Wedesday, October 14, 2026

pericope \ puh-RIK-uh-pee \ , noun;

1. a selection or extract from a book.
2. a portion of sacred writing read in a divine service; lesson; lection.

Origin: Pericope came to Enlgish in the mid-1600s, and is ultimately derived from the Greek perikopḗ meaning "a cutting."

requestion

• requesting something indirectly by way of a question note: this is distinguished from a regular question because the answer is usually obvious

"are those peanut m&m's?" (requestion)

"yes, would you like some?"

"yeah"

 

History

• Battle of Hastings: the last Anglo-Saxon king of England fell to William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest (1066)

  
• sound barrier: was broken for the first time by a person, United States Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager, who flew a secret experimental Bell X-1 jet at supersonic speed (1947)
• Peace Corps: the idea to send American volunteers abroad was first mentioned by JFK when he was a presidential candidate (1960)

Birthdays

• William Penn 1644 - Penn was the colonist that founded the Pennsylvania colony for Quakers.
• Dwight David Eisenhower (U.S.) 1890
• Lillian Gish 1893
• E.E. Cummings 1894
• Eugene Fodor 1905
• Allan Jones 1908
• John Wooden 1910
• C. Everett Koop 1916
• Bill Justis 1926

• Roger Moore 1927
• Robert Webber 1928
• Melba Montgomery 1938
• Ralph Lauren 1939
• Cliff Richard 1940
• Tommy Harper (MLB) 1940
• J.C. Snead 1941
• Billy Harrison (Them) 1942
• Udo Kier 1944
• Al Oliver (MLB) 1946
• Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues) 1946
• Charlie Joiner (NFL) 1947
• Marcia Barrett (Boney M) 1948
• Sheila Young 1950
• Harry Anderson 1952
• Greg Evigan 1953
• Beth Daniel 1956
• Arleen Sorkin 1956
• Thomas Dolby 1958
• Keith Byars (NFL) 1963
• Karyn White 1965
• John Seda 1970
• Jimmy Jackson 1970
• Doug Virden (Sons of the Desert) 1970
• Natalie Maines (Dixie Chicks) 1974
• Shaznay Lewis (All Saints) 1975
• Usher 1978

 

 

  

 

  

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

moniker \ MON-i-ker \ , noun;

• Slang . a person's name, especially a nickname or alias. 

Origin: Moniker is derived from the Shelta word mŭnnik meaning "name." It entered English in the mid-1800s. Shelta is an argot used in parts of the British Isles based in part on Irish.  

immaturation 

• the process of becoming immature

by revisiting old posts we were able to witness the immaturation of the internet from a place of cordial dissent to whiny bickering.

 
 

History

• White House: the cornerstone was laid for the building then known as the Executive Mansion (1792)

  
• universal time: the meridian of longitude of Greenwich, England, was established as the basis of calculating the world's time (1884)
• World Series: Boston defeated Pittsburgh in the first baseball championship games (1903)
• Miracle of the Sun: according to reports, tens of thousands of people saw the sun cast colored lights and spin toward the earth near Fátima, Portugal (1917)
• Italy: switched sides in WWII and declared war on Nazi Germany (1943)
• Hosni Mubarak: the Egyptian vice president was elected president, one week after Anwar Sadat's assassination (1981); he was Egypt's longest-serving president

Birthdays

• Mary Ludwig 1754
• Rudolf Virchow 1821
• Wilbur Shaw 1902
• Herblock (Herbert Block) 1909
• Cornel Wilde 1915
• Burr Tillstrom 1917
• Laraine Day 1920
• Yves Montand 1921
• Lou Saban (NFL) 1921
• Nipsey Russell 1924
• Lenny Bruce 1925
• Frank D. Gilroy 1925
• Margaret Thatcher (Britain) 1925
• Eddie Yost (MLB) 1926
• Shirley Caesar 1928
• Eddie Mathews (MLB) 1931
• Cliff Gorman 1936
• Melinda Dillon 1939
• Paul Simon 1941
• Pamela Tiffin 1942
• Jerry Jones 1943
• Robert Lamm (The Big Thing, Chicago) 1944
• Karen Akers 1945
• Demond Wilson 1946
• Lacy J. Dalton 1946
• Sammy Hagar 1947
• John Lone 1952
• Beverly Johnson 1952
• Marie Osmond 1959
• John Wiggins 1962
• Jerry Rice (NFL) 1962
• Kelly Preston 1962
• T'Keyah "Crystal" Keymah 1962
• Kate Walsh 1967
• Rhett Akins 1969
• Nancy Kerrigan 1969
• Tisha Campbell 1970
• Sacha Baron Cohen 1971
• Jan Van Sichem Jr. (K's Choice) 1972
• Katia Winter 1983
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 1989
  
• Tiffany Trump 1993

  

 

 

  

Thursday, October 8, 2026

osculate \ OS-kyuh-leyt \ , verb; 

1. to kiss. 
2. to bring into close contact or union. 
3. Geometry . (of a curve) to touch (another curve or another part of the same curve) in osculation. 
4. to come into close contact or union. 
5. Geometry . (of a curve) to touch another curve or another part of the same curve so as to have the same tangent and curvature at the point of contact.

