Thursday, May 6, 2010

perpend \per-PEND\, verb:

1. To ponder; deliberate.
2. To be attentive; reflect.

noun:

1. A large stone passing through the entire thickness of a wall.

While perpend as a noun means "a large stone passing through the entire thickness of a wall" (related to perpendicular), the verb form not only possesses a different pronunciation but also emerges independently from the Latin root perpendere, "to weigh carefully."

amirite

• Am I right?

Hay guys, taht is so cool amirite lol!
Trivia
Where was the great conductor Leopold Stokowski born and raised?

• In London, England.

History

• Chinese Exclusion Act: barred Chinese laborers from the US for 10 years, despite President Chester Arthur's veto (1882)
• Eiffel Tower: was dedicated at the opening of the Universal Exposition in Paris (1889)
• Hindenburg: German dirigible caught fire as it landed in Lakehurst, New Jersey; 36 were killed (1937)
• Works Progress Administration: set out to employ scores of Americans in the post-Depression era (1935)
• Roger Bannister: Oxford medical student broke the four-minute mile, which was widely considered medically impossible (1954); in 1975, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
• Chunnel: the tunnel connecting France and England opened to traffic (1994)

Berfdays, yo!

• Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794): Jacobin leader of the French Revolution
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): founder of psychoanalysis
• Robert Peary (1856-1920): arctic explorer
• Willie Mays (79): hard-hitting baseball hall-of-famer; goaltender Martin Brodeur (38) shares this birth date
• Bob Seger (65): rock 'n roll singer/songwriter
• Tony Blair (57): former British PM
• George Clooney (49): award-winning actor/director and social activist, Good Night, and Good Luck., Burn After Reading; also, entertainers Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926), Orson Welles (1915-1985), Alan Dale and Ben Masters (both 63), Gregg Henry (58), Tom Bergeron (55), Roma Downey (50) and Gabourey Sidibe and Adrianne Palicki (both 27)