Wednesday, October 28, 2009

conflate \kuhn-FLAYT\ , transitive verb;

1. To bring together; to fuse together; to join or meld.
2. To combine (as two readings of a text) into one whole.

Origin: Conflate is from Latin conflatus, past participle of conflare, "to blow together; to put together," from con-, "with, together" + flare, "to blow."

Northwest Nap

• A very deep sleep where you are unable to hear telephones, text messages, and even the Air Force. Named to honor the two fine pilots from Northwest Airlines and there little "in flight snooze"

"Dude, I was so tired yesterday afternoon, I took a Northwest Nap. My girl called me 15 times and I didn't hear a thing"

Trivia
Which industry was the first to use bar codes?

• The railroad industry. In 1967, after years of testing, bar codes were painted on the sides of freight cars to keep track of them and help match them with the right trains.

Today in History

• Prohibition: US Congress passed the Volstead Act, overriding president Woodrow Wilson's veto; manufacture, sale or transport of alcoholic beverages were banned (1919)
• Nostra Ætate: the Second Vatican Council under Pope Paul VI absolved the Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus (1965)
• Prospero: the first and only satellite launched from a British rocket went into low Earth orbit(1971)

Today's Birthdays

• Georges Escoffier (1846-1935): world-class chef
• Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966): novelist, Brideshead Revisited
• Jonas Salk (1914-1995): developer of the polio vaccine
• Bruce Jenner (60): winner of 1976 Olympics decathlon
• Bill Gates (54): founder of Microsoft
• Julia Roberts (42): Oscar-winning actress; also, actors Joan Plowright (80), Jane Alexander (70), Dennis Franz (65), Telma Hopkins (61), Annie Potts (57), Mark Derwin (49), Lauren Holly (46), Jami Gertz (44), Andy Richter (43) and Joaquin Phoenix (35)
• Brad Paisley (37): Grammy-winning country singer, songwriter and guitarist; other musicians with birthdays today include Cleo Laine (82), Charlie Daniels (73), Wayne Fontana (64), Caitlin Cary (41), and Justin Guarini (31)