Sunday, May 15, 2011

plangent \PLAN-juhnt\, adjective:

1. Beating with a loud or deep sound, as, "the plangent wave."
2. Expressing sadness; plaintive.

Plangent derives from the present participle of Latin plangere, to beat, to strike (noisily), especially to strike the breast, head, etc., as a sign of grief.

bed gravity

• An irresistible force that draws you back to bed, or toward any mattress, couch, or other soft horizontal surface. Usually stronger when one or more persons are already on said furnature.

Mom: Time to get up for school!

Son: Must! Fight! Bed gravity! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Trivia

Because of its shape, what European nation is known as the hexagon?

• France. In recognition of this, there’s a hexagon design on its one- and two-euro coins.

History

• Las Vegas: the glitzy "entertainment capital of the world" was founded (1905)
• Standard Oil Company: in a historic ruling, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Rockefeller's mega-monopoly; several of the pieces would later be known as Exxon, Mobil, Amoco and Chevron (1911)
• air mail: first route in US was set up between NY and Washington (1918); on a Boeing flight 12 years later, Ellen Church became the first stewardess (1930)
• nylon stockings: first went on sale in the US (1940)
• Portrait of Dr. Gachet: Van Gogh painting fetched a record high price of $82.5 million; the record stood till 2006, and Dr. Gachet is now No. 4 (1990)

Birthdays

• L. Frank Baum (1856-1919): author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; also, writers Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931), Edwin Muir (1887-1959), Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) and twins Peter (85) and Anthony Shaffer (1926-2001)
• Pierre Curie (1859-1906): noted physicist and chemist
• Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986): Sherpa mountaineer who, along with Sir Edmund Hillary, was first to scale Mt. Everest
• Richard Avedon (1923-2004): innovative fashion photographer
• Jasper Johns (81): contemporary artist, Flag
• Brian Eno (63): electronic musician/producer; plus, musicians Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), Anna Maria Alberghetti (75), Trini Lopez (74) and Ahmet Zappa (37)
• Giselle Fernandez (50): broadcast journalist who danced with the stars
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler (30): Meadow Soprano on The Sopranos; also, actors James Mason (1909-1984), Lainie Kazan (71), Chazz Palminteri (59), David Charvet (39) and David Krumholtz (33)

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