Saturday, December 18, 2010

replevy \ri-PLEV-ee\, verb:

• To recover goods or chattels wrongfully taken or detained.

Replevy originates in the Old French replevir, "to bail out."

courier newed

• If your professor doesn't have a font requirement and you can't think of anything else to write, change your font to courier new to add multiple pages to your papers.

Yo man, I said fuck it and courier newed that research paper.

Trivia

What was the first U.S. circulating coin to have writing on it in Braille?

• The state quarter representing Alabama, issued in 2003. The coin features an engraving of Helen Keller reading a Braille book, with her name written alongside in English and in Braille.

History

• Amendment XIII: anti-slavery amendment to the US Constitution was declared ratified by Secretary of State William Seward, abolishing the practice (1865)
• capital punishment in the United Kingdom: was abolished by both houses of Parliament (1969)
• Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line: 1.5 trillion yen, 15-kilometer bridge-tunnel opened across Tokyo Bay after 31 years of construction (1997)

Birthdays

• Francis Ferdinand (1863-1914): Archduke of Austria whose assassination sparked WWI; plus, world leader Willy Brandt (1913-1992)
• Ty Cobb (1886-1961): baseball hall-of-famer
• Steven Spielberg (64): highest-grossing filmmaker of all time; plus, directors Hal Kanter (92), George Stevens (1904-1975), Ossie Davis (1917-2005), Alan Rudolph (67) and Gillian Armstrong (60)
• Leonard Maltin (59): movie critic
• Brad Pitt (47): heartthrob actor, activist and family man; also, actors Betty Grable (1916-1973), Roger Smith (78), Ray Liotta (55), Rachel Griffiths (42) and Katie Holmes (32)
• Christina Aguilera (30): Grammy-winning pop singer; also, musicians Fletcher Henderson (1897?-1952), Lonnie Brooks (77), possible zombie Keith Richards (67), Alejandro Sanz (42) and DMX (40)