Wednesday, August 12, 2008

luminary \LOO-muh-nair-ee\, noun:

1. Any body that gives light, especially one of the heavenly bodies.
2. A person of eminence or brilliant achievement.

Luminary derives from Latin luminare, "a window," from lumin-, lumen, "light."
Magic Toaster

• A derogatory term describing an un-savvy computer users view of what a computer is.

Why my magic toaster no come on? I plug in, but no toast.
Trivia
When it comes to literature, what is a charactonym?

• A name given to a character that suggests something about his or her traits, qualities, or appearance—such as Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or Voldemort in the Harry Potter book series.

Today in History:

• Chicago: the Windy City was founded with a population of 350 (1833)
• Sue: the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found was discovered in South Dakota; she now resides in Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History (1990)
• Kursk: Russian nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea, killing the whole of its 118-member crew (2000)

Today's Birthdays:

• Linda O'Neil (35): actress and the most famous body model that you probably don't know.
• George IV (1762-1830): king of Great Britain
• Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929): poet who wrote "America the Beautiful"; plus, writers Robert Southey (1774-1843), Jacinto Benavente (1866-1954) and Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958)
• Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961): theoretical physicist, Schrödinger's equation
• Mark Knopfler (60): composer, guitarist, rock singer; also, jazzman Pat Metheny (55)
• Pete Sampras (38): tennis champ
• Casey Affleck (34): actor and animal rights activist, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; also, actors George Hamilton (70), Bruce Greenwood (53), Peter Krause (44), Michael Ian Black (38), Rebecca Gayheart (37), Maggie Lawson (29) and Dominique Swain (29)