January 7, 2009

candor \KAN-der\, noun:

1. honesty in giving one's view or opinion; frankness and sincerity
2. fairness; impartiality

c.1637 from earlier senses c. 1398, from Latin candor "purity, openness," originally "whiteness," from Latin candere "to shine."

faceboink

• Hooking up with someone through a tentative relationship in an online community

So are they seeing each other now, or was it just a faceboink?

Trivia

What embarrassing goof cost jockey legend Bill Shoemaker a sure win in the 1957 Kentucky Derby?

• Shoemaker, while leading the field on Gallant Man, mistook the 16th pole for the finish line and stood up to celebrate—allowing jockey Bill Hartack to pass and win by a nose aboard Iron Liege. Shoemaker won the Kentucky Derby four times.

Today in History:

• Galilean moons: Jupiter's moons were first observed by Galileo; Simon Marius, however, named them — Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, after the lovers of Zeus (1610)
• Marian Anderson: the contralto became the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House (1955)
• Khmer Rouge: Pol Pot's regime was toppled when Vietnam took Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh (1979)

Today's Birthdays:

• Millard Fillmore (1800-1874): 13th POTUS
• Adolph Zukor (1873-1976): film mogul; also, shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (1906 [O.S.]-1975)
• Jean Pierre Rampal (1922-2000): virtuoso flautist; also, musicians Henry Allen (1908-1967), Kenny Loggins (61) and Marshall Chapman (60)
• William Peter Blatty (81): Oscar-winning screenwriter, The Exorcist; writer Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was also born on this date
• Nicolas Cage (45): Oscar winner for Leaving Las Vegas; other screen personalities born on this date include David Caruso (53), Katie Couric (52), and Liam Aiken and Camryn Grimes (both 19)
• Natalie Gulbis (26): the LPGA golfer who's also a swimsuit model

Quote:

• "I certainly feel that the time is not far distant when a knowledge of the principles of diet will be an essential part of one's education. Then mankind will eat to live, be able to do better mental and physical work and disease will be less frequent." — Fannie Farmer