Monday, December 6, 2010

pogonip \POG-uh-nip\, noun:

• An ice fog that forms in the mountain valleys of the western U.S.

Pogonip originates as a word of the Shoshone people, paγɨnappɨh, "thunder-fog."

Audience typing

• When a person's typing abilities degrade when they must type in front of others, leading to misspelled words, improper capitalisation and most likely resulting in blushing. Worse if that other person is an older relative or someone you respect.

Father asks, "Put Manchester United into Google there for me"

Son, "Sure"

Results in - "Manchetser UNited" being typed into Google.

This serves as a prime example of 'Audience typing' in action.

Trivia

What famous French artist, who quit painting to play chess, spent so much time studying game strategy that his neglected newlywed bride glued his chess pieces to the board?

• Surrealist Marcel Duchamp. The marriage did not last.

History

• Encyclopædia Britannica: first "number," or pamphlet, was offered for sale in Edinburgh for sixpence (1768)
• Halifax: a French munitions vessel exploded, killing about 1,800 people, injuring some 9,000 more (one-fifth of the population), and destroying the northern part of Nova Scotia's capital (1917)
• Irish Free State: precursor to today's Republic of Ireland was formed (1922)
• Ulysses: a United States judge ruled that James Joyce's novel, in which characters correspond to Homeric figures, was not obscene (1933)
• Mars Global Surveyor: NASA released pictures of the red planet that seemed to show the recent presence of water (2006)

Birthdays

• Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918): poet, "Trees"; author Osbert Sitwell (1892-1969) shared this birth date
• Ira Gershwin (1896-1983): lyricist
• Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995): photojournalist
• Dave Brubeck (90): jazz pianist/composer, "Take Five"
• Steven Wright (55): Oscar-winning comedian/actor
• Judd Apatow (43): filmmaker, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall; performers born on this date include Agnes Moorehead (1906-1974), James Naughton (65), JoBeth Williams (62), Kin Shriner, Wil Shriner and Tom Hulce (all 56) and Janine Turner (47)