Friday, August 6, 2010

yeuk \YOOK\, noun:

1. An itching sensation.

verb:

1. To itch.

Yeuk survives mostly in Scotland and Northern England.

job talker

1: Someone who only talks about and has nothing better to talk about than their job.

2: A person that chronically complains about work

I tried to hang out with Jim from accounting last week, the guy is a total job talker. All he did was talk about work for 2 hours.

Trivia

Why is it customary to mount a horse from the left side?

• The tradition dates back to medieval days when armed warriors found that their swords, which were worn on the left hip, wouldn’t get in the way if they swung their right leg over their trusty steed when they climbed aboard.

History

• Holy Roman Empire: came to an end with the abdication of Francis II (1806)
• Bolivia: declared independence from Spain (1825)
• electric chair: was first used as method of execution, on murderer William Kemmler at New York's Auburn Prison (1890)
• Gertrude Ederle: became the first woman to swim the English Channel (1926)
• Enola Gay: US bomber dropped an atomic weapon on Hiroshima, killing over 60,000 instantly; it was the first-ever use of nuclear warfare (1945)
• Voting Rights Act: was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson; it prohibited states from imposing racial discrimination at the polls based on literacy or financial ability (1965)
• Gerry Adams: the Sinn Féin president and British PM Tony Blair meet; it's the first time in 76 years that a British leader met with an IRA ally (1997)

Birthdays

• Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892): Victorian age poet, "The Lady of Shalott"
• Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955): bacteriologist who discovered penicillin
• Richard Hofstadter (1916-1970): Pulitzer Prize-winning historian
• Andy Warhol (1928-1987): pop artist who had his "fifteen minutes of fame"
• Jeremy Ratchford (45): actor, Cold Case; also, actors Lucille Ball (1911-1989), Robert Mitchum (1917-1997), Peter Bonerz (72), Dorian Harewood (60), Catherine Hicks (59), Michelle Yeoh (48), Merrin Dungey (39), David Campbell (37), Vera Farmiga and Ever Carradine (both 37) and Soleil Moon Frye (34)
• Geri Halliwell (38): the former Ginger Spice; musicians Charlie Haden (73), Pat MacDonald (58) and Patsy and Peggy Lynn (both 46) were also born on this date
• Stepfanie Kramer (53) is an American actress, writer, and singer/songwriter. She is probably best known for her role as the tough-minded detective, "Sgt. Dee Dee McCall," on the 80s NBC TV series Hunter.