Word of the Day for Friday March 7, 2008

cabal \kuh-BAHL; kuh-BAL\, noun:

1. A secret, conspiratorial association of plotters or intriguers whose purpose is usually to bring about an overturn especially in public affairs.
2. The schemes or plots of such an association.

intransitive verb:

1. To form a cabal; to conspire; to intrigue; to plot.

Urban Word of the Day: terrorist voting

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=terrorist+voting&defid=2901788

• When a member of one political party intentionally votes in another party's primary in an attempt to nominate the candidate they feel will lose in an election, thus allowing the their true party-affiliation to win.

C-Money voted for Hillary in the primary, because he thinks there's no way she can beat McCain.

This is terrorist voting.

Trivia

What area was the world's first officially designated wine region?

• Chianti, Italy. Its designation and black rooster logo date back to 1716, when the grand duke of Tuscany issued a decree establishing the Lega del Chianti and the boundaries within which Chianto Classico could be made.

Today in History

• Daniel Webster: orator delivered his Seventh of March speech defending the Compromise of 1850 (1850)
• telephone: was patented by Alexander Graham Bell (1876)
• fair use: the US Supreme Court ruled in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music that parodies are not copyright infringements (1994)

Today's Birthdays

• Tomáš Masaryk (1850-1937): founder and president of Czechoslavakia
• Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): composer of Boléro
• Piet Mondrian (1872-1949): Dutch abstract artist, who drew paintings of black lines with colored rectangles
• Willard Scott (74): perennially cheerful, intermittent weather forecaster for NBC's Today Show who sends birthday greetings to centenarians
• Rachel Weisz (37): Oscar-winning actress, The Constant Gardener, Definitely, Maybe; other actors born on this date are John Heard (62), Bryan Cranston (52), Peter Saarsgard (37), Jenna Fischer (34) and Laura Prepon (28)