Sunday, June 21, 2020

automaton \aw-TOM-uh-ton, -tn\, noun:

1. a mechanical figure or contrivance constructed to act as if by its own motive power; robot.
2. a person or animal that acts in a monotonous, routine manner, without active intelligence.
3. something capable of acting automatically or without an external motive force.

Automaton comes from the Greek autos + matos, literally meaning "self thinking." It entered English in the 1600s.

 

dick inches 

• Arbitrary (and usually incorrect) units of measurement used mostly by males. Derives from men overestimating their penis size. Dick inches are much shorter than actual inches. Hence a guy can claim to have a 9 inch penis when it is actually closer to 5-6 inches. The term "dick inches" is usually used when over-estimating non-penis measurements.

fellow one: "Finally! There's a parking spot!" 
fellow two: "No way, man...You can't park within 30 feet of a stop sign." 
fellow one: "There's plenty of room." 
fellow two: "Yeah, only if you're measuring in dick inches."

Holiday

• Father's Day: Father's Day is a secular celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and parenting by males, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving to fathers and family-oriented activities. The gifts given often have slogans such as "World's Best Dad".

Holiday

• Solstice (summer in the Northern Hemisphere; winter in the Southern)

History

• US Constitution: went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it (1788)
• Ellen Louks Fairclough: was sworn in as the first female member of the Canadian cabinet (1957)
• Women's National Basketball Association: league play began (1997)
• polio: the World Health Organization declared Europe free of the disease (2002)
• SpaceShipOne: the first privately funded and developed spacecraft was launched over the Mojave Desert and piloted into space by Michael Melvill (2004)
• Pluto: newly discovered moons were named Nix and Hydra (2006)

Birthdays

• Martha Washington 1731
• Henry Ossawa Tanner 1859
• Al Hirshfield 1903
• Jean-Paul Sartre 1905
• Jane Russell 1921
• Judy Holliday 1922
• Maureen Stapleton 1925
• Carl Stokes 1927
• O.C. Smith 1932
• Bernie Kopell 1933
• Francoise Sagan 1935
• Ron Ely 1938
• Monte Markham 1938
• Joe Flaherty 1940
• Mariette Hartley 1940
• Brian Sternberg 1943
• Ray Davies (Kinks) 1944
• Chris Britton ( The Troggs) 1945
• Brenda Holloway 1946
• Joey Molland 1947
• Michael Gross 1947
• Meredith Baxter Birney 1947
• Leon Everette 1948
• Joey Kramer (Aerosmith) 1950
• Nils Lofgren (E Street Band) 1951
• Robyn Douglas 1953
• Robert Pastorelli 1954
• Leigh McCloskey 1955
• Berke Brethed 1957
• Mark Brzezicki (Big Country) 1957
• Kathy Mattea 1959
• Marc Copage 1962
• Doug Savant 1964
• Porter Howell 1964
• Sammi Davis-Voss 1964
• Michael Dolan 1965
• Allison Moorer 1972
• Juliette Lewis 1973
• Justin Cary (Sixpence None the Richer) 1975
• Mike Einziger (Incubus) 1976
• Prince William (England) 1982