Tuesday, September 15, 2009

lucubration \loo-kyoo-BRAY-shun; loo-kuh-\, noun:

1. The act of studying by candlelight; nocturnal study; meditation.
2. That which is composed by night; that which is produced by meditation in retirement; hence (loosely) any literary composition.

Lucubration comes from Latin lucubratus, past participle of lucubrare, "to work by night, composed at night (as by candlelight)," ultimately connected with lux, "light." Hence it is related to lucent, "shining, bright," and lucid, "clear." The verb form is lucubrate.

beer under the bridge

• When one or more intoxicated individuals either physically or verbally spars, and the next day they agree to forget about it since they were drunk.

Nikki: "I bet Joe was mad about me yelling and hanging up on him last night when i was wasted."
Kristin: "He was blitzed too. He said forget about it - it's beer under the bridge."
Trivia

When will aliens invade earth, according to the final episode of the TV sci-fi series The X-Files?

• On December 22, 2012—the last day on the ancient Mayan calendar, and the day the Mayans predicted would mark the end of earth as mankind has known it.

Today in History:

• Central America: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica declared their independence of Spain (1821)
• Galápagos Islands: were reached by naturalist Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle (1835)
• Lehman Brothers: the investment bank filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — the largest bankruptcy in US history

Today's Birthdays:

• William Howard Taft (1857-1930): 27th POTUS and 10th US Chief Justice; plus, former president of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering (64)
• Agatha Christie (1890-1976): the "Queen of Crime" whose novels featured Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple; writers François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680), James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) and Claude McKay (1889-1948) were also born on this date
• Oliver Stone (63): Oscar-winning director, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July; directors Jean Renoir (1894-1979) and Ron Shelton share this birth date
• Tommy Lee Jones (63): actor, Men in Black; also, actors Jackie Cooper (87), Henry Darrow (76), Josh Charles (38) and Amy Davidson (30)
• Dan Marino (48): NFL hall-of-famer; other athletes born on this date include Gaylord Perry (71), Merlin Olsen (69) and Mike Dunleavy (29)
• Prince Harry (25): younger son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana