Word of the Day for Friday, November 14, 2008

ensconced \en-SKONST\, adjective:

1. sheltered comfortably and firmly
2. sheltered safely; hidden

by 1590, "to cover with a fort," from en- "make, put in" + sconce "small fortification, shelter," probably from Dutch schans "earthwork"

007

• The codename of legendary Secret Service Agent, James Bond

And please double ough seven, try not to destroy this one car.

Trivia

What flightless bird has had two airlines named for it, both now defunct?

• The kiwi. One was launched in 1992, offering flights from Newark Airport, in New Jersey, to resort locations in Florida and the Caribbean; the other, which went into business two years later in Auckland, New Zealand, offered service to Australia.

Today in History

• Nellie Bly: New York journalist began her around-the-world-in-72-days trip, beating the fictional 80-day record of Phileas Fogg (1889)
• Coventry: central England city was largely reduced to rubble by Nazi air raids (1940)
• Apollo 12: second successful manned mission to the moon was launched (1969)

Today's Birthdays

• Claude Monet (1840-1926): Impressionist painter
• Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002): author of Pippi Longstocking; also, writer P.J. O'Rourke (61)
• Prince Charles (60): heir to the throne of Great Britain; world leaders Hussein I (1935-1999) and Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) share this birth date
• Condoleezza Rice (54): US secretary of state
• Yanni (54): keyboardist/composer; other composers born today include Aaron Copland (1900-1990) and Wendy Carlos (69)
• Curt Schilling (42): one of baseball history's best postseason pitchers
• Josh Duhamel (36): actor, Transformers; also, actors Laura San Giacomo and D.B. Sweeney (both 47) and Patrick Warburton (44)