Tuesday, December 21, 2010

caliginous \kuh-LIJ-uh-nuhs\, adjective:

• Misty; dim; dark.

Caliginous has its source in the Latin caligo, "mist."

jesus piece

• A term used for a cross or crucifix that is worn as jewelry.

"Cubans with the Jesus piece" -Notorious B.I.G. hypnotize

Trivia

In the 1994 Hollywood thriller Speed, what speed must a Los Angeles bus remain above to avoid detonating a bomb planted by a terrorist?

• 50 mph.

History

• Pilgrims: arrived in the New World, seeking religious freedom; they went ashore near Plymouth Rock, having traveled west after their initial settlement in Leiden, Holland, became unsustainable (1620)
• radium: radioactive element was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie (1898)
• crossword puzzle: Liverpudlian journalist Arthur Wynne published the first "word-cross" puzzle, in The New York World (1913)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: film version premiered in Hollywood (1937)
• Pan Am Flight 103: went down over Lockerbie, Scotland, after a terrorist bomb exploded aboard, killing all 259 people on the plane and 11 on the ground (1988)

Birthdays

• Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881): English PM; and Communist leader Joseph Stalin (1879-1953)
• Rebecca West (1892-1983): novelist and critic; and, novelist Heinrich Böll (1917-1985)
• Michael Tilson Thomas (66): composer and conductor; plus, rock musician Frank Zappa (1940-1993)
• Jeffrey Katzenberg (60): a founder of DreamWorks SKG
• Chris Evert (55): tennis pro; also, athletes Joe Paterno (84), Florence Griffith-Joyner (1959-1998), Karrie Webb (36) and Jackie Stiles (32) were also born on this date
• Kiefer Sutherland (44): Jack Bauer on 24; also, actors Ed Nelson (82), Jane Fonda (73), Larry Bryggman (72), Samuel L. Jackson (62), Jane Kaczmarek (55), Ray Romano (53), Andy Dick (45), Karri Turner (44) and Julie Delpy (41)