Today is November 6th. That means that it's the feast of St. Leonard of Noblac and St. Winnoc.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was crowned as the fifth King of Bhutan, replacing his father Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who abdicated his power. Thus he became the world's youngest monarch.

2005: The Evansville Tornado of November 2005 killed 25 in northwestern Kentucky and southwestern Indiana.

1997: Former President George H.W. Bush opened his presidential library at Texas A&M University.

1985: The American press revealed that U.S. President Ronald Reagan had authorized the shipment of arms to Iran during the Iran-Contra Affair.

1977: The Kelly Barnes Dam (located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia) failed, killing 39.

1947: Meet The Press made its television debut (the show went to a weekly schedule on September 12, 1948).

1928: Sweden began a tradition of eating Gustavus Adolphus pastries to commemorate the king.

1869: In New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers College defeated Princeton University (then known as the College of New Jersey), 6-4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game.

1862: A direct telegraphic link between New York and San Francisco was established.

1861: Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.

1860: Former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates for the U.S. presidency.

1856: The first work of fiction by the author later known as George Eliot was submitted for publication.

1572: A supernova was first noted by Wolfgang Schulerof Wittenberg in the W-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia but was seen by many observers throughout Europe and in the Far East.

1528: Shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca became the first known European to set foot in Texas.

Births:
1479: Joanna I of Castile (Queen of Spain)

1494: Suleiman the Magnificent (Ottoman Sultan)

1550: Karin Månsdotter (Queen of Sweden)

1860: Ignace Paderewski (Polish pianist/composer/President of Poland)

1946: Sally Field (American actress) [The Flying Nun, Norma Rae, Places in the Heart, Steel Magnolias]

Deaths:
1632: Gustavus Adolphus (King of Sweden)

1796: Catherine II ["Catherine the Great"] (Empress of Russia)

1893: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian composer) [Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker]


Word of the Day: nihilarian \nih-i-LAR-ee-uhn\
Etymology: From Latin nihil "nothing".
(noun)
1. One who does useless work.
Usage: "You may find yourself worrying that you're turning into a nihilarian."


Mistfox - who doesn't feel she's a nihilarian yet

Today is November 7th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Willibrord, Saint Prosdocimus, Saint Herculanus of Perugia, and Saint Vicente Liem de la Paz.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Unemployment in the U.S. reached its highest rate in 14 years.

1991: Magic Johnson announced that he was infected with HIV and retired from the NBA.

1973: The U.S. Congress overrode President Richard M. Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limited presidential power to wage war without congressional approval.

1929: In New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opened to the public.

1918: Kurt Eisner overthrew the Wittelsbach dynasty in the Kingdom of Bavaria.

1908: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were reportedly killed in San Vicente, Bolivia.

1885: In Craigellachie, British Columbia, construction ended on the Canadian Pacific Railway railway extending across Canada.

1775: John Murray, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, started the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing Lord Dunmore's Offer of Emancipation, which offered freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters in order to fight with Murray and the British.

1619: Elizabeth of Scotland and England was crowned Queen of Bohemia.

0680: The Sixth Ecumenical Council commenced in Constantinople.

Births:
1867: Maria Sklodowska-Curie (Polish chemist/physicist)

1879: Leon Trotsky [Lev Davidovich Bronstein] (Russian revolutionary)

1918: Billy Graham (American evangelist)

Deaths:
1962: Eleanor Roosevelt (First Lady of the U.S.)

1980: Steve [Terrence Steven] McQueen (American actor) [The Sand Pebbles, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Getaway, Papillon, The Towering Inferno]


Word of the Day: renaissance \ren-uh-SAHNS, -ZAHNS, REN-uh-sahns, -zahns, -sahns; especially Brit. ri-NEY-suhns\
Etymology: From French, from Old French, from renaistre, "to be born again", from Vulgar Latin renascere, from Latin renasci : re-, "again " + nasci, "to be born"
(noun)
1. The activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.
2. The forms and treatments in art used during this period.
3. (sometimes lowercase) Any similar revival in the world of art and learning.
4. (lowercase) A renewal of life, vigor, interest, etc.; rebirth; revival: a moral renaissance.
(adjective)
5. Of, pertaining to, or suggestive of the European Renaissance of the 14th through the 17th centuries: Renaissance attitudes.
6. Noting or pertaining to the group of architectural styles existing in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries as adaptations of ancient Roman architectural details or compositional forms to contemporary uses, characterized at first by the free and inventive use of isolated details, later by the more imitative use of whole orders and compositional arrangements, with great attention to the formulation of compositional rules after the precepts of Vitruvius and the precedents of existing ruins, and at all periods by an emphasis on symmetry, exact mathematical relationships between parts, and a general effect of simplicity and repose.
7. Noting or pertaining to any of the various adaptations of this group of styles in foreign architecture characterized typically by the playful or grotesque use of isolated details in more or less traditional buildings.
8. Noting or pertaining to the furnishings or decorations of the Renaissance, in which motifs of classical derivation frequently appear.
Usage: "During the Renaissance, America was discovered, and the Reformation began."


Mistfox - who won't be posting tomorrow since she'll be at the Carolina Renaissance Festival

Today is November 9th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Vitonus.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: A total of €750 million of cocaine was seized off the coast of Ireland, in the largest such seizure in the country's history.

2004: Houston Astros pitcher Roger Clemens won his record seventh Cy Young award.

1998: Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, was completely abolished for all remaining capital offenses.

1991: In Culham, England, nuclear fusion was first harnessed to produce a significant amount of power.

1990: Mary Robinson was elected Ireland's first female President and the first from the Labour Party.

1979: The NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland detected a purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early warning radars, the alert was canceled.

1976: The United Nations General Assembly approved 10 resolutions condemning apartheid in South Africa, including one characterizing the white-ruled government as "illegitimate."

1967: NASA launched the unmanned Apollo 4 test spacecraft atop the first Saturn V rocket from Cape Kennedy, Florida.

1938: Nazi German diplomat Ernst vom Rath died from the fatal gunshot wounds of Jewish resistance fighter Herschel Grynszpan, an act that the Nazis used as an excuse to instigate the 1938 national pogrom, also known as Kristallnacht.

1936L The first giant panda to live in captivity outside China, was caught in the bamboo forests on the mountains near Tsaopo, China, by a hunting party for Ruth Harkness, a wealthy American socialite.

1923: In Munich, Germany, police and government troops crushed the Beer Hall Putsch in Bavaria. The failed coup was the work of the Nazis.

1918: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicated after the German Revolution, and Germany was proclaimed a Republic.

1906: Theodore Roosevelt was the first sitting President of the U.S. to make an official trip outside the country. He did so to inspect progress on the Panama Canal.

1888: Jack the Ripper killed Mary Jane Kelly, his last known victim.

1851: Kentucky marshals abducted abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and took him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape.

1799: Napoleon Bonaparte led the Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire ending the Directory government, and becoming one of its three Consuls.

1764: Mary Campbell, a captive of the Lenape during the French and Indian War, was turned over to forces commanded by Colonel Henry Bouquet.

1494: The Family de' Medici became rulers of Florence.

1282: Pope Martin IV excommunicated King Peter III of Aragon.

Births:
1389: Isabella of Valois (Queen consort of England)

1877: Enrico De Nicola (1st President of the Italian Republic)

1914: Hedy Lamarr [Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler] (Austrian-American actress/inventor) [Boom Town, White Cargo, Tortilla Flat, My Favorite Spy, Her Highness and the Bellboy] She co-invented an early form of spread spectrum communications technology, a key to modern wireless communication.

