December 28, 2008

ramble \RAM-buhl\, verb, noun:

1. to wander about
2. a walk for pleasure without predetermined destination
3. to talk or write about one thing and then another without useful connection

c 1443, unknown origin, perhaps frequentative of romen "to walk, go" of via romblen "to ramble." The vowel change was probably influenced by Middle Dutch rammelen, a derivative of rammen "used of the night wanderings of the amorous cat."

protip n.

• to distill important knowledge about a subject and share it with those new to said subject. often used in internet forums to criticize new members if they break the forum rules.

New member: hey everybody! a/s/l??
Experienced member: protip: this forum is ALL male.
Trivia
A portrait of what famous American fetched a world record $21.3 million at auction in 2006?

• George Washington. The selling price of the full-length 1779 portrait by Charles Willson Peale set the record for American portraits. The previous record was $8.1 million, paid for a portrait of Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart.

Today in History:

• Westminster Abbey: London church where kings have been crowned since 1066 was consecrated (1065)
• The Pledge of Allegiance: US oath of loyalty was officially recognized by Congress (1945)

Today's Birthdays:

• Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924): 28th POTUS
• Stan Lee (86): co-creator of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk; writers Simon Raven (1927-2001) and Manuel Puig (1932-1990) were also born on this date
• Ray Bourque (48): NHL hall-of-famer
• Linus Torvalds (39): computer software engineer who wrote the kernel for Linux
• John Legend (30): singer of "Ordinary People"; other musicians born on this date include Earl "Fatha" Hines (1903-1983), Johnny Otis (87) and Charles Neville (69)
• Denzel Washington (54): Oscar-winning actor, Glory, Training Day; also, actors Martin Milner (77), Maggie Smith (74), Seth Meyers (35), Sienna Miller (27), Thomas Dekker (21) and Mackenzie Rosman (19)