Sunday, February 20, 2011

malinger \muh-LING-guhr\, intransitive verb:

• To feign or exaggerate illness or inability in order to avoid duty or work.

Malinger derives from French malingre, "sickly," perhaps from Old French mal, "badly" + heingre, "lean, thin."

first

• a word that is said when you are the first one to post a comment on a video, picture, article on the net(looking at video on collegehumor.com.. there are no comments yet)

you writing the first comment : fIRST

Trivia

In what direction are monarchs traditionally shown facing on British coins?

• The direction opposite that which their immediate predecessor was shown facing. The one exception occurred during the brief 1936 reign of Edward VIII, who wanted his left-facing profile to be used even though that was how his father, George V was depicted. Because Edward abdicated before his coin was issued, his brother, George VI, was shown facing left—implying that Edward’s portrait would have been right-facing.

History

• scalping: first recorded case of white men scalping Native Americans (1725)
• United States Post Office Department: was established when George Washington signed the Postal Service Act; it lasted until 1971, when it was replaced with the United States Postal Service (1792)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art: opened in New York City, aiming to promote class harmony through art (1872)
• Canberra: colorful politician King O'Malley drove in the stake which marked the beginning of the development of Australia's capital city (1913)
• John Glenn, Jr.: became the first American to orbit Earth, aboard the Friendship 7 (1962)

Birthdays

• Ansel Adams (1902-1984): photographer noted for his stark shots of the American West
• Robert Altman (1925-2006): director, MASH, Gosford Park; director Mike Leigh (68) was also born today
• Bobby Unser (77): three-time Indy 500 winner; plus, sportsmen Phil Esposito (69), Charles Barkley (48) and Stephon Marbury (34)
• Brenda Blethyn (65): actor, Saving Grace, Pride and Prejudice; other actors born today include Sidney Poitier (84), Sandy Duncan (65), Peter Strauss (64), Jennifer O'Neill (63), Anthony Stewart Head (57), James Wilby (55), French Stewart (47), Ron Eldard (46), Andrew Shue and Lili Taylor (both 44) and Lauren Ambrose (33)
• Gordon Brown (60): British PM; former Russian premier Aleksey Kosygin (1904-1980) shared this birth date
• Rihanna (23): singer, Good Girl Gone Bad; also, musicians Jimmy Yancey (1898-1951), Nancy Wilson (74), Buffy Sainte-Marie (70), Walter Becker (61), Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) and Brian Littrell (36)