Sunday, July 17, 2011

torque \TAWRK\, noun:

1. The moment of a force that tends to cause rotation.

2. The measured ability of a rotating element, as of a gear or shaft, to overcome turning resistance.

3. A collar, necklace, or similar ornament consisting of a twisted narrow band, usually of precious metal, worn especially by the ancient Gauls and Britons.

Torque enters English from the Latin torquere, "to twist."

bail whale n. (bail-wail)

• Someone who leaves when they are needed.

Tim: Hey, John, can you help Harold and I move the furniture while you're here?

John: No, dude, I think I left my oven on. I have to go.

Harold: Your friend is such a bail whale.

Trivia

What is the maximum number of people who can share a Nobel Prize?

• Three.

History

• Spanish-American War: ended when Spanish troops surrendered to US in Santiago, Cuba (1898)
• House of Windsor: in the wake of anti-German sentiment, British royal family changed its name from Saxe-Coburg Gotha (1917)
• Potsdam Conference: world leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill begin the final Allied summit of WWII (1945)
• Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: for the first time, an Apollo spaceship docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit; it marked the warming US-USSR relationship (1975)
• Woolworths: the last of the company's five-and-dime stores closed; over 9,000 employees went jobless (1997)

Birthdays

• S.Y. Agnon (1888-1970): Nobel-winning Israeli novelist; plus, writer Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970)
• Donald Sutherland (76): Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H, most recently on TV in Dirty Sexy Money; also, entertainers James Cagney (1899-1986), Art Linkletter (1912-2010), Phyllis Diller (94), Diahann Carroll (76), Lucie Arnaz (60), David Hasselhoff (59), Bitty Schram and Andre Royo (both 42), and Eric Winter (35)
• Camilla Parker-Bowles (64): Duchess of Cornwall and wife of Prince Charles
• Phoebe Snow (59): R&B singer; musician Spencer Davis (69) shares this birth date
• Angela Merkel (57): Chancellor of Germany

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