Tuesday, April 2, 2019

ha-ha \HAH-hah\, noun:

• sunk fence.

Ha-ha comes from the French ha!, a common exclamation of surprise. Because ha-has are designed to be difficult to see, people would shout in surprise upon stumbling into them.

 

Jesus

• Man who was nailed to a plank for saying how nice it would be if everyone was nice to each other. Had his message misinterpreted by millions (Christians) who now think it is their job to persecute certain groups of people.

Jesus: Yo! Be nice to others, aight?

History

• Florida: Juan Ponce de León discovered this state's flowery coast, naming it for Pascua florida ("flowery Easter"); he was searching for the Fountain of Youth; the event is commemorated as Pascua Florida Day (1513)
• Turin: the first Italian Parliament convened in the first capital of the new Kingdom of Italy (1860)
• "The world must be made safe for democracy": with these words, US President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to enter WWI (1917)
• Falkland Islands War: Argentina invaded British-occupied Falkland Islands; Argentina's defeat within a few months discredited its military government, and civilian rule was restored the following year (1982)

Birthdays

• Giovanni Casanova 1725 - Writer, philanderer
• Hans Christian Andersen 1805 - Author ("The Ugly Duckling")
• Frederic Bartholdi 1834
• Emile Zola 1840 - Novelist
• Walter Chrysler 1875 - Auto manufacturer (Chrysler Corporation)
• Max Ernst 1891 - Sculptor and painter
• Buddy Ebsen 1908 - Actor ("The Beverly Hillbillies", "Barnaby Jones")
• Herbert Mills 1912 - Singer (The Mills Brothers)
• Sir Alec Guinness (Alec Guinness de Cuffe) 1914 - Actor ("Bridge Over River Kwai", "A Passage to India", "The Empire Strikes Back", "Star Wars")
• Lou Monte 1917 - Singer
• Dabbs Greer 1917
• Charles White 1918 - Artist
• Jack Webb (John Randolf) 1920 - Director, actor
• Sir Jack Brabham - Auto racer
• Bobby (Roberto Francisco Gonzales) Avila 1924 - Baseball player
• Carmen Basilio 1927 - Boxer
• Rita Gam 1928 - Actress ("The Thief", "Midnight")
• Sharon Acker 1935
• Warner Mack 1938 - Country singer
• Marvin Gaye, Jr. 1939 - Singer ("I Heard It Through The Grapevine")
• Leon Russel 1942 - Singer, songwriter
• Larry Coryell 1943
• Glen Dale 1943 - Musician (The Fortunes)
• Marlene Floyd 1944 - Golfer, golf commentator
• Linda Hunt 1945 - Actress ("Kindergarten Cop")
• Reggie (Carl Reginald) Smith 1945 - Baseball player
• Don Sutton 1945 - Baseball pitcher
• Emmylou Harris 1947 - Singer
• Leon Wilkerson 1952 - Musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
• Pamela Reed 1953 - Actress
• Debralee Scott 1953 - Actress ("Police Academy")
• Ron "Horshack" Palillo 1954
• Christopher Meloni 1961 - Actor ("Law and Order: Special Victims Unit")
• Keren Woodward 1961 - Singer (Bananarama)

  
• Clark Gregg 1962 - Actor
• Billy Dean 1962
• Bill Romanowski 1966 - Football player
• Roselyn Sanchez 1973 - Actress ("Without a Trace")
• Jeremy Garrett 1976
• Michael Fassbender 1977
• Jesse Plemons 1988 - Actor ("Friday Night Lights")