Wednesday, April 6, 2011

canorous \kuh-NOR-us; KAN-or-uhs\, adjective:

• Richly melodious; pleasant sounding; musical.

Canorous comes from the Latin canor, "melody," from canere, "to sing." It is related to chant, from French chanter, "to sing," ultimately from Latin canere.

net lag

• A feeling like jetlag that happens after you use your computer after sunset and the bright backlight tricks your body into thinking it's still daytime. (For details, google "photoentrainment".)

I was online until midnight last night, and now I feel like I'm still on Tokyo time. Net lag sucks.

Trivia

What famous rock star became part owner of Forbes magazine in 2006?

• Bono, who formed a private equity group with five partners and purchased a 40 percent share in Forbes Media. The equity group, Elevation, is named after a U2 song.

History

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Mormon church was founded by Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York (1830)
• Olympics: the first modern games opened in Athens (1896)
• North Pole: Robert Peary and his assistant, Matthew Henson, along with four Inuit men, became the first visitors to the site; their claim has been disputed (1909)
• WWI: US declared war on Germany and entered the Great War (1917)
• Twinkie: golden sponge cake snack food with creamy filling was invented (1930)
• Teflon: nonstick coating was accidentally invented by Roy J. Plunkett (1938)

Birthdays

• Raphael (1483-1520): Renaissance painter known for his Madonnas
• James Mill (1773-1836): philosopher, economist and historian, founder of philosophical radicalism
• Harold Edgerton (1903-1990): electrical engineer who developed the electronic flash and stroboscope
• André Previn (82): pianist/composer/conductor knighted in 1996 and won a presidential medal in 1998; also, musicians Gerry Mulligan (1927-1996), Merle Haggard (74) and Warren Haynes (51)
• Barry Levinson (69): film writer/director/producer, Rain Man
• Vince Flynn (45): author of Mitch Rapp thrillers; plus, writers Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (1671-1741), Lowell Thomas (1892-1981) and Philip Austin (70)
• Paul Rudd (42): actor, I Love You, Man; also, actors Ivan Dixon (1931-2008), Billy Dee Williams (74), Roy Thinnes (73), John Ratzenberger (64), Marilu Henner (59), Michael Rooker (56), Ari Meyers (42), Jason Hervey (39), Zach Braff (36) and Bret Harrison (29)