Thursday, April 29, 2010

valetudinarian \val-uh-too-din-AIR-ee-un; -tyoo-\, noun:

1. A weak or sickly person, especially one morbidly concerned with his or her health.

adjective:

1. Sickly; weak; infirm.

2. Morbidly concerned with one's health.

Valetudinarian derives from Latin valetudinarius, "sickly; an invalid," from valetudo, "state of health (good or ill)," from valere, "to be strong or well." 

totes mcgoats

• Totally.

I totes mcgoats failed my math test today.
Trivia

What Pulitzer Prize–winning book was voted the best novel of the 20th century by librarians across the U.S.?

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  To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), by Harper Lee. The 1999 vote was conducted by The Library Journal.

History 

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  Joan of Arc: led her army into Orléans in victory over the English (1429)
• Dachau: concentration camp was liberated by US soldiers (1945)
• Naomi Uemura: became the first person to reach the North Pole alone; he traveled by sled dog (1978)
• Los Angeles race riots: began after the acquittal of police officers accused of beating Rodney King (1992)
• space walk: astronaut Jerry Linenger and cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliyev stepped out together on first joint US-Russian walk in space (1997)
• Rent: Rock musical opened on Broadway; the Manhattan-set retelling of La bohème went on to win several Tonys, a Pulitzer and many other awards (1996)

Berfdays

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  Alexander II (1818-1881): Russian emperor who freed the serfs; Japanese emperor Hirohito (1901-1989) shared this birth date
• Rod McKuen (77): '60s poet and composer
• Zubin Mehta (74): music director for life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; also, musicians Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961), Sir Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967), Duke Ellington (1899-1974), Otis Rush (76), Tommy James (63) and Carnie Wilson (42)
• Dale Earnhardt (1951-2001): NASCAR superstar
• Jerry Seinfeld (56): comedian who made much ado about nothin', Seinfeld; also, actors Celeste Holm (93?), Lane Smith (1936-2005), Kate Mulgrew (55), Daniel Day-Lewis (53), Michelle Pfeiffer and Eve Plumb (both 52) and Uma Thurman (40)
• Andre Agassi (40): one of history's top tennis players