Wednesday, May 4, 2011

bushwhack \BOOSH-hwak\, verb:

1. To defeat, especially by surprise or in an underhanded way.

2. To make one's way through woods by cutting at undergrowth, branches, etc.

3. To travel through woods.

4. To pull a boat upstream from on board by grasping bushes, rocks, etc., on the shore.

5. To fight as a bushwhacker or guerrilla in the bush.

Bushwhack is a backformation from the Dutch bosch-wachter, "forest-keeper," which, during the American Civil War was adopted as bushwhacker to describe patriot guerillas or freebooters.

don't cross the streams

• What you tell two people peeing at urinals next to each other to save them from untimely death, in reference to crossing the streams in Ghostbusters.

Whoa! Watch out! Don't cross the streams!

Trivia

What’s unusual about the 120 stones embedded in the exterior walls at the base of the Tribune Tower in Chicago?

• They’re from famous sites around the U.S. (one from each state) and the world, including the Alamo, the White House, Bunker Hill. Westminster Abbey, the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Taj Mahal, the Berlin Wall, Notre Dame, Omaha Beach, St. Peter’s, and the Parthenon.

Today's Holiday

• Star Wars Day: Get it? May 4th? May the Fourth? May the Force be with you!

History

• Manhattan: Dutch colonist Peter Minuit landed on the island; he later bought it for $24 in trade goods (1626)
• Rhode Island: declared its independence from England, becoming one of the original Thirteen Colonies (1776)
• Al Capone: after many arrests, the crime boss known as Scarface was finally jailed for tax evasion (1932)
• Grammys: were first awarded (1959)
• Freedom Riders: students joined members of CORE to ride from Washington, DC, across the south toward New Orleans, protesting racial segregation on public interstate buses (1961)
• Kent State: four university students were killed and nine wounded by members of the Ohio National Guard, who were quashing a campus protest against the US invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War (1970)

Birthdays

• Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731): harpsichord maker credited with inventing the piano
• Hosni Mubarak (83): recently deposed president of Egypt
• Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993): Oscar-winning star of Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany's, My Fair Lady; also, actors Richard Jenkins (64), Ana Gasteyer (44) and Will Arnett (41)
• George F. Will (70): conservative commentator and columnist
• Keith Haring (1958-1990): graffiti artist whose public works often carried social messages; artist Frederick Church (1826-1900) was also born on this date
• Lance Bass (32): 'N Sync bass singer who was certified by both NASA and the Russian Space Program for a mission aboard a Soyuz space capsule; plus, musicians Roberta Peters (81), Ron Carter (74), Nikolas Ashford (69), Randy Travis (52) and Mike Dirnt (39)