Saturday, January 3, 2015

zealous \ZEL-uhs\, adjective:

• full of zeal; actively enthusiasticc.

1526, from Latin zelosus from zelus "zeal"

snow hysteria

• When the populace's fear of a snowstorm creates traffic jams and general panic way before any flakes even fall. Usually turns out to be a totally disproportionate response to a minor snowstorm.

Everyone is fleeing the office thanks to snow hysteria...but it isn't supposed to start snowing until 9 PM.

History

• Meiji Restoration: re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and led to the fall of the shoguns (1868)
• the Curse of the Bambino: Red Sox losing streak began with the team's sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees; it lasted till 2004 (1920)
• March of Dimes: fundraising organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to raise funds for the battle against poliomyelitis; it later expanded its aim to the prevention of premature birth, birth defects and infant mortality (1938)
• Alaska: the territory once known as Seward's Folly became the 49th and largest US state (1959)

Birthdays

• Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 B.C.
• Lucretia Mott 1793
• Clement Attlee 1883
• Anna Pavlova 1885
• J.R.R. Tolkien 1892 (LOTR)
• Marion Davies 1897
• Zasu Pitts 1898
• Ray Milland 1905
• Victor Borge 1909
• Joseph Rauh 1911
• Maxene Andrews (The Andrews Sisters) 1916
• John Russell 1921
• Bill Travers 1922
• Hank Stram 1924
• George Martin 1926
• Joan Walsh Anglund 1926
• Robert Loggia 1930
• Dabney Coleman 1932
• Coo Coo (Clifton) Marlin 1932
• Bobby Hull (NHL) 1939
• Van Dyke Parks 1943

• Victoria Principal 1944
• Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield) 1945
• Betty Rollin 1946
• John Paul Jones (Baldwin) 1946
• Melody Anderson 1955
• Mel Gibson 1956
• Shannon Sturges 1968
• James Carter 1969
• Michael Schumacher 1969
• Jason Marsden 1975
• Danica McKellar 1975