me You'll Remember", "A Wink and a Smile", "(I Could Only) Whisper Your Name"]

Deaths:
1063: Béla I of Hungary (King of Hungary)

1971: Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev (Soviet politician/leader)

2003: John Ritter (American actor) [Three's Company, Problem Child, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter]


Word of the Day: devious \DEE-vee-uhs\
Etymology: From Latin devius "out of the way", from de- "out of" + via "way".
(adjective)
1. Departing from the straight or the usual way.
2. Sneaky; underhanded.
Usage: "Life has a devious way of hiding the edge of the cliff."


Mistfox - who has the sneezes this morning

Today is September 12th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Sacerdos of Lyon and Saint Guy of Anderlecht

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: A Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing 25 people. (Federal investigators have said the Metrolink engineer, Robert Sanchez, had been text-messaging on his cell phone and ran a red light shortly before the crash.)

2008: The collapse of the United Kingdom's third largest tour operator XL Leisure Group, left over 85,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad.

2005: Hong Kong Disneyland opened in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong.

2000: Dutch lawmakers gave same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt children.

1994: Frank Eugene Corder crashed a single-engine Cessna 150 into the White House's south lawn, striking the West wing and killing himself.

1990: The two German states and the Four Powers signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German re-unification.

1983: Los Macheteros robbed a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut, U.S., of approximately US$7 million.

1959: Bonanza premiered, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color.

1954: "Lassie" made its TV debut on CBS.

1944: The liberation of Serbia from Nazi Germany and the Chetniks continued. Near Trier, American troops entered Germany for the first time.

1940: Cave paintings were discovered in Lascaux, France.

1910: Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 premiered in Munich (with a chorus of 852 singers and an orchestra of 171 players).

1857: The SS Central America sunk about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drowning a total of 426 passengers and crew, including Captain William Lewis Herndon. The ship was carrying 13-15 tons of gold from the San Francisco Gold Rush.

1609: Henry Hudson began his exploration of the Hudson River while aboard the Halve Maen.

1213: Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, defeated Peter II of Aragon at the Battle of Muret.

Births:
1888: Maurice Chevalier (French singer/actor) [Love in the Afternoon, Gigi]

1892: Alfred A. Knopf (American publisher)

1944: Barry White [Barrence Eugene Carter] (American singer) ["Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe"; "You're the First, the Last, My Everything"; "What Am I Gonna Do with You"]

Deaths:
0413: Saint Marcellinus of Carthage (Roman secretary of state)

1185: Andronikos I Komnenos (Byzantine emperor)

1977: Steve Biko (South African anti-apartheid activist)

2003: Johnny Cash (American singer/guitarist) ["I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire", "Man in Black", "A Boy Named Sue"]


Word of the Day: revenant \REV-uh-nuhnt\
Etymology: From French, from present participle of revenir, "to return", from Old French.
(noun)
1. A person who returns.
2. A person who returns as a spirit after death; ghost.
Usage: "Folkloric revenants share a number of characteristics with folkloric vampires."


Mistfox - who will be discussing revenants at her teen bookclub this afternoon (The Graveyard Book, but Neil Gaiman)

Today is September 13th. That means that it's the feast of Saint John Chrysostom.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Hurricane Ike made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the U.S., causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.

2000: Former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee pleaded guilty in Albuquerque, N.M., to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets. Lee, who had been held in solitary confinement for nine months, was set free with an apology from U.S. District Judge James Parker.

1993: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.

1990: "Law & Order" premiered on NBC.

1971: State police and National Guardsmen stormed New York's Attica Prison to end a prison revolt. Forty-two people died in the assault.

1948: Margaret Chase Smith was elected senator, and became the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

1940: German bombs damaged Buckingham Palace.

1862: Union soldiers found a copy of Robert E. Lee's battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland, the prelude to the Battle of Antietam.

1848: Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage incredibly survived a 3-foot-plus iron rod being driven through his head. The reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulated thinking about the nature of the brain and its functions.

1814: The British failed to capture Baltimore, Maryland, which was a turning point in the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner".

1808: In the Battle of Jutas, Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von Döbeln beat the Russians, making von Döbeln a Swedish war hero in the Finnish War.

1609: Henry Hudson reached the river that would later be named after him - the Hudson River.

0533: General Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeated Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimium, near Carthage, North Africa.

0122: The building of Hadrian's Wall began.

