Word of the Day for Sunday, October 5, 2008

rubicund \ROO-bih-kund\, adjective:

• Inclining to redness; ruddy; red.

Rubicund comes from Latin rubicundus, "red, ruddy," from rubere, "to be red."

lego hair

• a particularly shitty male haircut in which the sides cover the ears and the hair appears to be "snap on".

Cha Chi hadn't had a haircut in weeks. When he showed up it looked like he had lego hair.

Trivia

How many games did Notre Dame's football team lose—of the 122 it played, under famed coach Knute Rockne?

• Only 12. During his 13 years as coach, the team won 105 games and were tied five times.

Today in History

• Monty Python's Flying Circus: satirical sketch show was first broadcast on the BBC (1969)
• PBS: nonprofit TV network began broadcasting (1970)
• Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy: political putdown was uttered by Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle during a vice-presidential candidates' debate (1980)

Today's Birthdays

• Raymond A. Kroc (1902-1984): fast-food pioneer, who set up first franchise of McDonald's
• Bil Keane (86): cartoonist, The Family Circus
• Václav Havel (72): writer, political dissenter, first president of the Czech Republic; US president Chester A. Arthur (1830-1886) shares this birth date
• Bob Geldof (57): singer and political activist, Live Aid
• Mario Lemieux (43): hockey player; NHL colleague Patrick Roy also turns 43 today
• Karen Allen (57): Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; also, actors Glynis Johns (85), Diane Cilento (75), Bernie Mac (1958-2008), Daniel Baldwin (48), Guy Pearce (41) and Kate Winslet (33)