Sunday, March 3, 2013

umber \UHM-ber\, noun:

1. North England Dialect. shade; shadow.

2. an earth consisting chiefly of a hydrated oxide of iron and some oxide of manganese, used in its natural state as a brown pigment (raw umber) or, after heating, as a reddish-brown pigment (burnt umber).

3. the color of such a pigment; dark dusky brown or dark reddish brown.

4. Ichthyology. the European grayling, Thymallus thymallus.

adjective:

1. of the color umber.

verb:

1. to color with or as if with umber.

Beside the sense of "shade," umber more commonly describes a brown earthy pigment popular in the 1560s. The word has come full circle because the Latin root umbra refers to a "shadow" or "shade."

Soft Googling

• When some is bored on the computer and they're just aimlessly Googling random shit to pass the time.

The class was so boring, half the students were soft googling on their laptops just to stay awake.

Trivia
What is the oldest corporation in the Western Hemisphere?

• Harvard University, which was incorporated as Harvard College, aka the Harvard Corporation, in 1650.

History

• Emancipation of Serfs in Russia: Tsar Alexander II liberated more than 20 million serfs, about one-third of the population (1861)
• Carmen: Georges Bizet's masterpiece opera debuted in Paris; critics panned it (1875)
• "The Star-Spangled Banner": Francis Scott Key's poem became the official US national anthem (1931)
• Sky Tower: observation and telecommunications tower opened in Auckland; at 328 meters (1.076 feet), it is the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere (1997)
• Switzerland: citizens voted to join the United Nations, abandoning nearly 200 years of formal neutrality (2002)

Birthdays

• Alexander Graham Bell 1847
• Shalom Alekhem 1859
• Rupert Brooke 1887
• Matthew Ridgway 1895
• Mayo Methot 1904
• Jean Harlow 1911
• Robert Whitehead 1916
• Julius Boros 1920
• James Doohan 1920
• Diana Barrymore 1921
• Doc Watson 1923 - Musician, singer
• George Pullman 1831
• Paul Clayton 1933
• Princess Radziwill 1933
• Gia Scala 1934
• Willie Chambers 1938 - Musician (The Chambers Brothers)
• John Thomas 1941
• Mike Pender 1942 - Musician (The Searchers)
• Jance Garfat 1944 - Musician (Dr. Hook)
• George Miller 1945 - Director, producer
• Jennifer Warnes 1947 - Singer
• Dave Mount 1947 - Musician (Mud)
• David Pritchard 1949
• Blue Weaver 1949 - Musician (Amen Corner)
• Tim Kazurinsky 1950 - Actor, director
• Robyn Hitchcock 1953 - Musician
• Dale Bozzio 1955 - Singer (Missing Persons)
• Mianda Richardson 1958 - Actress
• Mary Page Keller 1961
• Herschel Walker 1962
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee 1962 - Olympic track and field gold medalist
• Tone-Loc 1966
• Brian Leetch 1968 - Hockey player
• John Bingham 1969 - Musician (Fishbone)
• Julia Bowen 1970 - Actress ("Ed", "Boston Legal")
• David Faustino 1974 - Actor ("Married With Children")
• Danny Masterson 1976
• Jessica Biel 1982 - Actress ("7th Heaven")
• Santonio Holmes 1984 - Football player