Thursday, March 26, 2026

geomancy \JEE-uh-man-see\, noun:

• divination by geographic features or by figures or lines.

Geomancy came to English in the 1300s from the Greek roots meaning "earth" and "divination."

struggle is real

• The hardness and difficulties of every day life being unbearable and apparent.

"Hey dude, I just studied my ass off for this test and got a 60%." 
"Yo, the struggle is real brah..."

 
History

• Popeye: a statue of the spinach-loving cartoon character was erected in Crystal City, Texas (1937)
• Bangladesh: declared independence from Pakistan (1971)
• Camp David Accords: Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement was signed at the White House (1979)
• Mercosur: the Southern Common Market, which joins Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, was established with the Treaty of Asunción (1991)

Birthdays

• Nathaniel Bowditch 1773

  
• Louise Otto 1819
• Edward Bellamy 1850
• A.E. Housman 1859
• Robert Frost 1874
• Duncan Hines 1880
• Al Jolson 1886
• Clarence Stroud 1907 - Actor, father of actor Don Stroud
• Chips Rafferty 1909
• Tennessee Williams 1911
• William C. Westmoreland 1914 - U.S. Army general
• Sterling Hayden 1916
• Rufus Thomas 1917
• Strother Martin 1919
• Joe Loco 1921
• Bob Elliott 1923
• James Clifton Williams 1923
• James Moody 1925 - Jazz saxophonist
• Pierre Boulez 1925 - Conductor, composer
• Maurice Simon 1929
• Sandra Day O'Connor 1930 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• Leonard Nimoy 1931 - Actor ("Star Trek")
• Alan Arkin 1934 - Actor
• James Caan 1939 - Actor
• Rod Lauren 1940
• Braulio Baeza 1940
• Nancy Pelosi 1940 - U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives / zombie
• Erica Jong 1942 - Author
• Bob Woodard 1943 - Journalist
• Diana Ross 1944 - Singer
• Johnny Crawford 1946 - Actor
• Fred Paris 1946 - Musician (Five Satins)
• Steven Tyler 1948 - Singer (Aerosmith)
• Richard Tandy 1948 - Musician (Electric Light Orchestra)
• Vicki Lawrence 1949 - Singer, actress
• Fran Sheehan 1949 - Musician (Boston)
• Martin Short 1950 - Actor, comedian
• Ronnie McDowell 1950 - Country singer
• Teddy Pendergrass 1950 - Singer
  Brian Bolland 1951 - artist (Judge Dredd)
• Curtis Sliwa 1954
• Dean Dillon 1955 - Country singer
• Charly McClain 1956 - Country singer
• Leeza Gibbons 1957 - TV personality

  
• Marcus Allen 1960 - Football player
• Jennifer Grey 1960 - Actress ("Dirty Dancing")
• Gabriele "Nena" Kerner 1960
• John Stockton 1962 - Basketball player
• Michael Imperioli 1966 - Actor ("The Sopranos")
• Kenny Chesney 1968 - Country singer
• James Iha 1968 - Musician (Smashing Pumpkins)
• Juvenile 1975 - Rapper
• Amy Smart 1976 - Actress
• Keira Knightley 1985 - Actress ("Pirates of the Caribbean") 

  Nina Agdal - 1992

  

 

  

Turtle Thursday: Spider Turtle! (2026)

Spider turtle

Spider turtle

Does whatever a spider turtle does

Can he shoot a web?

I dunno

But I do know

He's a spider turtle!

Hasselhoff Wednesday: David is Art

I'm sure this is what Michelangelo REALLY had in mind.

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

synergy \SIN-er-jee\, noun:

1. the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc.; synergism. 

2. Physiology, Medicine/Medical. the cooperative action of two or more muscles, nerves, or the like.

3. Biochemistry, Pharmacology. the cooperative action of two or more stimuli or drugs.

Synergy has been around in English since the mid-1600s and comes from the Neo-Latin synergia, which in turn, came from the Greek meaning "working together." 

celebrity lay

• A specific celebrity you and your significant other mutually agreed that it would be okay to have sex with should the two of you ever meet in public and have a one night stand.

