Word of the Day for Wednesday, March 5, 2008

busker \BUS-kur\, noun:

• A person who entertains (as by playing music) in public places.

Urban Word of the Day: barking spider
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=barking+spider&defid=731095

• What farts are blamed on when there is no dog available.

Who farted?
Dunno, but I think it's those barking spiders!

Trivia
Which U.S. president was issued Medicare ID card No. 1

• Harry Truman, in 1966. President Lyndon B. Johnson had signed the Medicare Act in 1965 at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. (Truman’s wife, Bess, was issued card No. 2.)

Today in History

• Boston Massacre: five colonists were killed when British troops fired into a rowdy crowd (1770)
• Stars and Bars: first of several Confederate flags was adopted (1861)
• Iron Curtain: phrase was coined by Winston Churchill in a speech in Missouri (1946)
• North Korea: held peace talks with South Korea for the first time in 25 years; the representatives met in New York (1997)
• Martha Stewart: businesswoman was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the investigation of ImClone insider trading (2004)

Today's Birthdays

• Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594): cartographer and geographer, inventor of Mercator projection
• Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712): painter of cityscapes, inventor of the firehose; other artists born on this date are Giovanni Tiepolo (1696-1770) and Howard Pyle (1853-1911)
• Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): musician and composer who founded the Brazilian Academy of Music
• Madame Chiang Kai-shek (1897-2003): wife of Chiang Kai-shek and advocate for his government
• Rex Harrison (1908-1990): actor, My Fair Lady, Doctor Dolittle; other entertainers born today include James B. Sikking (74), Dean Stockwell (72), Penn Jillette (53), Adriana Barraza (52) and Eva Mendes (34)