1936: Mary Travers (American singer/songwriter) [Peter, Paul and Mary]

Deaths:
1208: Sancha of Castile (Wife of Alfonso II of Aragon)

1888: Mary Jane Kelly (British prostitute/victim of Jack the Ripper)

1953: Dylan Thomas (Welsh poet/author) [Deaths and Entrances, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, A Child's Christmas in Wales, Under Milk Wood]

1970: Charles de Gaulle (French military commander/politician/President of France)

2003: Art Carney (American actor) [The Honeymooners, Harry and Tonto, Going in Style, The Night They Saved Christmas]


Word of the Day: billet \BIL-it\
Etymology: From Medieval French billette, from Old French bullette, diminutive of bulle, "a document," from Medieval Latin bulla, "a document."
(noun)
1. Lodging for soldiers.
2. An official order directing that a soldier be provided with lodging.
3. A position of employment; a job.
(transitive verb)
1. To quarter, or place in lodgings.
2. To serve (a person) with an official order to provide lodging for soldiers.
(intransitive verb)
1. To be quartered; to lodge.
Usage: "When he was well enough, he was retrieved back to his billet in the American zone."


Mistfox - who was surprised at how large the Carolina Renaissance Festival was and that they didn't have funnel cakes

Plus today's the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, so not only bad things happen on this day in Germany.
I'm in the mood to celebrate and will watch the party at the Brandenburger Tor with the fall of the big dominos tonight.

Sabrina

Today is November 10th. That means that it's the feast of Pope Saint Leo I the Great and Saint Andrew Avellino.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The U.S. government announced a second bailout of American International Group (AIG); the total value of the new plan, roughly US$150 billion, represented the largest government support package extended to a private company in U.S. history.

2004: President George W. Bush nominated White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to be attorney general, succeeding John Ashcroft.

1983: U.S. student Fred Cohen presented to a security seminar the results of his test - the first documented virus, created as an experiment in computer security.

1975: The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.

1971: In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attacked the city of Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine aircraft.

1954: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery.

1928: Hirohito was enthroned as Emperor of Japan.

1919: The first national convention of the American Legion was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, ending on November 12.

1898: The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 began, the only instance of a municipal government being overthrown in U.S. history.

1775: Capt. Samuel Nicholas founded the U.S. Marine Corps at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia.

1674: As provided in the Treaty of Westminster, the Netherlands ceded New Netherlands to England.

Births:
1697: William Hogarth (English artist)

1895: John Knudsen ["Jack"] Northrop (American aircraft designer)

1924: Russell Johnson (American actor) [Tumbleweed, Gilligan's Island ("The Professor"), Santa Barbara]

1932: Roy Scheider (American actor) [Jaws, All That Jazz, The French Connection]

Deaths:
1938: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Founder and the first President of Turkey)

1992: "Chuck" [Kevin Joseph Aloysius] Connors (American actor/pro baseball and basketball player) [The Rifleman]

2003: Canaan Banana (First President of Zimbabwe)

2006: Jack Palance [Volodymyr Palahniuk] (Ukrainian-American actor) [City Slickers, Sudden Fear, Shane, Requiem for a Heavyweight]


Word of the Day: subrogate \suhb-ruh-geyt\
Etymology: From Latin subrogatus, past participle of subrogare surrogare "to elect as a substitute", from sub- "under" + rogare "to request".
(transitive verb)
1. To put into the place of another; substitute for another.
2. Civil Law. To substitute (one person) for another with reference to a claim or right.
Usage: "A surety who pays off the debts of another party is subrogated to the creditor's former claims and remedies against the debtor to recover the sum paid."


Mistfox - who is getting this out late because she worked this morning

Today is November 11th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Bartholomew of Grottaferrata, Saint Martin of Tours, and Saint Menas. It's Armistice Day in New Zealand, France and Belgium; it's Remembrance Day in the U.K. and the Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia and Canada; and it’s Veteran’s Day in the U.S.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) set sail on her final voyage to Dubai.

2004: Yasser Arafat was confirmed dead by the Palestine Liberation Organization, of unidentified causes. Mahmoud Abbas was elected chairman of the PLO minutes later.

2000: Republicans went to court seeking an order to block manual recounts from continuing in Florida's presidential election.

1992: The Church of England voted to allow women to become priests.

1962: Kuwait's National Assembly ratified the Constitution of Kuwait.

1935: Lt. Col. Albert William Stevens and Capt. Orvil Anderson reached a balloon height record of 72,395 feet, by helium balloon in a sealed gondola, Explorer II.

1924: Prime Minister Alexandros Papanastasiou proclaimed the first recognized Greek Republic.

1919: The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington resulted in the deaths of four members of the American Legion and the lynching of a local leader of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World).

1918: World War I ended when Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compiègne in France. The war officially stopped at 11:00 (The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month).

1889: Washington was admitted as the 42nd U.S. state.

1869: The Victorian Aboriginal Protection Act was enacted in Australia, giving the government control of Indigenous people's wages, of their terms of employment, of where they could live, and of their children, effectively leading to the Stolen Generations.

1864: Union General William Tecumseh Sherman began burning Atlanta, Georgia to the ground in preparation for his march south.

1790: Chrysanthemums were introduced into England from China.

1778: Loyalists and Seneca Indian forces attacked a fort and village in eastern New York during the American Revolutionary War (known as the Cherry Valley Massacre), killing more than forty civilians and soldiers.

1673: During the Second Battle of Khotyn in the Ukraine, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces under the command of Jan Sobieski defeated the Ottoman army. In this battle, Kazimierz Siemienowicz's rockets were successfully used.

1215: The Fourth Lateran Council met, defining the doctrine of transubstantiation, the process by which bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.

Births:
0995: Gisela of Swabia (Holy Roman Empire Empress)

1599: Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg (Queen of Sweden)

1744: Abigail Adams (First Lady of the U.S,)

1821: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russian novelist) [Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov]

1922: Kurt Vonnegut (American novelist) [Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions]

1981: Guillaume [Guillaume Jean Joseph Marie] (Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg/Heir Apparent)

Deaths:
0397: Martin of Tours (French bishop/saint)

0537: Pope Silverius (Italian pope/saint)

0826: Theodore the Studite (Byzantine monk/abbot/saint)

1917: Liliuokalani of Hawaii (Queen of Hawaii)

2004: Yasser Arafat (Palestinian leader)


Word of the Day: perturb \per-TURB\
Etymology: From Middle English perturben, from Old French perturber, from Latin perturbare, per-, "through" + turbare, "to throw into disorder" (from turba, "confusion", perhaps from Greek turbe).
(transitive verb)
1. To disturb or disquiet greatly in mind; agitate.
2. To throw into great disorder; derange.
3. Astronomy. To cause perturbation in the orbit of (a celestial body)
Usage: "Fundamental Islamicists threaten to perturb the social order in Algeria and Egypt."


Mistfox - who hopes people won't be perturbed because tomorrow's OTD may be late getting out, too, because she has to run the dh to the airport

Today is November 12th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych and Saint Patiens.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar exploration mission successfully completed its journey to the Moon, entering its intended operational orbit 100 kilometers (62 mi) above the surface.

2006: Gerald R. Ford surpassed Ronald Reagan as the longest-lived U.S. president at 93 years and 121 days. (Ford died the following month.)

