Tuesday, August 8, 2023

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chaptalize \SHAP-tuh-lahyz\, verb:

• To increase the alcohol in a wine by adding sugar.

Chaptalize comes from the French chaptaliser, which is in turn named for the French chemist J. A. Chaptal.

 

debt ceiling chicken

• A game where everyone in Congress refuses to agree on a deal to raise the debt ceiling until the last possible minute. It's like regular chicken, but instead of driving cars at each other, politicians are using the economy.

Schmuck Schumer: I don't give a shit if our country turns into Mad Max 2. I'm going to win this game of debt ceiling chicken.

Donald Chump: Challenge accepted!

 

History

• Mont Blanc: the tallest Alp was summited for the first time, by Frenchmen Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard (1786)
• mimeograph: was patented by Thomas A. Edison (1876)
• Great Train Robbery: 15 thieves stole more than £2m. from a London-bound traveling post office after stopping the train with a false red signal in Buckinghamshire (1963)
• Richard Nixon: announced his resignation from the presidency in the wake of Watergate, six years to the day after he was nominated by the Republican Party (1974)

Birthdays

• Matthew Henson 1866 - Explorer, along with Robert Peary and their Eskimo guide, were the first people to reach the North Pole

  
• Fredric March 1897
• Russel Markert 1899
• Benny Carter 1907
• Sylvia Sidney 1910
• Rosetta LeNoire 1911
• Dino DeLaurentis 1919
• Rory Calhoun 1922
• Esther Williams 1923
• Jimmy Witherspoon 1923
• Webb Pierce 1926
• Urbie Green 1926
• Richard Anderson 1926
• Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer 1927
• Nita Talbot 1930
• Jerry Tarkanian 1930
• Mel Tillis 1932
• Joe Tex 1933
• Frank Howard (MLB) 1936
• Dustin Hoffman 1937
• Connie Stevens 1938
• Phil Balsley (The Statler Brothers) 1939
• John David (Dr. Hook) 1942
• Peter Weir 1944
• Larry Wilcox 1944
• Keith Carradine 1949
• Airrion Love (The Stylistics) 1949
• Jamie O'Hara 1950
• Fairweather-Low (Amen Corner) 1950
• Randy Shilts 1951
• Robin Quivers 1952

  
• Donny Most 1953
• Ali Score (A Flock of Seagulls) 1956
• Dennis Drew (10,000 Maniacs) 1957
• Harry Crosby 1958
• Deborah Norville 1958
• Chris Foreman (Madness) 1958
• Rikki Rockett (Poison) 1961
• "The Edge" David Evans (U2) 1961
• Kool Moe Dee 1962
• Brett Hull (NHL) 1964
• Mark Wills 1973
• Scott Alan Stapp 1973 - Singer (Creed)
• Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World) 1975
• JC Chasez ('N Sync) 1976
• Drew Lachey (98 Degrees) 1976
• Marsha Ambrosius (Floetry) 1977
• Countess Vaughn 1978
• Odie (from Garfield comic) 1978
• Meagan Good 1981
• Peyton List 1986 - actress (Picard)
  
  Beatrice Elizabeth Mary 1988