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

  

 

 

  

Monday, October 12, 2026

tintinnabular \ tin-ti-NAB-yuh-ler \ , adjective;

• of or pertaining to bells or bell ringing. 

Origin: Tintinnabular comes from the Latin tintinnābulum meaning "bell."

bangover

• Sore neck as a result of headbanging at a metal concert.

"How was the Meshuggah show last night dude?"

"Ah man it was sick! I got the worst fucking bangover d00d."

Trivia
How old was Christopher Columbus when he went to sea for the first time?

• 14.

Where in the U.S. was the first monument to Christopher Columbus erected?

• In Baltimore, Maryland, in 1792, on the 300th anniversary of his historic voyage. Originally on the private estate of the French consul, the 44½-foot-tall white obelisk now stands in Herring Run Park in northeast Baltimore.

Holiday

• Columbus Day [USA]

History

• New World: Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Bahamas (1492)
• Oktoberfest: tradition of beery celebration began with the wedding reception of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1810)

  
• The Pledge of Allegiance: was first recited in US public schools (1892)
• Nikita Krushchev: the Soviet premier made an impact when he pounded his shoe on his desk at a UN General Assembly meeting (1960)
• the day of six billion: the official UN-designated approximate day that the world population hit 6 billion; it was 12 years after the population reached 5 billion (1999)
• USS Cole: suicide bombers on an explosives-laden boat rammed into the American destroyer in Yemen; 17 US sailors died (2000)
• Bali: 202 people died when a terrorist's bomb destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island (2002)

Birthdays

• Elmer Sperry 1860
• Perle Mesta 1891
• Joe Cronin (MLB) 1906
  
• Guitar Gabriel 1925
• Antonia Rey 1927
• Nappy Brown 1929
• Ned Jarrett 1932
• Jean Nidetch 1932
• Dick Gregory 1932
• Luciano Pavarotti 1935
• Samuel Moore (Sam & Dave) 1935
  
• Lawrence Jeffrey 1940
• Melvin Franklin (Temptations) 1942
• Chris Wallace 1947
• Rick Parfitt (Status Quo) 1948
• Susan Anton 1950
• Ronald E. McNair 1950
• Pat DiNizzio (Smithereens) 1955
• Dave Vanian (The Damned) 1956
• Claude McKnight (Take 6) 1962
• Adam Rich 1968
• Hugh Jackman 1968
• Garfield Bright (Shai) 1969
• Martie Seidel (Dixie Chicks) 1969
• Kirk Cameron 1970

 

 

 

Sunday, October 11, 2026

Ursprache \ OOR-shprah-khuh; German OOR-shprah-khuh \ , noun;

• a hypothetically reconstructed parent language, as Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of the Germanic languages.

Origin: Ursprache came to Enlgish in the 20th century from the German prefix ur- meaning "earliest, original" and Sprache meaning "speech." 

tinnies \ Australian, noun;

• cans; tins of beer.

Hundereds of empty tinnies littered the floor of my house.

 

 

History 

• Daughters of the American Revolution: lineage-based, conservative patriotic society was founded (1890)
• Vatican II: ecumenical council that led to liberalization and modernization of the church was convened by Pope John XXIII(1962)
• Saturday Night Live: late-night comedy-variety show debuted on NBC; George Carlin hosted (1975) 

Birthdays

• Parson Mason Weems 1759 - He was responsible for the story about George Washington cutting down his father's cherry tree.
• Henry Heinz 1884
• Eleanor Roosevelt 1884
• Willie Hoppe 1887
• Charles Revson 1906
• Joseph Alsop 1910
• Jerome Robbins 1918
• Art Blakey 1919
• Linda Stirling 1921
• Knobby (Grant) Warwick 1921
• Elmore Leonard 1925
• James Morrison 1931
• Dottie West 1932
• Ron Leibman 1937
• Maria Bueno 1939
• Gene Watson 1943
• Robert Gale 1945
• Daryl Hall (Hall & Oates) 1948
• Catlin Adams 1950
• Andre Woolfolk (Earth, Wind and Fire) 1950
• David Morse 1953
• Paulette Carlson 1953
• Lindy Boone (The Boone Family) 1955
• Steve Young (NFL) 1961
• Joan Cusack 1962
• Sean Patrick Flanery 1965
• Luke Perry 1966
• Jane Kradowski 1968
• MC Lyte 1971
  Claudia Black 1972
  
• NeeNa Lee 1975
• Michelle Trachtenberg 1985