Tuesday, August 3, 2010

tarry \TAR-ee\, verb:

1. To remain or stay, as in a place; sojourn.

2. To delay or be tardy in acting, starting, coming, etc.

3. To wait.

Tarry's ancestor is the Middle English taryen, "a delay."

powerdisking

• Watching several episodes of a TV show in a row, usually from a DVD box set. This can be done over several evenings, or a marathon weekend.

I missed the first three seasons of Mad Men, so I spent the past two weekends powerdisking all the episodes in order to be up to date for the premiere of season four later this month.

Trivia

In the world of professional hockey, what first was recorded by St. Louis Eagles defenseman Ralph “Scotty” Bowman on November 13, 1934?

• He scored the first goal on a penalty shot in National Hockey League history. The NHL had approved the penalty shot in late September 1934.

History

• Christopher Columbus: set sail from Palos, Spain, on the voyage that would take him to America (1492)
• La Scala: leading opera house opened in Milan with a production of Salieri's opera Europa riconosciuta, which was not performed again until December 7, 2004, when La Scala reopened after renovations (1788)
• NBA: the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America merged to form America's professional basketball league (1949)
• USS Nautilus: the world's first nuclear-powered submarine sailed over the North Pole underwater in a journey under the Arctic ice cap (1958)
• Air Traffic Controllers Strike: PATCO workers walked out, leading to the firing of nearly all air traffic controllers by President Ronald Reagan two days later; in the wake of this event, US labor unions were weakened (1981)
• Statue of Liberty: pedestal reopened to the public for first time since 9/11 (2004)

Birthdays

• Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947): British three-term prime minister; Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba (1903-2000) shared this birth date
• P.D. James (90): mystery writer; also, authors Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855-1896), Rupert Brooke (1887-1915), Ernie Pyle (1900-1945), Leon Uris (1924-2003) and Steven Millhauser (67)
• Tony Bennett (84): singer, "(I Left My Heart) in San Francisco"; also, musicians Richard Adler (89), Beverly Lee (69), B.B. Dickerson (61), Randy Scruggs (57) and James Hetfield (47)
• Martha Stewart (69): homemaker guru who's become a household name
• John C. McGinley (51): Perry Cox on Scrubs; also, actors Martin Sheen (70), Isaiah Washington (47), Brigid Brannagh (38) and Evangeline Lilly (31)
• Tom Brady (33): New England Patriots quarterback; plus, football coach Marv Levy (85) and hockey hall-of-famer Marcel Dionne (59)