Saturday, April 20, 2013

machinate \MAK-uh-neyt\, verb:

• to contrive or plot, especially artfully or with evil purpose: to machinate the overthrow of the government.

Machinate entered English from the Latin machina in the first half of the fifteenth century.

Tubeception

• The process of (often aimlessly) browsing YouTube videos via the suggested/related videos that are provided on the YouTube sidebar or at the conclusion of a viewed YouTube clip. Refers to the concept of the "dream, within a dream, within a dream" from the movie Inception; except users are experiencing a video, within a video, within a video. Can often be a great way of finding obscure and random YouTube content that usually ends up being a world away from the initial search.

"Dude, I found this hilarious video of a kid falling off a see-saw"

"Yeah, how'd you get to that?"

"Tubeception, man: I started on a Slayer video, then just clicked away until I ended up at see-saw kid!"

"I was so bored at home, I ended up having a Tubeception session and realised how many damn cats are on here!"

Trivia

• I'm not working weekends anymore. Weekend trivia will likely be posted on Mondays, again.

History

• Fenway Park: Boston Red Sox played their first game in the new stadium (1912)
• school busing: in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, the Supreme Court held unanimously that it was legitimate to use busing as a tool for achieving racial desegregation in schools (1971)
• Columbine High School massacre: two students at Columbine High School killed 12 classmates and a teacher in a shooting spree (1999)
• Danica Patrick: became the first female winner in IndyCar history, winning the Indy Japan 300 (2008)

Birthdays

• Phillip Pinel 1745
• Napoleon III 1808 - Emperor of France
• Daniel Chester French 1850 - Sculptor, created Minute Man statue in Concord, MA, Abraham Lincoln seated in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
• Adolf Hitler 1889 - German leader during World War II
• Joan Miro 1893 - Artist
• Harold Lloyd 1893 - Comedian, actor ("For Heaven's Sake")
• Norman Norell (Norman David Levinson) 1900 - Costume designer, fashion designer
• Lionel Hampton 1908 - Singer, songwriter, jazz musician, bandleader
• Tito (Ernest) Puente 1923 - Jazz musician, bandleader
• Nina Foch (Nina Consuelo Maud Fock) 1924 - Actress ("Spartacus", "An American in Paris")
• Leslie Philips 1924 - Actor ("Harry Potter" films)
• Henri Renaud 1925 - Jazz musician, pianist, record producer
• Elena Verdugo 1926 - Actress ("Little Giants", "Meet Millie")
• Phil Hill 1927 - Auto racer
• Bob (Robert Earl) Braun 1929 - Television host ("The Bob Braun Show"), actor ("Die Hard 2", "The Young and the Restless")
• Beaver Harris (William Godwin Harris) 1936 - Musician
• George Takei 1937 - Actor ("Star Trek", "Star Trek" movie series)
• Johnny Tillotson 1939 - Singer
• Ryan O'Neal 1941 - Actor ("Love Story", "Peyton Place")
• Michael Brandon (Feldman) 1945 - Actor ("Red Alert", "Promises in the Dark")
• Jimmy Winston (Langwith) 1945 - Musician (Moments, Small Faces)
• Steve Spurrier 1945 - Football player
• Tom (Thomas George) Hutton 1946 - Baseball player
• Brian Lavender 1947 - Hockey player
• David Leland 1947 - Actor ("Time Bandits"), director
• Joe Bonner 1948 - Jazz pianist, composer
• Craig Frost 1948 - Musician (Grand Funk Railroad)
• Jessica Lange 1949 - Actress ("Tootsie", "Blue Sky")
• Luther Vandross 1951 - Singer, songwriter
• Denis Leary 1958 - Actor
• Clint Howard 1959 - Actor ("Backdraft", "Cocoon")
• Crispin Glover 1964 - Actor ("Dead Man", "Twister", "Back to the Future")
• Mike Portnoy 1967 - Musician, drummer (Dream Theater)
• Wade Hayes 1969
• Carmen Electra 1972 - Actress ("Baywatch"), singer/dancer
• Joey Lawrence 1976 - Actor ("Gimme a Break", "Blossom")