Sunday, March 20, 2011

largess \lar-ZHES; lar-JES; LAR-jes\, noun;

also largesse:

1. Generous giving (as of gifts or money), often accompanied by condescension.

2. Gifts, money, or other valuables so given.

3. Generosity; liberality.

Largess is from Old French largesse, "largeness, generosity," from large, from Latin largus, "plentiful, generous."

pillow lust

• That feeling that overworked individuals (eg: college students, tax accountants, etc.) experience where they feel so exhausted that the idea of their face hitting their pillow sounds so utterly fantastic, it's almost sexual.

Oh dude, it's been such a long week. I've got pillow lust, and I've got it bad.

Trivia

What did Swiss biochemist Johann Friedrich Miescher discover in 1869 and name nuclein?

• DNA—or deoxyribonucleic acid.

Holidays

• First day of Spring (Northern Hemisphere)
• Purim (Jewish)

History

• Dutch East Indies Company: megacorporation was formed; it grew to control most of the European trade with Asia before expiring, bankrupt, after 200 years (1602)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin: antislavery novel was published by Harriet Beecher Stowe, whom Lincoln called "the little woman who started this big war" (1852)
• "I shall return": was declared by Gen. Douglas MacArthur as he left the Philippines during WWII; he did return, two years later (1942)
• Libby Riddles: became the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (1985)
• Tokyo subway gas attack: Aum Shinrikyo group released sarin, killing 12 and injuring thousands (1995)

Birthdays

• B.F. Skinner (1904-1990): behaviorist, the Skinner box
• Carl Reiner (89): comedian and writer, director and producer who created The Dick Van Dyke Show; and, creator of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood Fred Rogers (1928-2003)
• Lois Lowry (74): author of The Giver; also, playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) and novelist E.Z.C. Judson (1823-1886)
• Brian Mulroney (72): former Canadian Prime Minister; also, Mexican statesman Alfonso Garcia Robles (1911-1991)
• Bobby Orr (63): hockey player, the Boston Bruins; plus, athlete Pat Riley (66)
• William Hurt (61): award-winning actor, Kiss of the Spider Woman, A History of Violence; also, actors Sir Michael Redgrave (1908-1985), Hal Linden (80), Holly Hunter (53) and David Thewlis and Kathy Ireland (both 48)
• Spike Lee (54): indie-film director of Do the Right Thing, Inside Man; plus, TV producer Paul Junger Witt (68)