Word of the Day for Saturday, January 5, 2008

lacuna \luh-KYOO-nuh\, noun;
plural lacunae \luh-KYOO-nee\ or lacunas::

1. A blank space; a missing part; a gap.
2. (Biology) A small opening, depression, or cavity in an anatomical structure.
   

Urban Word of the Day

www.urbandictionary.com

January 05, 2008: up the spout
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=up+the+spout&defid=904635

• In Scotland, pregnant. See also [up the duff].

She's up the spout again.

Trivia

What famous French artist’s first job, at age 13, was decorating plates in a Limoges porcelain factory?

• Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s. After the factory went bankrupt, he painted fans.

Today in History

• x-rays: discovery by Wilhelm Roentgen was announced; though their exact nature was unknown to him (hence the name), the rays' discovery earned him the first ever Nobel Prize in Physics (1896)
• Fair Deal: newly reelected president Harry S. Truman announced a new domestic policy in his State of the Union address, focusing on civil rights and social welfare improvements (1949)
• Prague Spring: a brief period of reform began in Czechoslovakia; it ended later in the year with Soviet invasion (1968)

Today's Birthdays

• Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1928-1979): president and prime minister of Pakistan who was executed after being convicted of conspiracy to murder a political opponent; father of the recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto
• Walter Mondale (80): US vice-president, under Jimmy Carter
• Marilyn Manson (39): musician
• Robert Duvall (77) and Diane Keaton (62): Oscar-winning film stars
• Umberto Eco (76): specialist in semiotics, author of Foucault's Pendulum and The Name of the Rose
• Juan Carlos (70): king of Spain
• Kylie Bax (33): model, actress