Monday, October 24, 2016

slugabed \SLUHG-uh-bed\, noun:

• One who stays in bed until a late hour; a sluggard.

Slugabed is from slug, "sluggard" + abed, "in bed."

 

neverendum

• The act of putting a referendum initiative on the ballot over and over, on the theory that voters will eventually support the proposition because they don't want to hear about it anymore.

"A referendum on banning ice cream again? This is the third time they've tried to get this passed in four years."

"I'm voting in favor this time, just to be done with this neverendum."

History

• Peace of Westphalia: marked the end of the Thirty Years' War, a series of European conflicts (1648)
• Annie Edson Taylor: seeking fame and fortune, the former schoolteacher became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel; she used a pickle barrel (1901)
• George Washington Bridge: upper level of the NY-NJ span opened; the lower level opened 31 years later (1931)
• Fair Labor Standards Act: the 1938 act that established the 40-hour work week in the US went into effect (1940)
• Toronto Blue Jays: became the first non-US team to win the World Series, downing the Atlanta Braves in 6 (1992)

Birthdays

• Sarah J. Hale 1788 - She wrote the poem "Mary Had A Little Lamb."
• Belva Lockwood 1830
• James Sherman 1855
• Molina Trujillo 1891
• Preston Foster 1900
• Moss Hart 1904
• Sonny Terry 1911
• Bob Kane 1915 (creator of Batman)
• Y.A. Tittle (NFL) 1926
• J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) 1930

• Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones) 1936 
• Santo Farina 1937
• F. Murray Abraham 1939
• J.P. Richardson 1930
• David Nelson 1936
• Jerry Edmonton (Steppenwolf) 1946
• Kevin Kline 1947
• Kweisi Mfume 1948
• B.D. Wong 1962
• Ben Gillies (Silverchair) 1979
• Monica 1980