Monday, February 8, 2010

approbation \ap-ruh-BAY-shuhn\, noun:

1. The act of approving; formal or official approval.
2. Praise; commendation.

Approbation is from Latin approbatio, from approbare, "to approve or cause to be approved," from ap- (for ad-), used intensively + probare, "to make or find good," from probus, "good, excellent, fine."

mondaze

• a daze you find yourself in due to it being Monday

I locked my keys in my car because I was in a total Mondaze. I hate the start of a new work week.

Trivia

Why is yellow the color of the jersey awarded to the overall leader of the Tour de France bike race?

• It was the color of the pages of L’Auto, the newspaper that was the original sponsor of the three-week event in 1903.

History

• Mary, Queen of Scots: was beheaded after being implicated in the Babington plot against Elizabeth I (1587)
• The Devil's Footprints: 100 miles of hooflike prints appeared in the snow in Devon, England (1855)
• Russo-Japanese War: began with a surprise attack by Japan on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur (now Lüshun) (1904)
• NASDAQ: the world's first electronic stock market opened, facilitating trading directly between the investors and buyers/sellers; the acronym stands for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation" (1971)

Berfdays!

• Martin Buber (1878-1965): theologian and philosopher, I and Thou
• John Williams (78): composer of some of filmdom's most famous themes, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars
• Ted Koppel (70): broadcast journalist, original anchor of Nightline
• John Grisham (55): author of The Firm, The Associate; other writers born on this date include John Ruskin (1819-1900), Jules Verne (1828-1905), Kate Chopin (1851-1904) and Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)
• Alonzo Mourning (40): NBA center
• Creed Bratton (67): The Office's former hippie Creed; also, actors Lana Turner (1921-1995), Jack Lemmon (1925-2001), James Dean (1931-1955), Nick Nolte (69), Robert Klein (68), Mary Steenburgen (57) and Josh Morrow and Seth Green (both 36)