Thursday, August 9, 2012

banausic \buh-NAW-sik\, adjective:

• Serving utilitarian purposes only; mechanical; practical: architecture that was more banausic than inspired.

Banausic comes from the Greek word bánaus meaning "artisan, mere mechanical." It entered English in the 1820s.
english muffin top

• A far more severe muffin top where several folds of fat spills over a women's pants creating various nooks and crannies.

There is enough butter in that girls English muffin top.
Trivia

What humorous newspaper comic strip was born in 1978 after its creator failed to syndicate his first cartoon series, Gnorm Gnat?

• Garfield. Cartoonist Jim Davis hit the big time when he switched from gnat to cat. Gnorm had appeared in only one publication, The Pendleton Times in Pendleton, Indiana.

History

• Tower of Pisa: construction on the campanile began; it would take 200 years to complete, and the uneven settling of the foundation would cause it to lean (1173)
• Sistine Chapel: the private chapel of the popes was consecrated and its first mass was celebrated (1483)
• Webster-Ashburton Treaty: established much of the border between the US and Canada (1842)
• 1936 Summer Olympics: Jesse Owens became the first American to win four gold medals in one Olympiad (1936)
• Nagasaki: atom bomb called the Fat Man, dropped by the Bockscar, devastated a second Japanese city (1945)
• Singapore: seceded from and became independent of Malaysia (1965)
• Richard M. Nixon: officially left office as America's 37th president and the first one to resign; vice president Gerald Ford became president (1974)

Birthdays

• Isaac Walton 1593
• Jean Piaget 1896
• Charles Farrell 1901
• Zino Francescatti 1902
• Roger Shaw 1927
• Merle Kilgore 1934
• Billy Henderson (The Spinners) 1939
• Jack DeJohnette 1942
• David Steinberg 1942
• Sam Elliott 1944
• Ken Norton 1945
• Rinus Gerritsen (Golden Earring) 1946
• Barbara Mason 1947
• Doug Williams 1955
• Benjamin Orr (The Cars) 1955
• Melanie Griffith 1957
• Amanda Bearse 1958
• Kurtis Blow 1959
• Aimee Mann 1960
• Whitney Houston 1963
• Deion Sanders 1967
• Pat Peterson 1968
• Gillian Anderson 1968
• Mack 10 1971
• Liz Vassey 1972
• Arion Salazar (Third Blind Eye) 1972
• Audrey Tautou 1978