Saturday, April 16, 2011

undertone \UHN-der-tohn\, noun:

1. A color modified by an underlying color.

2. A low or subdued tone of speaking.

3. An unobtrusive or background sound.

4. An underlying quality or element; undercurrent.

Undertone is first used to describe in a visual sense around 1800.

ghost taste

• the familiar taste that accompanies a post-meal burp. it's like deja-vu in your mouth.

Man jo, I just caught a straight ghost taste from that barbeque earlier.

Trivia

Why are Gateway Computers packaged in white boxes covered with irregular black spots?

• The design is intended to resemble the markings on Holstein cows—in tribute to the company’s roots. It was founded on a cattle farm in Sioux City, Iowa.

History

• Harriet Quimby: became the first female pilot to fly the English Channel (1912)
• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin: returned to Russia, ending an exile of some 20 years (1917)
• LSD: Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman accidentally discovered the hallucinogenic effects of the drug (1943)
• Texas City Disaster: at least 580 were killed in the explosion of a ship loaded with ammonium nitrate, in America's worst industrial disaster (1947)
• cold war: term was coined by financier Bernard Baruch in a speech in South Carolina (1947)
• Walter Cronkite: the "most trusted man in America" began his 19-year run as anchor of CBS Evening News (1962)
• panda diplomacy: China sent the US two giant pandas as a gift after President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China (1972)
• Virginia Tech: Cho Seung-Hui opened fire, eventually killing 32 students and himself in the US's most deadly shooting rampage (2007)

Birthdays

• Anatole France (1844-1924): Nobel Prize-winner for literature; plus, writers John Synge (1871-1909) and Kingsley Amis (1922-1995)
• Wilbur Wright (1867-1912): invented the airplane with his brother Orville
• Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977): silent movie superstar; also, actors Barry Nelson (1917?-2007), Peter Ustinov (1921-2004), Ellen Barkin (57), Martin Lawrence and Jon Cryer (both 46) and Lucas Hass (35)
• Henry Mancini (1924-1994): composer who won four Oscars, two Emmys and 20 Grammys; also, musicians Herbie Mann (1930-2003), Bobby Vinton (76), Dusty Springfield (1939-1999), Jason Scheff (49) and Selena (1971-1995)
• Pope Benedict XVI (84): the 265th pope, born Joseph Ratzinger
• Queen Margrethe II (71): Denmark's reigning queen
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (64): NBA's all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points