2003: Shanghai Transrapid set a new world speed record (501km/h–311 mph) for commercial railway systems.

1997: Ramzi Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

1984: Astronauts executed the first salvage operation in space when a Palapa B-2 satellite was retrieved.

1982: In the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov became the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.

1971: As part of Vietnamization, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon set February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.

1954: Ellis Island closed after processing more than 20 million immigrants since opening in New York Harbor in 1892.

1948: In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentenced seven Japanese military and government officials to death, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.

1942: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces began near Guadalcanal and would last for three days.

1941: Alma Heflin, the first American female test pilot for standard production aircraft made her first test flight for the Piper Aircraft Corporation of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.

1927: Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.

1927: The Holland Tunnel connecting N.Y. and N.J., the world's first underwater vehicular tunnel, officially opened.

1920: Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was elected baseball's first commissioner.

1918: Austria became a republic.

1905: Norway started to hold a referendum in favor of monarchy over republic.

1892: William "Pudge" Heffelfinger became the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.

1439: Plymouth, England, became the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.

0764: Tibetan troops occupied Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days.

Births:
1833: Alexander Borodin (Russian composer/chemist)

1840: Auguste Rodin (French sculptor) [The Thinker, The Kiss]

1866: Sun Yat-sen ["the Father of China"] (1st President of the Republic of China)

1908: Harry Blackmun (U.S. Supreme Court Justice)

1945: Neil Young (Canadian singer/musician) ["Heart of Gold", "Old Man", "Cinnamon Girl", "Rockin' in the Free World"

Deaths:
1035: Canute the Great (Viking king of England, Denmark, Norway, Sweden)

1606: St. Nicholas Owens (English carpenter) Built numerous priest holes in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Martyred by torture.

1793: Jean Sylvain Bailly (French astronomer/first Mayor of Paris)

1994: Wilma Rudolph (American runner)


Word of the Day: eschatology \es-kuh-TOL-uh-jee\
Etymology: From Greek eskhatos "last, furthest, remote" (from ex "out of") + -logia "a speaking" (in a certain manner).
(noun)
1. Any system of doctrines concerning last, or final, matters, as death, the Judgment, the future state, etc.
2. The branch of theology dealing with such matters.
Usage: "Contemporary Hindu eschatology is linked in the Vaishnavite tradition to the figure of Kalki."


Mistfox - who is enjoying a cup of cocoa with some mint Bailey's, ahhhhhhh

Today is November 13th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Bricius of Tours, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint Homobonus, Saint Stanislaus Kostka, and Saint Quintian. Happy Friday the 13th.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Three planets orbiting HR 8799 and one planet orbiting Fomalhaut were visually verified by telescopes, the first extrasolar planets whose existence have been confirmed via direct imaging.

2003: Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had refused to remove a granite Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse, was thrown off the bench by a judicial ethics panel for having "placed himself above the law."

2000: Philippine House Speaker Manuel B. Villar, Jr. passed the articles of impeachment against Philippine President Joseph Estrada.

1985: The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted and melted a glacier, causing a lahar (volcanic mudslide) that buried Armero, Colombia, killing approximately 23,000 people.

1969: Anti-Vietnam War protesters in Washington, D.C. staged a symbolic March Against Death.

1954: Great Britain defeated France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators.

1942: The minimum draft age was lowered from 21 to 18.

1918: Allied troops occupied Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

1887: Bloody Sunday clashes occurred in central London during a demonstration against coercion in Ireland and to demand the release from prison of MP William O'Brien.

1789: Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to a friend, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

1775: During the American Revolutionary War, revolutionary forces under Col. Ethan Allen attacked Montreal, Quebec defended by British General Guy Carleton.

1160: Louis VII of France married Adele of Champagne.

Births:
0354: Saint Augustine of Hippo (North African theologian)

1312: Edward III (King of England)

1801: Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria (Queen of Prussia)

1801: Amalie Auguste of Bavaria (Queen of Saxony)

1850: Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish writer) [A Child's Garden of Verses, Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]

Deaths:
1093: Malcolm III (King of Scotland)

1345: Constance of Penafiel (Wife of Pedro I of Portugal)

1952: Margaret Wise Brown (American children's author) [Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny]


Word of the Day: exuviae \ig-ZOO-vee-ee, ik-SOO-\
Etymology: From Latin, from exuere, "to take off".
(plural noun)
1. The cast skins, shells, or other coverings of animals.
Usage: "These skins are called exuviae and many can be identified to species."


Mistfox - who is finding sleep an exuvi she can't shake off this morning

Today is November 14th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Josaphat Kuncevyc, Saint Barlaam of Kiev, and Saint Serapion of Algiers.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: General Ann E. Dunwoody became the first female four-star general in the history of the United States Army.

1995: A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forced the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums and to run most government offices with skeleton staffs.

1991: Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returned to Phnom Penh after thirteen years of exile.

1979: U.S. President Jimmy Carter issued Executive order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the U.S. in response to the Iran hostage crisis.

1972: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 1,000 for the first time, ending the day at 1,003.16.

1969: NASA launched Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the surface of the Moon.

1940: German Luftwaffe bombers heavily bombed the city of Coventry, in England. Coventry Cathedral was almost completely destroyed.

1918: Czechoslovakia became a republic.

1889: Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) began a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completed the trip in seventy-two days.

1851: Herman Melville's novel "Moby Dick" was published.

1533: Conquistadors from Spain under the leadership of Francisco Pizarro arrived in Cajamarca, Inca Empire

Births:
1650: William III (King of England)

1840: Claude Monet (French painter)

1889: Jawaharlal Nehru (First Prime Minister of India)

1907: Astrid Lindgren (Swedish writer) [Pippi Longstocking, Karlsson-on-the-Roof]

1907: William Steig (American cartoonist/sculptor/children's book author) [Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Abel's Island, Doctor De Soto, Shrek]

1948: Charles [Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor] (Prince of Wales)

Deaths:
0565: Justinian the Great (Byzantine Emperor)

1391: Nikola Tavelic (Croatian priest/First Croatian saint)

1866: Miguel (King of Portugal)


Word of the Day: lethargy \LETH-er-jee\
Etymology: From Middle English letargie, from Old French, from Late Latin lethargia, from Greek lethargia, from lethargos, "forgetful", from lethe, "forgetfulness" + argos, "idle" (a-, "without" + ergon, "work").
(noun)
1. The quality or state of being drowsy and dull, listless and unenergetic, or indifferent and lazy; apathetic or sluggish inactivity.
2. Pathology. An abnormal state or disorder characterized by overpowering drowsiness or sleep.
Usage: "Fatigue can describe a range of afflictions, varying from a general state of lethargy to a specific work-induced burning sensation within one's muscles. "


Mistfox - who is feeling particularly lethargic this morning

Today is November 15th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Albert the Great, Saint Zechariah, Saint Leopold, Saint Abibus of Edessa, Saint Hugh Faringdon, Saint Malo, Saint Mechell, and Saint Didier of Cahors


There was no On This Day last year.


2008: Over 1 million people in 300 cities protested the passing of California's Proposition 8. ("Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.")

2007: Baseball home run king Barry Bonds was indicted on charges related to grand jury testimony during which he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. (Bonds pleaded not guilty.)

2002: Hu Jintao replaced Jiang Zemin as China's Communist Party leader.

1988: The Palestinian National Council proclaimed an independent State of Palestine.

1985: British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough Castle.

1969: In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy's restaurant.