My wife won't mind, Kate Beckinsale is my celebrity lay.

History 

• Robert the Bruce: became king of not-yet-independent Scotland; in 1328, after many battles, England's King Edward III finally recognized Scotland's independence and Bruce as its king (1306)
• Maryland: was founded by settlers sent by Lord Baltimore (1634)
• Coxey's Army: the first popular protest march on Washington left Massillon, Ohio, led by Jacob Coxey; the men sought legislation to create jobs in a depression year (1894)
• Bed-In for Peace: John Lennon and Yoko Ono celebrated their marriage with their first weeklong stay in bed, in an Amsterdam hotel with the press onlooking (1969)
• "How long, not long": Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers a speech on the steps of Alabama's state capitol, at the end of the Selma to Montgomery march (1965)
• European Economic Community: was established with the Treaty of Rome; it comprised W. Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg (1957)

Birthdays

• William Bell Wait 1839
• Arturo Toscanini 1867
  

  
• John Gutzon Borglum 1871
• Bela Bartok 1881
• Ed Begley, Sr. 1901
• Frankie Carle 1903
• David Lean 1908
• Jeanne Cagney 1919
• Howard Cosell 1920
• Nancy Kelly 1921
• Simone Signoret 1921
• Eileen Ford 1922
• Jim Lovell 1928 - Astronaut
• Flannery O’Connor 1925
• Gene Shalit 1932 - Movie critic
• Bonnie Guitar 1934
• Gloria Steinem 1934 - Feminist author
• Johnny Burnette 1935
• Hoyt Axton 1938
• Anita Bryant 1940 - Singer
• Aretha Franklin 1942 - Singer
• Paul Michael Glaser 1943 - Actor ("Third Watch", "Starsky and Hutch")
• Bonnie Bedelia 1948 - Actress ("Parenthood")
• Nick Lowe 1949 - Singer
• Elton John 1947 - Singer, musician
• Kelly Garrett 1948
• Neil Jones 1949 - Musician (Amen Corner)
• Maisie Williams 1951 - (Boney M)
• Mary Gross 1953 - Actress, comedian
• James McDaniel 1958 - Actor ("NYPD Blue")
• Brenda Song 1960 - Actress ("Desperate Housewives")
• John Stockwell 1961 - Actor, writer, director
• Marcia Cross 1962 - Actress ("Desperate Housewives")
• Lisa Gay Hamilton 1964 - Actress ("The Practice")
• Sarah Jessica Parker 1965 - Actress ("Sex and the City", "Failure to Launch")
• Tom Glavin 1966 - Baseball player
• Jeff Healey 1966 - Musician
• Debi Thomas 1967 - Olympic bronze medal figure skater
• Sheryl Swoops 1971 - Basketball player
• Melanie Blatt 1975 - Singer (All Saints)
• Lee Pace 1979 - Actor ("Pushing Daisies")
  Marketa Belonoha 1982 - t3h pr0n 
• Danica Patrick 1982 - Auto racer
• Katherine McPhee 1984 - Singer ("American Idol")
• Jason Castro 1987 - Singer ("American Idol")
• Aly Michalka 1989 - Actress, singer ("Aly and AJ")

            

  

 

  

 

Review Tuesday: The Unholy (2021)

  

 

The Unholy

(2021) 

A disgraced journalist thinks he has found a genuine miracle. 

When my BFF suggested watching a horror movie starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, I couldn't resist. 

 

Gerry Fenn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is a disgraced journalist covering stories for a rag-paper. He's sent to a nowhere rural town to investigate a cattle mutilation. That story turns to be way overblown so Gerry decides to spice it up a little. He shatters an old crusty china-doll he finds in a nearby tree in an attempt to add some color to the story. Unwittingly, he unleashed evil on this town disguised as miracles. 