Births:
0678: K'inich Ahkal Mo' Naab' III (Ruler of Palenque)

1694: Yeongjo of Joseon (Ruler of Korea)

1851: Walter Reed (American Army pathologist/bacteriologist)

1857: Milton S. Hershey (American confectioner)

Deaths:
1438: Duarte (King of Portugal)

1624: Ketevan of Kakheti (Queen of Kakheti/Christian martyr)

1977: Leopold Stokowski (English conductor)


Word of the Day: unction \UHNGK-shuhn\
Etymology: From Middle English, from Latin unctio, unction-, from unctus, past participle of unguere, "to anoint".
(noun)
1. An act of anointing, esp. as a medical treatment or religious rite.
2. An unguent or ointment; salve.
3. Something soothing or comforting.
4. An excessive, affected, sometimes cloying earnestness or fervor in manner, esp. in speaking.
5. Religion.
a. The oil used in religious rites, as in anointing the sick or dying.
b. The shedding of a divine or spiritual influence upon a person.
c. The influence shed.
d. Extreme unction.
6. The manifestation of spiritual or religious inspiration.
Usage: "Whatever else he might have prayed for, he never failed to conclude without asking God to grant me 'unction from on high.'"


Mistfox - who has already applied the unction of chocolate and started to celebrate International Chocolate Day

Today is September 14th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Crescentius of Rome, Saint Maternus of Cologne, and Saint Notburga.


See why I used this smilie last year Here.


2008: Bank of America announced its intention to acquire Merrill Lynch.

2005: Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

1998: Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom completed their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.

1975: Pope Paul VI canonized the first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton.

1959: The Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the moon as it crashed onto the lunar surface.

1956: The first U.S. prefrontal lobotomy surgery was performed.

1948: The groundbreaking ceremony for the United Nations headquarters in New York City was held.


1940: Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act, providing for the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.

1923: Miguel Primo de Rivera became dictator of Spain.

1901: President William B. McKinley died in Buffalo, N.Y., of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin eight days earlier. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, 42, was sworn in, becoming the youngest president in U.S. history.

1812: French grenadiers entered Moscow. The Fire of Moscow began as soon as Russian troops left the city.

0081: Domitian became Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.

Births:
1769: [Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich] Alexander von Humboldt (German naturalist/explorer)

1849: Ivan Pavlov (Russian scientist)

1947: "Sam" [Nigel John Dermot] Neill (New Zealand actor) [Reilly, Ace of Spies; The Hunt for Red October; Jurassic Park]

Deaths:
1146: Zengi (Ruler of Syria)

1321: Dante Alighieri (Italian author) [the Divine Comedy]

1712: Giovanni Domenico Cassini (Italian-French astronomer)

1852: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (Anglo-Irish general/Prime Minister of the U.K.)

1901: William McKinley (President of the U.S.)

1937: Tomáš Masaryk (President of Czechoslovakia)

1982: Grace Kelly (American actress/Princess of Monaco) [Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, High Society, The Country Girl]


Word of the Day: promiscuous \pruh-MIS-kyoo-uhs\
Etymology: From French promiscuité, from Latin promiscuus, "possessed equally", from pro- "forward" + miscere, "to mix".
(adjective)
1. Characterized by or involving indiscriminate mingling or association, esp. having sexual relations with a number of partners on a casual basis.
2. Consisting of parts, elements, or individuals of different kinds brought together without order.
3. Indiscriminate; without discrimination.
4. Casual; irregular; haphazard.
Usage: "What sexual behavior is considered socially acceptable, and what behavior is 'promiscuous'?"


Mistfox - who woke up dreaming about hot air balloons

Today is September 15th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Catherine of Genoa, Saint Joseph Abibos, Saint Nicomedes, and Saint Roland de Medici.

There was no On This Day last year.


2008: Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. History.

1997: Two popular diet drugs, fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, were withdrawn from the market by their manufacturers after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established a possible link between heart-valve damage and these drugs - often used in combination with another appetite suppressant, phentermine

1997: The IRA-allied Sinn Fein party entered Northern Ireland's peace talks for the first time.

1981: The John Bull became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operated it under its own power outside Washington, D.C.

1981: The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S.

1963: Four children were killed by a bomb at an African-American church (the 16th Street Baptist Church) in Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A.

1959: Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet leader to visit the U.S.

1947: RCA released the 12AX7 vacuum tube.

1935: The Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship and made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany.

1916: Tanks were used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.

1835: The HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reached the Galápagos Islands.

1831: The locomotive John Bull operated for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.

1821: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica jointly declared independence from Spain.

