Sunday, May, 24, 2026

physiognomy \fiz-ee-OG-nuh-mee; -ON-uh-mee\, noun:

1. The art of discovering temperament and other characteristic qualities of the mind from the outward appearance, especially by the features of the face.

2. The face or facial features, especially when regarded as indicating character.

3. The general appearance or aspect of a thing.

Physiognomy comes from Greek physiognomonia, from physiognomon, "judging character by the features," from physis, "nature, physique, appearance" + gnomon, "one who knows, hence an examiner, a judge," from gignoskein, "to know."

 

cockblocalypse

• When you're out at the bar and you get cockblocked SO BAD it's like the end of the world as you know it.

"What's up with Gurpreet?"

"Oh, last night, Trong brought the cockblocalypse upon him"

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

 

  

It's good being Da Manny

Happy Berfday, Yo!

Saturday, May 23, 2026

recusant \REK-yuh-zuhnt\, noun:

1. A person who refuses to submit, comply, etc.
2. English History. A person, especially a Roman Catholic, who refused to attend the services of the Church of England.

Recusant comes from the Latin word recusāre meaning "to demur, object."

missing link 

• A man who is covered head to toe with thick and wiry hair. He's so hairy, he's the missing link that connects humans to apes.

Joe: "Damn, it's 115 degrees out here. Why doesn't Tom take off his shirt?" Dick: "That poor bastard is so hairy, he got tired of being called the missing link."

Holiday

• World Turtle Day - (05/23 annually)

History

• Joan of Arc: was captured by the Burgundians who sold her to the English (1430)
• Captain Kidd: was hanged in London for murder and piracy (1701)
• Baltimore and Ohio Railroad: began the first passenger service in the US (1830)
• Mounties: the North West Mounted Police was created; it would later become the federal police force of Canada (1873)
• New York Public Library: after 16 years of construction, the library's main building was dedicated by President William H. Taft (1911)
• Bonnie and Clyde: Depression-era outlaws were ambushed and killed by police in Louisiana (1934)
• West Germany: was reconstituted from post-WWII occupation zones (1949)

Birthdays

• Friedrich Anton Mesmer 1734 - Physician, astrologist
• Margaret Fuller (Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli) 1810 - Journalist, criti, women's rights activist
• Arabella Mansfield 1846 - first female lawyer in the United States
• Douglas Fairbanks 1883 - Actor

  
• Herbert Marshall 1890 - Actor
• Artie Shaw 1910 - Band leader
• Scatman Crothers (Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers) 1910 - Actor, musician, singer, dancer
• John Payne 1912 - Actor, singer
• Betty Garrett 1919 - Actress ("All in the Family," "Laverne and Shirley")
• Helen O'Connell 1920 - Singer, actress, dancer
• Alicia de Larrocha 1923 - Pianist
• Mac Wiseman 1925 - Singer
• Nigel Davenport 1928 - Actor
• Rosemary Clooney 1928 - Singer, actress
• Julian Euell 1929 - Jazz musician
• Barbara Barrie 1931 - Actress
• Joan Collins 1933 - Actress ("Dynasty")
• Robert Moog 1934 - Musician
• Charles Kimbrough 1936 - Actor ("Murphy Brown")
• General Johnson 1943 - Musician (Chairman of the Board)
• Lauren Chapin 1945 - Actress ("Father Knows Best")
• Misty Morgan 1945 - Musician
• Judy Rodman 1951 - County singer
• Anatoly Karpov 1951 - Chess grandmaster
• "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler 1952 - Boxer
• Luka Bloom 1955 - Singer
• Drew Carey 1958 - Actor, game show host
• Shelley West 1958 - Country singer
• Linden Ashby 1960 - Actor
• Karen Duffy 1961 - Actress, model
• Phil Selway 1967 - Musician (Radiohead)
• Noel Gallagher 1968 - Musician (Oasis)
• Laurel Holloman 1968 - Actress ("The L Word")
• Lorenzo 1972 - Singer
• Maxwell 1973 - Singer
• Jewel 1974 - Singer
• Kelly Monaco 1976
• Adam Wylie 1984 - Actor

  

  

 

  

Rock Out: Even truth is filled with lies...

VNV Nation

Darkangel (Gabriel)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDfOCpOiElE&feature=related

In your dream you see me clear

I have no restraint, no fear

Powerless I watched from faces I'd assumed.

My purpose set. My will defined.

Caress the air.

Embrace the skies.

Escape the sorrow and restraint of mortal cities.

Give me time I will be clear.

