Saturday, June 26, 2010

enthrall \en-THRAWL\, verb:

1. To captivate or charm.

2. To put or hold in slavery; subjugate.

The thrall in enthrall is an Old Norse word meaning "slave."

tf;dg

• Too far; didn't go

Johnny: I thought you were gonna get off yo fat lazy ass and get us some booze from across the street!

Fat Tony: tf;dg

Trivia

What rubber goods besides bicycle and carriage tires were manufactured by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company when it went into business in 1898?

• Rubber horseshoe pads and poker chips.

History

• The Gold Rush: Charlie Chaplin's comedy premiered in Hollywood (1925)
• United Nations: 50 countries signed the charter establishing the world body (1945)
• Ich bin ein Berliner: John F. Kennedy declared "I am a Berliner," emphasizing US support for democracy in West Germany (1963)
• UPC bar code: the first item marked in this way was scanned, in Troy, Ohio; the 10-pack of Juicy Fruit is now in the Smithsonian (1974)
• CN Tower: a Toronto landmark, the world's tallest free-standing structure on land, opened to the public (1976)
• Human Genome Project: completion of the first rough map of the human genetic code was announced at the White House (2000)

Birthdays

• Lord Kelvin (1824-1907): physicist who specialized in thermodynamics, Kelvin scale
• Dave Grusin (76): pianist and Oscar-winning composer for The Milagro Beanfield War; plus, musicians Billy Davis Jr. (70), Chris Isaak (54) and Patty Smyth (53)
• Paul Thomas Anderson (40): director and screenwriter, Boogie NIghts, There WIll Be Blood; authors Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) and Charlotte Zolotow (95) share this birth date
• Derek Jeter (36): NY Yankees star shortstop; other athletes born on this date include Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956), Greg LeMond (49), Shannon Sharpe (42), Chad Pennington (34) and Michael Vick (30)
• Jason Schwartzman (30): actor, Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited; also, actors Peter Lorre (1904-1964), Josef Sommer (76), Chris O'Donnell, Matt Letscher and Sean Hayes (all 40) and Rebecca Budig (37)