Friday, February 27, 2009

hidebound \HAHYD-bound\, adjective:

• narrow-minded and stubborn

by 1559, from hide "cattle skin" + past tense of bind. Original reference is to emaciated cattle with skin sticking closely to backbones and ribs; metaphoric sense of "restricted by narrow attitudes" is first recorded 1603.

remote dance

• The movements you make with your hand when trying to get your tv to recognize your remote control. All remote dances are different, but most involve twisting your hand around until the remote is almost upside down, thinking that for some reason that will help.

Last night i remote danced for like five minutes trying to turn the volume up.
Trivia
What kind of animal is Toto in the 2005 made-for-TV movie The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz?

• A prawn—played by the Muppet Pepe the King Prawn. The film featured pop star Ashanti as Dorothy, with Muppets Kermit the Frog as the Scarecrow, the Great Gonzo as the Tin Thing, Fozzie Bear as the Cowardly Lion, and Miss Piggy as the Wicked Witch of the West.

Today in History:

• Dominican Republic: became independent of Haiti (1844); then got its first elected president after 38 years of dictatorship (1963)
• carbon-14: radioactive isotope that is the basis of radiocarbon dating was discovered at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (1970)
• Kuwait: oil-rich Arabian Peninsula country was liberated from Iraqi occupation during the Gulf War (1991)

Today's Birthdays:

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882): poet, The Song of Hiawatha; other American writers born today include John Steinbeck (1902-1968), Peter De Vries (1910-1993) and Irwin Shaw (1913-1984)
• Hugo Black (1886-1971): liberal US Supreme Court justice appointed by FDR
• Ariel Sharon (81): Israeli prime minister; he suffered a stroke in 2006 and remains in a coma
• Elizabeth Taylor (77): violet-eyed actress, Cleopatra, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; other actors born today include Joanne Woodward (79), Howard Hesseman (69), Timothy Spall (52), Adam Baldwin and Grant Show (both 47) and Donal Logue (43)
• Chelsea Clinton (29): fugly former first daughter
• Josh Groban (28): pop singer, Noël; other singers born on this date include Marian Anderson (1897-1993) and Adrian Smith (52)