Friday, November 13, 2009

carapace \KAIR-uh-pace\, noun:

1. The thick shell that covers the back of the turtle, the crab, and other animals.
2. Something likened to a shell that serves to protect or isolate from external influence.

Carapace comes from French, from Spanish carapacho, itself of uncertain origin.
brown out

• Less intense than the experience of "blacking out" when drunk and not remembering portions (or all) of your night, "browning out" occurs when you don't remember something until someone brings it up. It's not a complete blackout, but partial, because you remember once someone refreshes you.

I didn't even remember making out with Bryanne until J-Lo told me (it must not have been that good)! I definitely had a brown out last night.

Trivia

What actress ended up marrying the star of a TV sitcom years after she was rejected for the role of his on-screen girlfriend—because she was too short?

• Five-foot-tall Jada Pinkett, who was turned down after auditioning for the role of 6-feet-2 Will Smith’s girlfriend on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1990. The two were married in 1997.

Today in History

• Saint Brice's Day Massacre: King Ethelred of England ordered the murder of all Danes in his country (1002)
• death & taxes: Benjamin Franklin listed life's two certainties in a letter (1789)
• Fantasia: animated musical Disney film premiered (1940)
• Bhola cyclone: the 20th century's greatest natural disaster killed hundreds of thousands in Bangladesh (1970 )
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial: "the Wall," designed by Maya Lin, was dedicated in Washington, DC (1982)

Today's Birthdays

• St. Augustine (354-430): Church father who developed the doctrine of original sin
• Edward III (1312-1377): king of England
• Robert Louis Stevenson: author of Treasure Island (1850-1894)
• Gerard Butler (40): actor, 300, The Ugly Truth; also, actors Madeleine Sherwood (87), Joe Mantegna (62), Frances Conroy and Tracy Scoggins (both 56), Chris Noth (55), Whoopi Goldberg (54), Rex Linn (53), Neil Flynn (49), Steve Zahn (41) and Monique Coleman (29)
• Jimmy Kimmel (42): talk show host and comedian