Saturday, July 21, 2012

tempestuous \tem-PESS-chuh-wus\ adjective

• of, relating to, or resembling a tempest : turbulent, stormy

Time is sometimes marked in seasons, and seasons are associated with the weather. This explains how "tempus," the Latin word for "time" could have given rise to an English adjective for things turbulent and stormy. "Tempus" is the root behind Old Latin "tempestus," meaning "season," and Late Latin "tempestuosus," the direct ancestor of "tempestuous." As you might expect, "tempus" is also the root of the noun "tempest"; it probably played a role in the history of "temper" as well, but that connection isn't definite.

Frolics

• A protracted period of debauchery and drunkenness. This tradition originated with the "Spring Frolics" of Davidson College where a near lawless society develops over the course of the weekend. If you remember Frolics, you're doing it wrong.

Man those frolics were so hard, I don't remember anything since Friday. I just woke up wearing nothing but a hoodie as pants.

Trivia

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History

• Temple of Artemis: marble shrine that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was burned down by a fame-seeking young man, Herostratus (356 BCE)
• Bull Run: Confederate forces won the first major battle of the Civil War; Confederate general Thomas Jackson acquired his nickname "Stonewall" (1861)
• Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes was found guilty of teaching Darwinism in a Tennessee high school (1925)
• 17th parallel: following defeat at Dien Bien Phu, France agreed to withdraw troops from communist North Vietnam (1954)
• Aswan Dam: was completed, preventing Nile floods and providing electricity and water for Egypt and Sudan (1970)
• WorldCom: filed for bankruptcy about a month after revealing deceptive accounting had inflated profits by nearly $4 billion; it was the largest bankruptcy in US history (2002)

Birthdays

• Ernest Hemingway 1899 - Author, journalist
• Marshall McLuhan 1911 - Educator, philosopher, scholar
• Isaac Stern 1920 - Violinist
• Kay Starr 1922 - Singer
• Don Knotts 1924 - Actor
• Paul Burke 1926 - Actor
• Norman Jewison 1926 - Film director, producer, actor, founder of the Canadian Film Centre
• Janet Reno 1938 - Attorney General of the U.S. (1993-2001)
• Kim Fowley 1942 - Record producer, songwriter, musician
• David Downing 1943 - Actor
• Edward Herrmann 1943 - Actor
• Leigh Lawson 1945 - Actor, director, writer
• Cat Stevens 1947 - Musician
• Robin Williams 1952 - Actor, comedian
• Jon Lovitz 1957 - Actor ("Saturday Night Live") comedian, singer
• Henry Priestman (Henry Christian Priestman) 1958 - Singer, musician (The Christians)
• Lance Guest 1960 - Actor
• Matt Mulhern 1960 - Actor
• Jim Martion 1961 - Musician (Faith No More)
• Emerson Hart 1969 - Musician (Tonic)
• Paul Brandt (Paul Rennee Belobersycky) 1972 - Country musician
• Gary Whitta 1972 - Author, screenwriter, video game designer
• Josh Hartnett 1978 - Actor