Friday, July 24, 2009

skulk \SKUHLK\, intransitive verb:

1. To hide, or get out of the way, in a sneaking manner; to lurk.
2. To move about in a stealthy way.
3. To avoid responsibilities and duties.
4. One who skulks.
5. A group of foxes.

Skulk is from Middle English skulken, ultimately of Scandinavian origin.
lbd

• LBD: Little Black Dress. A knee-length or shorter black dress, suitable for cocktail parties, etc.

The hunt for the perfect LBD has ended--I've got it!
Trivia

What happened to the boots worn by astronaut Neil Armstrong in July 1969 when he took his “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” on the moon?

• His size 9 1/2 boots were jettisoned before liftoff from the moon for fear they were contaminated with lunar dust.

Today in History:

• Detroit: La Ville d'Etroit, or "city of the strait," was founded by Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, a French fur trader (1701)
• Brigham Young: seeking a safe haven, the Mormon leader and his followers arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, in what is now Utah (1847)
• kitchen debate: US vice president Richard Nixon and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev debated the merits of capitalism vs. communism in a replica of an American kitchen, set up at the American National Exhibition in Moscow (1959)
• Watergate: the US Supreme Court ordered President Richard Nixon to turn over incriminating subpoenaed White House recordings (1974)
• Lance Armstrong: American cyclist won his record-breaking seventh consecutive Tour de France (2005)

Today's Birthdays:

• Símon Bolívar (1783-1830): "The Liberator" of South America
• Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870): writer of The Three Musketeers; writers Tanizaki Jun'ichirō (1886-1965), Robert Graves (1895-1985) and John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) shared this birth date
• Amelia Earhart (1897-1937): pilot who disappeared over the S. Pacific while attempting to circumnavigate the globe; plus, women's rights activist Bella Abzug (1920-1998)
• Pat Oliphant (74): award-winning political cartoonist
• Karl Malone (46): NBA hall-of-famer; also, slugger Barry Bonds (45)
• Anna Paquin (27): Rogue in the X-Men movies and Sookie Stackhouse on True Blood; also, actors John Aniston (76), Dan Hedaya (69), Robert Hays (62), Michael Richards (60), Kristin Chenoweth (41), Eric Szmanda (34), Rose Byrne (30), Summer Glau (28) and Elisabeth Moss (27)