Word of the Day for Friday, May 23, 2008

aright \uh-RYT\, adverb:

• Rightly; correctly; properly; in a right way or manner.

staycation

• A vacation that is spent at one's home enjoying all that home and one's home environs have to offer.

Even though I live and work in New York, I don't always get to enjoy all it has to offer, what with my work commitments, but I sure did have an awesome time here during my spring staycation.

Trivia

How many flavors of ice cream were originally offered at the orange-roofed Howard Johnson's restaurants?

• 28.

Today in History

• Captain Kidd: was hanged in London for murder and piracy (1701)
• Mounties: the North West Mounted Police was created; it would later become the federal police force of Canada (1873)
• West Germany: was reconstituted from post-WWII occupation zones (1949)
• Tommy: album was released by The Who, giving birth to a new genre — the rock opera; it was a hit, remaining on US charts for nearly a year (1969)

Today's Birthdays

• Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778): botanist, known as the "father of modern taxonomy"
• Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815): physician who sought to heal with an early form of hypnosis
• John Newcombe (64): tennis hall-of-famer
• Anatoly Karpov (57): chess grandmaster
• Drew Carey (50): funnyman star of The Drew Carey Show; actors Barbara Barrie (77), Joan Collins (75) and Laurel Holloman (37) also share this birth date
• Jewel (34): singer/songwriter; other musicians born on this date include Artie Shaw (1910-2004) and Matt Flynn (38)