Monday, September 6, 2010

distaff (DIS-taf)

adjective:

1. Of or relating to women.

noun:

1. A staff for holding flax, wool, etc. for spinning.
2. Women considered collectively.
3. A woman's work or domain.

Etymology: From Old English dis- (bunch of flax) + staef (stick).

workweek creep

1. Constant connectivity via your smartphone and computer blurs the boundaries between your work life and your personal life.
2. Constant connectivity at work via e-mail & chat, results in so many interruptions that you cannot get blocks of time to do any thinking, resulting in you catching up on your work at home on nights and weekends.

This is the third e-mail from my boss this weekend. I'm a victim of workweek creep!

Trivia

What was the intent behind the first Labor Day parade, held in New York City in 1882?

• It was a protest rally sponsored by the city’s Central Labor Union to demand an eight-hour workday and other labor reforms. Thousands upon thousands of workers took an unpaid day off from their jobs to attend and air their grievances.

History

• William McKinley: US president was shot by an anarchist; he died eight days later (1901)
• Piggly Wiggly: the first self-service supermarket opened in Memphis, Tennessee (1916)
• Queen Juliana: popular monarch assumed the throne of the Netherlands, which she retained until 1980 (1948)
• Hendrik Verwoerd: South African prime minister was stabbed to death by a deranged parliamentary messenger in parliament in Cape Town (1966)
• Saint Petersburg: the original name was restored after the Russian city had been Leningrad since 1924 (1991)
• Cal Ripken Jr.: played in his 2,131st consecutive game and broke Lou Gehrig's "unbreakable" record (1995); his streak ended at 2,632 games on September 20, 1998

Birthdays

• Marie-Joseph Lafayette (1757-1834): French general who aided colonists in the American Revolution
• John Dalton (1766-1844): scientist who researched color blindness, known as Daltonism; scientists J.J.R. Macleod (1876-1936), Walter Robert Dornberger (1895-1980) and Luis Leloir (1906-1987) were also born on this date
• Jane Addams: social reformer who founded Chicago's Hull House settlement (1860-1935)
• Jeff Foxworthy (52): actor, comedian and host of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?; other actors born on this date include JoAnne Worley (73), Swoosie Kurtz (66), Jane Curtin (63), Rosie Perez (46), Dylan Bruno, Idris Elba and Anika Noni Rose (all 38), Justin Whalin (36) and Naomie Harris (34)
• Elizabeth Vargas (48): broadcast journalist, 20/20
• Foxy Brown (31): rapper; musicians David Allen Coe (71), Mel McDaniel (68), Roger Waters (67), Buddy Miller (58), Scott Travis (49), Macy Gray (43) and CeCe Peniston (41) share this birth date