Sunday, April 10, 2011

simpatico \sim-PAH-ti-koh\, adjective:

• Congenial or like-minded.

Simpatico derives from the same word in Italian, which means "sympathetic."

Killing two pigs with one bird

• A modern version of the popular saying "killing two birds with one stone." derived from the popular video game "angry birds."

I was killing two pigs with one bird by eating lunch and playing angry birds at the same time.

Trivia

When it comes to geographical features, what is a bight?

• An open bay formed by a bend in a coastline. The term can also be used to refer to the bend in the coastline.

History

• ASPCA: was founded in New York by Henry Bergh to prevent cruelty to animals (1866)
• Titanic: luxury liner set out from Southampton, England, heading for New York on its ill-fated maiden voyage (1912)
• Emiliano Zapata: Mexican revolutionary leader known for his battle cry of "land and liberty" was killed by soldiers (1919)
• The Great Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald's most popular novel was published (1925)
• The Beatles: Paul McCartney announced the group's disbandment (1970)
• euthanasia: the Netherlands legalized mercy killings and physician-assisted suicide for patients enduring unmanageable pain or terminal illness (2001)
• Amber Alert: US House passed a bill establishing a system for alerting the public about missing or abducted children (2003)

Birthdays

• William Booth (1829-1912): founder, Salvation Army
• Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911): journalist/publisher who established the Pulitzer Prize; also, writers Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), Benjamin Day (1810-1889), Lewis Wallace (1827-1905), David Halberstam (1934-2007) and Paul Theroux (70)
• Robert Burns Woodward (1917-1979): Nobel Prize-winning chemist, Woodward's rules
• John Madden (75): NFL coach and sportscaster; plus football stars Don Meredith (1938-2010) and Mel Blount (63)
• Peter MacNicol (57): Larry Fleinhardt on NUMB3RS, Tom Lennox on 24; also, actors Harry Morgan (96), Chuck Connors (1921-1992), Liz Sheridan and Max von Sydow (both 82), Omar Sharif (79), Steven Seagal (60), Chyler Leigh (29) and Haley Joel Osment (23)
• Mandy Moore (27): actor and pop singer, Coverage; plus, musicians Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds (53), Brian Setzer (52) and Q-Tip (41)