Thursday, August 24, 2023

iconoclastic [ahy-kon-uh-klas-tik] adjective 

1. attacking or ignoring cherished beliefs and long-held traditions, etc., as being based on error, superstition, or lack of creativity: an iconoclastic architect whose buildings are like monumental sculptures. 
2. breaking or destroying images, especially those set up for religious veneration. 

ORIGIN: Iconoclastic is an adjective derived from the nouns iconoclasm “image smashing” and iconoclast “image smasher.” The Greek noun eikṓn means “image, likeness,” whether a painting or a statue; -clast and -clastic- derive from the Greek adjective klastós “broken in pieces.” The most famous instance of iconoclasm began under the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian (c680–741). It lasted from about 726 to 787 and was partly based on the injunction against graven images in the Hebrew Bible (the second of the Ten Commandments recorded in Exodus and Deuteronomy). A second period of iconoclasm occurred in Switzerland, the Holy Roman Empire, France, and elsewhere in western Europe in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation. Iconoclastic entered English in the 17th century. The modern nonreligious, secular sense arose in the 19th century.

Carpin all those diems

• Making the most of your time

"Only losers look stuff up while the rest of us are carpin all those diems." -summer

History

• St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre: the murder of 70,000 French Protestants (Huguenots) by Catholics began (1572)
• White House: the seat of the US government was burned down by the British when they invaded Washington, DC, during the War of 1812 (1814)
• Treaty of Cordóba: Mexico gained independence from Spain (1821)
• Pluto: got demoted to dwarf planet following a redefinition of "planet" by the International Astronomical Union (2006)

Birthdays

• Joshua Lionel Cowen 1880
• Jose Luis Borges 1899
• Edmund Germer 1901
• Preston Foster 1901
• Durward Kirby 1912
• Dennis James 1917
• Penny Edwards 1919
• Louis Teicher 1924
• Yasser Arafat 1929
• Roger McCluskey 1930
• Kenny Baker1934
• Murray Balfour 1936
• Mason Williams 1938
• David Freiburg (Jefferson Starship) 1938
• Ernest Wright (Little Anthony and the Imperials) 1941
• Marshall Thompson (The Chi-Lites) 1942
• John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger) 1943
• Gregory Jarvis 1944
• Jim Capaldi (Traffic) 1944
• Jim Brady (The Sandpipers) 1944
• Ken Hensley (Uriah Heep) 1945
• Joe Regalbuto 1949
• Mike Shanahan 1952
• Jeffrey Daniel (Shalamar) 1955
• Gerry Cooney 1956
• Stephen Fry 1957
• Steve Guttenberg 1958
• Cal Ripken, Jr. 1960
• Mark Bedford (Madness) 1961
• Craig Kilborn 1962
• John Bush (Anthrax) 1963
• Marlee Matlin 1965
• Reggie Miller 1965
• Kristin Osborn (SheDaisy) 1970
• David Chappelle 1973
• Carmine Giovinazzo 1973
• Beth Riesgraf 1978 
• Chad Michael Murray 1981
• Rupert Grint 1988