Word of the Day for Tuesday, March 18, 2008

nefarious \nuh-FAIR-ee-uhs\, adjective:

• Wicked in the extreme; iniquitous.

Urban Word of the Day: jingle mail

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jingle+mail&defid=1953487

• Jingle mail is the package containing the keys to your house that you send back to the bank when the interest rate on your adjustable-rate or IO/neg-am mortgage resets, or the property tax bill gets reassessed at double what it was two years ago, or you find out that heating and AC and repairs cost a ton of freaking money, or you lose your job because of the recession that's coming with the housing crash, and you can't make the payments any more.

My neighbor put up the Escalade and the Beemer that he bought with his third HELOC for sale, and has been having garage sales every week for the last month to raise cash ... I give it about 90 days till he sends in the jingle mail.

Trivia

Why was artist James A. McNeill Whistler kicked out of the West Point Military Academy as a young man?

• For misconduct. Assigned to draw a bridge in an engineering class, he drew two little boys fishing from it. Ordered to remove them, he drew the boys fishing from the riverbank. Again ordered to remove them, he drew two little headstones near the river.

Today in History

• Tri-State Tornado: the deadliest tornado in US history hit Missouri, Illinois and Indiana (1925)
• Gideon v. Wainwright: the US Supreme Court ruled that poor defendants in felony cases have the right to a court-appointed lawyer (1963)
• art theft: the largest museum heist in US history took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, with the thieves dressed as police officers; it remains unsolved (1990)

Today's Birthdays

• Grover Cleveland (1837-1908): POTUS No. 22 and 24; other world leaders born on this date include Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) and F.W. de Klerk (72)
• Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913): inventor of the eponymous engine
• John Updike (76): Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Rabbit, Run
• Queen Latifah (38): musician/actress who starred in Chicago, Mad Money; Chicago composer John Kander (81) was also born on this date
• Dane Cook (36): actor/comedian; other actors born today include Peter Graves (82), Kevin Dobson (65) and Vanessa Williams (45)
• Brian Griese (33): Chicago Bears quarterback
• Jerry Cantrell (42): Guitarist / singer, Alice In Chains