Friday, May 24, 2024

chrestomathy \kres-TOM-uh-thee\, noun:

• A collection of selected literary passages.

Chrestomathy literally means "useful to learn" in Greek, from the roots chres- meaning "to use" and math- meaning "to learn."

 

Phone Stack

• A game played at either a meal or in a group setting. When at a meal, and everyone is on their phones, grab them and stack them face down in the center of the table. First to pick up their phone, pays the bill for all. If no one grabs it, everyone pays their part. When in a group setting, grab the phones and stack them. Whoever grabs their phone must perform challenges, each group member gets to pick a challenge so in a group of 10, touching your phone would cause you to do 10 challenges. You may use your phone during the challenges but afterwards, it goes back on the stack.

*Everyone is texting at a group meal* 
Person 1: "PHONE STACK!" 
*Person 1 snatches all phones and stacks them face down* 
Person 1: "first to touch pays the full bill"

 
Trivia

What manufacturer sued for trademark infringement when a company named Hogg Wyld Ltd. marketed plus-size jeans bearing a smiling pig logo and a “Lardashe” label?

• Jordache Enterprises Inc. It lost its suit.

 

History

• "What hath God wrought?": inventor Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the first telegraph message; it went from Washington, DC, to Baltimore and it quoted Numbers 23:23 (1844)
• Brooklyn Bridge: engineering marvel linking Brooklyn and Manhattan opened to traffic (1883)
• Crosley Field: hosted MLB's first nighttime game played under lights; Cincinnati's Reds beat Philadelphia's Phillies, 2-1 (1935)
• Concorde: supersonic passenger aircraft began flying to Washington, DC (1976)
• James Jeffords: Republican senator became an Independent, giving control of the US Senate to the Democrats (2001)

Birthdays

• Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit 1686 - Physicist, engineer, he determined the temperature scale named after him
• Emanuel Leutze 1816
• Queen Victoria (Britain) 1819
• Samuel I. Newhouse 1895
• Tommy Chong 1938 - Comedian (Cheech and Chong)
• Prince Buster 1938
• Lilli Palmer 1914
• Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) 1941 - Traveling Wilburys
• Derek Quinn 1942 - Musician (Freddie and the Dreamers)
• Gary Burghoff 1943 - Actor ("M*A*S*H")
• Patti LaBelle (Patricia Louise Holte) 1944 - Singer
• Priscilla Presley 1945 - Wife of Elvis Presley
• Steve Upton 1946
• Judy Kahan 1948
• Jim Broadbent 1950 - Actor
• Alfred Molina 1953 - Actor
• Rosanne Cash 1955 - Singer
• Larry Blackmon (Cameo) 1956
• Kristin Scott Thomas 1960 - Actor ("Under the Cherry Moon")
• Joe Dumars 1963
• Gene Anthony Ray 1963
• Vivian Trimble 1963 - Singer (Luscious Jackson)
• John C. Reilly 1965 - Actor
• Heavy D 1967
• Erin Close 1967 - Actor ("Without a Trace")
• Tommy Page 1967
• Rich Robinson 1969 - Musician (The Black Crowes)
• Brad Penny 1978 - Baseball player
• Billy L. Sullivan 1980