Sunday, September 19, 2010

jactation \jak-TEY-shuhn\, noun:

1. A restless tossing of the body.

2. Boasting; bragging.

Jactation derives from the Latin jactatare, "to throw."

Trivia

What TV canine, with the help of a TV writer, pawed an autobiography entitled My Life as a Dog?

• Moose, the Jack Russell terrier better known as Eddie on the sitcomFrasier. His coauthor was Brian Hargrove.

History

• George Washington's farewell address: was printed as an open letter to the American public (1796)
• New Zealand: became the first country to grant women the vote (1893)
• Butch Cassidy: notorious outlaw joined his partner, the Sundance Kid, in robbing their first bank as a duo in Winnemucca, Nevada (1900)
• Juan Perón: Argentina's president was deposed and exiled after a military coup (1955); he lived in exile for two decades and then was reinstated as president
• emoticons: the digital smiley :-) and frowny :-( were proposed by Scott Fahlman (1982)
• Ötzi the Iceman: 5,000-year-old tattooed mummy was discovered near the Austrian-Italian border (1991)

Birthdays

• George Cadbury (1839-1922): chocolate manufacturer; created the planned garden city of Bourneville; plus, industrialist and philanthropist William Lever (1851-1925)
• William Golding (1911-1993): author of Lord of the Flies; writer Roger Angell (90) shares this birth date

• James Lipton (84): host of Inside the Actor's Studio; plus, TV hosts Joan Lunden (60), Soledad O'Brien (44), Jimmy Fallon (36) and Carter Oosterhouse (34)
• David McCallum (77): NCIS's Dr. "Ducky" Mallard; also, actors Adam West (82), Randolph Mantooth (65), Jeremy Irons (62), Twiggy Lawson (61), Rex Smith (55), Kevin Hooks (52), Cheri Oteri (45), Sanaa Lathan (39), Alison Sweeney (34), Columbus Short (28), Kevin Zegers (26) and Danielle Panabaker (23)
• Trisha Yearwood (46): country singer, "She's in Love with the Boy"; other musicians born on this date include Bill Medley and Paul Williams (both 70), Cass Elliot (1941-1974), David Bromberg (65), Nile Rodgers (58), Jeff Bates (47), Ryan Dusick (33) and Eamon (26)