Tuesday, March 7, 2023

chortle \CHOR-tl\, transitive and intransitive verb:

• To utter, or express with, a snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.

noun:

• A snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.

Chortle a combination of chuckle and snort. It was coined by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson), in Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1872.

 

productive procrastination, n.

• Doing stuff to keep busy while avoiding what really needs doing. When all is said and done, your room is clean, your laundry is folded -- but you haven't started your English paper.

I should really do my program. But instead, I think it's time for some productive procrastination... Where's the mop??

 

History

• Daniel Webster: orator delivered his Seventh of March speech defending the Compromise of 1850 (1850)
• telephone: transmitter/receiver of sound was patented by Alexander Graham Bell (1876); exactly 50 years later, the first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation took place, between New York City and London (1926)
• fair use: the US Supreme Court ruled in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music that parodies are not copyright infringements (1994)

Birthdays

• Luther Burbank 1849
• Pieter Mondrian 1872
• Maurice Ravel 1875
• Anna Magnani 1908
• Lee Young 1917 - Musician (Nat King Cole Trio)
• Mahlon Clark 1923 - Musician (Lawrence Welk's band)
• James Broderick 1927
• Lord Snowdon 1930 - Photographer
• Frank Morelli 1932
• Willard Scott 1934 - Television personality ("Today")
• Janet Guthrie 1938 - Auto racer

  
• Homero Blancas 1938
• Daniel J. Travanti 1940 - Actor ("Hill Street Blues")
• Michael York 1942
• Michael Eisner 1942 - Walt Disney CEO
• Tammy Faye Bakker 1942
• Billy MacMillan 1943
• Chris White 1943 - Musician (The Zombies)
• John Heard 1946
• Peter Wolf 1946 - Musician (J. Geils Band)
• Matthew Fisher 1946 - Musician (Procol Harum)
• Donna Loren 1947
• Peggy March 1948
• Franco Harris 1950 - Football player
• Lynn Swann 1952 - Football player
• Ernie Isley 1952 - Musician (The Isley Brothers)
• Jules Shear 1953
• Bryan Cranston 1956
• Ivan Lendl 1960 - Tennis player
• Bill Brochtrup 1963
• Wanda Sykes 1964 - Comedian, actress
• Taylor Dayne 1965 - Singer
• Paul Davis 1966 - Musician (Happy Mondays)
• Randy Guss 1967 - Musician (Toad the Wet Sprocket)
• Jeff Kent 1968 - Baseball player
• Rachel Weisz 1971 - Actress
• Peter Sarsgaard 1971 - Actor
• Hugo Ferreira 1974 - Musician (Tantric)
• Jenna Fischer 1974 - Actress ("The Office")
• Laura Prepon 1980 - Actress ("That 70s Show")