Monday, June 14, 2010

quintessential \kwin-te-SEN-shel\, adjective:

• Being the most typical manifestation of a quality or a thing.

Quintessential translates from Latin as the "fifth element", quint "fifth" and essentia "essence." The idea of the fifth element stems from Greek and medieval alchemical beliefs in the purest essence of a substance.

store d'oeuvres

• Snacks and food samples that a grocery store will serve at various locations in order to tempt the patrons into buying something they weren't planning on (pizza, chips and dip, sausage, etc.). Usually happens on the weekend.

I went to Costco the other day and filled up on store d'oeuvres.

Trivia

Which state flag was originally designed for a battleship bearing the state’s name?

• Utah’s. The flag, designed for the battleship Utah in 1912, was adopted as the state flag in 1913.

History

• US Army: was founded to fight the British (1775)
• Bear Flag Revolt: the California Republic was declared by Sonoma settlers while California was still ruled by Mexico (1846)
• UNIVAC I: the first commercial computer was dedicated at the US Census Bureau (1951)
• Pledge of Allegiance: President Eisenhower signed the order inserting the words "under God" (1954)
• Falkland Islands: military dispute ended as Argentine forces surrendered to the British (1982)

Birthdays

• Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736-1806): physicist
• Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971): photo-journalist
• Gene Barry (1919-2009): star of Bat Masterson, Burke's Law; other actors born on this date include Jack Bannon (70), Will Patton (56), Yasmine Bleeth (42) and Traylor Howard (39)
• Che Guevara (1928-1967): revolutionary
• Donald Trump (64): real estate mogul
• Boy George (49): singer with androgynous look
• Steffi Graf (41): tennis pro; also, champion athlete Eric Heiden (52)
• Diablo Cody (32): award-winning author of Juno; also, writers Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), Vasile Alecsandri (1821-1890), Jerzy Kosinski (1933-1991) and Peter Mayle (71)

Today's Holiday

• Flag Day (United States)