Wednesday, February 10, 2010

tarradiddle \tair-uh-DID-uhl\, noun;also taradiddle:

1. A petty falsehood; a fib.
2. Pretentious nonsense.

Tarradiddle is of unknown origin.
Redneck Teleprompter

• Crib notes written on a public speaker's hand in order to remind him or her what to say during a speech or interview.

Sarah Palin glanced at her redneck teleprompter during her interview a the Tea Party Conference in Nashville.

Trivia
What did the Indianapolis Children’s Museum name in honor of celebratedHarry Potter author J. K. Rowling?

• A 66-million-year-old, dragon-like dinosaur with a spiked, armor-plated head. The creature was named Dracorex hogwartsia when the skull of the dinosaur was unveiled at the museum in 2006. (Dracorex, for dragon king in Latin, and hogswartsia for the Hogwarts School in the popular Harry Potter series.)

History

• Canada: was ceded by France to Britain when the Treaty of Parisended the French and Indian War(1763)
• "All the News That's Fit to Print": first appeared on page 1 of The New York Times; the slogan was coined by owner Adolph S. Ochs (1897)
• "Chattanooga Choo Choo": earned bandleader Glenn Millerthe first gold record for sales of over 1 million (1942)
• Deep Blue: computer won its first game against world chess champ Garry Kasparov (1996)

Berfdays!

• Boris Pasternak (1890-1960): Nobel Prize-winning novelist/poet, Doctor Zhivago; writers Aaron Hill (1685-1750), Charles Lamb (1775-1834) and Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) were also born on this date
• Harold Macmillan (1894-1986): English PM; Russian emperor Peter III (1728-1760) shared this birth date
• Leontyne Price (83): soprano best known for her interpretation of Verdi's Aida; plus, musicians Roberta Flack (70), Kenny Rankin (1940-2009) and Lionel Cartwright (50)
• George Stephanopoulos (49): broadcast journalist, ABC News
• Laura Dern (43): actor, Jurassic Park, Recount; other actors born on this date include Jimmy Durante (1893-1980), Judith Anderson (1898-1992), Lon Chaney, Jr., (1906-1973), Robert Wagner (80), Elizabeth Banks (36),Emma Roberts (19) and Chloë Moretz (13)