Wednesday, December 28, 2011

fusty \FUHS-tee\, adjective:

1. Having a stale smell; moldy; musty.

2. Old-fashioned or out-of-date, as architecture, furnishings, or the like.

3. Stubbornly conservative or old-fashioned; fogyish.

Fusty comes from the Old French word fust, meaning a “wine cask.” As wine casks are stuffy and smelly, the adjective is a logical association.

Guaranteed Left

When you creep your way into an intersection with the intention to turn left, yet there is no end to oncoming traffic in sight. This way, when the light eventually turns red, you are guaranteed the quick left turn in the short delay between oncoming traffic stopping and the crossing traffic going.

"Traffic was really heavy and the green arrow had already disappeared, so rather than wait through a whole new light cycle, I made the guaranteed left."

Trivia

What disease did George Washington have soldiers in the Continental Army inoculated against during the Revolutionary War?

• Smallpox. He ordered the inoculations in January 1777 after noting that “we should have more to dread from [smallpox] than from the Sword of the Enemy.” (Washington was familiar with the disease—he had contracted it as a teenager during a trip to Barbados.)

History

• Westminster Abbey: London church where kings have been crowned since 1066 was consecrated (1065)
• Iowa: the Hawkeye State became America's 29th state (1846)
• chewing gum: patent was issued to William Finley Semple of Ohio (1869)
• Cyrano de Bergerac: Edmond Rostand's heroic comedy premiered in Paris (1897)
• The Pledge of Allegiance: US oath of loyalty was officially recognized by Congress (1945)
• Elizabeth Jordan Carr: the first American in vitro fertilization baby was born in Norfolk, Virginia (1981)

Birthdays

• Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924): 28th POTUS
• Stan Lee (89): co-creator of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk; and writers Simon Raven (1927-2001) and Manuel Puig (1932-1990)
• Denzel Washington: actor, Oscar winner for Training Day (57); plus, actors Martin Milner (80), Maggie Smith (77), Seth Meyers (38), Sienna Miller (30), Thomas Dekker (23) and Mackenzie Rosman (22)
• Ray Bourque (51): NHL hall-of-famer; also, tennis hall-of-famer Patrick Rafter (39)
• Linus Torvalds (42): computer software engineer who wrote the kernel for Linux; other scientists born on this date include Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1722-1793), Thomas Henderson (1798-1844), William Draper Harkins (1873-1951), Arthur Eddington (1882-1944) and Carl-Gustaf Rossby (1898-1957)
• David Archuleta (21): American Idol runner-up; also, musicians Earl "Fatha" Hines (1903-1983), Johnny Otis (90), Charles Neville and Yehoram Gaon (both 71) and John Legend (33)

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