Thursday, December 29, 2016

engram \EN-gram\, noun:

1. The supposed physical basis of an individual memory in the brain.

2. A presumed encoding in neural tissue that provides a physical basis for the persistence of memory; a memory trace.

Engram derives from the Greek roots en, "within," and gram, "something written."

voluntold

• The exact opposite of volunteering. Always used in reference to an unpleasant task to which you have been assigned by your boss.

Example 1:

Co-worker 1: I hear you got a transfer.

Co-worker 2: Yeah. I didn't want to, but I was voluntold.

Example 2:

Co-worker 1: You want to go fishing Saturday???

Co-worker 2: I can't, I got voluntold I have to work this weekend.

History

• Thomas Becket: the Archbishop of Canturbury was killed by four knights in his cathedral; he later became a saint (1170)
• Texas: Lone Star State became the 28th American state (1845)
• YMCA: the first such men's club in the US was founded, based on the London model that was started in the previous decade by George Williams (1851)
• Wounded Knee Massacre: last major confrontation between the Sioux and the US Army ended with hundreds of Indians killed (1890)
• Tian Tan Buddha: 110-ft.-(34 m.)-tall bronze Buddha statue in Hong Kong was completed (1993)
• Guatemala: peace treaty ended 36 years of civil strife (1996) 

Birthdays

• Marquise de Pompadour 1721
• Charles Goodyear 1800
• Andrew Johnson (U.S.) 1808
• William Gladstone 1809
• Pablo Casals 1876
• Viveca Lindfors 1920
• William Gaddis 1922
• Rose Lee Maphis 1922
• Dina Merrill 1928
• Inga Swenson 1932
• Tom Jarriel 1934
• Ed Flanders 1934
• Ray Nitschke 1936
• Jon Voight 1938
• Mary Tyler Moore 1938
• Ed Bruce 1940
• Ray Thomas (Moody Blues) 1942
• Marianne Faithfull 1946
  
• Ted Danson 1947
• Cozy Powell 1947
• Jon Polito 1950
• Gelsey Kirkland 1952
• Yvonne Elliman (Jesus Christ Superstar) 1953
• Ed Autry 1954
• Neil Geraldo 1955
• Paula Poundstone 1960
• Mark Day (Happy Mondays) 1961
• Jim Reid (The Jesus and Mary Chain) 1961
• Jason Gouuld 1966
• Mystro Clark 1966
• Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) 1970
• Jude Law 1972
• Shawn Hatosy 1975
• Jessica Andrews 1983