Word of the Day for Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Zeitgeist \TSYT-guyst; ZYT-guyst\, noun:

• [Often capitalized] The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time.

ebullient \ih-BUL-yuhnt\, adjective:

1. Overflowing with enthusiasm or excitement; high-spirited.
2. Boiling up or over.

Today's Holiday

• New Year's Day

Today in History

• The Times of London: first edition was published under this title; it was previously known as The Daily Universal Register (1788)
• New York City: was chartered with 5 boroughs — Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island (1898)
• euro: became the official currency for EU member states, creating the Eurozone (2002)

Today's Birthdays

• Paul Revere (1735-1818): US Revolutionary War figure who took a midnight ride to warn colonists that the British were coming
• J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972): controversial and intimidating director of the FBI
• J.D. Salinger (89): author of The Catcher in the Rye
• Frank Langella (68): actor, currently starring in Starting Out in the Evening
• Flat Stanley (44): globetrotting fictional character

For 12/31/07 History:

• light bulb: was first publicly demonstrated by Thomas Edison, in Menlo Park, New Jersey (1879)
• Times Square: the Waterford crystal ball was dropped for the first time (1907)
• WWII: President Harry S. Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities (1946)
• farthing: British coin in use since the 13th century ceased to be legal tender; it was worth a quarter of a penny (1960)

12/31/07 Birthdays:

• Jacques Cartier (1491-1557): explorer who camped in what is now Quebec City and inadvertently named the entire country of Canada
• Henri Matisse (1869-1954): French painter and leading Fauvist who became famous when 3 of his paintings were bought by Gertrude Stein
• Simon Wiesenthal (1908-2005): Holocaust survivor whose life's goal was to bring Nazis to justice
• Ben Kingsley (64): Oscar-winning actor, Gandhi
• John Denver (1943-1997): folk-pop singer of "Take Me Home, Country Roads"
• Gong Li (42): Chinese actress, Farewell, My Concubine, Memoirs of a Geisha
• Anthony Hopkins (70): Actor, Silence of the Lambs

Urban Word of the Day

January 01, 2008: new year's

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=new+year%27s&defid=1506519

• A holiday that celebrates the idea of all the good things that will happen in another year. Most people use this time to get drunk.

What better way to start off a new year than with a head-splitting hangover, the stench of vomit on your clothes, and a DWI.

December 31, 2007: 2k8

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=2k8&defid=2641118

• The year [2008].

- What year is Bush leaving the White House?- 2k8, [sucka]!

Trivia

What was the original title of Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel War and Peace?

• All’s Well That Ends Well.