Saturday, May 2, 2009

senescent \si-NES-uhnt\, adjective:

• Growing old; aging.

Senescent is from Latin senescere, "to grow old," from senex, "old."
problem saturation

• A process by which Mainstream Media addresses an issue incessantly, building up to a sense of pending doom. Of course, the problem, while worrisome, does not pose the grave threat they would like you to believe. Finally, MSM abandons coverage of the problem completely, moving on to another problem.

"Honey, why don't we hear any news about the drug cartels anymore?"
Trivia
What creature’s heart is larger than that of any other warm-blooded animal in proportion to its size?

• The hummingbird’s. Its heart, the size of a pencil eraser, accounts for as much as 2.5 percent of its body mass. By contrast, a blue whale’s heart, the largest of any animal, accounts for 0.5 percent of its size.

Today in History:

• Martin Luther: the 23-year-old German theologian and future Protestant reformer was ordained (1507)
• Berlin: surrendered to Russian forces during WWII; the war in Europe ended less than a week later (1945)
• GPS: President Bill Clinton announced that US citizens and the military would have equal access to the positioning system (2000)

Today's Birthdays:

• Catherine the Great (1729-1796): empress of Russia who described herself as an "enlightened despot"; Spanish PM Antonio Maura (1853-1925) was also born on this date
• Henry Martyn Robert (1837-1923): author of Robert's Rules of Order
• Dr. Benjamin Spock (1903-1998): pediatrician who wrote The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
• Christine Baranski (57): Tony winner for The Real Thing and Rumors, Emmy winner for Cybill; also, actors Theodore Bikel (85), David Suchet (63) and The Rock (37)
• David Beckham (34): soccer superstar; other athletes born today include Sarah Hughes and Ashley Harkleroad (both 23)