Friday, May 7, 2010

eristic \e-RIS-tik\, adjective:

1. Pertaining to controversy or disputation; controversial.

2. Of argument for the sole purpose of winning, regardless of the reason.

noun:

1. Argument for the sole purpose of winning, regardless of the reason.

2. The art of disputation. 

Eristic relates both to Eris, the Greek goddess of strife, as well as what Plato called eristic dialogue, a type of discourse with no reasonable goal beyond winning the argument.

fat finger

• verb, the act of performing a typo. Often used when referring to password typos. See Fat Finger Disease

"I thought the server was down, but I just fat fingered my password."

"You didn't get my email? I must have fat fingered the address."
Trivia
What was produced in the first factory established in what is now the United States—in the Jamestown Colony?

• Glass, in 1608. 

History

• Hagia Sophia: earthquakes destroyed the dome of Emperor Justinian's church in Constantinople (558)
• George Washington: the first POTUS was honored in the first inaugural ball (1789)
• Beethoven's Ninth: the Choral Symphony premiered in Vienna (1824)
• AMA: was founded in Philadelphia (1847)
• Rheims: was the site of Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies (1945)

Berfdays

• Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Romantic composer; composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) shared this birth date
• Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941): Indian Nobel Prize-winning author, composer and guru; also, poet Robert Browning (1812-1889)
• Edwin Land (1909-1991): inventor of the Polaroid Instant Camera
• Eva Perón (1919-1952): political partner of Argentinian president Juan Perón
• Johnny Unitas (1933-2002): widely considered the NFL's greatest quarterback of all time; QB Alex Smith (26) shares this birth date
• Robin Strasser (65): actor, OLTL's Dorian Lord; also, actors Gary Cooper (1901-1961), Michael E. Knight (51), Breckin Meyer (36), Traci Lords (41)
• Tim Russert (1950-2008): journalist/commentator who hosted Meet the Press