Sunday, December 29, 2013

lipogram \LIP-uh-gram, LAHY-puh-\, noun: 

• a written work composed of words chosen so as to avoid the use of one or more specific alphabetic characters.

Lipogram entered English at the turn of the 18th century from the Greek lipográmmatos meaning "missing a letter."

bp;dr

• "behind paywall, didn't read"

Etymology: An adaptation of tl;dr.
"Dude, did you read that spectacular paper on embryonic stem cells?"
"Sorry, bp;dr"
Trivia

What is the only insect known to have just one ear?

• The praying mantis. Its ear, which has two eardrums, is capable of picking up ultrasonic sounds, which is essential in detecting the echolocation cries of the bat, one of its biggest predators.

History

• Thomas Becket: the Archbishop of Canturbury was killed by four knights in his cathedral; he later became a saint (1170)
• Texas: Lone Star State became the 28th American state (1845)
• YMCA: the first such men's club in the US was founded, based on the London model that was started in the previous decade by George Williams (1851)
• Wounded Knee Massacre: last major confrontation between the Sioux and the US Army ended with hundreds of Indians killed (1890)
• Tian Tan Buddha: 110-ft.-(34 m.)-tall bronze Buddha statue in Hong Kong was completed (1993)
• Guatemala: peace treaty ended 36 years of civil strife (1996) 

Birthdays

• Marquise de Pompadour 1721
• Charles Goodyear 1800
• Andrew Johnson (U.S.) 1808
• William Gladstone 1809
• Pablo Casals 1876
• Viveca Lindfors 1920
• William Gaddis 1922
• Rose Lee Maphis 1922
• Dina Merrill 1928
• Inga Swenson 1932
• Tom Jarriel 1934
• Ed Flanders 1934
• Ray Nitschke 1936
• Jon Voight 1938
• Mary Tyler Moore 1938
• Ed Bruce 1940
• Ray Thomas (Moody Blues) 1942

• Marianne Faithfull 1946
• Ted Danson 1947
• Cozy Powell 1947
• Jon Polito 1950
• Gelsey Kirkland 1952
• Yvonne Elliman (Jesus Christ Superstar) 1953
• Ed Autry 1954
• Neil Geraldo 1955
• Paula Poundstone 1960
• Mark Day (Happy Mondays) 1961
• Jim Reid (The Jesus and Mary Chain) 1961
• Jason Gouuld 1966
• Mystro Clark 1966
• Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) 1970
• Jude Law 1972
• Shawn Hatosy 1975
• Jessica Andrews 1983