Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

burnish \BUR-nish\, verb, noun:
  1. to make shiny by polishing
  2. a polish or shine
c.1325, from Old French burniss-, extended stem of burnir, metathesis of brunir "to make brown/bright, polish," from brun "brown, polished," from a Germanic source
marathoning
  • Watching an entire season of a TV series in a short period of time, especially if you are watching it in one sitting.
Hey, I can't come out tonight. I just got the last season of Lost on DVD, and I'm marathoning it right now. I can't put it down.

Holiday

  • Fat Tuesday - Mardi Gras is the elaborate series of outdoor pageants and indoor tableau balls held annually during the winter social season in the United States, especially in New Orleans and Mobile. The carnival culminates on Fat or Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Rooted in European pre-Lenten revelries, the carnival tradition in the United States began in the colonial period and developed in tandem with racial policies and practices and survives as an extravagant spectacle of excess, decadence, and burlesque. The pageants, each sponsored by one of the many exclusive carnival organizations, are based upon themes drawn from mythology, history, or fiction and are often satiric of contemporary social issues.
History
  • Madama Butterfly: Giacomo Puccini's opera premiered at La Scala in Milan (1904)
  • Newsweek: newsmagazine was published for the first time (1933)
  • Voice of America: government network began broadcasting to the Soviet Union (1947)
  • Vanguard 2: the first weather satellite was launched; its time in orbit is intended to last 300 years (1959)
  • Deep Blue: world chess champion Garry Kasparov beat the IBM supercomputer, winning a six-game match in Philadelphia (1996)
  • London congestion charge: fee for motorists driving into Central London went into effect; the price is £8 per day, Monday — Friday (2003)
Birthdays
  • Thomas Malthus 1766
  • Raphael Peale 1774
  • Rene Laennec 1781
  • Montgomery Ward 1843
  • H.L. Hunt 1889
  • Marian Anderson 1902
  • Red Barber 1908
  • Marjorie Lawrence 1909
  • Arthur Kennedy 1914
  • Wayne (DeWayne) Morris 1914
  • Raf (Raffaele) Vallone 1918
  • Kathleen Freeman 1919
  • Buddy (Boniface) DeFranco 1923
  • Hal Holbrook 1925 - Actor
  • Chaim Potok 1929
  • Bobby Lewis 1933
  • Alan Bates 1934
  • Dame Edna 1934 - Comedian
  • Johnny Bush 1935 - Country singer
  • Jim Brown 1936 - Football player
  • Mary Ann Mobley 1939 - Actress
  • Gene Pitney 1941
  • Brenda Fricker 1945
  • Dodie Stevens 1947
  • Zina Bethune 1950
  • Rene Russo 1954 - Actress
  • Richard Karn 1956
  • Lou Diamond Phillips 1962 - Actor
  • Larry the Cable Guy 1963 - Actor, comedian ("Blue Collar TV")
  • Michael Jordan 1963 - Basketball player
  • Michael Bay 1964 - Director
  • Timothy J. Mahoney 1970 - Musician (311)
  • Denise Richards 1971 - Actress
  • Taylor Hawkins 1972 - Musician (Foo Fighters)
  • Billie Joe Armstrong 1972 - Musician (Green Day)
  • Bryan White 1974
  • Jerry O'Connel 1974 - Actor
  • Kelly Carlson 1976 - Actress
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt 1981 - Actor ("3rd Rock From the Sun")
  • Paris Hilton 1981




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