Monday, July 25, 2011

handsel \HAN-suhl\, noun:

1. First encounter with or use of something taken as a token of what will follow.
2. A gift or token for good luck or as an expression of good wishes.
3. A first installment of payment.

Handsel is a venerable English word, literally consisting of "hand" and an early word for "gift."

JFC

• Acronym for Jesus Fucking Christ

Matt: Dude, Conny fucked another random guy today!

Brad: JFC!

Trivia

What famous classical composer, using the pseudonym Monsieur Croche, wrote articles criticizing the cultural life of his time?

• Claude Debussy. Monsieur Croche is French for Mr. Eighth Note, or Mr. Quaver. The articles, which originally appeared in Paris journals, were later published in a book Monsieur Croche: The Dilettante Hater.

History

• Caracas: Captain Diego de Losada founded Venezuela's capital, then known as Santiago de Leon de Caracas (1567)
• Henry IV of France: embraced Roman Catholicism for the second time; he had abandoned Protestantism in order to win Paris (1593)
• General of the Army: Ulysses S. Grant became the first officer to hold the US army's highest rank (1866)
• Bikini Atoll: America tested the first underwater atomic bomb (1946)
• test-tube baby: Louise Joy Brown, the first baby conceived by in vitro fertilization, was born in Oldham, England (1978)
• Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace: at the White House, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein agreed to end their official state of war (1994)

Birthdays

• Thomas Eakins (1844-1916): painter, photographer, sculptor; plus, artist Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966)
• Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930): British prime minister and foreign secretary who authored the Balfour Declaration
• Elias Canetti (1905-1994): Bulgarian novelist and playwright
• Robert Zoellick (58): president of the World Bank
• Katherine Kelly Lang (50): The Bold and the Beautiful's troubled and complex Brooke Logan; also, actors Estelle Getty (1923-2008), Barbara Harris (76), Iman (56), Bobbie Eakes (50), Ileana Douglas (46), Matt LeBlanc (44), DB Woodside (42), Brad Renfro (1982-2008) and James Lafferty (26)
• Billy Wagner (40): closer for the Mets; basketball hall-of-famer Nate Thurmond (70) shares this birthday

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