Friday, March 18, 2011

truckle \TRUHK-uhl\, intransitive verb:

• To yield or bend obsequiously to the will of another; to act in a subservient manner.

noun:

• A small wheel or roller; a caster.

Truckle is from truckle in truckle bed (a low bed on wheels that may be pushed under another bed; also called a trundle bed), in reference to the fact that the truckle bed on which the pupil slept was rolled under the large bed of the master. The ultimate source of the word is Greek trokhos, "a wheel."

beardo

• A weirdo with a beard.

In my travels I am constantly on the lookout for strange new beardos.

I can only hope that someday I will attain beardo status.

Trivia

Which planet experiences 42 earth years of constant summer followed by 42 earth years of dark winter?

• Uranus, because of its unusual (almost 90-degree) tilt as it orbits the sun.

History

• Tri-State Tornado: the deadliest tornado in US history hit Missouri, Illinois and Indiana; nearly 700 were killed (1925)
• Gideon v. Wainwright: the US Supreme Court ruled that poor defendants in felony cases have the right to a court-appointed lawyer (1963)
• spacewalk: cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov made the first walk in space; he spent 20 minutes outside, tethered to the spacecraft (1965)
• art theft: the largest museum heist in history took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, with the thieves dressed as police officers; it remains unsolved and a $5 million reward is still offered (1990)

Birthdays

• Grover Cleveland (1837-1908): POTUS No. 22 and 24; and, world leaders Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), Chiang Ching-kuo (1910-1988) and F.W. de Klerk (75)
• Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913): inventor of the eponymous engine
• John Updike (1932-2009): Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Rabbit, Run; plus, writers Friedrich Nicolai (1733-1811), George Plimpton (1927-2003)
• Queen Latifah (41): musician/actress who starred in Chicago, Mad Money; also, Chicago composer John Kander (84) and musicians Charley Pride (73), Wilson Pickett (1941-2006), Bill Frisell (60), Irene Cara (52), Jerry Cantrell (45), and Adam Levine (32)
• Dane Cook (39): actor/comedian; also, actors Peter Graves (1926-2010), Kevin Dobson (68), Brad Dourif (61) and Vanessa Williams (48)
• Brian Griese (36): quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; plus, speed skater Bonnie Blair (47)