Thursday, May 21, 2009

immure \ih-MYUR\, verb:

1. To enclose within walls, or as if within walls; hence, to shut up; to imprison; to incarcerate.
2. To build into a wall.
3. To entomb in a wall.

Immure comes from Medieval Latin immurare, from Latin in-, "in" + murus, "wall." It is related to mural, a painting applied to a wall.

missing link

• A man who is covered head to toe with thick and wiry hair. He's so hairy, he's the missing link that connects humans to apes.

Joe: "Damn, it's 115 degrees out here. Why doesn't Tom take off his shirt?"
Dick: "That poor bastard is so hairy, he got tired of being called the missing link."
Trivia

How long did it take to transmit a 98-word message from Great Britain’s Queen Victoria to U.S. President James Buchanan in 1858 over the newly laid transatlantic cable?

• 16 1/2 hours.

Today in History:

• The Spirit of St. Louis: one-seater plane touched down as Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight (1927)
• Amelia Earhart: became the first woman to perform the same feat (1932)
• hydrogen bomb: first aerial detonation took place over Bikini atoll (1956)
• Rajiv Gandhi: former Indian prime minister was assassinated while running for reelection (1991)

Today's Birthdays:

• Alexander Pope (1688-1744): English poet best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer
• Henri Rousseau (1844-1910): naïve painter
• Willem Einthoven (1860-1927): physiologist who developed the EKG
• Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989): human rights activist and Soviet dissident who won the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize
• Leo Sayer (61): pop singer; musicians Fats Waller (1904-1943) and Bill Champlin (62) were also born on this date
• Al Franken (58): comedian and political satirist turned politician
• Lisa Edelstein (42): House's Dr. Lisa Cuddy; other entertainers born on this date include Richard Hatch (64), Carol Potter (61), Mr. T (57), Judge Reinhold (52), Nick Cassavetes (50), Fairuza Balk (35) and Ashlie Brillault (22)