January 1, 2009

wanderlust \WON-der-luhst\, noun:

• a strong desire to wander or travel

by 1902, from German Wanderlust, literally "desire for wandering"
Y2K9

• The simultaneous worldwide crash of every 30GB Zune worldwide during the early hours of the morning on Dec 31, 2008.

Y2K9 - oh noes!

Trivia

When is the New Year’s Day Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, not held on January 1st?

• When New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday. Tournament officials instituted a “Never on Sunday” policy in 1893 “to avoid frightening horses tethered outside local churches and thus interfering with worship services.”

Today in History:

• gladiators: last contest of fighters engaged in public mortal combat in Rome took place (404)
• The Times of London: first edition was published under this title; it was previously known as The Daily Universal Register (1788)
• New York City: was chartered with 4 boroughs — Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens; Staten Island followed a few weeks later (1898)
• euro: was launched, creating the Eurozone (2002)

Today's Birthdays:

• Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-1492): ruler of the Florentine Republic and patron of the arts
• Paul Revere (1735-1818): US Revolutionary War figure who took a midnight ride to warn colonists that the British were coming
• Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946): photographer and art exhibitor, pioneer of modern photography
• E. M. Forster (1879-1970): novelist, Room With a View
• J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972): controversial and intimidating director of the FBI
• J.D. Salinger(90): reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye.
• Flat Stanley (45): globetrotting fictional character