Wednesday, September 28, 2011

portend \por-TEND\, verb:

• To indicate (events, misfortunes, etc.) as in future; to foreshadow; to bode.

Portend comes from Latin portendere, to indicate, to predict, from por- (variant of pro-), before + tendere, to stretch out, to spread. Thus that which portends is that which stretches out before us into the future.

Gaming sense

• The ability to sense things in games, simply because of predictable, long-standing game cliches.

My gaming sense tells me that this innocuous red barrel will explode if thrown.

My gaming sense tells me that this grave will have valuable items in it if I dig it up.

My gaming sense tells me that I'll have to fight a boss in this unexpectedly cavernous room.

Trivia

What day of the year ranks second only to Thanksgiving when it comes to highest food consumption in the U.S.?

• Super Bowl Sunday.

History

• William the Conqueror: the duke of Normandy invaded England (1066)
• Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo: landed at San Diego Bay, becoming the first European to visit California (1542)
• first aerial circumnavigation: two US Army planes landed in Seattle after completing the first round-the-world flight — 44,000 kilometres (27,340 mi) — in 175 days (1924)
• RU 486: abortion pill was approved for US use by the Food and Drug Administration (2000)
• Falcon I: SpaceX rocket reached orbit, becoming the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so (2008)

Birthdays

• Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929): premier of France's Third Republic
• Al Capp (1909-1979): cartoonist who created Li'l Abner
• Seymour Cray (1925-1996): architect of the supercomputer
• Steve Largent (57): NFL hall-of-famer; other athletes born on this date include Avery Brundage (1887-1975), Alice Marble (1913-1990), Tom Harmon (1919-1990), Grant Fuhr (49) and Se Ri Pak (34)
• Brigitte Bardot (77): actor and animal rights activist; also, actors and TV personalities Ed Sullivan (1901-1974), William Windom (88), Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996), Jeffrey Jones (65), Sylvia Kristel (59), Janeane Garofalo (47), Mira Sorvino and Moon Zappa (both 43), Naomi Watts (43), Bam Margera (32) and Hilary Duff (24)

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