1812: The French army under Napoleon reached the Kremlin in Moscow.

1789: The U.S. Department of State was established (formerly known as the Department of Foreign Affairs).

1616: The first non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe was opened in Frascati, Italy.

0921: Saint Ludmila was murdered at the command of her daughter-in-law at Tetin.

Births:
1254: Marco Polo (Italian explorer)

1857: William Howard Taft (President of the U.S./Chief Justice of the U.S..)

1879: Joseph Lyons (Prime Minister of Australia)

1904: Umberto II (King of Italy)

1910: Betty Neels (English novelist) [Sister Peters in Amsterdam, Victory for Victoria, Surgeon in Charge]

Deaths:
921: Ludmila of Bohemia (Duchess of Bohemia) Grandmother of “Good King Wenceslas”

1842: José Francisco Morazán Quezada (President of The Federal Republic of Central America)

1945: André Tardieu (Prime Minister of France)

1973: Gustaf VI Adolf (King of Sweden)

1978: Willy Messerschmitt (German aircraft engineer/designer)


Word of the Day: forensic \fuh-REN-sik\
Etymology: From Latin forens(is) "of, belonging to the forum, public".
(adjective)
1. Pertaining to, connected with, or used in courts of law or public discussion and debate.
2. Adapted or suited to argumentation; rhetorical.
(noun)
3. Forensics, (used with a singular or plural verb) The art or study of argumentation and formal debate.
4. Forensics, (used with a singular or plural verb) The use of science and technology to investigate and establish facts in criminal or civil courts of law.
Usage: "In modern use, the term 'forensics' in place of 'forensic science' can be considered incorrect as the term 'forensic' is effectively a synonym for 'legal' or 'related to courts'."


Mistfox - who, at one time, thought about going into forensic anthropology

Today is September 16th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Cyprian, Pope Saint Cornelius, Saint Ludmila, and Saint Curcodomus.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Russia's most liquid stock exchange MICEX and the dollar-denominated RTS suspended trade for one hour after the worst one-day fall in ten years as Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin reassured markets there was no "systemic" crisis.

2004: Hurricane Ivan plowed into the Gulf Coast with 130 mph wind and a major storm surge; Ivan was blamed for at least 115 deaths, 43 in the U.S..

1997: Apple Computer announced that Steve Jobs had been named interim CEO of the company.

1987: The "Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer" was signed, agreeing that the production and consumption of most compounds that deplete ozone in the stratosphere, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were to be phased out by 2000.

1981: Sugar Ray Leonard beat Thomas Hearns in their first of two boxing bouts.

1974: President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.

1966: The Metropolitan Opera House opened at Lincoln Center in New York City with the world premiere of Samuel Barber's opera, Antony and Cleopatra.

1955: Juan Perón was deposed in Argentina.

1940: Rep. Samuel T. Rayburn, D-Texas, the longest-serving House speaker in history, was first elected to the post.

1893: Settlers raced for prime land in the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma.

1810: With the Grito de Dolores, Father Miguel Hidalgo began Mexico's fight for independence from Spain.

Births:
1858: Andrew Bonar Law (Prime Minister of the U.K.)

1924: Lauren Bacall [Betty Joan Perske] (American actress) [The Big Sleep, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Mirror Has Two Faces]

1925: Charles Haughey (Prime Minister of Ireland)

Deaths:
1701: James II of England and VII of Scotland (King of England and Scotland)

1944: Gustav Bauer (Chancellor of Germany)

1977: Maria Callas (Greek-American soprano)


Word of the Day: pleiad \PLEE-uhd\
Etymology: After the Pleiades, the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and sea-nymph Pleione in Greek mythology. These seven sisters were Maia, Electra, Celaeno, Taygete, Merope, Alcyone, and Sterope. In one version of the myth, they killed themselves out of grief over the loss of their half sisters the Hyades, and were turned into a group of stars. In another version, they were placed among the stars to protect them from the hunter Orion, though he too became a star to continue to pursue them. Only six of the seven sisters shine brightly in the Pleiades star cluster. The other one is supposed to be Merope, hiding in shame for loving a mortal, or Electra, mourning the death of her son Dardanus.
(noun)
1. A group of (usually seven) brilliant persons or things.
Usage: "'The turbulent 1990s were a time of rapid change and bold, extraordinary people. ... Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, without any exaggeration, belongs among just such a pleiad,' Putin said."