1948: Louis Stephen St. Laurent succeeded William Lyon Mackenzie King as Prime Minister of Canada. King had the longest combined time (3 terms, 22 years in total) as Premier in Commonwealth of Nations history.

1939: In Washington, D.C., U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.

1926: The NBC radio network opened with 24 stations.

1904: King Camp Gillette was issued a U.S. patent for his invention of a safety razor using disposable blades.

1864: Union General William Tecumseh Sherman burned Atlanta, Georgia and started Sherman's March to the Sea.

1791: The first U.S Catholic college, Georgetown University, opened its doors.

1492: Christopher Columbus noted in his journal the use of tobacco among Indians - the first recorded reference to tobacco.

0655: Oswiu of Northumbria defeated Penda of Mercia at the Battle of Winwaed.

Births:
1498: Eleonore of Austria (Queen of Portugal and France)

1708: William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (Prime Minister of the U.K.)

1859: Christopher Hornsrud (Prime Minister of Norway)

1887: Georgia O'Keeffe (American painter)

1931: Mwai Kibaki (President of Kenya)

Deaths:
0655: Penda (King of Mercia)

1028: Constantine VIII (Byzantine Emperor)

1853: Maria II (Queen of Portugal)

1958: Tyrone Power (American actor) [The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes, The Black Rose, Captain from Castile, Alexander's Ragtime Band, The Sun Also Rises, Witness for the Prosecution]


Word of the Day: sophist \SOF-ist\
Etymology: From Middle English sophiste, from Latin sophista, from Greek sophistes, from sophizesthai, "to become wise", from sophos, "clever".
(noun)
1. (often initial capital letter) Greek History.
a. Any of a class of professional teachers in ancient Greece who gave instruction in various fields, as in general culture, rhetoric, politics, or disputation.
b. A person belonging to this class at a later period who, while professing to teach skill in reasoning, concerned himself with ingenuity and specious effectiveness rather than soundness of argument.
2. A person who reasons adroitly and speciously rather than soundly.
3. A philosopher.
Usage: "Ancient sophists were famous for their clever, specious arguments."


Mistfox - who completed her collection of the Bridgerton books at the library booksale yesterday

Today is November 16th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Margaret of Scotland and Saint Gertrude the Great.

There was no On This Day last year.


2008: Jimmie Johnson won NASCAR's 2008 Sprint Cup Series championship, becoming the second driver to win three in a row.

2000: Bill Clinton became the first U.S. President to visit Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.

1979: The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) was opened from Timpuri Noi to Semanatoarea in Bucharest, Romania.

1973: NASA launched Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.

1959: The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music" opened on Broadway.

1945: UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) was founded.

1940: In response to Germany's leveling of Coventry, England two days before, the Royal Air Force bombed Hamburg.

1938: Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland.

1933: The U.S. and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations. President Roosevelt sent a telegram to Soviet leader Maxim Litvinov, expressing hope that U.S.-Soviet relations would ``forever remain normal and friendly.''

1907: The Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory became Oklahoma and were admitted as the 46th U.S. state.

1821: Missouri trader William Becknell arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.

1796: English inventor and engineer Marc Isambard Brunel was issued his first U.S. patent for his method of "Ruling Books and Paper."

1620: The first corn (maize) found in the U.S. by British settlers was discovered in Provincetown, Mass., by sixteen desperately hungry Pilgrims led by Myles Standish, William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, and Edward Tilley at a place they named Corn Hill. The food came from a previously harvested cache belonging to a local Indian tribe.

1532: Francisco Pizarro and his men captured Inca Emperor Atahualpa.

1384: Jadwiga was crowned King of Poland, although she was a woman.

Births:
42 BC: Tiberius [Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, Tiberius Claudius Nero] (Roman emperor)

1836: David Kalakaua of Hawaii (Hawaiian king)

1890: Elpidio Quirino (President of the Philippines)

1952: Robin [Jennifer Carolyn Robin Turrell] McKinley (American author) [The Hero and the Crown, The Blue Sword, Sunshine, Beauty, Chalice]

Deaths:
1093: Saint Margaret of Scotland (Wife of Malcolm III of Scotland)

1240: St. Edmund Rich (British Archbishop of Canterbury)

1797: Frederick William II (King of Prussia)

1960: [William] Clark Gable (American actor) [Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone with the Wind, It Happened One Night, The Misfits]


Word of the Day: homologate \huh-MOL-uh-gayt, ho-\
Etymology: From Latin homologare "to agree", from Greek homologein "to agree or allow".
(transitive verb)
1. To approve officially.
2. To register a specific model of a motor vehicle to make it eligible to take part in a racing competition.
NOTE:
Some auto racing competitions require participating vehicles to be available for sale to the general public, and not be custom made for racing. The process of homologation verifies this. The initials GTO listed after some auto names (Ferrari, Pontiac, etc.) mean "Gran Turismo Omologato", Italian for "Grand Touring, Homologated".
Usage: "We've major issues which appear to be discussed in the press. Decisions are made and then we're asked to homologate these decisions."


Mistfox - who didn't want to crawl out of her warm bed this morning

Today is November 17th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, Saint Gregory of Tours, Saint Hilda of Whitby, Saint Hugh of Lincoln, and Saint Acisclus.

There was no On This Day last year.


2008: Pirates captured the MV Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned oil tanker, off the coast of Somalia. This is the largest vessel to date to be hijacked by Somali pirates.

2005: Italy's national anthem, Il Canto degli Italiani, became official for the first time, almost 60 years after it was provisionally chosen following the birth of the republic.

1989: The Velvet Revolution began when riot police quelled a student demonstration in Prague, Czechoslovakia. This sparked an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeded on December 29).

1973: In Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Richard Nixon told 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook".

1969: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the U.S. met in Helsinki to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.

1953: The remaining human inhabitants of the Blasket Islands, Kerry, Ireland were evacuated to the mainland.

1939: Nine Czech students were executed as a response to anti-Nazi demonstrations prompted by the death of Jan Opletal. In addition, all Czech universities were shut down and over 1200 Czech students sent to concentration camps. Since this event, International Students' Day is celebrated in many countries, especially in the Czech Republic.

1919: King George V of the U.K. proclaimed Armistice Day (later Remembrance Day). Edward George Honey first suggested the idea.

1903: The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party split into two groups; the Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").

1869: In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, was inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony.

1855: David Livingstone became the first European to see the Victoria Falls in what is now present-day Zambia-Zimbabwe.

1820: Captain Nathaniel Palmer became the first American to see Antarctica (the Palmer Peninsula was later named after him).

1800: The U.S. Congress held its first session in Washington, D.C.

1558: Queen Mary I of England died and was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England.

0284: His soldiers proclaimed Diocletian emperor.

Births:
0009: Vespasian [Titus Flavius Vespasianus] (Roman Emperor)

1729: Maria Antonietta of Spain (Queen of Sardinia)

1905: Astrid (Queen of the Belgians)

1925: Rock Hudson [Roy Harold Scherer, Jr.] (American actor) [Giant, Pillow Talk, Ice Station Zebra, McMillan and Wife]

1938: Gordon Lightfoot (Canadian singer/songwriter) ["If You Could Read My Mind", "Sundown", "Rainy Day People", "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"]

Deaths:
0375: Valentinian I [Flavius Valentinianus] (Roman Emperor0

0885: Liutgard (Queen of Saxony)

1558: Mary I (Queen of England)

1768: Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Prime Minister of the U.K.)

