TGIF! Friday, August 9, 2013

grammatology \gram-uh-TOL-uh-jee\, noun:

• the scientific study of systems of writing.

Grammatology was coined in the 1950s from Greek roots, the root grámma meaning "letter" and -ology, a combining form used in the names of sciences or bodies of knowledge.
Like shock

• When one gets many more likes/retweets/favorites on a social networking site than usual.

"Man I usually get about 10 likes, but that picture of my dog got 30. I'm like shocked"

"Did you see that girl whose hot now? She used to get a few likes, but now she's got like 50 on her prophile pic. Total like shock."
Trivia

To what fellow writer did Herman Melville dedicate his whaling epic Moby Dick?

• Nathaniel Hawthorne, who had urged Melville to draw on his whaling experiences to write a novel.

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