Mistfox - who needs to finish a sewing project today so she can help dd with her Halloween outfit (Victorian/Steampunk)

Today is September 17th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Lambert, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Saint Albert Avogadro, Saint Alain de la Roche, and Saint Robert Bellarmine.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Rwanda became the first nation where women outnumber men in parliament.

2004: Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the Sept. 1-3 school siege in Beslan and other terrorist attacks in Russia that claimed more than 430 lives.

2001: The New York Stock Exchange reopened for trading after the September 11 Attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression.

1980: After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity was established.

1976: NASA unveiled the first Space Shuttle, Enterprise.

1972: The comedy series "M*A*S*H" premiered on CBS.

1947: James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the first Secretary of Defense of U.S..

1939: Taisto Mäki became the first man to run 10,000 meters in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6

1920: The National Football League was organized in Canton, Ohio, U.S.

1862: George B. McClellan halted the northward drive of Robert E. Lee's Confederate army in the single-day Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history.

1814: Francis Scott Key finished his poem The Star-Spangled Banner.

1683: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek wrote a letter to the Royal Society describing "animalcules": the first known description of protozoa.

1630: The city of Boston, Massachusetts was founded.

1176: The Battle of Myriokephalon, between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks, was fought.

Births:
1883: William Carlos Williams (American poet/doctor)

1900: John Willard Marriott (American hotelier/businessman) Founder of the Marriott Corporation.

1928: "Roddy" [Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude] McDowall (English actor) [My Friend Flicka, Planet of the Apes, Cleopatra, The Poseidon Adventure]

1939: David Souter (U.S. Supreme Court Justice)

Deaths:
1621: Saint Robert Bellarmine, (Italian Jesuit/Cardinal)

1980: Anastasio Somoza Debayle (President of Nicaragua)

1996: Spiro Agnew (Vice President of the U.S.)


Word of the Day: Pickwickian \pik-WIK-ee-uhn\
Etymology: After Samuel Pickwick, a character in the novel Pickwick Papers (serialized 1836-1837) by Charles Dickens. Mr. Pickwick is known for his simplicity and kindness. In the novel Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Blotton call each other names and it appears later that they were using the offensive words only in a Pickwickian sense and had the highest regard for each other.
(adjective)
1. Marked by generosity, naiveté, or innocence.
2. Not intended to be taken in a literal sense.
Usage: "I kept a happiness diary, after the discovery by Professor Sonia Lyubomirsky that collating one's daily blessings resulted in Pickwickian good cheer."


Mistfox - who is feeling really blurry after getting to bed late and then seeing dh off for another trip at 4:45 this morning

Today is September 18th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Joseph of Cupertino, Saint Methodius of Olympus, Saint Richardis, Saint Eustorgius I, and Saint Constantius.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The Swedish National Debt Office announced it was putting a temporary hold on its market commitment in treasury bills due to the spike in demand for treasury bonds, which were seen as a safe investment during rocky periods in the financial markets.


2004: Pop singer Britney Spears married dancer Kevin Federline. (The couple divorced in 2007.)

1999: Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs became the first player in major league baseball history to hit 60 home runs in a season twice.

1997: U.S. media magnate Ted Turner donated USD $1 billion to the United Nations

1984: Joe Kittinger completed the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic.

1976: Mao Zedong's funeral took place in Beijing.

1960: Fidel Castro arrived in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations.

1943: Adolf Hitler ordered the deportation of Danish Jews.

1927: The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) debuted with a network of 16 radio stations.

1919: The Netherlands gave women the right to vote.

1910: In Amsterdam, 25,000 demonstrated for general suffrage.

1872: King Oscar II acceded to the throne of Sweden-Norway.

1851: The New-York Daily Times, which would become The New York Times, was first published.

1850: The U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

1812: The 1812 Fire of Moscow died down after destroying more than three quarters of the city. Napoleon returned from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, spared from the fire.

1759: The British captured Quebec City.

0096: Nerva was proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated.

