Wednesday, June 24, 2009

daedal \DEE-duhl\, adjective:

1. Complex or ingenious in form or function; intricate.
2. Skillful; artistic; ingenious.
3. Rich; adorned with many things.

Daedal comes from Latin daedalus, "cunningly wrought," from Greek daidalos, "skillful, cunningly created."

brown chicken, brown cow

• An onomatopaeic imitation of the guitar riff commonly heard in 1970's porn movies.

Jim: "Hey, where are Abby and Jake?"
Tom: "Brown chicken, brown cow."
Trivia

What major Wall Street exchange was known as the Butter and Cheese Exchange when it was established in 1872?

• The New York Mercantile Exchange, which was founded by a group of dairy merchants.

Today in History:

• dancing mania: first major outbreak of this phenomenon — wild, uncontrollable dancing, accompanied by hallucinations, to the point of exhaustion — occurred in Aachen, Germany (1374)
• John Cabot: explorer became the first European to sight the continent of North America (1497)
• Henry VIII: crowned king of England (1509)
• FTC: required that a message be placed on all cigarette packages to warn consumers that cigarette smoking is dangerous to their health (1964)

Today's Birthdays:

• Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591): Carmelite friar, mystic and poet
• Jack Dempsey (1895-1983): heavyweight boxing champ
• Pete Hamill (74): journalist and short-story author; writers Ambrose Bierce (1842-c.1914), Norman Cousins (1915-1990), John Ciardi (1916-1986), Claude Chabrol (79) and Anita Desai (72) share this birth date
• Mick Fleetwood (62): drummer with Fleetwood Mac; also, musicians John Illsley (60), Danielle Spencer (44), Glenn Medeiros (39) and Solange Knowles (23)
• Minka Kelly (29): actor, Friday Night Lights; also, actors Al Molinaro (90), Michele Lee (67), Georg Stanford Brown (66), Peter Weller (62), Sherry Stringfield (42) and Mindy Kaling (30)
• Lionel Messi (22): FC Barcelona soccer star