Saturday, March 28, 2009

velleity \veh-LEE-uh-tee; vuh-\, noun:

1. The lowest degree of desire; imperfect or incomplete volition.
2. A slight wish or inclination.

Velleity is derived from Latin velle, "to will, to be willing, to wish."
recessionitis noun:

• the new disease. Much like chronic bronchitis that can take months, even years to go away. The new excuse to not do anything. This is the act of excluding yourself from social activities because you simply just can't afford it. see also: recessionista

Amber: Hey are you coming out to the bar tonight?
Amy: Ahh man I wish I could... but I have a really bad case of recessionitis.
Trivia
How many Brooks Brothers were behind the venerable clothing store’s name?

• Three—Daniel, John, and Elisha. Grandsons of Henry Sands Brooks, who founded the store as H. & D.H. Brooks in New York City in 1818, the brothers renamed it when they inherited it from their father in 1850.

Today in History:

• washing machine: the first US patent titled "Clothes Washing" was granted to Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire (1797)
• Turkey: key cities changed names: Constantinople became Istanbul and Angora was tweaked to Ankara (1930)
• Virginia Woolf: distinguished novelist, critic and essayist (A Room Of One's Own) committed suicide by drowning; she had been suffering from depression and bouts of mental illness for many years (1941)
• Three Mile Island: A partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, PA, occurred thirty years ago today, on March 28, 1979. The cooling system in one of the nuclear reactors failed, causing overheating and a partial melting of the uranium core.

Today's Birthdays:

• Aristide Briand (1862-1932): French PM who served 11 times as premier and held 26 ministerial posts; he proposed the Kellogg-Briand Pact
• August Busch (1899-1989): businessman who built Anheuser-Busch into world's largest brewery
• Mario Vargas Llosa (73): writer who made an unsuccessful bid for president of Peru; writers Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) and Russell Banks (69) were also born on this date
• Reba McEntire (54): four-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year
• Vince Vaughn (39): comic actor, Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up; actors Ken Howard (65), Dianne Wiest (61) and Julia Stiles (28) also celebrate a birthday today

Quote:

• "None of us are nuclear experts, but we know that if there is a melt-down and breach of containment, that's clearly the most odious thing that could happen." — William Scranton