Wednesday, April 21, 2010

empyrean \em-py-REE-uhn; -PEER-ee-\, noun:

1. The highest heaven, in ancient belief usually thought to be a realm of pure fire or light.
2. Heaven; paradise.
3. The heavens; the sky.

adjective:

1. Of or pertaining to the empyrean of ancient belief

Empyrean comes from Medieval Latin empyreum, ultimately from Greek empurios, from en-, "in" + pyr, "fire."

Protohype

• The process of leaking a prototype device to generate buzz about a product you don't quite yet have ready for market to a friendly tech website who will promote the gizmo well before it's ready to go.

Gizmodo's finding of that Apple iPhone 4G months before it's released is clearly a case of protohype
Trivia

What was the name of the frog in the famous Mark Twain short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”?

• Dan’l Webster.

History

• Tiradentes: Brazilian hero nicknamed the "tooth puller" was executed in Rio de Janeiro for conspiring against Portuguese rule (1792)
• The Red Baron: German ace aviator Baron Manfred von Richthofen was shot down for the second time — this time, fatally (1918)
• Brasilia: became the capital of Brazil, instead of Rio de Janeiro (1960)
• Tiananmen Square: anti-communist protest grew to 100,000 in Beijing; troops suppressed it six weeks later, killing thousands (1989).

Birthdays

• Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852): founder of the kindergarten system
• Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855): author of Jane Eyre
• Elizabeth II (84): queen of Great Britain
• Iggy Pop (63): punk rock pioneer; rockers Robert Smith (51) and Glen Hansard (40) were also born on this date
• James McAvoy (31): actor, The Last King of Scotland, Wanted; also, actors Anthony Quinn (1915-2001), Elaine May (78), Charles Grodin (75), Patti LuPone (61), Tony Danza (59), James Morrison (56), Andie MacDowell (52) and Nicole Sullivan (40)
• Tony Romo (30): NFL quarterback; running back Cadillac Williams (28) shares this birth date