Friday, September 2, 2011

fait accompli (fay-ta-kom-PLEE)noun:

• A thing accomplished: a done deal.

Etymology: From French fait accompli (accomplished fact).

Crosswalk Creeping

• The act of slowing pulling one's car forward into the pedestrian crosswalk while parked at a red light, for the purpose of preempting a green light.

The driver in the Civic became so impatient with the long red light, he began crosswalk creeping to trigger the green light and ended up bumping Jason who was crossing the street to go to lunch.

Trivia

In the world of Japanese sports, what was the Curse of Colonel Sanders?

• Years of losing baseball played by the Hanshin Tigers of Osaka, that began in 1985 after fans swiped a statue of Colonel Sanders from a local Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet and tossed it into a nearby river while celebrating the team’s national championship victory. (The fans thought the Sanders statue looked like Tigers’ star player, bearded American slugger Randy Bass.)

History

• Great Fire of London: conflagration that wiped out much of London began (1666 OS)
• United States Department of the Treasury: was established by an act of Congress (1789)
• "Speak softly and carry a big stick": policy was enunciated by US vice president Theodore Roosevelt at the Minnesota State Fair (1901)
• Japan's surrender: WWII officially came to an end with a ceremony aboard the USS Missouri (1945)
• Principality of Sealand: North Sea micronation located off the coast of Suffolk was established by Paddy Roy Bates, who has ruled it ever since (1967)

Birthdays

• Peter Ueberroth (74): businessman, former baseball commissioner and 1984's Time "Man of the Year"; ballplayer who turned to producing sporting goods A.G. Spalding (1850-1915) and high-tech executive Andrew Grove share this birth date (75)
• Nate Archibald (63): NBA hall-of-famer; other athletes born on this date include John Thompson (70), Terry Bradshaw (63), Jimmy Connors (59) and Eric Dickerson (51)
• Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986): teacher who died in the Challenger space shuttle explosion
• Mark Harmon (60): Jethro Gibbs of NCIS; also, actors Linda Purl (56), Keanu Reeves (47), Salma Hayek (45), and Cynthia Watros and Kristen Cloke (both 42)

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

Salma demonstrating the proper technique for giving me a handy jay!

Happy Birthday!