Monday, April 17, 2023

scurrilous \SKUR-uh-luhs\, adjective:

1. Grossly or obscenely abusive.

2. Characterized by or using low buffoonery.

Scurrilous likely traces its origin to the Etruscan language, coming into Latin as scurrilis, "fashionable city idler," and, later, "buffoon."

 

digitally freshen up

• A term one can use to excuse oneself from the face-time company of another for reasons of a burning desire to check your e-mail. You won't be comfortable in your conversation unless you check on your inbox for any immediately important messages that need attention. By "digitally freshening up", you have eased the unnatural frequent urge of wanting to peek at your iPhone in your important business meeting.

Before an all day business meeting begins, one person to another: "excuse me while I digitally freshen up, I'll be right back".

Holiday

• Emancipation Day (Observed) The District of Columbia celebrates April 16 as Emancipation Day. On that day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act (an act of Compensated emancipation) for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia. The Act freed about 3,100 enslaved persons in the District of Columbia nine months before President Lincoln issued his broader Emancipation Proclamation. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act represents the only example of compensation by the federal government to former owners of emancipated slaves.

History

• Daffy Duck: was introduced on Porky's Duck Hunt (1937)
• Mickey Mantle: MLB hall-of-famer made major league debut with the Yankees (1951)
• Bay of Pigs: unsuccessful invasion of Cuba was launched by US-supported exiles after JFK double crossed them and didn't send the back-up he promised. (1961)
  

  Ford Mustang: made its debut in US showrooms; by the end of the year, it had already starred in Goldfinger(1964)
• Shea Stadium: Queens, New York, baseball park opened (1964); it served the Mets for 44 years before being demolished to make room for parking for the new Citi Field
• Apollo 13: splashed down safely, ending the near-disastrous flight (1970)
• Cambodia: fell to the Khmer Rouge with the capture of Phnom Penh, resulting in genocidal killing fields (1975)

Birthdays

• Henry Vaughan 1622
• J.P. (John Pierpoint) Morgan 1837 - Financier
• Nikita Khrushchev 1894 - U.S.S.R. premier
• Thornton Wilder 1897 - Novelist, playwright
• Gregor Piatigorsky 1903 - Cellist
• Arthur Lake 1905 - Actor ("Blondie" series)
• Sirimavo Bandaranaike 1916 - Ceylon Prime Minister, the world's first woman prime minister
• William Holden (Beedle Jr.) 1918 - Actor ("Stalag 17 [1953]", "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "The Towering Inferno")
• Harry Reasoner 1923 - Newsman ("Sixty Minutes")
• Lon McCallister 1923
• Solly (Solomon Joseph) Hemus 1923 - Baseball player
• Lindsay Anderson 1923 - Director
• Roy Gallant 1924 - Author
• Chris Barber 1930 - Musician, bandleader
• Don Kirshner 1934 - Music publisher, created The Monkees
• Warren Chiasson 1934 - Jazz musician (Warren Chiasson Duo)
• Lamar Lundy 1935 - Football player
• Dennis Hextall 1943 - Hockey player
• Bobby Curtola 1944 - Singer
• Jan Hammer 1948 - Composer, musician
• Pedro (Modesto Delfi) Garcia 1950 - Baseball player
• Olivia Hussey 1951 - Actress ("Ice Cream Man", "Psycho 4: The Beginning")
• Pete Shelley (McNeish) 1955 - Musician (The Buzzcocks)
• Sean Bean 1958 - Actor ("Goldeneye", "The Lord of the Rings" series)
• Teri Austin 1959
• Stephen Singleton 1959 - Musician (ABC)
• Boomer (Norman) Esiason 1961 - Football player, TV commentator
• Lela Rochon 1964
• William Mapother 1965 - Actor ("Lost)
• Henry Cusick 1967 - Actor ("Lost")
• Marquis Grissom 1967 - Baseball player
• Liz Phair 1967 - Singer, songwriter
• Redman 1970 - Rapper, actor
• Jennifer Anne Garner 1972 - Actress ("Daredevil", "Electra", "Alias")
• Victoria Beckham (Victoria Caroline Adams) 1974 - Singer (Posh Spice of the Spice Girls) 
  Rebekah Parmar-Teasdale 1979 DJ, t3h pron