Saturday, March 2, 2013

tensile \TEN-suhl\, adjective:

1. capable of being stretched or drawn out; ductile.

2. of or pertaining to tension: tensile strain.

This late Renaissance word tensile was derived in 1626 from the Latin verb tendere meaning "to stretch."

Hollywood Historian

• Someone who accepts movie scripts as historical facts and then uses them in debates/arguments.

Joe: Private Ryan was a real person!

Bob: You're such a Hollywood Historian.

Trivia
What was the first wildlife featured on a U.S. postage stamp?

• A buffalo, on a 1923 sepia-colored 30-cent stamp. Two stamps issued in the late 1800s depicted wildlife, but in secondary roles: a bald eagle was shown on the U.S. coat of arms, and a buffalo was shown being hunted by an Indian.

History

• Puerto Rico: became a US territory; its residents gained US citizenship (1917)
• Time: the newsweekly debuted (1923)
• Bill of Rights: the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution were finally ratified by Massachusetts, 147 years after having gone into effect (1939)
• B-50 Superfortress: became the first aircraft to fly around the world nonstop, landing in Fort Worth, Texas, after a flight time of 94:01 (1949)
• Morocco: gained independence from France (1956)
• 100-point game: Wilt Chamberlain set the NBA's single-game scoring record in a Philadelphia Warriors-New York Knicks game; he had not slept and had a hangover (1962)

Birthdays

• Sam Houston 1793 - First President of the Republic of Texas
• Dr. Suess 1904
• Desi Arnaz 1917
• Jennifer Jones 1919 - Actress
• John Cullum 1930 - Actor ("Northern Exposure")
• Tom Wolfe 1931 - Author
• Mikhail Gorbachev 1931 - Former Soviet President
• Al Waxman 1934
• Doug Watkins 1934
• Paul Dino 1939
• Barbara Luna 1939 - Actress
• Jon Finch 1941 - Actor
• John Irving 1942 - Author
• Lou Reed 1942 - Musician (Velvet Underground)
• Eddie Money 1949 - Musician
• Karen Carpenter 1950 - Singer (The Carpenters)
• Cassie Yates 1951 - Actress
• Laraine Newman 1952 - Actress ("Saturday Night Live")
• Jay Osmond 1955 - Singer (The Osmond Brothers)
• Mark Evans 1956 - Musician (AC/DC)
• John Cowsill 1956 - Musician (The Cowsills)
• Kevin Curren 1958
• Larry Stewart 1959 - Musician (Restless Heart)
• Jon Bon Jovi 1962 - Musician (Bon Jovi)
• Daniel Craig 1968 - Actor
• Casey 1976 - Musician (Jimmie's Chicken Shack)
• Heather McComb 1977 - Actress ("Party of Five")
• Chris Martin 1977 - Musician (Coldplay)
• Bryce Dallas Howard 1981 - Actress
• Ben Roethlisberger 1982 - Football player
• Robert Iler 1985 - Actor ("The Sopranos")
• Reggie Bush 1985 - Football player