Given time you'll understand

What possesses me to right what you have suffered.

I'm in this mood because of scorn.

I'm in a mood for total war.

To the darkened skies once more and ever onward.

So many years I stood among the thoughts

and tears of those I served.

Among my own I was alone through my own doing.

All the years I walked unknown

behind the faces I assumed.

Powerless to clear your mind of what you'd suffered.

They fall again.

They fall again.

Give me time I will be clear.

Given time you'll understand

What possesses me to right what you have suffered.

I'm in this mood because of scorn.

I'm in a mood for total war.

To the darkened skies once more and ever onward.

There is no faith in which to hide.

Even truth is filled with lies.

Doubting angels fall to walk among the living.

I'm in this mood because of scorn.

I'm in a mood for total war.

To the darkened skies once more and ever onward.

I'd only come here seeking peace.

I'd only come here seeking me.

It seems I came to leave.

WTF Friday: Unexplainable

 

Friday, May 22, 2026

immure \ih-MYUR\, verb:

1. To enclose within walls, or as if within walls; hence, to shut up; to imprison; to incarcerate.
2. To build into a wall.
3. To entomb in a wall.

Immure comes from Medieval Latin immurare, from Latin in-, "in" + murus, "wall." It is related to mural, a painting applied to a wall.

meatatarian

• A person who eats meat virtually to the exclusion of vegetables. The meatatarian often claims to be conserving veggies for those who would actually eat them, and keeps the veggies out of the waste stream, helping the environment, or keeping produce costs down.

Waiter: "What can I get you?" 
Mary: "A cheeseburger deluxe, hold the lettuce, tomato, coleslaw, and pickle." 
Waiter: "So you just want the burger and fries." 
Mary: "Yep, I'm a meatatarian."

History

• War of the Roses: series of civil wars began, pitting York against Lancaster (1455)
• Pact of Steel: Germany and Italy committed to a military alliance (1939)
• Truman Doctrine: became US law; it encouraged aid to countries under communist threat (1947)
• Richard Nixon: became the first American president to visit Russia (1972)
• Sri Lanka: became a republic, changing its name from Ceylon (1972)
• Republic of Yemen: was formed by the union of North Yemen and South Yemen (1990)
• The Tonight Show: Johnny Carson hosted the last episode of his late night show (1992)

Birthdays 

• Wilhelm Richard Wagner 1813 - Composer
  

  
• Mary Cassatt 1844 - Painter, printmaker
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1859 - Author of Sherlock Holmes detective novels
• Laurence Olivier 1907 - Actor, director, producer
• Sun Ra (Herman Poole Blount, Le Sony'r Ra) 1914 - Musician
• Vance Packard 1914 - Journalist, social critic, author
• Judith Crist 1922 - Film critic
• Charles Aznavour 1924 - Singer
• Elaine Leighton 1926 - Musician
• Michael Constantine 1927 - Actor
• Jackie Cain 1928 - Musician
• T. Boone Pickens 1928 - Oil tycoon
• Kenny Ball 1930 - Musician
• Al Brown 1934 - Band leader (Al Brown's Tunetoppers)
• Peter Nero (Bernard Nierow) 1934 - Pianist, conductor
• Frank Converse 1938 - Actor
• Susan Strasberg 1938 - Actress
• Richard Benjamin 1938 - Actor, director
• Paul Winfield 1939 - Actor ("Sounder")
• Bernard Shaw 1940 - Broadcast journalist
• Michael Sarrazin 1940 - Actor
• Barbara Parkins 1942 - Actress
• Bernie Taupin 1950 - Songwriter, worked with Elton John
• Jerry Dammers 1954 - Musician (Specials)
• Iva Davies 1955 - Musician (Icehouse)
• Al Corley 1956 - Actor, singer, producer
• Morrissey 1959 - Musician (The Smiths)
• Dana Williams 1961 - Musician (Diamond Rio)
• Ann Cusak 1961 - Actress
• Jesse Valenzuela 1962 - Musician (Gin Blossoms)
• Johnny Gill 1966 - Singer (New Edition)
• Dan Roberts 1967 - Musician (Crash Test Dummies)
• Naomi Campbell 1970 - Model
• Alison Eastwood 1972 - Actress, director
• Anna Belknap 1972 - Actress ("CSI: NY")
• Donell Jones 1973 - Musician
• A.J. Langer 1974 - Actress
• Ginnifer Goodwin 1978 - Actress ("Big Love")
• Maggie Q 1979 - Actress
• Apolo Anton Ohno 1982 - Speed skater 
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

    

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