Wednesday, April 27, 2011

jamboree \JAM-buh-ree\, noun:

1. A carousal; any noisy merrymaking.

2. A large gathering, as of a political party or the teams of a sporting league, often including a program of speeches and entertainment.

3. A large gathering of members of the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, usually nationwide or international in scope.

Jamboree is an American invention, an apparent blend of jabber and shivaree.

screen saver

• the blank expression that comes across a persons face when day dreaming.

dude, check out dave day dreaming, he looks miles away

yeah mate i know, he has his screen saver on

Trivia

What country issued a banana-shaped self-adhesive stamp in 1969?

• The South Pacific island kingdom of Tonga, which was the second country in the world to offer self-adhesive postage. Sierra Leone was the first in 1964.

History

• Battle of Dunbar: Scots were massacred by the English as the Wars of Scottish Independence began (1296)
• Ferdinand Magellan: the leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe was killed by Philippine natives in the Battle of Mactan (1521)
• Paradise Lost: John Milton, blind and impoverished, sold the copyright for his epic poem for £10 (1667)
• SS Sultana: the worst maritime disaster in US history occurred when the wooden steamboat exploded and sank on the Mississippi near Memphis, killing up to 1,800 former Union POWs recently released from Confederate prison camps (1865)

Birthdays

• Samuel Morse (1791-1872): inventor of the telegraph and Morse Code
• Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885): 18th POTUS
• Walter Lantz (1900-1994): animator, Woody Woodpecker
• Jack Klugman (89): Oscar Madison on The Odd Couple; also, actors Anouk Aimée (79), Sandy Dennis (1937-1992), Judy Carne (72) and James LeGros (49)
• Coretta Scott King (1927-2006): civil rights activist and widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Earl Anthony (1938-2001): bowling legend
• August Wilson (1945-2005): Pulitzer Prize-winner for Fences and The Piano Lesson; plus, writers Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) and C. Day Lewis (1904-1972)
• Sheena Easton (52): singer, actress; also, radio announcer Casey Kasem (79) and singers Judith Blegen (70), Cuba Gooding (67), Kate Pierson (63), Ann Peebles (64), Ace Frehley (60) and Patrick Stump (27)