Tuesday, January 12, 2010

torpor \TAWR-per\, noun:

1. Lacking in vitality or interest.
2. A state of mental or physical inactivity or insensibility.
3. Lethargy; apathy.

Torpor derives from Latin torpēre, to be stiff or numb.
Good lenses, bad frames

• Describing someone who gives a bad first impression but is actually a good person. Someone who doesn't appear to be competent, yet is extremely capable at what he/she does.

Dr. Bruce is a spaz, but he's one of the best doctors I know. You wouldn't know it by looking at him...good lenses, bad frames.

Trivia

What scientific symbol is featured on the back of Iran’s largest banknote, the 50,000 rial issued in March 2007?

• The nuclear power symbol, which depicts electrons orbiting an atom. On the banknote, the symbol is atop a map of Iran along with a quotation from the prophet Mohammad—“Men from the land of Persia will attain scientific knowledge even if it is as far as the [star cluster] Pleiades.”

Today in history

• Hattie Caraway: became the first woman elected to the US Senate, exactly 17 years after the House rejected suffrage for women; she made no speeches in the 14 years she served (1932)
• James Bedford: Californian professor of psychology became the first person to be cryonically preserved when he was frozen a few hours after his death from cancer (1967)
• All in the Family: groundbreaking sitcom premiered on TV, dealing with issues previously considered unacceptable — including racism, homosexuality and impotence (1971)
• Deep Impact: space probe was launched from Cape Canaveral to study the core of comet 9P/Tempel by crashing into it; the probe reached its target in July (2005)

Today's birthdays

• Charles Perrault (1628-1703): poet and writer of fairy tales, Tales of Mother Goose; authors Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Jakob Michael Lenz (1751-1792), Jack London (1876-1916), Walter Mosley (58) and John Lasseter (53) share this birth date
• John Hancock (1737-1793): the man who so elegantly signed the Declaration of Independence
• P.W. Botha (1916-2006): PM of South Africa
• Joe Frazier (66): boxing hall-of-famer
• Howard Stern (56): "shock jock" radio host; plus, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh (59)
• Jeff Bezos (46): the man behind Amazon.com and Blue Origin