1818: Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Queen consort of King George III)


Word of the Day: convoke \kuhn-VOHK\
Etymology: From Latin convocare "call together", from con- "together" + vocare "to call", from vox (voice).
(transitive verb)
1. To call together for a meeting.
Usage: "They insist that Mr. Zelaya violated the constitution by trying to convoke a constituent assembly which they fear might have prolonged his term."


Mistfox - who can't stop sneezing this morning

Today is November 18th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, Saint Mawes, Saint Odo of Cluny, and Saint Romanus of Antioch.

There was no On This Day last year.


2008: Democrat Mark Begich defeated Republican incumbent Ted Stevens in Alaska's highly contested Senate race. Begich would be the first Democratic senator representing the state in twenty-eight years.

2004: Britain outlawed fox hunting in England and Wales.

2003: In a 50-page, 4–3 ruling, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found that the state may not "deny the protections, benefits and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry."

1999: In College Station, Texas, 12 were killed and 27 injured at Texas A&M University when a massive bonfire under construction collapsed.

1978: In Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder-suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Members of the Peoples Temple assassinated Congressman Leo J. Ryan shortly beforehand.

1976: Spain's parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

1963: The first push-button telephone went into service.

1928: The animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon stars Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, was released. This is also considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday.

1913: Lincoln Beachey piloted the first airplane in the U.S. to perform a loop-the-loop over North Island, San Diego, California.

1905: Prince Carl of Denmark became King Haakon VII of Norway.

1883: American and Canadian railroads instituted five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

1863: King Christian IX of Denmark decided to sign the November constitution, which declared Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This was seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and led to the German–Danish war of 1864.

1803: The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, was fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.

1626: St. Peter's Basilica was consecrated.

1477: William Caxton produced Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres, the first book printed on a printing press in England.

0326: The old St. Peter's Basilica was consecrated.

Births:
1630: Eleanor Gonzaga (Empress of the Holy Roman Empire)

1774: Wilhelmine of Prussia (Queen of the Netherlands)

1787: Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (French painter/physicist) He invented the daguerreotype, the first practical process of photography.

1861: Dorothy Dix [Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer] (American journalist) Forerunner of today's popular advice columnists who wrote "Dorothy Dix Talks", the world’s longest-running newspaper feature.

1920: Mustafa Khalil (Prime Minister of Egypt)

1945: Wilma Mankiller (First female Chief of the Cherokee Nation)

Deaths:
1154: Adélaide de Maurienne (Wife of King Louis VI of France)

1852: Rose Philippine Duchesne (French Catholic nun/saint)

1886: Chester A. Arthur (President of the U.S.)

1941: Chris Watson (Prime Minister of Australia)

1978: Jim Jones (American cult leader)

1978: Leo Ryan (U.S. Congressman)


Word of the Day: perseverate \per-SEV-uh-reyt\
Etymology: A back formation of perseveration from Middle French perseveration from Old French and classical Latin perseveretion-, singular of perseveratio, from perseverare "to persist", deriv. of perseverus "very strict".
(intransitive verb)
1. To involuntarily repeat a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence or cessation of a stimulus, usually caused by brain injury or other organic disorder.
2. To repeat something insistently or redundantly.
Usage: "To ensure the accuracy of their data, the research scientists necessarily perseverate, repeating each experiments many times and comparing the results of the trials."


Mistfox - who is feeling yesterday's aqua fit session

Today is November 19th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Raphael Kalinowski, Saint Severinus, Saint Exuperius, and Saint Felician.

There was no On This Day last year.


2008: The Supreme Court of Nepal approved foreign same-sex marriage for Nepalese citizens.

1999: The People's Republic of China launched its first Shenzhou spacecraft.

1996: The last component of the Confederation Bridge was placed, crossing the Northumberland Strait, Canada.

1994: In Great Britain, the first National Lottery draw was held. A £1 ticket gave a one-in-14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers.

1979: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

1977: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he met Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.

1969: Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed at Oceanus Procellarum (the "Ocean of Storms") and became the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.

1959: The Ford Motor Company announced the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel.

1946: Afghanistan, Iceland and Sweden joined the United Nations.

1919: The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles.

1916: Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn established Goldwyn Pictures (the company later became one of the most successful independent filmmakers).

1863: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the military cemetery ceremony at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

1861: The first export shipment of petroleum from the U.S. to Europe left Philadelphia, Pa. for London, England. The Elizabeth Watts, a 224-ton brig captained by Charles Bryant, carried a cargo of 1,329 barrels. Since it was not easy to recruit a crew willing to work above a cargo of oil, a crew was shanghaied.

1816: Warsaw University was established.

1493: Christopher Columbus went ashore on an island he first saw the day before. He named it San Juan Bautista (later renamed Puerto Rico).

Births:
1464: Go-Kashiwabara (Emperor of Japan)

1600: Charles I (King of England)

1831: James A. Garfield (President of the U.S.)

1917: Indira Gandhi (Prime Minister of India)

1961: Meg Ryan [Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra] (American actress) [When Harry Met Sally..., Sleepless in Seattle, French Kiss, City of Angels and You've Got Mail]

1962: Jodie [Alicia Christian] Foster (American actress) [Taxi Driver, The Accused, The Silence of the Lambs, Maverick, Contact, Nim's Island]

Deaths:
1478: Baeda Maryam (Emperor of Ethiopia)

1557: Bona Sforza (Queen of Sigismund I of Poland)

1798: [Theobald] Wolfe Tone (Irish rebel/republican)

1828: Franz Schubert (Austrian composer)


Word of the Day: subserve \suhb-SURV\
Etymology: From Latin subservire "to serve under", from sub- "under" + servire "to serve", from servus "slave".
(transitive verb)
1. To help to further something.
Usage: "The decisions were ad hoc in nature and were taken to subserve political expediency."


Mistfox - who hopes it doesn't rain too much today

Today is November 20th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Bernward of Hildesheim.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: After critical failures in the U.S. financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its lowest level since 1997.

2001: In Washington, D.C., U.S. President George W. Bush dedicated the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters building as the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building, honoring the late Robert F. Kennedy on what would have been his 76th birthday.

1985: Dr. Leonard Lee Bailey of the Loma Linda University Medical Center performed a successful heart transplant to a 4-day-old infant, known then as Baby Moses.

1979: Artificial blood was first used in a patient by transfusion at the University of Minnesota Hospital.

1974: The U.S. Department of Justice filed its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later led to the break up of AT&T and its Bell System.

1969: The Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phase-out.

1945: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals started at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.

1940: Hungary became a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers.

1910: Francisco I. Madero issued the Plan de San Luis Potosi, denouncing President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, and effectively starting the Mexican Revolution.

1820: An 80-ton sperm whale attacked the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America. (Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this story.)

1789: New Jersey became the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

1194: Emperor Henry VI conquered Palermo.

Births:
1841: Wilfrid Laurier (Prime Minister of Canada)

1908: Alistair Cooke [Alfred Cooke] (British-born journalist) [Letter from America, Alistair Cooke's America, Masterpiece Theater]

1925: Robert F. Kennedy (American senator/Attorney General)

1946: Duane Allman (American guitarist) [The Allman Brothers Band]

Deaths:
1022: Bernward of Hildesheim (Saxon bishop/saint)

1938: Maud (Queen of Norway)

1980: John McEwen (Prime Minister of Australia)


Word of the Day: billingsgate \BIL-ingz-gayt; -git\
Etymology: After Billingsgate, a former market in London celebrated for fish and foul language.
(noun)
1. Coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language.
Usage: "Chaney would yell at him in his own particular patois -- an unapologetic stream of billingsgate far more creative than Marine drill instructors or master rappers."


