Thursday, August 19, 2010

ruction \RUHK-shuhn\, noun:

• A disturbance, quarrel, or row.

The origin of ruction is uncertain, though it possibly derives from insurrection.

post block syndrome

• Similar to writers block only in the context of social networking sites. Unable to come up with post worthy content.

After logging into facebook and staring at the screen unable to post, I realized I was suffering from post block syndrome.

Trivia

What kind of insects are the fancifully named bobana, cocana, dodana, fofana, hohana, lolana, and momana?

• Moths.

History

• Old Ironsides: the USS Constitution defeated the British ship HMS Guerrière off the coast of Newfoundland during the War of 1812 (1812)
• Sputnik 5: Soviet satellite entered orbit with dogs, rats, mice and plants aboard; all returned safely the next day (1960)
• Bitches Brew: trumpeter Miles Davis began three days of recording the iconic jazz-rock album (1969)
• Iraq War: a suicide truck bomb killed 22 at the UN compound in Baghdad, including envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello (2003)

Birthdays

• Coco Chanel (1883-1971): fashion designer who popularized the "little black dress"
• Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991): creator of Star Trek
• Frank McCourt (1930-2009): author of Angela's Ashes; writers John Dryden (1631-1700) and Ogden Nash (1902-1971) share this birth date
• Willie Shoemaker (1931-2003): four-time Kentucky Derby winner
• Bill Clinton (64): first Democratic president since FDR elected to a second term
• Kyra Sedgwick (45): Brenda Johnson in The Closer; also, performers Jill St. John (70), Fred Thompson (68), Gerald McRaney (63), Jonathan Frakes (58), Peter Gallagher (55), Adam Arkin (54), Martin Donovan (53), John Stamos (47), Kevin Dillon (45), LeAnn Womack (44), Matthew Perry (41), Tracie Thoms (35) and Lil' Romeo (21)