Friday, January 29, 2010

verboten \ver-BOHT-n\, adjective:

• Forbidden, as by law; prohibited.

Verboten is from German, past participle of verbieten, to forbid, from Middle High German, which derives from Old High German farbiotan.

Grand Theft Impairment

• The 4-hour period of time that you cannot drive or function in society due to playing Grand Theft Auto. You may have the intention to steal a car, kill innocent people, and/or drive recklessly.

Girl: Hey you wanna come pick me up so we can go to the movies?
Guy: Aww, I wish but I have grand theft impairment, I can come later though.
Trivia
How many gallons of air does the average adult human inhale daily?

• More than 3,000.

History

• "The Raven": Edgar Allen Poe's poetic lament for the lost Lenore was first published, in The New York Evening Mirror(1845)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth,Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson were named the first inductees; the hall of fame and museum opened 3 years later (1936)
• Axis of Evil: Iran, Iraq and North Korea were named "regimes that sponsor terror" in President George W. Bush's State of the Union address (2002)

Berfdays, yo!

• Thomas Paine (1737-1809): pamphleteer, Common Sense
• William McKinley (1843-1901): 25th US president; he was assassinated by an anarchist
• Paddy Chayefsky (1923-1981): award-winning playwright, Network; also, writers Romain Rolland (1866-1944) and Edward Abbey (1927-1989)
• Tom Selleck (65): screen actor, Magnum, P.I., Friends; also, actors W.C. Fields (1880-1946), John Forsythe (92), Noel Harrison (76), Katharine Ross (70), Marc Singer (62), Ann Jillian (60), Nicholas Turturro (48), Edward Burns (42) and Heather Graham (40)
• Oprah Winfrey (56): TV's most influential talk-show host
• Greg Louganis (50): champion diver; won the gold even after severely injuring his head in a previous dive in the'88 Olympics