Thursday, July 16, 2009

dulcet \DUHL-sit\, adjective:

1. Pleasing to the ear; melodious; harmonious.
2. Generally pleasing, soothing, or agreeable.
3. (Archaic) Sweet to the taste.

Dulcet comes from Old French doucet, diminutive of dous, "sweet," from Latin dulcis, "sweet."
fauxhawk

• A full head of hair combed into the middle to fabricate the look of a mohawk.

Ladies want me because I got a fauxhawk.
Trivia
How many ants—and other insects—can a giant anteater eat in a day?

• As many as 30,000, thanks to its sticky two-foot-long tongue that flicks in and out up to 150 times a minute.

Today in History:

• District of Columbia: was established as the seat of the US government (1790)
• Czar Nicholas II: ruler of Russia was executed, along with his family, by the Bolsheviks, a year after having abdicated (1918)
• Trinity test: US exploded the first trial atom bomb in the New Mexico desert, less than a month before bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945)
• Catcher in the Rye: J.D. Salinger's novel about adolescent antihero Holden Caulfield was published; it was controversial at the time but is now a staple of school curricula (1951)
• Saddam Hussein: became president of Iraq (1979)
• JFK, Jr.: was killed with wife Carolyn and her sister in a plane crash (1999)

Today's Birthdays:

• Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792): portraitist; artists Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) and Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1875) share this birth date
• Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910): founder of the Christian Science movement
• Roald Amundsen (1872-1928): explorer, first to reach the South Pole
• Trygve Lie (1896-1968): first UN secretary-general
• Pinchas Zukerman (61): violinist and conductor
• Michael Flatley (51): step dancer, Lord of the Dance
• Will Ferrell (42): comedian and actor, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory; other actors born on this date include Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990), Ginger Rogers (1911-1995), Phoebe Cates (46), Corey Feldman (38) and Mark Indelicato (15)