Saturday, December 10, 2016

fletcherize \FLECH-uh-rahyz\, verb:

• To chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

Fletcherize is named for the American dietician Fletcher Horace, who advocated chewing each bite of food at least 32 times in order to truly enjoy it.

 

Nerd

• One whose IQ exceeds his weight.

I had to get a nerd to fix my PC, it had a virus.

History

• Mississippi: the Magnolia State became America's 20th state (1817)
• Spanish-American War: conflict ended with Spain renouncing its claim to Cuba and ceding Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the US (1898)
• Nobel Prizes: were first awarded in Stockholm in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace (1901)
• "The Gift of the Magi": O. Henry's short story was first published (1906)
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights: was adopted by the UN; it became the world's most translated document (1948)
• 300 million yen robbery: Japan's biggest heist was perpetrated; it remains unsolved (1968)

Birthdays

• Thomas H. Gallaudet 1787 - Pioneer of educating the deaf
• Emily Dickinson 1830 - Writer
• Melvil Dewey 1851 - Created the "Dewey Decimal Classification" system
• William Plomer 1903
• Olivier Messiaen 1908
• Chet Huntley 1911
• Dorothy Lamour 1914 - Actress
• Harold Gould 1923 - Actor
• Dan Blocker 1928
• Mako 1930 - Actor
• Tommy Kirk 1941 - Actor
• Fionnula Flannagan 1941 - Actress ("Waking Ned Devine")
• Chad Stuart (Chad and Jeremy) 1943 - Singer
• Gloria Loring 1946 - Actress-singer
• Ralph Tavares 1948 - Singer
• Walter "Clyde" Orange (The Commodores) 1948
• Jessica Cleaves (Friends of Distinction) 1948 - Singer
• Johnny Rodriguez 1951 - Singer
• Susan Dey 1952 - Actress ("L.A. Law," "The Partridge Family")
• Paul Hardcastle 1958 - Jazz keyboardist
• Kenneth Branagh 1960 - Actor-director
• Nia Peeples 1961 - Actress
• Michael Clarke Duncan 1963 - Actor ("The Green Mile")
• Bobby Flay 1964 - TV chef
• J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) 1965
• Kevin Sharp 1970 - Singer
• Scot Alexander (Dishwalla) 1971 - Musician
• Puff Johnson 1972 - Singer
• Meg White (The White Stripes) 1974 - Musician
• Emmanuelle Chriqui 1977
• Sarah Chang 1980 - Violinist
• Raven-Symone 1985 - Actress ("That's So Raven," "The Cosby Show")