Thursday, October 14, 2010

hopscotch \HOP-skoch\, verb:

1. To journey quickly and directly from one usually far place to another.

noun:

1. A children's game in which a player tosses or kicks an object into one of several numbered sections of a diagram marked on the ground.

verb:

1. To move or pass through something, as a geographical area or a field of endeavor, making many brief stops.

The scotch in hopscotch is an alteration of scratch, from the lines scored in the dirt to make the squares for the game.

hoverboard money

• When you have so much money that you can just pay someone to invent whatever it is that you want.

Of course I donated $100 million to look good after the Facebook movie. That's hoverboard money!

Trivia

What percent of their net income did U.S. couples in the top tax bracket pay during the Eisenhower administration?

• 91 percent—on incomes over $400,000.

History

• Battle of Hastings: the last Anglo-Saxon king of England fell to William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest (1066)
• sound barrier: was broken for the first time by a person, United States Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager, who flew a secret experimental Bell X-1 jet at supersonic speed (1947)
• Peace Corps: the idea to send American volunteers abroad was first mentioned by JFK when he was a presidential candidate (1960)

Birthdays

• Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969): 34th US president; other political leaders born on this date include James II (1633-1701), William Penn (1644-1718), George Grenville (1712-1770), Ferdinand VII (1784-1833) and Éamon De Valera (1882-1975)
• E.E. Cummings (1894-1962): writer of poetry with unusual grammar, syntax and punctuation
• Eugene Fodor (1905-1991): travel writer
• John Wooden (1910-2010): twice-enshrined NCAA Hall-of-Famer
• Roger Moore (83): suave one-time James Bond; actors who share this birth date include Udo Kier (66), Harry Anderson (58), Greg Evigan (57) and Jon Seda (40)
• Ralph Lauren (71) : fashion designer
• Usher (32): R&B star; also, musicians Melba Montgomery (72), Cliff Richard (70), Justin Hayward (64), Thomas Dolby (52), Karyn White (45) and Natalie Maines (40)