Friday, November 26, 2010

bonanza \buh-NAN-zuh\, noun:

1. A source of great and sudden wealth or luck.

2. A rich mass of ore, as found in mining.

Bonanza originates in American mining, from the Spanish bonanza, "a rich lode."

Thingsgetting Day

• The day after Thanksgiving Day, when shoppers flood retail shops for supposed holiday deals. Also known as "Black Friday" and sometimes celebrated as "Buy Nothing Day."

"I was so full of tofurkey, I didn't think I was going to be able to get up early to wait in line at the big box stores on Thingsgetting Day."

Trivia

Which two 2008 Oscar-nominated movies were filmed in the same small town where the 1956 epic Giant was shot?

• There Will Be Blood and Best Movie winner No Country for Old Men. The town that provided the setting was Marfa, Texas.

History

• Kappa Alpha Society: Union College student society became the first college fraternity in the US (1825)
• Alice in Wonderland: pseudonymous author Lewis Carroll gave an illustrated manuscript of the tale to the eponymous Alice as an early Christmas gift (1864)
• King Tut: Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon were the first to enter the tomb of the boy king since it was sealed in 1323 B.C.E. (1922)
• Casablanca: film set in wartime Morocco premiered in New York City (1942)
• The Price is Right: TV's longest running daily game show debuted (1956)
• Diamant-A: rocket launched France's space program with the Astérix-1 satellite, which blasted off from Hammaguir, Algeria (1965)

Birthdays

• Norbert Weiner (1894-1964): mathematician and educator; plus, founder of Harvard College John Harvard (1607-1638)
• Lefty Gomez (1908-1989): MLB hall-of-famer who was the winning pitcher in the first All-Star game; also, athletes Art Shell (64), Dale Jarrett (54), Shawn Kemp (41) and Shannon Dunn (38)
• Eugene Ionesco (1912-1994): playwright of theater of the absurd
• Charles Schulz (1922-2000): creator of Charlie Brown and Peanuts
• Rich Little (72): impressionist famous for his take-off on every US president from 1960 to 2002
• Tina Turner (71): rock singer, What's Love Got to Do With It?"; other musicians born on this date include Robert Goulet (1933-2007), John McVie (65), Bernard Allison (45), Natasha Bedingfield (29)  and Lil' Fizz (25)
• Peter Facinelli (37): screen actor, The Twilight Saga, Nurse Jackie