Monday, July 28, 2014

foray \ FAWR-ey, FOR-ey \ , noun; 

1. a quick raid, usually for the purpose of taking plunder: Vikings made a foray on the port . 
2. a quick, sudden attack: The defenders made a foray outside the walls. 
3. an initial venture: a successful foray into politics. 

verb:

1. to make a raid; pillage; maraud. 
2. to invade or make one's way, as for profit or adventure: foreign industries foraying into U.S. markets. 
3. to ravage in search of plunder; pillage. 

Origin: Foray entered English in the late 14th century. It shares its roots with the term forage.

piss in the wind

• Doing something that is a complete waste of effort and time for which you can expect no results and may even backfire on you.

Telling the president that invading other countries is unpopular with many voters is like pissing in the wind.

History 

• Maximilien Robespierre: Reign of Terror leader was guillotined in Paris during the French Revolution (1794)
• Peru: declared independence from Spain (1821)
• 14th Amendment: granted full citizenship to former US slaves; introduced new civil rights safeguards, due process, equal protection (1868)
• Austria-Hungary: declared war on Serbia, precipitating World War I (1914)
• Kennewick Man: prehistoric remains were discovered on the banks of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, sparking a debate between scientists and Native Americans (1996)
• IRA: ended its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland in favor of "exclusively peaceful means" (2005)

Birthdays

• Beatrix Potter 1866
• Joe E. Brown 1891
• Rudy Vallee 1901
• Richard Rogers 1902
• Cameron Dragon 1914
• Charles Hard Townes 1915
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis 1929
• Darryl Hickman 1931
• Jacques d'Amboise 1934
  
• Peter Duchin 1937
• George Cummings 1938 - Musician (Dr. Hook)
• Phil Proctor 1940
• Mike Bloomfield 1944
• Jim Davis 1945
• Richard Wright 1945 - Musician (Pink Floyd)
• Jonathan Edwards 1946 - Singer

• Linda Kelsey 1946
• Barbara Ferrell 1947
• Sally Struthers 1948
• Georgia Bright Engel 1948
• Peter Doyle 1949 - Musician (The New Seekers)
• Simon Kirke 1949 - Musician (Bad Company, Free)
• Terry Fox 1958
• Lori Loughlin 1964
• Elizabeth Berkley 1972
• Afroman 1974