Saturday, January 28, 2012

birr \bur\, noun:

1. A whirring sound.
2. Emphasis in statement, speech, etc.
3. A whirring sound.

verb:

1. To move with or make a whirring sound.

Birr is derived from the Icelandic word byrr meaning "favorable wind."
Trivia
When does a porcupine acquire a fully developed set of quills?

• Within days—sometimes hours—of birth. The quills are initially soft and bendable, but they harden quickly.

History

• 1871 - France surrendered in the Franco-Prussian War.
• 1878 - The first telephone switchboard was installed in New Haven, CT.
• 1915 - The Coast Guard was created by an act of the U.S. Congress to fight contraband trade and aid distressed vessels at sea.
• 1918 - The Bolsheviks occupied Helsinki, Finland.
• 1956 - Elvis Presley made his first appearance on national television on "The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show" on CBS.
• 1965 - The Who made their first appearance on the British TV rock show "Ready Steady Go!"
• 1965 - General Motors reported the biggest profit of any U.S. company in history.
• 1973 - CBS-TV debuted "Barnaby Jones."
• 1978 - At the request of a fan, Ted Nugent autographed a man's arm with a bowie knife.
• 1999 - Ford Motor Company announced the purchase of Sweden's Volvo AB for $6.45 billion.

Birthdays

• Sir Henry Morton Stanley 1841
• Jose Marti 1853
• William Seward Burroughs 1857
• Artur Rubinstein 1889
• Jackson Pollock 1912
• Jim Bryan 1927
• Acker Bilk 1927
• Ronnie Scott 1927
• Acker (Bernard) Bilk 1929
• Susan Sontag 1933
• Nicholas Pryor 1935
• Alan Alda 1936
• Bill Phillips 1938
• John Beck 1943
• Susan Howard 1943
• Dick Taylor (The Pretty Things) 1943
• Brian Keenan 1944
• Marthe Keller 1945
• Barbi Benton 1950
• Dave Sharp (The Alarm) 1959
• Sam Phillips 1962
• Greg Cook (Ricochet) 1965
• Rakim 1968
• Sara McLachlan 1968
• DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill) 1968
• Katherine Morris 1969
• Joey Fatone Jr. ('N Sync) 1977
• Nick Carter (Backstreet Boys) 1980
• Elijah Wood 1981