Wednesday, March 9, 2011

fanfaronade \fan-fair-uh-NAYD; -NOD\, noun:

1. Swaggering; empty boasting; blustering manner or behavior; ostentatious display.

2. Fanfare.

Fanfaronade derives from Spanish fanfarronada, from fanfarrón, "braggart," from Arabic farfar, "garrulous."

stfu

• Acronym used for the phrase "shut the fuck up" for efficiency reasons.

Please stfu because I am trying to read.

Trivia

According to the New Testament, how many days did Jesus spend fasting in the wilderness?

• Forty (Luke 4:1; Matthew 4:1–2), the same number of days of fasting and sacrifice as there are in Lent.

History

• Amistad case: the US Supreme Court ruled that the mutineers had been taken into slavery illegally and should be freed (1841)
• See It Now: TV newsmagazine aired an episode critical of the communist-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy; it contributed to the senator's eventual downfall (1954)
• Barbie: foot-high fashion doll — full name: Barbie Millicent Roberts — was launched at the New York Toy Fair; a billion have now been sold (1959)
• New York Times v. Sullivan: the US Supreme Court protected the press from libel suits by public figures unless there was actual malice (1964)

Birthdays

• Yamila Diaz (34): super model
• Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512): explorer, cartographer after whom the Americas are named
• Samuel Barber (1910-1981): composer, Adaggio for Strings; also, musicians Ornette Coleman (81), Lloyd Price (78), Mark Lindsay (69), Robin Trower (66) and Bow Wow (24)
• Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968): cosmonaut who was the first human in space
• Bobby Fischer (1943-2008): grand master in chess
• Charles Gibson (68): broadcast journalist; plus, news anchor Michael Kinsley (60) and writers Victoria Sackville-West (1892-1962), Mickey Spillane (1918-2006) and David Pogue (48)
• Juliette Binoche (47): actor, The English Patient, Dan in Real Life; also, actors Marty Ingels (75), Raul Julia (1940-1994), Jaime Lyn Bauer (62), Kerr Smith (38) and Brittany Snow (25)