Monday, November 22, 2010

enspirit \en-SPIR-it\, verb:

• To infuse life into; enliven.

Enspirit and its sibling, inspirit, are simple English combinations that originate in the 1600s.

Don't touch my junk!

• Infamous, now viral, phrase uttered by John Tyner of Oceanside after refusing to be subjected to an airport body scanner and subsequent thorough pat down.
• Can also be used in any social setting where you just want people to stop bothering you with uninteresting things.

TSA - "Sir, we need to pat you down..."

JT - "Don't touch my junk!"

Boring friend- "Hey man, you want to see these slides from my family summer vacation?"

JT - Don't touch my junk!"

Trivia

What country is the world’s largest producer of olive oil?

• Spain. It accounts for one third of the world’s output. It’s followed by Italy and then Greece.

History

• Edward Teach: the pirate known as Blackbeard was killed during a battle with the British Navy off the coast of Virginia (1718)
• ...---...: S-O-S was adopted as a distress signal at the International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin (1906)
• China Clipper: a Pan Am "flying boat" started regular transoceanic mail service from San Francisco to Manila (1935)
• JFK: the 35th president of the US was assassinated by a sniper during a motorcade in Dallas (1963)
• Margaret Thatcher: the prime minister of England quit her post, citing lack of party support (1990)

Birthdays

• Thomas Cook (1808-1892): travel agent who initiated the idea of the guided tour
• George Eliot (1819-1880): author of Silas Marner and Middlemarch; other writers born on this date include Abigail Adams (1744-1818) and André Gide (1869-1951)
• Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970): French leader
• Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1981): composer, "Stardust"; also, composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
• Terry Gilliam (70): director, Monty Python; plus, director Arthur Hiller (87)
• Billie Jean King (67): tennis champ who won the "Battle of the Sexes" against Bobby Riggs; tennis pro Boris Becker (43) also celebrates his birthday today
• Jamie Lee Curtis (52): actor, True Lies; also, actors Rodney Dangerfield (1921-2004), Robert Vaughn (78), Michael Callan (75), Allen Garfield (71), Tom Conti (69), Steve Van Zandt (60), Richard Kind (54), Mariel Hemingway (49), Mark Ruffalo (43) and Scarlett Johansson (26)