Mistfox - who is on her last day of a 10-day trip widowhood

Today is November 21st. That means that it's the feast of the Presentation of Mary.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Toyota cut its Japanese temporary workforce by 50 percent from 6,000 to 3,000 due to falling automobile sales.

2004: The most destructive earthquake in its history hit the island of Dominica. The northern half of the island received the most damage, especially the town of Portsmouth. It was also felt in neighboring Guadeloupe, where one person was killed.

2002: NATO invited Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.

1989: The proceedings of Britain's House of Commons were televised live for the first time.

1979: The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan was attacked by a mob and set on fire, killing four.

1969: The first permanent ARPANET link was established between UCLA and SRI.

1967: American General William Westmoreland told news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing," referring to the Vietnam War.

1922: Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia took the oath of office, becoming the first female U. S. Senator.

1877: Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph, a machine that could record and play sound.

1783: In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, made the first untethered hot air balloon flight.

Births:
1840: Victoria (Princess Royal of Great Britain/German Empress/Queen of Prussia)

1898: René Magritte (Belgian painter)

1694: Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (French author) [the Henriade, The Maid of Orleans, Candide]

Deaths:
1695: Henry Purcell (English composer)

1969: Mutesa II of Buganda (President of Uganda)


Word of the Day: nettle \NET-l\
Etymology: Derived from the name of the plant, any of the various plants of the genus Urtica whose leaves are covered with stinging hairs. The word is from Middle English, from Old English netele, ultimately from the Indo-European root ned- "to bind".
(transitive verb)
1. To irritate.
2. To sting.
Usage: "My questions about the wisdom or otherwise of disbanding the Iraqi army visibly nettled him."


Mistfox - who had to work today and had to run errands over lunch

Today is November 22nd. That means that it's the feast of Saint Cecilia.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The government of Colombia confirmed that the eruption of Nevado del Huila, a volcano in southern Colombia, had led to at least 10 deaths and the evacuation of 12,000 people.

2005: Angela Merkel took power as Germany's first female chancellor.

1995: Toy Story was released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.

1975: Juan Carlos was declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco.

1968: The Beatles' "White Album" was released.

1963: In Dallas, Texas, Lee Harvey Oswald (who was later captured and charged with the murder of police officer J. D. Tippit) killed U.S. President John F. Kennedy and seriously wounded Texas Governor John B. Connally. That same day, U.S. Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.

1954: The Humane Society of the United States was founded.

1941: In the Federal Register, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration specified the first minimum daily requirements for dietary supplements.

1928: The premier performance of Ravel's Boléro took place in Paris.

1927: The first U.S. patent for a snowmobile was issued to Carl J.E. Eliason of Saynor, Wisconsin. His "motor toboggan" had ski-like front runners and a rear drive track.

1859: Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species was first offered for sale, in London, England.

1837: Canadian journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie called for a rebellion against Great Britain in his essay "To the People of Upper Canada", published in his newspaper The Constitution.

1718: Off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") was killed in battle with a boarding party led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard.

Births:
1515: Marie of Guise (Queen consort of James V of Scotland/regent of Scotland)

1602: Elisabeth of Bourbon (Queen of Philip IV of Spain)

1940: Terry Gilliam (American-born British writer/filmmaker/animator/actor/comedian) [Monty Python's Flying Circus, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys]

1958: Jamie Lee Curtis [Lady Haden-Guest] (American actress/author) [Halloween, A Fish Called Wanda, True Lies, "Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day"]

Deaths:
1594: Martin Frobisher (English explorer/privateer)

1617: Ahmed I (Ottoman Sultan)

1718: Blackbeard [Edward Teach] (British pirate)

1916: Jack London (American writer) [The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf]

1963: Aldous Huxley (English author) [Brave New World]

1963: John F. Kennedy (President of the U.S.)

1963: C. S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (Irish-born British novelist/medievalist/literary critic/essayist/Christian apologist) [The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy]


Word of the Day: friable \FRAHY-uh-buhl\
Etymology: From Latin friabilis "easily crumbled or broken," from friare "rub away, crumble into small pieces," related to fricare "to rub."
(adjective)
1. Easily crumbled or reduced to powder; crumbly
Usage: "Substances designated as being hazardous, such as asbestos or crystalline silica are referred to as being friable if they are present in such a state that it is possible for small particles to become dislodged."


Mistfox - who just found out that on Nov. 19, 1959, "Rocky and His Friends" premiered on ABC TV and can't believe it's been 50 years

Hmmm......did he really? And did he act alone?

Sorry, but I grew up with the Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories a plenty. I had to question it. My father would be so proud. LOLOL

Today is November 23rd. That means that it's the feast of Pope Saint Clement I.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The government of Burundi abolished capital punishment and banned homosexuality. Genocide and war crimes were now recognized as illegal activities.

2003: Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze resigned following weeks of mass protests over flawed elections.

1964: Dr. Michael E. DeBakey of Houston performed the first successful coronary artery bypass graft procedure.

1963: The BBC broadcast the first ever episode of Doctor Who, starring William Hartnell, which would become the world's longest science fiction drama to date.

1955: The Cocos Islands were transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.

1945: Most U.S. wartime rationing of foods, including meat and butter, ended.

1943: The Tarawa and Makin atolls fell to American forces.

1936: Life magazine, created by Henry R. Luce, was first published.

1903: Singer Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in "Rigoletto."

1889: The first jukebox went into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.

1869: In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark was launched - one of the last clippers ever to be built, and the only one still surviving to this day.

1835: The first U.S. patent for a horseshoe manufacturing machine was issued to Henry Burden of Troy, N.Y.

1808: The French and the Poles defeated the Spanish at battle of Tudela.

1248: Seville was conquered by Christian troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile.

Births:
1804: Franklin Pierce (President of the United States)

1860: Hjalmar Branting (Prime Minister of Sweden)

1887: Boris Karloff [William Henry Pratt] (British actor) [Bride of Frankenstein, The Lost Patrol, The Raven, Colonel March of Scotland Yard, How the Grinch Stole Christmas]

1892: Erté [Romain de Tirtoff] (French artist/designer)

Deaths:
1902: Walter Reed (American bacteriologist)

1970: Yusof bin Ishak (First President of Singapore)




Word of the Day: strenuous \STREN-yoo-uhs\
Etymology: From Latin strenuus "active, vigorous, keen." Probably cognate with Greek strenes, strenos "keen, strong," strenos "arrogance, eager desire," Old English stierne "hard, severe, keen"
(adjective)
1. Characterized by vigorous exertion, as action, efforts, life, etc.: a strenuous afternoon of hunting.
2. Demanding or requiring vigorous exertion; laborious: To think deeply is a strenuous task.
3. Vigorous, energetic, or zealously active: a strenuous person; a strenuous intellect.
Usage: "A warning to female marathoners: Long-term strenuous activity may lead to memory loss."


Mistfox - who thinks we need a Dalek smilie

Today is November 24th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac, Saint Chrysogonus, Saint Colman of Cloyne, and Saint Flavian of Ricina.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown outlined plans to raise the income tax rate for the first time since 1975.

2004: One of the last Male Po'o-uli died of Avian malaria in the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda, Hawaii before it could breed, making the species in all probability extinct.

1989: Czechoslovakia's hard-line party leadership resigned after more than a week of protests against its policies.

