Word of the Day for Tuesday, October 7, 2008

implacable \im-PLAK-uh-bull\, adjective:

• Not placable; not to be appeased; incapable of being pacified; inexorable; as, an implacable foe.

Implacable ultimately comes from Latin implacabilis, from in-, not + placabilis, placable, from placo, placare, to soothe, calm, appease.
spin doctor

1. somebody who works in or for the media who ensures that the public understands things from a certain perspective.
2. a radio station DJ, or MC at a club or event.

1. we think that the spin doctors at the local TV station helped the mayor win the election.
2. the club boom anniversary party spin doctor was awesome!

Trivia

In royal households and monasteries in medieval Europe, what was the official role of the mustardarius?

• He supervised the growth and preparation of mustard.

Today in History

• Battle of Lepanto: victory of Christians over Ottoman Empire (1571)
• Cats: long-running musical based on T.S. Eliot's poems opened on Broadway (1982)
• Achille Lauro: Italian ship was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists; Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound passenger, was killed the next day (1985)

Today's Birthdays

• Niels Bohr (1885-1962): Nobel Prize-winning physicist
• Desmond Tutu (77): South African cleric who won a Nobel Prize for his work against apartheid
• John Mellencamp (57): rocker; musicians Al Martino (81), Kevin Godley (63), Tico Torres (55), Yo-Yo Ma (53) and Thom Yorke (40) were also born on this date
• Vladimir Putin (56): prime minister of Russia
• Simon Cowell (49): critical judge on American Idol; American Idol winner Taylor Hicks (32) shares his birth date