Sunday, May 10, 2009

munificent \myoo-NIF-i-suhnt\, adjective:

• Very liberal in giving or bestowing; very generous; lavish.

Munificent is from Latin munificus, "generous, bountiful," from munus, "gift." The quality of being munificent is munificence.

Involuntary "You Too"

• When out of habit you reply to a comment with "You too". This happens to the best of us. Two common situations of the Involuntary "You Too"

Girl: Well happy birthday man. Have fun at Sea World tomorrow.
Guy: Thanks, you too.
**uncomfortable silence**
Parent: Drive safe and have fun.
Son: Ok you too.
**uncomfortable silence**
Trivia
What was Granny’s name on the hit 1960s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies?

• Daisy Moses. Irene Ryan played the role.

Today in History:

• transcontinental railroad: a golden spike linked the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines at Promontory Summit (1869)
• J. Edgar Hoover: became director of the FBI; he held the post until his death 48 years later (1924)
• Nazi book burnings: as part of Goebbels' "synchronization of culture," some 25,000 "un-German" volumes were destroyed in a single day (1933)
• Micronesia: adopted a constitution, becoming a self-governing federation (1979)
• Nelson Mandela: South Africa's first black president was sworn in to office (1994)

Today's Birthdays:

• Thomas Johnstone Lipton (1850-1931): merchant, tea trader, yachtsman
• Einar Gerhardsen (1897-1987): Norwegian PM
• Fred Astaire (1899-1987): elegant and dapper dancer/actor
• David O. Selznick (1902-1965): producer of such films as King Kong and Gone with the Wind
• Barbara Taylor Bradford (76): bestselling romantic novelist, A Woman of Substance
• Jim Abrahams (65): writer/director of parodies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun
• Bono (49): lead singer of U2 and social activist; musicians Milton Babbitt (93), Donovan (63), Dave Mason (65) and Young MC (42)
• Linda Evangelista (44): Canadian supermodel

Spotlight:

• Today's an auspicious day for the dark side: assassins John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865), James Earl Ray (1929-1998) and Mark David Chapman (52) were all born on May 10. In 1865, Booth shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln, who was attending a performance at Ford's Theatre. Ray took the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968, as King stood on a hotel room balcony in Memphis, TN. And in 1980, Chapman murdered John Lennon as Lennon arrived at his home in NYC. Twelve days after assassinating Lincoln, Booth was cornered and shot by a Union soldier. Ray died incarcerated, after serving nearly 30 years of his 99-year sentence. And Chapman remains in prison, having twice been denied parole on his 20-years-to-life sentence.