 

Okay, this turned out to be really fun! The story was developed well, as were all of the characters. As far as horror movies goes, it actually has a complete story and makes sense, which is saying a lot these days. Worth the time to watch! 

  

 

  

Tuesday, March, 24, 2026

cognizant \KOG-nuh-zuhnt, KON-uh-\, adjective: 

1. having cognizance; aware (usually followed by of ): He was cognizant of the difficulty.
2. having legal cognizance.

Cognizant is modern construction, dating from the early 1800s. It is likely formed from the term cognizance.

quick question

• A question that usually requires a long answer. A close relative of [stupid question] and [rhetorical question].

Joan: I have a quick question for you. How do you solve for "x" in this complex differential equation?
Bob: Uhhhhhh...

History

• bacteria: Robert Koch announced his discovery of the bacillus that causes tuberculosis (1882)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: play by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway (1955)
• Elvis Presley: the King of Rock 'N Roll joined the US army for two years (1958)
• Dark Side of the Moon: Pink Floyd released one of the best-selling albums of all time (1973)
• Exxon Valdez oil spill: tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, causing the worst maritime environmental disaster in history (1989)
• Yugoslavia: NATO began air strikes in response to ethnic cleansing by Serbs of Albanians in Kosovo (1999)

Birthdays

• Rufus King 1755 - American lawyer, politician and diplomat
• Antonio Rosmini-Serbati 1797 - Italian Roman Catholic priest and philosopher
• John Wesley Powell 1834 - U.S. soldier, geologist and explorer of American West
• William Morris 1834 - British craftsman, designer, writer, typographer
• Andrew Mellon 1855 - American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, U.S. Secretary of the Treasure (1921-1932)
• Harry Houdini 1874 - Magician, escape artist
• Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle 1887 - Actor, comedian, director, screenwriter
• Arthur Murray 1895 - Dance instructor, businessman
• Dorothy R. Stratton 1898 - Founded women's branch of the U.S. Coast Guard
• June Clark (Algeria Junius "June" Clark ) 1900 - Musician
• Joseph Barbera 1911 - Cartoonist
• Richard (Nicholas) Conte 1914 - Cartoonist
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti 1919 - Poet
• Gene Nelson (Leander Eugene Berg) 1920 - Dancer, actor, screenwriter and director
• Dave Appell 1922 - Musician (Applejacks)
• Norman Fell (Norman Noah Feld) 1924 - Actor
• Dario Fo 1926 - Playwright
• Byron Janis 1928 - Pianist
• Vanessa Brown 1928 - Actress
• Steve McQueen 1930 - Actor
• William Smith 1933 - Actor
• Billy Stewart 1937 - Musical artist
• Bob Mackie 1940 - Fashion designer
• R. Lee Ermey 1944 - Actor
• Curtis Hanson 1945 - Director
• Lee Oskar 1948 - Musician (War)
• Nick Lowe 1949 - Singer
• Dougie Thomson 1951 - Musician (Supertramp)
• Louie Anderson 1953 - Comedian
• Donna Pescow 1954 - Actress
• Robert Carradine 1954 - Actor
• Kelly LeBrock 1960 - Actress ("Weird Science")
• Rodney "Kool Kollie" Terry 1961 - DJ (Ghostown DJs)
• Star Jones 1962 - TV host ("The View")
• Annabella Sciorra 1964 - Actress
• Lara Flynn Boyle 1970 - Actress (below)
• Shannon Corr 1970 - Singer, musician (The Corrs)
• P.A. Pasemaster Mase 1970 - Rapper (De La Soul)
• Jim Parsons 1973 - Actor ("The Big Bang Theory")
• Alyson Hannigan 1974 - Actress ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "How I Met Your Mother")
• Peyton Manning 1976 - Football player
• Jessica Chastain 1977 - Actress (bottom)
• Olivia Burnette (Olivia Nicole Burnette ) 1977 - Actress
• Keisha Castle-Hughes 1990 - Actress ("The Whale Rider")

  

  

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