Thursday, July 14, 2011

usufruct \YOO-zoo-fruhkt\, noun:

• The right to use the property of another as long as it isn't damaged.

Usufruct is a legal term derived from two Latin roots, usu-, "use," and fruct, "fruit."

Sexting

• The unauthorized, non-maritime use of sextants in our schools.

"My friend Katy said we were going to drive up to Mile Rise, because some older boys wanted to determine its exact position relative to the moon. I didn't want to tell my mom what we were doing, because she doesn't approve of sexting, so I told her I was staying over at Katy's house."

Trivia

When it comes to golf, what’s a condor?

• Four under par, or a triple eagle. It would mean getting a hole in one on a par 5 hole.

History

• Sedition Act: Congress passed a law prohibiting publishing false, scandalous or malicious writing against the US government (1798)
• the Matterhorn: the Swiss-Italian Alp was first scaled, by British mountaineer Edward Whymper (1865)
• Billy the Kid: the 21-year-old outlaw was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in New Mexico (1881)
• Sacco and Vanzetti: the two infamous anarchists were convicted of murder and sentenced to death (1921)
• Mariner 4: spacecraft performed the first flyby of another planet and sent back the first pictures of the surface of Mars (1965)
• large denominations of US currency: were officially discontinued by the Federal Reserve System, leaving the $100 bill as the largest unit of circulating currency (1969)

Birthdays

• Irving Stone (1903-1989): author of Lust for Life, The Agony and the Ecstasy; also, writers John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854), Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) and Natalia Ginzburg (1916-1991) and Arthur Laurents (93)
• Woody Guthrie (1912-1967): folksinger who wrote "This Land Is Your Land"
• Gerald Ford (1913-2006): first appointed vice-POTUS to become President; he was selected as vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned, and a year later succeeded Richard Nixon
• Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007): Swedish film director, Fanny and Alexander; other filmmakers born on this date include Eric Laneuville (59) and Scott Rudin (53)
• Maulana Karenga (70): educator who created Kwanzaa
• Matthew Fox (45): Jack Shephard on Lost; also, actors Dale Robertson (88), Harry Dean Stanton (85), Polly Bergen (81), Vincent Pastore (65), Jane Lynch (51), Jackie Earle Haley (50), Missy Gold (41) and Scott Porter (32)

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