Word of the Day for Saturday, March 22, 2008

remunerate \rih-MYOO-nuh-rate\, transitive verb:

1. To pay an equivalent to for any service, loss, or expense; to recompense.
2. To compensate for; to make payment for.

Urban Word of the Day: AWOL

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=AWOL&defid=1021784

• Absent Without Official Leave: A term used in the United States Military to describe a soldier or other military member who has left his or her post without permission (usually in disagreement with a particular order). This is one of many military terms that has trickled down into everyday speech among civilian populations.

Private Johnson went AWOL after he received an order to join major combat forces in Iraq.

Trivia

How much was the prize Charles Lindbergh collected for making the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic in 1927?

• $25,000. It had been offered by New York hotelier Raymond Orteig in 1919—eight years before Lindbergh made aviation history.

Today in History

• Equal Rights Amendment: was approved by US Congress; it was never ratified by the states (1972)
• Flying Wallendas: patriarch Karl Wallenda fell to his death from a tightrope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico (1978)
• Hale-Bopp: comet passed the closest to Earth till the year 4397 (1997)

Today's Birthdays

• Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886): artist and illustrator, he's the inspiration for the Caldecott Medal; Flemish painter Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) was also born on this date
• Louis L'Amour (1908-1988): author of more than 100 novels, most of them westerns; also born on this date are lyricist Stephen Sondheim (78) and novelist James Patterson (61)
• William Shatner (77): Captain Kirk on Star Trek and Denny Crane on Boston Legal; other performers born on this date include possible zombie Karl Malden (96), Marcel Marceau (1923-2007), M. Emmet Walsh (73), Lena Olin (53) and Reese Witherspoon (32)
• Orrin Hatch (74): conservative US Senator from Utah
• Wolf Blitzer (60): journalist, reporter for CNN