Thursday, January 28, 2010

machination \mack-uh-NAY-shuhn; mash-\, noun:

1. The act of plotting.
2. A crafty scheme; a cunning design or plot intended to accomplish some usually evil end.

Machination derives from Latin machinatio, "a contrivance, a cunning device, a machination," from machinari, "to contrive, to devise, especially to plot evil." It is related to machine, from Latin machina, "any artificial contrivance for performing work." To machinate is to devise a plot, or engage in plotting. One who machinates is a machinator.

iSmear

• A long horizontal smear on the bottom of your Iphone caused from answering a call using the slide bar with a greasy finger.

Mike: Yo maing whats that dirty mark on your iPhone?
Trev: ahh thats just an iSmear from my greasy finger.
Trivia

According to Greek mythology, what creature was the source of the poison that killed Odysseus?

• A stingray. Odysseus’ son, Telegonus, while searching for his father in Ithaca, unwittingly killed him with a spear tipped with the venomous spine of a stingray.

History:

• Diet of Worms: general assembly of the Holy Roman Empire began; it ended four months later with Martin Luther being declared an outlaw (1521)
• serendipity: word was coined by Horace Walpole in a letter to Horace Mann (1754)
• Carnegie Institute: Andrew Carnegie established this private scientific research foundation after the US government refused his gift of $10 million to finance the advancement of knowledge (1902)
• "We Are the World": Michael Jackson/Lionel Richie song that raised millions for famine relief in Africa was recorded by 45 popular performers (1985)
• Challenger: space shuttle exploded 73 seconds after its launch, killing all on board — Francis Scobee, Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnick, Michael Smith and Christa McAuliffe (1986)

T3h b3fdays, y0!

• Henry VII (1457-1509): King of England
• Henry Morton Stanley(1841-1904): explorer who said "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
• William Seward Burroughs (1855-1898): inventor of the adding machine
• Alan Alda (74): actor, writer and activist; also, actorsSusan Howard (66), Marthe Keller (65), Harley Jane Kozak (53), Kathryn Morris (41) and Elijah Wood (29)
• Nicolas Sarkozy (55): president of France
• Nick Price (53): golf hall-of-famer
• Frank Darabont (51): director, The Shawshank Redemption; director Ernst Lubitsch (1892-1947) shared this birth date
• Dan Spitz (46): lead guitarist for thrash metal band Anthrax; also, musicians Artur Rubinstein (1887-1982), Sarah McLachlan (42), Joey Fatone, Jr. (33) and Nick Carter (30)