Saturday, January 16, 2010

countervail \kown-tur-VAYL\, transitive verb:

1. To act against with equal force, power, or effect; to counteract.
2. To compensate for; to offset; to furnish or serve as an equivalent to.

intransitive verb:

1. To exert force against an opposing, often bad, influence or power.

Countervail derives from Old French contrevaloir, from contre-, "counter-" (from Latin contra, "against") + valoir, "to be worth" (from Latin valere, "to be strong, to avail").

Towel permanence

• The need or desire to use the same towel each time after showering. This may be a favorite towel with sentimental value, or the beach sized one that covers all your parts. This condition is frequently only suffered by one member of a family, causing much frustration upon finding that someone else has used "your" towel.

Boy: "Mom, where's my green towel?"
Mom: "It's in the wash, hon. I used it to dry off the dog earlier."
Trivia
What is the heaviest flying bird alive today?

• The kori bustard, a native of East Africa and South Africa that can fly in short bursts. The male typically weighs about 40 pounds. The heaviest kori bustard on record weighed 48 pounds.

Today in history

• Ivan the Terrible: grand prince of Moscow was crowned the first czar of Russia (1547)
• US civil service: US government commission was reestablished by the Pendleton Act, ending the spoils system; from then on, appointments to public office were to be made based on merit, not loyalty (1883)
• Mickey Mantle: signed a $75,000-a-year contract, becoming the highest-paid baseball player at the time (1961)
• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: was sworn in as president of Liberia, becoming Africa's first elected female head of state (2006)

Today's birthdays

• Dizzy Dean (1911-1974):Cardinals pitcher; also, first baseman Albert Pujols (30)
• Dian Fossey (1932-1985): zoologist
• Susan Sontag (1933-2004): writer/critic, On Photography, The Volcano Lover; also, writers Vittorio Alfieri (1749-1803), Robert Service (1874-1958), William Kennedy (82) and Norman Podhoretz (80)
• Marilyn Horne (76): mezzo-soprano
• A.J. Foyt (75): racecar driver who won the triple crown of motorsports — the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 and the 24-Hour Le Mans
• John Carpenter (62): director, Halloween
• Debbie Allen (60): dancer and choreographer, Fame
• Aaliyah (1979-2001): singer, model, actress; also, model Kate Moss (36)