Origin: Osculate is formed with the Latin word for "mouth," ōs , and a suffix used to create English verbs from Latin, -ate . It entered English in the mid-1600s.

 

FMI

• For My Information

FMI, does Colin go to the gym on Main Street or on Water Street?

 

Trivia

How many Star Wars performers appeared in the most films in the popular sci-fi adventure series?

• Only two. The diminutive Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2, and Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO.
  

 

History

• Empress Myeongseong: the last empress of Korea was assassinated by the Japanese (1895)
• perfect game: Don Larsen pitched what remains the only perfect game in World Series history; the Yankees beat the Dodgers, 2-0 (1956)
• Che Guevara: leftist revolutionary hero was captured by the Bolivian army; he was executed the next day (1967)
• water speed record: was set by Australian Ken Warby at 318 mph/510 kph near Tumut, New South Wales; it still stands (1978)
• Solidarity: and the rest of Poland's labor unions were banned (1982); Solidarity continued to work underground, until it was declared legal in 1989
• Kashmir: a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed some 80,000 and injured 65,000 on the Pakistan-India border (2005)

Birthdays

• Eddie Rickenbacker 1890
• Juan Peron 1895
• Billy Conn 1917
• Rona Barrett 1936
• Fred Stolle 1938
• Paul Hogan 1939
• David Carradine 1940
• Fred Cash (The Impressions) 1940
• Jesse Jackson 1941
  
• George Bellamy (The Tornados) 1941
• Buzz Clifford 1942
• R.L. Stine 1943
• Chevy Chase 1943
• Susan Raye 1944
• Tony Wilson (Hot Chocolate) 1947
• Sarah Purcell 1948
• Brian Glenwright 1949
• Sigourney Weaver 1949
  
  
• Hamish Stuart (Average White Band) 1949
• Robert "Kool" Bell (Kool & the Gang) 1950
• Johnny Cummings (Ramones) 1951
• Ricky Lee Phelps (Brother Phelps) 1953
• Michael Dudikoff 1954
• Darrell Hammond 1955
• Stephanie Zimbalist 1956
• Mitch Marine (Tripping Daisy) 1961
• Steve Perry (Cherry Poppin' Daddies) 1963
• C.J. Ward (The Ramones) 1965
• 
  Teddy Riley 1966
• Emily Proctor 1968
• Jeremy Davies 1969 - Actor ("Lost", "Saving Private Ryan") 
• Matt Damon 1970 - Actor
• Kristanna Loken 1979
• Byron Reeder (Mista) 1979
• Nick Cannon 1980
• Angus T. Jones 1993

 

 

 

 

 

  

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

sweven \ SWEV-uhn \ , noun;

• Archaic . a vision; dream. 

Origin: Sweven entered English around 900. The term picked up a verbal sense a century later, "to dream," but both terms have since fallen out of use.

spin doctor

1. somebody who works in or for the media who ensures that the public understands things from a certain perspective.
2. a radio station DJ, or MC at a club or event.

1. we think that the spin doctors at the local TV station helped the mayor win the election.
2. the club boom anniversary party spin doctor was awesome!

 

History 

• Battle of Lepanto: victory of Christians over Ottoman Empire (1571)
• Cats: long-running musical based on T.S. Eliot's poems opened on Broadway (1982)
• Achille Lauro: Italian ship was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists; Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound passenger, was killed the next day (1985)
• gubernatorial recall: California governor Gray Davis was replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the state's first gubernatorial recall election (2003)

Birthdays

• James Whitcomb Riley 1853
• Niels Bohr 1885
• Henry Wallace 1888
• Andy Devine 1905
  
