Friday, May 28, 2010

ethereal \ih-THEER-ee-uhl\, adjective:

1. Light, airy, or tenuous.

2. Extremely delicate or refined.

3. Heavenly or celestial.

4. Pertaining to the upper regions of space.

5. Chemistry. Pertaining to, containing, or resembling ethyl ether.

Ethereal enters English from the Ancient Greek aitherios, "pertaining to the upper air."

elevator reflex

• The urge people get once inside an elevator to stare compulsively at the ascending numbered lights (usually on top of the elevator doors) either because they are truly convinced this will speed up the whole 'process' or they are simply socially-awkward beings who can't bear to look at random people in the face for 30 seconds.

Mo:"Dude so I was talking to this chick.."

--elevator opens--

To単o Bicicleta: "Call you back Mo I have to stare at the floor 'till I get off the vator or else I have to talk to these people".

Mo: "Sounds like a bad case of the elevator reflex yo, you should go get checked."

Trivia

A is the first note on a standard piano keyboard. What’s the last note?

• C. The standard keyboard has 88 keys.

History

• Indian Removal Act: law forcing the relocation of eastern tribes to the other side of the Mississippi River was signed by US President Andrew Jackson (1830)
• Sierra Club: environmental activist group was founded by Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, among others; it now has nearly three quarters of a million members (1892)
• Dionne quintuplets: first known surviving set was born; the five identical girls became Ontario's biggest tourist attraction (1934)

Birthays

• William Pitt, the younger (1759-1806): British PM; politicians Edvard Beneš (1884-1948), Randolph Churchill (1911-1968), Rudy Giuliani (66) and Mark Sanford (50) share this birth date
• Ian Fleming (1908-1964): creator of James Bond; also, writers Thomas Moore (1779-1852), Patrick White (1912-1990) and Walker Percy (1916-1990)
• Jerry West (72): one of the NBA's greatest shooting guards; athlete Jim Thorpe (1888-1953) was also born on this date
• Lynn Johnston (63): cartoonist, For Better or For Worse
• Gladys Knight (66): R&B singer; also, singers John Fogerty (65) and Kylie Minogue (42)
• Carey Mulligan (25): Bafta winner and Oscar nominee for An Education; also, actors Sondra Locke (66), Christa Miller (46), Jesse Bradford and Monica Keena (both 31) and Joseph Cross (24)