Births:
1434: Eleanor of Portugal (Holy Roman Empress)

1709: Samuel Johnson (English writer/lexicographer) [The Life of Richard Savage, The Vanity of Human Wishes, Dictionary of the English Language]

1876: James Scullin (Prime Minister of Australia)

1923: Anne (Queen of Romania)

1939: Frankie Avalon [Francis Thomas Avallone] (American musician/actor) [Beach Party, Beach Blanket Bingo, Grease]

1971: Lance Armstrong (American cyclist)

Deaths:
1663: St. Joseph of Cupertino [Giuseppe Maria Desa] (Italian friar)

1970: "Jimi" [James Marshall] Hendrix [Johnny Allen Hendrix] (American musician)

1987: Américo Tomás (Portuguese admiral/President of Portugal)


Word of the Day: masque \mask, mahsk\
Etymology: From Middle French masque, "covering to hide or guard the face," from Italian maschera "mask, disguise", from Middle Latin masca "mask, specter, nightmare," of uncertain origin. Originally the same word as mask, it developed a special sense of "amateur theatrical performance" in Elizabethan times, when such entertainments (originally performed in masks) were popular among the nobility.
(noun)
1. A form of aristocratic entertainment in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, originally consisting of pantomime and dancing but later including dialogue and song, presented in elaborate productions given by amateur and professional actors.
2. A dramatic composition for such entertainment.
3. A masquerade; masked ball; revel.
4. A cosmetic cream, gel, paste, or the like, that is applied to the face and allowed to remain for a short time before being removed and is used for tightening, cleansing, refreshing, or lubricating the skin.
Usage: "'Henry VIII and Charles I performed in the masques at their courts."


Mistfox - who thinks couples sharing things shouldn't extend to colds

Avast, me hearties! Today be September 19th. That means we feast for Saint Januarius. Arrrr, maties.


Shiver me timbers. See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Struggling to stave off financial catastrophe, the Bush administration asked Congress for $700 billion to buy up troubled mortgage-related assets from U.S. financial institutions.

2005: Former Tyco CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski was sentenced in New York to up to 25 years in prison for looting the company of hundreds of millions of dollars. Tyco's former finance chief, Mark Swartz, received the same sentence.

1995: The Washington Post and The New York Times published the Unabomber's manifesto.

1985: Tipper Gore and other political wives formed the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testified at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.

1982: Streetcars stopped running on Market St. in San Francisco after 122 years of service.

1970: "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" debuted on CBS.

1959: Nikita Khrushchev was barred from visiting Disneyland.

1952: The U.S. barred Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England.

1940: Witold Pilecki was voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance.

1893: In New Zealand, the Electoral Act of 1893 was consented to by the governor giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.

1881: President James A. Garfield died of wounds suffered in a July 2 shooting.

1870: Having invaded the Papal States a week earlier, the Italian Army laid siege to Rome, entering the city the next day, after which the Pope described himself as a Prisoner in the Vatican.

1783: Jacques Etienne Montgolfier launched a duck, a sheep and a rooster aboard a hot-air balloon at Versailles in France.

1778: The Continental Congress passed the first budget of the U.S..

1676: Jamestown was burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon's Rebellion.

1356: At the Battle of Poitiers, the English defeated the French.

Births:
1778: Henry Peter Brougham (Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain)

1803: Maria Anna of Savoy (Empress of Austria/queen of Hungary and Bohemia)

1911: Sir William Golding (English writer) [Lord of the Flies, Rites of Passage]

1933: David McCallum (Scottish actor) [The Man from U.N.C.L.E, NCIS]

Deaths:
1881: James Garfield (President of the U.S.)

1987: Einar Gerhardsen (Prime Minister of Norway)


Word of the Day: debauch \di-BAWCH\
Etymology: From French débaucher, from Old French desbauchier, "to lead astray, roughhew timber", from des-, de- + bauch, "beam", of Germanic origin. Hence, presumably, to hew (beams) > to split, separate > to separate from work or duty
(transitive verb)
1. To corrupt by sensuality, intemperance, etc.; seduce.
2. To corrupt or pervert; sully: His honesty was debauched by the prospect of easy money.
3. Archaic. To lead away, as from allegiance or duty.
(intransitive verb)
4. To indulge in debauchery.
(noun)
5. A period of wanton or sensual self-indulgence.
6. An uninhibited spree or party; orgy: a wild debauch.
Usage: "An endless amount of good wine and cheese debauched the traveler."


Mistfox - who wonders how many people get debauched on Talk LIke A Pirate Day

In honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day I changed my Facebook language to pirate. Always good for a laugh

Today is September 20th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Eustace, Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, and Saint Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The Ugandan Lords Resistance Army launched a surprise offensive in Southern Sudan hitting an army base and villages in the nearby Democratic Republic of Congo.

1990: South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia.

1979: Lee Iacocca was elected president of the Chrysler Corporation.

1962: James Meredith, an African-American, was barred from entering the University of Mississippi.

1954: The first FORTRAN computer program was run.

