Saturday, March 13, 2010

erudite \AIR-yuh-dyt; -uh-dyt\, adjective:

• Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; learned.

erudite comes from Latin eruditus, from e-, "out of, from" + rudis, "rough, untaught," which is also the source of English rude. Hence one who is erudite has been brought out of a rough, untaught, rude state

beer thirty

• Time of day (usually late afternoon to early evening) at which drinking a beer becomes necessary.

Hey, looks like its beer thirty, better grab me a cold one
Trivia
What sport does the U.S. Congress have to thank for the term “party whip”?

• Fox hunting. During the chase a rider, known as a whipper, rides behind the pack of hounds and cracks a whip to keep the dogs from straying. The British Parliament borrowed the term, shortening it to whip, to describe party functionaries charged with mobilizing party members for crucial votes. The U.S. Congress later adopted the term.

History

• Uranus: seventh planet from the Sun was discovered by William Herschel (1781)
• Czar Alexander II: was assassinated in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date) (1881)
• Pluto: the discovery of the dwarf planet was announced by Clyde W. Tombaugh (1930)
• Kitty Genovese: was murdered in Queens, New York, while neighbors ignored her screams; this prompted investigation into the bystander effect (1964)
• Phoenix lights: unusual lights of various sorts were seen over Arizona, Nevada and Sonora; among the eyewitnesses was Arizona Governor Fife Symington (1997)

Birthdays

• Joseph Priestley (1733-1804): scientist who isolated and described several gases, including oxygen
• Percival Lowell (1855-1916): astronomer who predicted the discovery of Pluto
• William H. Macy (60): Oscar winner for Fargo, Emmy winner for Door to Door; also, actorsDeborah Raffin (57), Glenne Headly (55), Dana Delany (54), Annabeth Gish (39), Danny Masterson (34) and Emile Hirsch (25)
• Terrence Blanchard (48): jazz trumpeter; plus, musicians Roy Haynes (85), Rosalind Elias (80), Mike Stoller (77), Neil Sedaka (71), Adam Clayton (50) and Khujo (38)
• Johan Santana (31): pitcher for the NY Mets; other athletes born today are 1st-baseman Will Clark (46) and 49ers quarterback Trent Dilfer (38)