• Vaughn Monroe 1911
• Jo (Jonathan) Jones 1911
• Alfred Drake 1914
• June Allyson 1917
• Martha Stewart (Haworth) 1922
• Al Martino 1927
• R.D. Laing 1927
• Diana Lynn 1927
• Desmond Tutu (South Africa) 1931
• Imamu Amiri Baraka 1934
• Thomas Keneally 1935
• Charles Dutoit 1936
• Gary Bergman 1938
• Martin Murray (Honeycombs) 1941
• Oliver North 1943
• Kevin Godley (10cc, Godley & Creme) 1945
• David Hope (Kansas) 1949
• Kiernan Kane (The O'Kanes) 1949
• John Cougar Mellencamp 1951
• Jacques Richard 1952
• Vladimir Putin 1952 - Russian dictator
• Christopher Norris 1953
• 
  Tico Torres (Bon Jovi) 1953
• Yo-Yo Ma 1955
• Michael W. Smith 1957
• Judy Landers 1958
• Simon Cowell 1959 - Judge on "American Idol" 
• Dale Watson 1962
• Toni Braxton 1968
• Thom York (Radiohead) 1968
• Leeroy Thornhill (Prodigy) 1969
• Nicole Air Parker 1970
• Charles Woodson 1976

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

cherry-pick \ CHER-ee-pik \ , verb; 

1. Informal . to select with great care: You can cherry-pick your own stereo components . 
2. Informal . (in retail use) to buy only the sale items and ignore the other merchandise. 

Origin: Cherry-pick entered English in the 1960s possibly as an extension of the slang term cherry-picker , defined by Railroad Magazine in 1940 as a "switchman, so called because of red lights on switch stands. Also any railroad man who is always figuring on the best jobs and sidestepping undesirable ones." 

 

FNG

• Military term, 'Fucking New Guy' usually someone just out of training or just transfered into the unit/AO, who either hasn't proved his worth or doesn't know how to operate properly due to lack of experiance.

"Damnit, nearly everyone here is an FNG, we'll be wiped out on the next op"

 

History

• 
  US Senate: Pennsylvanians William Maclay and Robert Morris became the first two members elected to the federal body (1788)
• The Magic Flute: Mozart's opera opened in Vienna (1791)
• ether: was used as an anesthetic for the first time by Boston dentist William Morton (1846)
• Little Women: Louisa May Alcott's classic novel of four sisters growing up during the US Civil War was published (1868)
• Munich Agreement: France, Italy, Germany and Britain signed a pact allowing Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland; it became synonymous with appeasement (1938)
• Nuremberg Trials: 22 Nazi leaders were found guilty of war crimes (1946)
• James Dean: Rebel Without a Cause star died in a car crash at age 24 (1955)
• Republic of Botswana: African nation declared its independence from Britain (1966)

Birthdays

• William Wrigley, Jr. 1861 - Chewing gum tycoon
• Johnny (John Thomas) Allen 1905 - Baseball pitcher
• Deborah Kerr (Trimmer) 1921 - Actress ("The King and I", "Separate Tables")
• Oscar Pettiford 1922 - Musician, played with Charlie Barnet, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Stan Getz
• 
  Truman Capote (Streckfus Persons) 1924 - Writer (In Cold Blood, Other Voices, Breakfast at Tiffany's), actor
• Robin Roberts 1926 - Baseball pitcher
• Angie Dickinson 1931 - Actress (Police Woman, Cassie and Company)
• Johnny Podres 1932 - Baseball pitcher
• Cissy Houston 1933
• Jill Corey 1935 - Singer
• Johnny Mathis 1935 - Singer
• Len Cariou 1939
• 
  Dewey Martin 1942 - Musician (Buffalo Springfield)
• Frankie Lymon 1942
• Marilyn McCoo 1943 - Singer (5th Dimension), TV hostess (Solid Gold)
• Austin "Red" Robbins 1944 - Basketball player
• Sylvia Peterson 1947 - Singer (The Chiffons)
• Marc Bolan (Mark Feld) 1947 - Musician (T.Rex)
• Rula Lenska 1947
• Andy Maurer 1948 - Football player
• Catie Ball-Condon 1951 - Swimmer

  
• John Lombardo (10,000 Maniacs) 1952
• Deborah Allen 1953 - Singer
• Victoria Tennant 1953 - Actress
• Calvin Levels 1954
• Patrice Rushen 1954
• Barry Williams (Blenkhorn) 1954 - Actor (The Brady Bunch)
• Basia 1956
• Vondie Curtis-Hall 1956
• Fran Drescher 1957
• Marty Stuart 1958
• Debrah Farentino 1959
• Eric Stoltz 1961 - Actor (Some Kind of Wonderful, The Glass Menagerie)
• Crystal Bernard 1961 - Actress (Happy Days, Wings)
• Dave Magadan 1962 - Baseball player
• Marley Marl 1962
• Eddie Montgomery 1963
• Robby Takac 1964 - (Goo Goo Dolls)
• Lisa Thornhill 1966
• Monica Bellucci 1968
• Jenna Elfman 1971
• Ashley Hamilton 1974
• 
  Mike Damus 1979
• Martina Hingis 1980
• Dominique Moceanu 1981
• Lacy Chabert 1982
• Kieran Culkin 1982
  Rosana Arkle 1988

 

 

Rosana Arkle