1946: The first Cannes Film Festival was held.

1906: The Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania was launched at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in Newcastle, England.

1881: Chester A. Arthur was inaugurated as the 21st President of the U.S. following the assassination of James Garfield.

1871: Bishop John Coleridge Patteson was martyred on the island of Nukapu, a Polynesian outlier island now in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. He was the first bishop of Melanesia.

1870: Italian troops took control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy.

1860: The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII of the U.K.) visited the U.S..

1854: At the Battle of Alma, British and French troops defeated Russians in the Crimea.

1853: Elisha Graves Otis sold his first safety elevator equipment, having started his business earlier in the year to sell the safety elevator system he had invented the year before.

1792: French troops stopped an allied invasion of France, during the War of the First Coalition at Valmy.

1378: Cardinal Robert of Geneva, called by some the Butcher of Cesena, was elected as Avignon Pope Clement VII, beginning the Papal schism.

0451: The Battle of Chalons took place in North Eastern France. Flavius Aetius's victory over Attila the Hun in a day of combat, is considered to be the largest battle in the ancient world.

Births:
0524: Kan B'alam I (Ruler of Maya state of Palenque)

1842: Sir James Dewar (British chemist/physicist) His study of low-temperature phenomena entailed making an insulating double-walled flask of his own design by creating a vacuum between the two silvered layers of steel or glass. This Dewar flask led to the domestic Thermos bottle.

1920: Jay [J Troplong] Ward (American animated cartoonist) [Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Peabody and Sherman, George of the Jungle, Super Chicken]

1925: Ananda Mahidol (King of Thailand)

1934: Sophia Loren [Sofia Villani Scicolone] (Italian actress) [Two Women, Desire Under the Elms, The Pride and the Passion, El Cid, Arabesque]

Deaths:
1246: Mikhail of Chernigov (Ruler of Kiev)

1863: Jacob Grimm (German writer/folklorist)

1973: Jim Croce (American singer/songwriter) ["Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"; "Time in a Bottle"; "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song"]

1979: Ludvík Svoboda (President of Czechoslovakia)

2000: Gherman S. Titov (Russian cosmonaut) He was the second human to orbit the Earth but was the first person to orbit more than once, the first to spend more than a day in space, and the first to sleep in space.

2005: Simon Wiesenthal (Austrian-Jewish Nazi hunter)


Word of the Day: seraglio \si-RAL-yoh, -RAHL-\
Etymology: From Italian seraglio, alteration of Turk. saray "palace, court," from Persian sara'i "palace, inn," from Iranian base *thraya- "to protect". The Italian word probably reflects folk etymology influence of serraglio "enclosure, cage," from Middle Latin serraculum "bung, stopper".
(noun)
1. The part of a Muslim house or palace in which the wives and concubines are secluded; harem.
2. A Turkish palace, esp. of the sultan.
Usage: "The seraglio became the subject of works of art, the most famous perhaps being Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio."


Mistfox – watching her dh play Osmos

Today is September 21sth. That means that it's the feast of Saint Matthew the Evangelist.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.

2008: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the two last remaining independent investment banks on Wall Street, became bank holding companies as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.

2003: The Galileo mission was terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where the pressure at the lower altitudes crushed it.

2001: Deep Space 1 flew within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly.

1981: Belize was granted full independence from the United Kingdom.

1970: "NFL Monday Night Football" debuted on ABC.

1964: Malta became independent from the U.K.

1938: The Great Hurricane of 1938 made landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people.

1898: Empress Dowager Cixi seized power and ended the Hundred Days' Reform in China.

1792: The National Convention declared France a republic and abolished the monarchy.

1745: At the Battle of Prestonpans, a Hanoverian army under the command of Sir John Cope was defeated, in ten minutes, by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart.

1217: The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu and Livonian leader Kaupo were killed in the Battle of St. Matthew's Day.

Births:
1051: Bertha of Savoy (German queen/Holy Roman Empire Empress)

1452: Girolamo Savonarola (Dominican priest/ruler of Florence) He was known for his book burning, destruction of what he considered immoral art, and hostility to the Renaissance.

1840: Murad V (Ottoman Sultan)

1842: Abd-ul-Hamid II (Ottoman Sultan)

1866: H. G. Wells (English writer) [The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds]

1902: Sir Allen Lane [Allen Lane Williams] (British publisher) Founded Penguin Books.

