Wednesday, July 22, 2009

glabrous \GLAY-bruhs\, adjective:

• Smooth; having a surface without hairs, projections, or any unevenness.

Glabrous is from Latin glaber, "smooth, bald."
unsurance

• Coverage by contract whereby the party which has undertaken to guarantee protection or coverage against loss by a specified peril reneges said coverage when protection or action becomes necessary.

I had to take little Throckmorton to a specialist for his asthma, but the visit was not covered by our health unsurance policy.

Trivia

What plants did Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, work with in developing his theories of heredity?

• Pea plants.

Today in History:

• Cleveland: the Forest City was named after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the group that surveyed the area (1796)
• Wiley Post: American aviator completed the first round-the-world solo flight (1933)
• John Dillinger: bank robber known as Public Enemy No. 1 was killed in shootout with federal agents after seeing a movie in Chicago (1934)
• King David Hotel: Jerusalem landmark was bombed by the Irgun in an attack on the British (1946)
• Iraq: Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay were killed by US forces in Mosul; POW Pvt. 1st Class Jessica Lynch returned home to West Virginia (2003)

Today's Birthdays:

• Emma Lazarus (1849-1887): penned "Give me your tired, your poor"; also, writers Oskar Maria Graf (1894-1967), Stephen Vincent Benet (1898-1943) and Paul Schrader (63)
• Alexander Calder (1898-1976): sculptor who specialized in mobiles; plus, artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
• Oscar de la Renta (77): fashion designer
• Alex Trebek (69): host of Jeopardy!
• David Spade: comic actor, Just Shoot Me!, Rules of Engagement; also, actors Orson Bean (81), Louise Fletcher (75), Terence Stamp (70), Albert Brooks (62), Danny Glover (61?), Willem Dafoe (54), Rob Estes (46), John Leguizamo (45), Patrick Labyorteaux (43), Rhys Ifans (41) and Franka Potente (35)