1969: The Apollo 12 command module splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon.

1963: Lee Harvey Oswald was fatally shot by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police department headquarters. The shooting was broadcast live on television.

1947: A group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the "Hollywood 10" was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry.

1941: The United States granted Lend-Lease to the Free French.

1922: Author and Irish Republican Army member Robert Erskine Childers was executed by an Irish Free State firing squad for illegally carrying a revolver.

1903: The first U.S. patent for an automobile electric self-starter was issued to Clyde J. Coleman of New York City.

1859: Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species.

1429: Joan of Arc unsuccessfully besieges La Charité.

Births:
1724: Maria Amalia of Saxony (Queen of Spain)

1745: Maria Louisa of Spain (Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire)

1806: William Webb Ellis (English Anglican clergyman) Credited with the invention of Rugby.

1864: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French painter)

1884: Itzhak Ben-Zvi (President of Israel)

1946: Ted Bundy (American serial killer)

Deaths:
1541: Margaret Tudor (Wife of James IV of Scotland)

1922: Robert Erskine Childers (Irish author/nationalist) [Riddle of the Sands]

1963: Lee Harvey Oswald (Accused American assassin of John F. Kennedy)

1965: Abdullah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah (Emir of Kuwait)

1991: Freddie Mercury [Farrokh Bulsara] (Zanzibar-born British singer/songwriter) [Queen]


Word of the Day: subvert \suhb-VURT\
Etymology: From Middle English subverten, from Old French subvertir, from Latin subvertere sub-, “under” + vertere, "to turn".
(transitive verb)
1. To overthrow (something established or existing).
2. To cause the downfall, ruin, or destruction of.
3. To undermine the principles of; corrupt.
Usage: "His conniving subverted our best efforts to improve the situation"


Mistfox - who now has Queen songs running through her head Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?...

Today is November 25th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Elizabeth of Reute.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: About 10,000 protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy surrounded Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's temporary office at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. Also, thousands of tourists were left stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport after protests against the return of the Prime Minister from the APEC Peru 2008 summit.

1999: The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was established by the United Nations to commemorate the murder of the three Mirabal Sisters who resisted Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.

1986: The Iran-Contra affair erupted as President Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels

1984: 36 top musicians gathered in a Notting Hill studio and recorded Band Aid's “Do They Know It's Christmas” in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

1963: President John F. Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

1960: The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic were assassinated.

1952: Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London and eventually became the longest continuously running play in history.

1947; Movie studio executives meeting in New York agreed to blacklist the "Hollywood 10," who were cited a day earlier and jailed for contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee.

1947: New Zealand ratified the Statute of Westminster and thus became independent of legislative control by the U.K.

1884: The first U.S. patent for the process of evaporated milk was issued to John Meyenberg, a Swiss immigrant, of St Louis, Missouri. Gail Borden had already been marketing condensed milk, but that was sweetened as part of the preserving process. Evaporated milk is not sweetened, and has up to 75% of the water removed from the cow's milk.

1876: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, U.S. Army troops sacked Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.

1867: Alfred Nobel patented dynamite.

1758: British forces captured Fort Duquesne from French control. Fort Pitt was built nearby (which grew into modern Pittsburgh).

1491: The siege of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, began.

1034: Máel Coluim mac Cináeda (Malcolm II), King of Scots died. Donnchad (Duncan I), the son of his daughter Bethóc and Crínán of Dunkeld, inherited the throne.

Births:
1454: Catherine Cornaro (Queen of Cyprus)

1638: Catherine of Braganza (Queen of Charles II of England)

1835: Andrew Carnegie (Scottish-born American steel industrialist/philanthropist)

1895: Ludvík Svoboda (President of Czechoslovakia)

1914: Joe DiMaggio [Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, Jr.] (American baseball player)

1960: John F. Kennedy, Jr. [John-John] (American magazine publisher/lawyer/pilot)

Deaths:
0311: Peter of Alexandria (Alexandrian pope/saint)

1034: Malcolm II (King of Scotland)

1968: Upton Sinclair (American journalist/politician/writer) [The Jungle]


Word of the Day: videlicet \vi-DEL-uh-sit, wi-DAY-li-ket\
Etymology: From Latin videlicet, contraction of videre licet "it's permissible to see", from videre "to see" and licere "to be permitted". The word is mostly used in its abbreviated form, viz. (In medieval Latin, the symbol of contraction for -et resembled the shape of z.0
(adverb)
1. That is; namely; to wit. (used to introduce examples or details).
Usage: "The choreographer, videlicet Victor Kabaniaev, received formal training in Russia and has created more than 40 dance and ballet works."


Mistfox - who went out and got her Thanksgiving ham and did her grocery shopping early this morning

Today is November 26th. That means that it's the feast of Pope Saint Siricius, Saint Sylvester Gozzolini, and Saint John Berchmans. In the U.S. it's Thanksgiving Day.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The Greenlandic self-government referendum passed with 75% approval.

1998: Tony Blair became the first Prime Minister of the U.K. to address the Republic of Ireland's parliament.

1992: The British government announced that Queen Elizabeth II had volunteered to start paying taxes on her personal income, and would take her children off the public payroll.

1965: In the Hammaguir launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launched a Diamant-A rocket with its first satellite, Asterix-1 on board, becoming the third country to enter outer space.

1949: The Indian Constituent Assembly adopted India's constitution presented by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

1942: "Casablanca," starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York.

1941: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the U.S..

1922: Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon became the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3000 years.

1917: The National Hockey League was formed, with the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas as its first teams.

1865: The Spanish navy engaged a combined Peruvian-Chilean fleet north of Valparaiso, Chile at the Battle of Papudo.

1801: Charles Hatchett announced to the Royal Society in London that he had discovered a new element, which he named columbium (Cb). Rediscovered 40 years later by German chemist, Heinrich Rose, it is now called niobium.

1789: A national Thanksgiving Day was observed in the U.S. as recommended by President George Washington and approved by Congress.

0783: The Asturian queen Adosinda was put into a monastery to prevent her kin from retaking the throne from Mauregatus.

Births:
1847: Maria Fyodorovna (Princess of Denmark/Empress of Russia)

1858: Katharine Drexel (American nun/saint)

1876: Willis Haviland Carrier (American inventor) He invented modern air conditioning.

1922: Charles M. Schulz (American cartoonist) [Peanuts]

Deaths:
0399: Pope Siricius (Bishop of Rome/saint)

1252: Blanche of Castile (Queen of Louis VIII of France)

1504: Isabella I (Queen of Castile)

1956: Tommy Dorsey (American musician/composer/bandleader)

2005: Stan Berenstain (American children's author) [The Big Honey Hunt, Bears on Wheels, The Berenstain Bears Go to School]


Word of the Day: apropos \ap-ruh-PO\
Etymology: From French à propos "to the purpose", from Latin propositium "purpose", from ponere "to put".
(adverb)
1. In reference to.
2. Appropriately; relevantly.
(adjective)
3. Appropriate.
Usage: "Tom Stoppard said, apropos of his play Arcadia, that there were some works that made a playwright feel not so much proud as lucky."


Mistfox - who is hoping everyone in the U.S. has a thankful Thanksgiving and everyone else has a thrilling Thursday

Today is November 27th. That means that it's the feast of St. Francesco Antonio Fasani.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Russia and Brazil called for the first BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) summit of major emerging market countries in Russia to respond to the financial crisis.