1947: Stephen King (American author) [Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, Christine]

Deaths:
19 BC: Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (Roman poet) [the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, the Aeneid]

1327: Edward II (King of England)

1832: Sir Walter Scott (Scottish writer) [Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Lady of The Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian, The Bride of Lammermoor]




Word of the Day: comstockery \KOM-stok-uh-ree, KUM-\
Etymology: After Anthony Comstock (1844-1915), founder of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. He crusaded against anything he considered immoral. Nothing escaped his wrath -- even anatomy textbooks for medical students and the draping of mannequins in public view in shop windows were obscene to him. He lobbied for laws against mailing any material that could be perceived as promoting immorality. He was appointed postal inspector and he seized books, postcards, and other materials by the boatload. He boasted that he had arrested more than 3,000 people and driven more than 15 to suicide. George Bernard Shaw coined the word comstockery after him when he attacked the American production of Shaw's play "Mrs. Warren's Profession".
(noun)
1. Overzealous censorship of material considered obscene.
Usage: "The language and thought police are hardly some Orwellian invention; America has been unusually susceptible to plagues of Comstockery and self-righteous tomfoolery."


Mistfox - who is late getting on because her Windows decided to get flakey

Today is September 22nd. That means that it's the feast of Saint Candidus, Saint Digna, Saint Emerita, Saint Emmeramus, Saint Maurice, Saint Phocas, Saint Salaberga, and Saint Thomas of Villanueva. Today is also the autumnal equinox at 21:18 UT (5:18 pm EDT).


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The U.S. Mint unveiled the first changes to the penny in 50 years, with Abraham Lincoln's portrait still on the front, but new designs replacing the Lincoln Memorial on the back.

2006: The F-14 Tomcat was retired from the U.S. Navy.

2004: "Lost" premiered on ABC.

1993: A barge struck a railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama, causing the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak history. Forty-seven passengers were killed.

1975: Sara Jane Moore failed in an attempt to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel.

1964: The musical "Fiddler on the Roof" opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 3,242 performances.

1960: The Sudanese Republic was renamed Mali after the withdrawal of Senegal from the Mali Federation.

1950: The World Dance Council was inaugurated.

1908: The independence of Bulgaria was proclaimed.

1896: Queen Victoria surpassed her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.

1869: Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold premiered in Munich.

1862: President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863.

1784: Russia established a colony at Kodiak, Alaska.

1692: The last people hanged for witchcraft in the U.S. were executed.

0066: Emperor Nero created the Legion I Italica.

Births:
1515: Anne of Cleves (Wife of Henry VIII of England)

1601: Anne of Austria (Queen of Louis XIII of France)

1791: Michael Faraday (English physicist/chemist)

1829: Tu Ðuc (Emperor of Vietnam)

1885: Ben Chifley (Prime Minister of Australia)

1971: Märtha Louise (Princess of Norway)

Deaths:
1520: Selim I (Ottoman Sultan)

1989: Irving Berlin [Israel Isidore Baline] (Russian-born American composer and lyricist) ["Alexander's Ragtime Band", "Easter Parade", "White Christmas", "There's No Business Like Show Business"]

2001: Isaac Stern (Ukrainian violinist)


Word of the Day: estivate \ES-tuh-veyt\
Etymology: From Latin aestivare, aestivat-, from aestivus, from aestas, "summer".
(intransitive verb)
1. To spend the summer, as at a specific place or in a certain activity.
2. Zoology. To spend a hot, dry season in an inactive, dormant state, as certain reptiles, snails, insects, and small mammals.
Usage: "Animals that estivate are trying to escape things happening in their environment."


Mistfox - who had been using "estivate" wrong for years and didn't know it

Today is September 23rd. That means that it's the feast of Saint Adomnan of Iona, Saint Thecla, and Saint Pio of Pietrelcina.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The Large Hadron Collider near Geneva was shut down until spring while engineers probed magnet failures.

2002: The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") was released.

1988: José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics became the first member of the 40-40 club (players who have accumulated a total of 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season).

1973: Juan Perón returned to power in Argentina.

1969: The Chicago Eight (Chicago Seven, Conspiracy Seven) trial opened in Chicago.

1952: Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon went on television to deliver what came to be known as the ``Checkers'' speech as he denied allegations of improper campaign financing.

1949: President Truman shocked America with a terse announcement: "We have evidence that within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred in the USSR."

1941: The first gas murder experiments were conducted at Auschwitz.

1932: The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd was renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

1908: The University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, was founded.

1845: The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, was founded in New York.

