Tuesday, November 17, 2009

perseverate \per-SEV-uh-reyt\, intransitive verb:

1. To involuntarily repeat a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence or cessation of a stimulus, usually caused by brain injury or other organic disorder.
2. To repeat something insistently or redundantly.

Perseverate is a back formation of perseveration from Middle French perseveration from Old French and classical Latin persever&#3tiōn-, singular of persevērātiō.

Palintologist

• A person that follows/studies political dinosaurs.

Dude1: You'll remember Dan Quayle once said "I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican."

Dude2: Remember Dan Quayle quotes? Dude what do I look like a Palintologist?

Trivia

What four performers have received two Oscar nominations each for Best Actor, for portraying the same character in two different films?

• Bing Crosby, for playing Father O’Malley in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945); Paul Newman, for playing Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986); Peter O’Toole, for playing King Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968); and Al Pacino, for playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974). Two won Oscars—Crosby (Going My Way) and Newman (The Color of Money).

Today in History

• Elizabeth I: the "Virgin Queen" of England began her 45-year reign, succeeding her half-sister, Queen Mary, and beginning the Elizabethan era (1558)
• US Congress: held its first Washington session in the partially completed Capitol building (1800)
• Suez Canal: 100-mile-(160 km.)-long waterway opened, linking the Mediterranean and the Red seas (1869)
• Richard Nixon: declared "I am not a crook" in Orlando, Florida, nine months before resigning over the Watergate scandal (1973)
• Velvet Revolution: demonstrations began in Czechoslovakia, leading to the fall of the communist government (1989)

Today's Birthdays

• Louis XVIII (1755-1824): reigning king of France from 1814 to 1824
• Lorne Michaels (65): producer, creator of Saturday Night Live; film directors Lee Strasberg (1901-1982), Martin Scorsese (67) and Roland Joffe (64) share this birth date
• Tom Seaver (65): MLB hall-of-famer; also, athletes Bob Mathias (1930-2006), Elvin Hayes (64)
• Dylan Walsh (46): Dr. Sean McNamara in Nip/Tuck; also, actors Rock Hudson (1925-1985), Lauren Hutton (66), Danny DeVito (65), Stephen Root (58), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (51), RuPaul (49),Sophie Marceau and Daisy Fuentes (both 43), Brandon Call (33) and Rachel McAdams (31)
• Isaac Hanson (29): rock musician, Hanson; plus, singer Gordon Lightfoot (71)