2004: Pope John Paul II returned the relics of Saint John Chrysostom to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

1978: In San Francisco, California, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by former supervisor Dan White.

1973: The Senate voted 92-3 to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who'd resigned.

1964: Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appealed to the U.S. and the Soviet Union to end nuclear testing and to start nuclear disarmament, stating that such an action would "save humanity from the ultimate disaster".

1924: In New York City, the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held.

1922: The Antechamber to the tomb of Tutankhamen was entered.

1895: At the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after he died.

1839: In Boston, Massachusetts, the American Statistical Association was founded.

1830: St. Catherine Laboure experienced a vision of the Blessed Virgin standing on a globe, crushing the feet of a serpent, and emanating rays of light from her hands.

1095: Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont.

Births:
1635: Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon (Wife of Louis XIV of France)

1907: L. Sprague de Camp (American writer) [Lest Darkness Fall, Rogue Queen, The Goblin Tower, The Pixilated Peeress]

1941: Eddie Rabbitt (American singer) ["Drivin' My Life Away", "I Love a Rainy Night"]

1942: Jimi Hendrix (American guitarist) [Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, Band of Gypsys]

1957: Caroline Kennedy (American journalist/attorney)

Deaths:
8 BCE: Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (Roman poet)

0511: Clovis I (King of the Franks)

1852: Countess Augusta Ada King Lovelace (English mathematician) The legitimate daughter of Lord Byron, she assisted Charles Babbage in the development of his analytical engine and published notes on the work. She was one of the first to recognize the potential of computers and has been called the first computer programmer.

1978: Harvey Milk (American politician)

1978: George Moscone (Mayor of San Francisco)


Word of the Day: scienter \sy-EN-tuhr\
Etymology: From Latin scienter "knowingly", from scire "to know; to separate one thing from another".
(adverb)
1. Deliberately; knowingly.
Usage: "The judge said that the complaint, if true, would show BankAtlantic's executives acted with scienter -- the intent or knowledge of wrongdoing that's the key to a plaintiff's argument in a class action complaint."


Mistfox - who might go out to the shopping areas with scienter, more to people-watch than to buy anything

Today is November 28th. That means that it's the feast of Pope Saint Gregory III and Saint Catherine Labouré.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Canada faced a parliamentary crisis as the opposition Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois rejected the policies in the Conservative minority government's "economic update." Following talks between the Liberals and NDP, plans were unveiled to hold a vote of no confidence and replace the Conservatives with a Liberal-NDP coalition.

2008: New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the right thigh, with a gun tucked into his waistband, at a New York City nightclub. (He was later sentenced to two years in prison for a weapons conviction.)

1999: Hsing-Hsing, a giant panda who arrived at the National Zoo in 1972 as a symbol of U.S.-China detente, was euthanized at age 28 because of deteriorating health.

1991: South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia.

1975: As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, the final two American soap operas that had resisted going to pre-taped broadcasts, aired their last live episodes.

1948: The Polaroid Land Camera first went on sale, at a Boston department store. The 40 series, model 95 roll film camera went on sale for $89.75. This first model was sold through 1953, and was the first commercially successful self-developing camera system. A sepia-colored photograph took about one minute to produce.

1943: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin met in Tehran, Iran to discuss war strategy.

1925: The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville made its debut on radio station WSM.

1918: Bucovina voted for the union with the Kingdom of Romania.

1907: In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opened his first movie theater.

1895: The first American automobile race took place over the 54 miles from Chicago's Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea won in approximately 10 hours.

1868: Thomas Edison of Boston, Mass., applied for his first patent, for an "electrographic vote recorder."

1843: The Kingdom of Hawaii was officially recognized by the U.K. and France as an independent nation (Ka La Hui - Hawaiian Independence Day).

1729: Natchez Indians massacred 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56 children at Fort Rosalie, near the site of modern-day Natchez, Mississippi.

1095: On the last day of the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II appointed Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy and Count Raymond IV of Toulouse to lead the First Crusade to the Holy Land.

Births:
1489: Margaret Tudor (Wife of James IV of Scotland)

1700: Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (Queen of Denmark and Norway)

1949: Alexander Godunov (Russian ballet dancer)

Deaths:
0741: St. Gregory III (Syrian pope)

1170: Owain Gwynedd (King of Gwynedd)

1290: Eleanor of Castile (Wife of Edward I of England)

1915: Mubarak Al-Sabah ["The Great"] (Emir of Kuwait)

1954: Enrico Fermi (Italian-born American physicist)

1999: Hsing-Hsing (Chinese-American giant panda)


Word of the Day: adjuration \aj-uh-REY-shuhn\
Etymology: From Latin adjuration- (s. of adjuratio), equivalent to adjurat(us), participle of adjurare "to adjure" + -ion- (suffix forming nouns, esp. on participle stems).
(noun)
1. An earnest request; entreaty.
2. A solemn or desperate urging or counseling.
Usage: "The mayor made an adjuration for all citizens of the beleaguered city to take shelter."


Mistfox - who didn't go out yesterday except to get her Yule tree

Today is November 29th. That means that it's the feast of Saint Saturnin, Saint Cuthbert Mayne, and Saint Radboud.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Hundreds of people were reported to have been killed in the central Nigerian town of Jos after Christians and Muslims clashed over the result of a local election.

1999: Protestant and Catholic adversaries formed a Northern Ireland government.

1989: In response to a growing pro-democracy movement in Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party's 40-year monopoly on power.

1963: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson established the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

1947: The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for Palestine to be partitioned between Arabs and Jews.

1945: The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was declared.

1945: A Sikorsky R5 helicopter performed the first rescue from a sinking civilian vessel and the first use of a rescue winch.

1929: Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd radioed that he'd made the first airplane flight over the South Pole.

1922: Howard Carter opened the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen to the public.

1913: Fédération Internationale d'Escrime, the international organizing body of competitive fencing, was founded in Paris, France.

1881: The city of Spokan Falls (today Spokane, Washington) was officially incorporated as a city.

1864: Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacred at least 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho noncombatants inside Colorado Territory during the Sand Creek Massacre.

1807: The Portuguese Royal Family left Lisbon to escape from Napoleonic troops.

1777: San Jose, California, was founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe. It was the first civilian settlement, or pueblo, in Alta California.

1681: The Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, Scotland, was granted its charter by King Charles II.

0939: Edmund was crowned as king of England as his half-brother Aethelstan died.

Births:
1799: Amos Bronson Alcott (American writer/educator) Father of Louise May Alcott.

1832: Louisa May Alcott (American novelist) [Little Women, Eight Cousins, Little Men]

1898: C. S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (Irish-born British writer) [The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy]

1918: Madeleine L'Engle (American author) [A Wrinkle in Time, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, The Arm of the Starfish]

Deaths:
1314: Philip IV ["the Fair"] (King of France)

1780: Maria Theresa (Queen of Hungary and Bohemia/Holy Roman Empress)

2001: George Harrison (English singer/guitarist/songwriter) [The Beatles]



Word of the Day: rhombus \ROM-buhs\
Etymology: From Late Latin, from Greek rhombos, "anything that may be spun around", derivative of rhémbein "to revolve".
(noun)
1. An oblique-angled equilateral parallelogram; any equilateral parallelogram except a square.
2. An equilateral parallelogram, including the square as a special case.
3. A rhombohedron.
Usage: "The rhombus is often called a diamond, after the diamonds suit in playing cards, or a lozenge, though the latter sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 45° angle."


Mistfox - who will be trimming the tree today with the kids