Thursday, June 6, 2013

consortium \kuhn-SAWR-shee-uhm, -tee-\, noun:

1. any association, partnership, or union.
2. a combination of financial institutions, capitalists, etc., for carrying into effect some financial operation requiring large resources of capital.
3. Law. the legal right of husband and wife to companionship and conjugal intercourse with each other: In a wrongful death action the surviving spouse commonly seeks damages for loss of consortium.

Consortium entered English in the 1820s. It comes from the Latin word for partnership, consort.

rulebombing

• Mass reporting of any violation of a rule while disrespecting the intent of the rule, just for the sake of getting something removed.

1. Someone posts a video of a political speech. There is no swearing; it could be on CNN.

2. The opponents of the person giving the speech mass report that video for containing "disturbing content," even though "disturbing content" is supposed to be something like, say, gore.

3. In reaction to the mass reports, moderators flag the video as 18+ or remove it entirely, just because of the rulebombing effect.

Trivia

How many washing machine loads of laundry does the average American family do every year?

• Almost 400—392, to be exact, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

History

• YMCA: was founded in London (1844)
• drive-in movie: opened in Camden, NJ (1933)
• SEC: commission was established to protect investors (1934)
• D-Day: Allied invasion of France marked a turning point in WWII (1944)

• James Meredith: the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi was shot and wounded on a highway during his March Against Fear (1966)
• Eastern Mediterranean Event: asteroid exploded in the air over the sea between Libya and Crete (2002)
• Phylicia Rashad: became the first African-American actress to win a Best Actress Tony for her leading role in A Raisin in the Sun (2004)

Birthdays

• Pierre Corneille 1606 - Dramatist
• Nathan Hale 1755 - Soldier for Continental Army during American Revolutionary War, considered to be America's first spy, known for his famous quote "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
• John Trumbull 1756 - Artist during the American Revolutionary War period
• Alexander Pushkin (Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin) 1799 - Russian author and poet
• Thomas Mann 1875 - German novelist, short story writer, social critic
• Ted Lewis (Theodore Leopold Friedman) 1892 - Musician, bandleader, singer
• Walter Abel 1898 - Actor
• Aram Khachaturian 1903 - Composer
• Tom Ryan 1926 - Writer, artist
• David Scott (David Randolph Scott) 1932 - NASA astronaut and engineer
• Billie Whitelaw (Billie Honor Whitelaw) 1932 - Actress
• Roy Innis 1934 - Civil rights activist
• Levi Stubbs 1936 - Musician (Four Tops)
• Gary U.S. Bonds (Gary Levone Anderson) 1939 - Singer
• Joe Stampley 1943 - Country singer
• Monty Alexander (Montgomery Bernard Alexander) 1944 - Musician
• Peter Albin 1944 - Musician (Big Brother and the Holding Company)
• David Dukes 1945 - Actor
• Ada Kok 1947 - Swimmer
• Robert Englund (Robert Barton Englund) 1948 - Actor, best known for player the character of Freddy Krueger
• Harvey Fierstein 1954 - Actor, playwright
• Sandra Bernhard 1955 - Comedian, singer, actress
• Bjorn Borg 1956 - Tennis player
• Jimmy Jam (James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III) 1959 - Songwriter, producer (Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis)
• Amanda Pays 1959 - Actress
• Steve Vai 1960 - Guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, actor
• Sean Yseult 1966 - Musician (White Zombie)
• Max Casella 1967 - Actor ("The Sopranos," "Doogie Howser, M.D.")
• Damion Hall 1968 - Musician (Guy), also known as "Crazy Legs"
• Cristina Adriana Chiara Scabbia 1972 smokin' hot singer of Lacuna Coil
• Staci Keenan 1975 - Actress