Monday, March 16, 2015

cormorant \KOR-mur-unt; -muh-rant\, noun:

1. Any species of Phalacrocorax, a genus of sea birds having a sac under the beak; the shag. Cormorants devour fish voraciously, and have become the emblem of gluttony. They are generally black, and hence are called sea ravens, and coalgeese.
2. A gluttonous, greedy, or rapacious person.

Cormorant comes from Old French cormareng, "raven of the sea," from corb, "raven" (from Latin corvus) + marenc, "of the sea" (from Latin marinus, from mare, "sea").

 

Whole Grazer

• Person who feels as though Whole Foods is so expensive that in order to get their money's worth, they have to try every sample available, often multiple times

That place is expensive, but he's a Whole Grazer so he just wanders around eating samples until he has eaten so much that it has paid for his groceries.

History

• Samoset: Native American man made a sudden appearance among the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony, greeting them in English (1622)
• West Point: the US Military Academy was established; graduates include US presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower (1802)
• The Scarlet Letter: Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel about adultery, loyalty and labeling was published (1850)
• Robert Goddard: physicist launched the first liquid fuel rocket, in Auburn, Massachusetts; "Nell" the rocket traveled 2.5 seconds and landed in a cabbage field (1926)
• My Lai massacre: US soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the Vietnam village of My Lai (1968)

Birthdays

• James Madison 1751 - Fourth president of the United States. Born in Port Conway, VA.
• George S. Ohm 1787
• Rosa Bonheur 1822
• Andrew S. Hallidie 1836
• Maxim Gorkei 1861
• Conrad Nagel 1896
• Henny Youngman 1906
• Josef Mengele 1911
• Leo McKern 1920
• Jerry Lewis 1926 - Actor, comedian

  
• Carl Smith 1927
• Ruby (Rueben) Braff 1927
• Tommy Flanagan 1930
• Betty Johnson 1932
• R. Walter Cunningham 1932
• Bernardo Bertolucci 1940 - Director
• Chuck Woolery 1941 - Game show host ("Love Connection", "Lingo")
• Jerry Jeff Walker 1942 - Singer, songwriter
• Robin Williams 1947 - Country singer
• Erik Estrada 1949 - Actor ("CHiPs")
• Victor Garber 1949 - Actor
• Kate Nelligan 1951 - Actress
• Ray Benson 1951 - Country singer (Asleep at the Wheel)
• Hollis Stacy 1954 - Golfer
• Nancy Wilson 1954 - Musician (Heart)
• Isabelle Huppert 1955
• Ozzie Newsome 1956 - Football player
• Flava Flav 1959 - Rapper (Public Enemy)
• Jimmy DeGrasso 1963 - Musician (Megadeth)
• Patty Griffin 1964 - Folk singer
• Rodney Peete 1966 - Football player
• Lauren Graham 1967 - Actress ("Gilmore Girls")
• Brooke Burns 1978 - Actress ("Baywatch"), game show host ("Dog Eat Dog")