Friday, July 30, 2010

casuistry \KAZH-oo-uh-stree\, noun:

1. Specious, deceptive, or oversubtle reasoning, esp. in questions of morality.

2. The application of general ethical principles to particular cases of conscience or conduct.

Casuistry comes from the French casuiste and the Latin casus, "case," perhaps related to making a case or justifying behavior.

How is Everything Check

• The 2 minute check a waiter/waitress does after they bring your meal to the table.

Person1:"We need a new fork. This one fell on the floor."

Person2:"I'll ask the waiter to get a new one on his how is everything check."

Trivia

In the world of professional tennis, what is the significance of the word “seeded”?

• At tournaments, the top players are ranked based on past performance and then “seeded”—or spread—throughout the field of competitors to reduce chances that the best players will face one another in the early matches.

History

• Baltimore: port town and industrial center was founded (1729)
• "La Marseillaise": the French national anthem was first sung in Paris (1792)
• In God We Trust: became the official motto of the US (1956)
• Kim Philby: the Soviet news service announced that the British intelligence officer and double agent had defected to the USSR (1963)
• Medicare: insurance program for senior citizens was signed into US law (1965)
• Jimmy Hoffa: the former Teamsters president disappeared in suburban Detroit; he has never been found, but he is presumed dead (1975)
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act: "Corporate Responsibility Act" — that tightened control of financial reporting and reduced the potential for fraud — was signed into law by President George Bush (2002)

Birthdays

• Emily Brontë (1818-1848): the author of Wuthering Heights
• Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929): political economist who coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption" in his The Theory of the Leisure Class
• Henry Ford (1863-1947): inventor who popularized mass production with the Ford Motor Company
• Casey Stengel (1890-1975): manager of the NY Yankees who led them to five straight championships
• Henry Moore (1898-1986): sculptor of reclining figures
• Arnold Schwarzenegger (63): action-movie star who became governor of California
• Simon Baker (41): The Mentalist, Patrick Jane; also, actors Jean Reno (62), Ken Olin (56), Delta Burke (54), Laurence Fishburne (49), Lisa Kudrow (47), Vivica A. Fox (46), Terry Crews (42), Hilary Swank (36), Jaime Pressly (33) and Yvonne Strahovski (28)