Thursday, June 9, 2016

noctivagant \noc-tiv-A-gant\, adjective:

• Pertaining to going about in the night; night-wandering.

Noctivagant is formed from two Latin roots, noctis, "night", and vagans, "to wander about."

 

Duckface

• A term used to descibe the face made if you push your lips together in a combination of a pout and a pucker, giving the impression you have larger cheekbones and bigger lips.

"Oh christ, look at that horrific duckface"

"Stop doing that duckface. You look stupid"

History

• President and Fellows of Harvard College: aka, the Harvard Corporation, was established; it is the oldest corporation in the continent of America (1650)
• Hong Kong: was signed over to the British for 99 years (1898)
• automat: the first automated vending-machine restaurant opened in Philadelphia (1902)
• Alice Huyler Ramsey: 22-year-old housewife set out, mapless, on a road trip that made her the first woman to drive across the US — from Manhattan to San Francisco; the trip took 59 days (1909)
• Donald Duck: debuted in The Wise Little Hen; for more than 50 years, his voice was provided by Clarence "Ducky" Nash (1934)
• Bhumibol Adulyadej: became king of Thailand; in a largely ceremonial role, he is currently the world's longest-reigning head of state (1946)
• Secretariat: the stallion won the Belmont Stakes and became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years (1973)
• Millennium Bridge: pedestrian suspension bridge over the River Thames opened; found to be wobbly, it closed for repairs almost immediately (2000)

Birthdays

• Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Felician) 1640 - Holy Roman emperor
• Peter the Great 1672 - Peter I of Russia
• George Stephenson 1781 - Civil engineer and mechanical engineer, built the first public railway
• John Howard Payne 1791 - Actor, poet, playwright
• Carl Nielsen 1865 - Composer, conductor, violinist
• Meta Vaux Warrick 1877 - Artist
• Cole Porter (Cole Albert Porter) 1891 - Composer, songwriter
• Fred Waring 1900 - Musician (The Pennsylvanians), bandleader, radio-television personality
• Louis Kutner 1908 - Human rights activist, lawyer, helped to found Amnesty International
• Robert "Bob" Cummings (Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings) 1910 - Actor
• Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss) 1915 - Musician, songwriter, inventor (solid-body electric guitar)
• Charles Loloma 1921 - Artist
• George Axelrod 1922 - Screenwriter
• Mona Freeman (Monica Elizabeth Freeman) 1926 - Actress
• Marvin L. Kalb 1930 - Journalist
• Joe Santos 1931 - Actor
• Jimmy Spruill 1934 - Musician
• Jackie Wilson (Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr.) 1934 - Singer, performer
• Diana Van Der Vlis 1935 - Actress
• Letty Cottin Pogrebin 1939 - Writer, journalist
• Dick Vitale (Richard J. "Dick" Vitale) 1940 - Basketball sportscaster
• Billy Hatton 1941 - Musician (The Fourmost)
• Jon Lord 1941 - Musician (Whitesnake, Deep Purple)
• Trevor Bolder 1950 - Musician (Spiders from Mars, Uriah Heep)
• Dave Parker (David Gene "The Cobra" Parker) 1951 - Baseball player
• Billy Knight (William R. "Billy" Knight) 1952 - Basketball player
• Patricia Cornwell 1956 - Mystery author
• Michael J. Fox 1961 - Actor ("Family Ties")
• Aaron Sorkin 1961 - Writer, producer ("The West Wing")
• Johnny Depp (John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II) 1963 - Actor, musician
• Wayman Tisdale 1964 - Basketball player
• Gloria Reuben 1965 - Singer, actress ("ER")
• Dean Felber 1967 - Musician (Hootie & the Blowfish)
• Dean Dinning 1967 - Musician (Toad the Wet Sprocket)
• Tedy Bruschi 1973 - Football player
• Matthew Bellamy 1978 - musician (MUSE)
• Natalie Portman 1981 - Actress ("Star Wars" movie series)
• Mae Whitman 1988 - Actress ("Arrested Development")