Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

malversation \mal-vur-SAY-shun\, noun:

• Misconduct, corruption, or extortion in public office.

Malversation comes, via French, from Latin male, "badly" + versari, "to be engaged in, to take part in."
WWJT

• What Would Jesus Text

Text Messaging Etiquette - Do not pass text messages that ruin other people's reputation. Stop and think " WWJT"
Trivia
Benjamin Franklin published Poor Richard’s Almanac. Who published Alfred’s Poor Almanac?

• MAD magazine. Alfred, of course, was Alfred E. Neuman, the magazine’s gap-toothed figurehead.

History

• Jesse James: outlaw met his end, shot in the back by a member of his own gang (1882)
• Marshall Plan: President Truman signed over some $13 billion in aid for post-war Europe (1948)
• TV Guide: was published for the first time, with the infant Desi Arnaz, Jr., on the cover (1953)
• Super Outbreak: the largest spate of deadly tornadoes to hit the US began; 148 tornadoes rampaged across 13 states (1974)
• Unabomber: mail-order anti-technology terrorist Theodore Kaczynski was arrested in his cabin outside Lincoln, Montana (1996)
• iPad: first model is released by Apple (2010)

Birthdays

• Pierre-Fidele Bretonneau (1778-1862): epidemiologist who performed the first successful tracheotomy
• Washington Irving (1783-1859): author, "Rip Van Winkle"
• Gus Grissom (1926-1967): astronaut who, along with Roger Chaffee and Ed White, was killed in the Apollo 1 fire
• Helmut Kohl (80): former German chancellor; and, Italian PM Alcide De Gasperi (1881-1954)
• Jane Goodall (76): primatologist, conservationist
• Wayne Newton (68): Las Vegas singer, "Danke Schoen"; plus, musicians Tony Orlando (66) and John Mooney (55)
• Marlon Brando (1924-2004): "method" actor megastar; also, actors Doris Day (86), Eric Braeden (69), Marsha Mason (68), David Hyde Pierce (51), Eddie Murphy (49), Jennie Garth (38) and Amanda Bynes (24)