Friday, September 18, 2009

alacrity \uh-LACK-ruh-tee\, noun:

• A cheerful or eager readiness or willingness, often manifested by brisk, lively action or promptness in response.

Alacrity comes from Latin alacritas, from alacer, "lively."
shirt mask

• the part of the shirt located just below the chin one uses to filter foul odors, instinctually used when in uncleanly bathrooms, or after a destructive passing of gas (fart, chemical attack)

1.Duuude.. that truck stop restroom was so narsty i had to use my shirt mask just to take a piss.

2.that fart was so pungent that my shirt mask was the only protection i had

Trivia
In 16th-century England, what was the job of the scavager?

• Street cleaning. The word later acquired the letter n to become scavenger, and its definition changed to mean someone who searches through rubbish and debris for usable items.

Today in History:

• Tiffany and Co.: upscale jewelry retailer was founded as a stationery and fancy goods store (1837)
• The New York Times: the "Gray Lady," then known as The New-York Daily Times, published its first issue (1851)
• Old Faithful: Yellowstone geyser got its name (1870)
• Jimi Hendrix: influential rock guitarist died, age 27, due to substance abuse (1970)
• 2001 anthrax attacks: began, a week after 9/11, with a mailing from Trenton, New Jersey, to various media sources in New York City (2001)

Today's Birthdays:

• Léon Foucault (1819-1868): physicist who created Foucault's pendulum
• John Diefenbaker (1895-1979): Canada's 13th PM
• Agnes de Mille (1905-1993): dancer, choreographer of musicals like Oklahoma! and Carousel
• Fred Willard (70): comic actor, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show; also, actors Greta Garbo (1905-1990), Rossano Brazzi (1916-1994), James Gandolfini (48), Holly Robinson Peete (45), Aisha Tyler (39), Jada Pinkett Smith (38), James Marsden (36) and Alison Lohman (30)
• Lance Armstrong (38): winner of 7 Tours de France