Saturday, August 27, 2011

personalia \pur-suh-NEY-lee-uh\, noun:

• 1. Personal details such as biographical data, reminiscences, or the like.
• 2. Personal belongings.

Personalia is adapted from the Late Latin personalis, "personal."

meat sweats

• To consume an obsene amount of meat resulting in perfuse sweating.

"I went to the brazilian bar-b-que restaurant, w/ 30 different types of meat, and got the meat sweats!!!."

Trivia

What cocktail shares its name with a novel an operetta, and a movie?

• The Rob Roy. All are named for Robert Roy MacGregor, an 18th-century Scottish Robin Hood–like character. The drink generally consists of scotch, vermouth, bitters, and a cherry.

History

• Edwin Drake: drilled America's first successful oil well near Titusville, PA
• Krakatoa: volcano erupted in the loudest explosion ever recorded; the resultant tsunami killed 36,000 (1883)
• Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in history ended after less than an hour when Zanzibar surrendered (1896)
• Kellogg-Briand Pact: multinational treaty signed in Paris outlawed war — about 11 years before the same nations took part in WWII (1928)
• Mariner 2: the US launched a space probe to Venus; it flew past the planet in December (1962)
• Mars: the red planet got up close and personal with Earth — only 55,758,006 km away (2003)

Birthdays

• Georg Hegel (1770-1831): metaphysical philosopher
• Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945): novelist, Sister Carrie, An American Tragedy; writers C.S. Forester (1899-1966), Jeanette Winterson (52) and Dean Devlin (49) were also born on this date
• Man Ray (1890-1976): photographer and painter
• Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973): 36th POTUS, architect of the Great Society; vice presidents born on this date include Hannibal Hamlin (1809-1891) and Charles Dawes (1865-1951)
• Chandra Wilson (42): Dr. Miranda Bailey on Grey's Anatomy; also, actors Tommy Sands (74), Tuesday Weld (68), Barbara Bach (64), Paul Reubens (59), Diana Scarwid (56), Sarah Chalke (35) and Alexa Vega (23)

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