Sunday, June 26, 2011

sirocco \suh-ROK-oh\, noun:

1. Any hot, oppressive wind, especially one in the warm sector of a cyclone.

2. A hot, dry, dustladen wind blowing from northern Africa and affecting parts of southern Europe.

3. A warm, sultry south or southeast wind accompanied by rain.

Sirocco enters English from the Italian scirocco, which in turn derives from the Arabic sharq, literally meaning "east."

engayed

• The term for gay couples to become engaged or plan on becoming married.

Did you hear the news? Paul and Tom got engayed. I can't wait for their wedding!

Trivia

What U.S. city is the largest in land area in the contiguous 48 states?

• Jacksonville, Florida, which covers 758 square miles. Sitka, Alaska, which covers 2,874 square miles, is the largest in area in all 50 states.

History

• The Gold Rush: Charlie Chaplin's comedy premiered in Hollywood (1925)
• United Nations: 50 countries signed the charter establishing the world body (1945)
• Ich bin ein Berliner: John F. Kennedy declared "I am a Berliner," emphasizing US support for democracy in West Germany (1963)
• CN Tower: a Toronto landmark, the world's tallest free-standing structure on land, opened to the public (1976)
• Human Genome Project: completion of the first rough map of the human genetic code was announced at the White House (2000)

Birthdays

• Lord Kelvin (1824-1907): physicist who specialized in thermodynamics, Kelvin scale
• Dave Grusin (77): pianist and Oscar-winning composer for The Milagro Beanfield War; plus, musicians Billy Davis Jr. (71), Chris Isaak (55) and Patty Smyth (54)
• Paul Thomas Anderson (41): director and screenwriter, Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood; authors Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) and Charlotte Zolotow (96) share this birth date
• Derek Jeter (37): NY Yankees star shortstop; other athletes born on this date include Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956), Greg LeMond (50), Shannon Sharpe (43), Chad Pennington (35) and Michael Vick (31)
• Jason Schwartzman (31): actor, Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited; also, actors Peter Lorre (1904-1964), Josef Sommer (77), Chris O'Donnell, Matt Letscher and Sean Hayes (all 41) and Rebecca Budig (38)

Read more: http://www.answers.com/