Wednesday, June 29, 2011

aphorism \AF-uh-riz-uhm\, noun:

• A terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation.

Aphorism comes from the Greek aphorismós, "definition."

Bronies

• The male, older fans of my little pony: friendship is magic.

Bronies internet convo:

Brony "yo man, you seen the new episode last night?"

Brony 2 "totally, midnight sparkle was the bomb with that friendship blast."

Trivia

In boot-shaped southern Italy, what region is known as the toe; what region as the heel?

• The toe is Calabria; the heel is Puglia (Apulia, in English).

History

• Globe Theatre: London theatre that showcased Shakespeare's plays burned down; it was reconstructed in 1997 (1613)
• Townshend Acts: were passed by the British Parliament, imposing import duties on paper, tea and other items shipped to America; they led to the Boston Massacre (1767)
• Furman v. Georgia: the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that capital punishment could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment" (1972)
• Atlantis: space shuttle docked with Russian space station Mir; together they formed the largest man-made satellite to orbit Earth (1995)
• iPhone: went on sale in the US amid enormous buzz (2007)

Birthdays

• Nicole Scherzinger (33): lead singer of Pussycat Dolls, exotic beauty
• George Goethals (1858-1928): civil engineer, supervised construction of the Panama Canal
• George Ellery Hale (1868-1938): astronomer who invented the Hale telescope
• James Van Der Zee (1886-1983): photographer, captured scenes of Harlem life
• Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998): civil rights activist
• Dan Dierdorf (62): football hall-of-famer; baseball hall-of-famer Harmon Killebrew (75) shares this birth date
• Don Dokken (58): rocker

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