Friday, June 18, 2010

hegira \he-JAY-ruh\, noun:

1. A journey to a more desirable or congenial place.

2. The flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina to escape persecution a.d. 622: regarded as the beginning of the Muslim Era.

Hegira, whether referring to the event in the history of Islam or a general sense of the word, comes from the Arabic hajara, "to depart."

Bat Shit Signal

• Like the Bat Signal, but used to summon someone crazy.

"Hey look, there's Gary Busey. Someone must have turned on the Bat Shit Signal."

Trivia

What was the name of the train that ill-fated railroad engineer Casey Jones was operating when it crashed?

• The Cannonball Express.

History

• War of 1812: US President James Madison declared war on Great Britain (1812)
• Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon was defeated by the Duke of Wellington (1815)
• Susan B. Anthony: was fined $100 for her attempt to vote in the 1872 US presidential election; she did not, however, pay it (1873)
• Amelia Earhart: became the first woman to fly transatlantically; she went from Newfoundland to Wales (1928)
• "This was their finest hour": address delivered by PM Winston Churchill to the House of Commons to inspire his embattled nation during WWII (1940)
• Egypt: republic was declared; monarchy abolished (1953)
• Sally Ride: became the first American woman in space, aboard the space shuttle Challenger (1983)

Birthdays

• Bartolommeo Ammannati (1511-1592): sculptor and architect
• Anastasia (1901-1918): youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II of Russia
• Red Adair (1915-2004): renowned innovator in firefighting
• Roger Ebert (68): film critic who was the first to receive a Pulitzer Prize in his field
• Sir Paul McCartney (68): the world's most commercially successful pop musician and this year's winner of the Gershwin Prize; lyricist Sammy Cahn (1913-1993) shared this birth date
• Isabella Rossellini (58): Italian actress and model; also, actors Linda Thorson (63), Carol Kane (58) and Alana de la Garza (34)