Tuesday, September 8, 2009

refulgent \rih-FUL-juhnt\, adjective:

• Shining brightly; radiant; brilliant; resplendent.

Refulgent comes from the present participle of Latin refulgere, "to flash back, to shine brightly," from re-, "back" + fulgere, "to shine."

NIB

• New in Box, meaning brand new and never used

I saw a few NIB items up on ebay last night.
Trivia
How many countries bordering China have names ending in “stan”?

• Five—Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Stan is an ancient Persian word that means “country” or “homeland.”

Today in History:

• Galveston Hurricane: made landfall; it was the deadliest natural disaster to strike the US to date (1900)
• Siege of Leningrad: nearly 2.5-year blockade of the city by the Germans in WWII began (1941)
• Star Trek: TV series recounting the adventures of the starship Enterprise premiered (1966)
• John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: opened in Washington, DC, with the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass (1971)
• Watergate: US president Gerald Ford granted his predecessor, Richard Nixon, a full pardon for "crimes he committed or may have committed" (1974)

Today's Birthdays:

• Richard I (1157-1199): aka Richard the Lionhearted, the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine
• Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904): Czech composer
• Sid Caesar (87): comedian and actor, Your Show of Shows; other comic actors born on this date include Peter Sellers (1925-1980), David Arquette and Martin Freeman (both 38), Nate Corddry (32) and Jonathan Taylor Thomas (28)
• Ann Beattie (62): author of short stories and novels; writers Alfred Jarry (1873-1907), Frederic Mistral (1830-1914) and Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) shared this birth date
• Pink (30): singer, "Get The Party Started"; also, musicians Patsy Cline (1932-1963), Will Lee (57) and Aimee Mann (49)