Saturday, July 9, 2011

sublimate \SUHB-luh-meyt\, verb:

1. In psychology, to direct the energy of a primitive impulse into activities that are considered to be socially more acceptable.
2. In chemistry, to refine or purify a substance.
3. To make nobler or purer.

Sublimate is based on the Latin sublimatus, "to exalt."
Trivia
What TV funnyman once sorted live mosquitoes for a state health department?

• Jon Stewart as an employee of the New Jersey Department of Health.

History

• Wimbledon: the precursor to the tennis tournament first began; only Gentlemen's Singles was played (1877)
• cross of gold: William Jennings Bryan delivered a speech to the Democratic National Convention supporting bimetallism, advocating a silver standard in addition to the gold standard (1896)
• Johnny Weissmuller: swam 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds, thus breaking the minute barrier (1922)
• Grateful Dead: psychedelic rock-country-jazz band played its last concert, a month before the death of lead singer Jerry Garcia (1995)
• Midsummer Classic: MLB All-Star game ended in a tie after 11 innings; both sides had run out of pitchers (2002)

Birthdays

• Nikola Tesla (1856-1943): inventor of the AC electric power motor and the Tesla coil; plus, inventors DC electric motor Thomas Davenport (1802-1851) and Elias Howe (1819-1867)
• Hassan II (1929-1999): king of Morocco; British PM Edward Heath (1916-2005) shared his birth date
• David Hockney (74): pop artist, photographer, designer
• Dean Koontz (66): bestselling thriller writer; author Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) shared this birth date
• Tom Hanks (55): megastar who won Oscars for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump; also, performers Brian Dennehy (73), Richard Roundtree (69), OJ Simpson (64), Chris Cooper (60), Jimmy Smits and Lisa Banes (both 55), Enrique Murciano (38) and Fred Savage (35)
• Courtney Love (47): rock singer; singers Ed Ames (84) and John Tesh (59) were also born on this date