Monday, October 12, 2015

birling \BUR-ling\ noun

• Chiefly Northern U.S. a game played by lumberjacks, in which each tries to balance longest on a floating log while rotating the log with the feet. 

Origin: Birling is derived from the verb birl. Birl dates from the 1700s, is perhaps a blend of birr and whirl, which combined mean "to spin with force."

Presidential Flashcards (n.)

• Cash money, dollar bills, dough, moolah, bread.

That kid just asked me to help him with some presidential flashcards.

Holiday

• Columbus Day - holiday commemorating Christopher Columbus's discovery of America. It has been traditionally celebrated on Oct. 12 throughout most of the United States, parts of Canada, and in several of the Latin American republics. In the United States, however, since the observation in 1971 of the Uniform Holiday Act, it is celebrated on the Monday nearest to Oct. 12.

History

• New World: Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Bahamas (1492)
• Oktoberfest: tradition of beery celebration began with the wedding reception of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1810)
  

  
• The Pledge of Allegiance: was first recited in US public schools (1892)
• Nikita Krushchev: the Soviet premier made an impact when he pounded his shoe on his desk at a UN General Assembly meeting (1960)
• the day of six billion: the official UN-designated approximate day that the world population hit 6 billion; it was 12 years after the population reached 5 billion (1999)
• USS Cole: suicide bombers on an explosives-laden boat rammed into the American destroyer in Yemen; 17 US sailors died (2000)
• Bali: 202 people died when a terrorist's bomb destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island (2002)

Birthdays

• Elmer Sperry 1860
• Perle Mesta 1891
• Joe Cronin (MLB) 1906
  
• Guitar Gabriel 1925
• Antonia Rey 1927
• Nappy Brown 1929
• Ned Jarrett 1932
• Jean Nidetch 1932
• Dick Gregory 1932
• Luciano Pavarotti 1935
• Samuel Moore (Sam & Dave) 1935
  
• Lawrence Jeffrey 1940
• Melvin Franklin (Temptations) 1942
• Chris Wallace 1947
• Rick Parfitt (Status Quo) 1948
• Susan Anton 1950
• Ronald E. McNair 1950
• Pat DiNizzio (Smithereens) 1955
• Dave Vanian (The Damned) 1956
• Claude McKnight (Take 6) 1962
• Adam Rich 1968
• Hugh Jackman 1968
• Garfield Bright (Shai) 1969
• Martie Seidel (Dixie Chicks) 1969
• Kirk Cameron 1970