1806: Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis, after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.

1642: The first commencement exercises occurred at Harvard College.

Births:
480 BCE: Euripides (Greek playwright) [Alcestis, Medea, Trojan Women, The Bacchae]

63 BCE: Augustus Caesar [Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, Gaius Octavius Thurinus] (Roman Emperor)

1740: Go-Sakuramachi (Empress of Japan)

1914: Omar Ali Saifuddin III (Sultan of Brunei)

1930: Ray Charles [Robinson] (American musician) ["What'd I Say", "Georgia On My Mind", "Hit the Road Jack", "Unchain My Heart", "Crying Time"]

1949: Bruce Springsteen (American singer/songwriter) ["Born to Run", "Born in the U.S.A.", "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)", "Thunder Road", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"]

Deaths:
1241: Snorri Sturluson (Icelandic historian/poet/politician) [the Prose Edda, the Skáldskaparmál]

1939: Sigmund Freud (Austrian psychiatrist)

1968: St. Pio of Pietrelcina [Francesco Forgione, "Padre Pio"] (Capuchin priest)

1987: Bob [Robert Louis] Fosse (American dancer/choreographer/actor)


Word of the Day: torpor \TAWR-per\
Etymology: From Latin torpor "numbness," from torpere "be numb," from ProtoIndoEuropean base *ster- "stiff".
(noun)
1. Sluggish inactivity or inertia.
2. Lethargic indifference; apathy.
3. A state of suspended physical powers and activities.
4. Dormancy, as of a hibernating animal.
Usage: "His boring lecture did nothing to alter the torpor of the students, most of whom were dozing or doodling, none of whom cared what was being discussed."


Mistfox - who is glad we're getting rain but wishes it would stop long enough for a morning walk so she doesn’t lapse into torpor

Today is September 24th. That means that it's the feast of St. Pacifico of San Severino.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Preliminary findings made for the American Geophysical Union that support the Clathrate gun hypothesis, indicated the possible release of millions of tons of methane, a greenhouse gas, from Arctic seabeds.

2005: Hurricane Rita made landfall in the U.S., devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.

1998: Redesigned $20 bills, meant to be harder to counterfeit, went into circulation.

1996: The U.S. and the world's other major nuclear powers signed a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.

1992: USA Networks launched the Sci Fi Channel.

1979: Compu-Serve launched the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service.

1969: A trial began for the "Chicago Eight," who were accused of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.

1968: 60 Minutes debuted on CBS

1960: The first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, was launched in Newport, Virginia.

1950: Forest fires blacked out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A Blue moon (in the astronomical sense) was seen as far away as Europe.

1946: Cathay Pacific Airways was founded in Hong Kong

1890: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounced polygamy.

1869: Gold prices plummeted after Ulysses S. Grant ordered the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plotted to control the market (known as "Black Friday").

1789: The office of the Attorney General of the U.S.A., and the U.S. Post Office Department, were established.

1645: At the Battle of Rowton Heath, the Parliamentarians claimed victory over a Royalist army commanded in person by King Charles

0622: The Prophet Muhammad completed his hijra from Mecca to Medina.

Births:
1884: Hugo Schmeisser (German weapons designer)

1896: F. Scott Fitzgerald (American novelist) [This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, Tender is the Night, The Great Gatsby]

1914: Sir John Kerr (Governor-General of Australia)

1936: Jim Henson (American puppeteer)

1946: Lars Emil Johansen (Prime Minister of Greenland)

Deaths:
768: Pippin the Short (King of the Franks)

1732: Reigen (Emperor of Japan)

1834: Pedro I of Brazil (Emperor of Brazil)

1896: Louis De Geer (1st Swedish Prime Minister)

1991: Dr. Seuss [Theodor Seuss Geisel] (American children's writer/illustrator) [Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish]


Word of the Day: nihil obstat \NY-hil OB-stat, NEE-\
Etymology: From Latin nihil obstat "nothing hinders", from nihil "nothing" + obstare "to hinder", from ob- "against" + stare "to stand".
(noun)
1. Official approval.
2. In the Roman Catholic Church, a statement by a church censor that a book is not offensive to the Church.
Usage: "The Army Corps of Engineers last week gave its nihil obstat to the Hudson River Park, New York City's scheme."


Mistfox - who found her VCR this morning reading 3:34 pm, Dec. 28, 2034 ????

It's a VCR from the future, Mistfox. From the FUTUUUUUUUURE!

It's also my big sister's birthday today!